I agree with Dan. Buy a 1/4 or 5/16" wooden dowel rod from hardware/big box store, cut it in half, and sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener. Push it into the soil all the way to the bottom of the pot near the center. Don't water until it first comes out clean and dry. If you're watering when only the top inch is dry, there could still be several inches of 100% saturated soil at the bottom of the pot, inhibiting root function or wrecking root health. Al

Thanks, Lee. It's always nice to find out that someone finds value in the things we write. One would assume a nursery wouldn't over water their plants. In most cases, plants in nuresries WON'T be over-watered for a couple of reasons. One of those is that they are good at noticing signs that illustrate a group of plants need fopr water, or for just establishing an appropriate schedule on which to water. The second reason has to do with the fact that the plants often rest on the ground. When the pot is in direct contact with the ground, or if roots grow from the pot into the ground or through a ground cover cloth under the pots, the earth acts as a giant wick to pull excess water from the soil. If you use a soil that is capable of supporting 3-4" of perched water and you set it directly on dry ground, the perched water will disappear within minutes due to the wicking action of the earth. .... to clarify. Water when the skewer/dowel comes out free of dirt/dry looking? Yes, that's right. If you were checking daily or twice daily to get a 'feel' for how often to water, the ideal time to water would be the first time the tell comes out dry. IOW, you want to wait until just before the plant might experience drought stress before you water. With some species of ficus (like benjamina), you can clearly see or feel when the youngest leaves are just starting to lose turgidity. If you wait until then and pay attention to the interval since last watering, you can often establish an appropriate rhythm that should keep you out of trouble re over-watering. Do you have to use a new dowel every time? If you're actually using a dowel, you can cut a 4' piece in half & sharpen all 4 ends. If you're using a skewer, they're cheap, so why not use a fresh one after each moist pot you discover. Or, if you wipe the end off with a rag and wave it in the air between tests, it usually dries down enough that you can test a lot of plants with just the 4 ends from the single rod you cut in half. How much water do I flush it with? I usually suggest at least 10x the volume of the pot the plant is in; and if you err, it's better to err on the generous side and use more than 10x. How often do you do it? I use a soil that I can flush at will, and I DO flush every time I water. If you're limited to supplying small amounts of water to prevent soils from staying soggy for long periods, a thorough flush every 4-6 weeks is good. What do I use as the wick? Anything cotton? Cotton rots quickly. I prefer strands of rayon. You can buy a rayon mop head and pull it apart, or buy a man made rayon chamois and cut it in strips. Too, the nylon string ties used to tie onion or citrus bags closed very often work very well for drainage wicks (but not watering wicks). I have some of those that are 12-15 years old & still working great. Not all are created equal though, so discard those that don't work well. And do you tape it on the side of the planter out of the effluent. I meant to talk to you about the effluent. Your pot should be raised so it's above the effluent that collects in the saucer, or via other means, the effluent should have no pathway back into the soil. Reason: It doesn't make sense to flush salts from the soil only to leave a pathway right back to where they came from because the pot is sitting in the effluent. Here's how I do wicks: That covers how I do it before the planting is established. If the pot supports an established planting, I simply fold the wick over the end of a straight slot screwdriver and push it into the soil far enough that the short end is all the way into the soil. That holds it pretty securely initially and as roots grow around and into the wick, even more so. Is foliage pro 9-3-6 still your go to fertilizer? Yes. I might add a little extra K for some plants (tomato and hibiscus), but I basically use it for everything. I completely avoid any high-P fertilizers in containers. I consider a fertilizer to be high in P if the middle number (P) is equal to or larger than the first number (N). ..... it seems I will loose a bunch of leaves off the bottom. Is it ever possible to get that growth back? Yes. Once a leaf is shed, no new leaf will form in its place, but above the scar where a shed leaf was attached, there are dormant buds that can be stimulated to grow. The methods of activating these latent buds could easily fill a chapter in a book, so I won't elaborate. Back-budding will naturally occur if you can get the plant outdoors in full sun and plenty of air movement, fertilize it in what's called the luxury range, and make sure the root system is healthy and has plenty of room to run. You can artificially stimulate back-budding low on the trunk by notching or pruning the plant back hard. The hard pruning is especially effective when working with healthy plants at the peak of their food-making/photosynthesizing ability, which, where you live would be in June. Father's Day or the summer solstice are the easiest markers to remember. You mentioned the kids and learning. When I was a youngster, I went to a 1-room little red brick schoolhouse that had K-8 in the one room. Obviously, it was hard for the teacher to spend as much time with each student as they needed, so most of the time I read World Book Encyclopedia and anything I could get my hands on about animals or science. I only wish that the world of plant science would have got its hooks into me at a very young age. I hope your kids find something they love to do, no matter what it is, and have the opportunity to follow that calling. Al

Hello! I am very lost and in need of help! I have no experience on fiddle leaf fig trees other than the overwhelming amount of information on the website. I was given my fiddle leaf fig tree as a gift for Christmas. My husband bought it on Craigslist and kept it in a dark garage for about 2 weeks to hide it from me. Uh oh. It's been 5 months and I just can't figure out how to make my tree happy. In the past 5 months about half it's leaves, mostly towards the bottom, have turned yellow with brown edges and have fallen off. 2 new healthy leaves have grown at the top and 1 not so healthy looking leaf. It is near a NW (mostly W) facing window and gets plenty of indirect light. From reading online, I assumed the yellow leaves were due to overwatering. In the beginning I was giving it 1 cup of water a week, and have tried to adjust depending one soil moisture. I just cannot figure out a good watering schedule. Most recently I've gone 2 weeks without watering it and it seems to be still moist near the bottom about 2/3 down. I use a moisture meter and just last night checked with a wooden chopstick. This past weekend I asked advice from a local plant shop and they told me maybe the plant is too tight in it's pot and to take it out and let it dry out a little. So that is where I am now. Any help, advice, insight will be greatly appreciated. I would love to figure out what's going on and help Mr. Fig live a long happy life. Thank you!

The best place to put your plant is in front of a large floor-to-ceiling window with an overhang outside to protect it from the hottest direct sun. Fiddle Leaf Figs love sunlight. The post below has a great explanation for you. How Much Light does a Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree Need?