I'm a "newb" so please take my answer with a grain of salt.

I think you could be over watering. Watering once a day seems like way too much, even for something that doesn't have much perched water like the 5:1:1. From what I've read, I don't think most people even water once a day with gritty mix unless they have very small pots and lots of light that evaporated the water, and/or explosive growth. 5:1:1 is supposed to be more water retentive than gritty too, so watering once a day sounds like too much.

I think the dowel inserted into the pot is not necessarily supposed to come out "wet". If the soil is damp, there may be small particles of the potting mix clinging to the skewer/dowel (like testing a cake to see if it's done by how many crumbs of cake cling to the skewer) or the skewer/dowel will feel cool to the touch when held against your wrist or face.

This is from Al Tapla on another thread that I'll link to:

"Just a quick in and out is all you need. If the wood is damp, it will feel cool. Often, if it's wet, there will be soil particles clinging to the skewer.

AL "

Link to thread: "wooden skewer for testing moisture"

Like I said, I'm a newb here, so please don't take offense if my assessment is too rudimentary or doesn't make sense! Good luck!

Hi!
I've experienced root rot in a ficus elastica and this doesn't look like it - root rot shows signs of wrinkled stems and veiny leaves and no signs of new growth of leaves. I also checked the roots and they look whitish (although I couldn't check deep down).

I have a small pot with a ficus lyrata kept indoors and I water twice a week as needed using the wooden dowel method. But my two other bigger plants are kept outdoors with the heat around 30-35C in the afternoon. They aren't under direct sun and kept under shade.

My other guess would be pests of some sort. You don't see any spider mite webs or anything, do you?

I'm thinking pests because the dead spots on the leaves kind of look like fertilizer burn, but I thought that was typically pretty limited to the leaf margins, and yours looks like the damage is occurring at random spots all over the leaves.

Hmmm... Ive just been considering all the possibilities. And rethinking it over whether it is overwatering. If it was I would have had this problem months ago.
I do have some spider mites but I wipe down the leaves so they're kept to a minimum. There was quite a few about 3 weeks ago though.

I agree it's dying of thirst in a sea of plenty - from over-watering. Water/ nutrient uptake is an energy driven process. The plant needs lots of oxygen in the root zone to burn the fuel that drives root metabolism. Without enough water reaching the distal parts, necrotic leaf tips and margins can be counted on to provide evidence of the limiting effects inherent in hypoxic (lacking O2) soils.

Al

Hi Tapla!
Sorry I didn't quite get your post. Am I overwatering or underwatering?
I really can't believe that I'm overwatering it as my mix is made with pine bark sized slightly smaller than a thumbnail and I check it with the wooden dowel everything seems dry. It's even dryer in the airpot that I self made. Do you mean that it is not receiving water evenly in the mix?

Some photos on my mix.
{{gwi:2117478}}
{{gwi:2117479}}

I watered this in the morning so it has been 9 hours since. I've actually not seen healthier looking roots on any of my other plants. And it's just sprawling everywhere

Did you check the roots deep in the pot?

Al

That was about 2 inches down. How far shall I go?

Are you getting water on the leaves? It looks like the leaves have been watered and then sun has shone on them, IMO.

Hey Zack. Water on leaves + sunshine won't burn leaves like that - old wife's tale. Sorry.

Rick - if you can do it w/o a lot of root disruption, depot the plant and look the bottom roots over.

Al

Tapla, I do remember reading one of your posts on your definition of repot and depot. If I remember correctly depot was taking out the entire plant with mix/soil. With this 5-1-1 mix a lot of the mix would crumble and drop off. Although a lot of the roots have taken residence in the cracks of the pine bark.

The ficus looks like it is recovering with no further developments of black spots/light brown spots. But I'm wondering if I do find it wet down there what shall I do? I hardely used any peat moss (yes it's not real 5-1-1. If anything it was probably the pine bark dust. The pot has lots of air holes so I'm probably lost at what to do next.

I'll try depotting it this weekend.

What fertilizer at what dose and how often?

Al