I believe they are totally repotting in fresh medium. When I was asking the woman I spoke with about the soil they use there, she told me that the tree is in the soil it arrived in, and that their own soil (the nursery's) for ficus is well aerated and appropriate for the tree. She then said that if I were to buy a pot there she would recommend going up a size to a 12" and that they would do the repot for me. Which I assumed meant that they would completely change out the medium. I was aware of the difference between the terms, but I'm glad that you brought it to my attention again so that I can make sure they're doing a full repot. I would have assumed they would know not to mix the two soils, but it would be better to play it safe and make sure they're doing the whole shebang. I see what you mean about the advice potentially being bad at times though. I think it depends on who you're talking to, just like at a mechanic. The woman seemed to be the owner or at least in charge of the ficus area. Although, when I was looking at the variegated jade plants (I've been researching and preparing to bring one of those home as well) a young man approached me and started talking about their care and pruning. He then told me to prune any all white leaves, and to leave the fully green ones. Which I know to be backwards advice, as the fully green ones don't revert back to being variegated!

Hi all, I desperately need help saving my fiddle leaf fig! I purchased her (Precious) about a month ago and things seemed to be going OK. Within this time she even grew three new leaves. I noticed several brown spots and thought I might be overwatering so held off. We also have had a heatwave so the blinds have been closed in the house and she wasn’t receiving as much sun. Within a few days I noticed she was covered in big brown/black spots and starting to lose leaves. I gave her a big dose of water and left her outside to get some light. With warm weather predicted I left her out overnight. Of course an unpredicted thunderstorm came though. I brought her back in as soon as I could and moved her to another room where the blinds could stay open. She lost 4 more leaves. Now the worst thing happened - my dog got to her. I came home yesterday to find the whole bottom branch destroyed. My dog is ok but Precious is not - she lost 5 more leaves today. My question now is is there anything I can do to save her? I have attached pictures of Precious when I brought her home and today. This is my first FLF so I could use all the help I can get. Thanks in advance, Ashleigh

Darn, I thought the pot was just the right size. My plan today was to do a full repot with the new mix. I'm very nervous but at this rate, don't want to risk waiting until next season to do anything and watch all these beautiful leaves turn black and fall off. I've never done anything like this before, so please let me know based on my plan if I should change anything- my plan was to go get materials today. Use black gold potting soil I showed you yesterday Use this perlite soil to add in Use this reptibark for the bark portion. Buy this sieve to separate any fine dust or particles that could get into the mix and cause it to be too compacted. My plan was to get ingredients today and then this evening work on combining them. Once I know my mixture is good, do the repot tomorrow morning/afternoon as I don't want to do anything late into the day since I figure that could cause more stress. I planned on having my husband help me take him out of the pot and to flush out all the current soil outside with a garden hose (my one reserve to this is the water could be too cold?) once everythjng is cleared, bring him inside and place him into a bathtub with lukewarm water (id prep it first to avoid dry roots) and then inspect to see if I need to snip any rotting roots away meanwhile I will have my husband wash out his plot completely so the root rot is not in there anymore. (But if you think I need a new pot will just do that) fill pot up with some of the mixture, place root ball in, fill remaining with mixture. Perhaps give the pot a little toss/shake to ensure that roots are not crushed and that the mixture makes its way evenly through the system. move him to a more sunny area, at least for the time being... There really aren't more places in our house that get more light than this one, it does get a lot brighter after about 12 o clock in here and in the evening the sun comes in a lot stronger (but not directly on his leaves which is nice) so I might move him back here to see if it works okay with a better soil/root system. Thoughts? Are the ingredients for my mix okay? Anything I should know when repotting? I don't want to hurt him further

Hi Josie, people commonly have FLF issues originating from an inappropriate watering regimen and from an overly water retentive soil. If you search on the forums there are some great threads where Tapla (Al) shares his knowledge on soils and what makes for an appropriate mix for houseplants. Since it’s fall, it’s not a good time to repot plants. But it is a perfect time to learn all about the needs of your plant so you can repot it in spring. How do you water? How do you decide it’s time to water? To tell it’s time to water, take a sharpened wooden dowel (or chopstick) and insert it deep (all the way to the bottom) of the soil. If it comes out moist and with dark soil, don’t water yet. If it comes out clean and dry, it’s time to water! Check every couple of days. When it’s time to water, good watering practice is to water until water flows freely out of the drainage holes in the bottom of the container. Also, FLFs love lots of light. It should be right up in front of your brightest South facing window, unobstructed by blinds or curtains.