I think I remember Al saying that a plant that isn't growing is dying, but that doesn't necessarily mean its condition is terminal. My plants had almost stopped growing entirely before I learned how to care for them, but now, after ten months of better living conditions, they are growing like crazy.

What do you mean by stalks softening up? Did the stalks with leaves on them get sift? I'm not sure, but the leaf that's almost in focus on your last photo looks like it's discoloured or something. Are all the leaves like that, or just in the lower leaves? Post better pictures of the leaves if your think they might have clues that would help us work it out.

The brown patches on the edges of many of the leaves look like classic signs of overwatering, which is common with plants in fine grained water retentive soils that stay saturated for long enough that roots essentially drown for lack of oxygen they should get from air. The end result is the same as what happens when you fail to water enough: the plant doesn't get enough water to support its vegetation, so it stops putting its energy into some leaves, usually the oldest ones nearest the bottom of the plant. Stick a sharpened dowel all the way through the soil to the bottom of the pot and pull it out. The rule is to withhold water until the dowel comes out completely dry.

The problem with that theory is that I've never heard of overwatering causing a ficus's stems to rot or just go 'soft,' so the problem could be something completely different, or even a combination of overwatering and something else.

All of which is a very long way of saying that I hope someone who knows more than I do reads your post and offers more useful advice!

Thank you for replying!

Some of the leaves have been a little browned and dusty looking since I acquired it, like the one below:

Newer leaves have mostly looked good. A few of them have been mottled with flecks and spots, which I think is watering-related.

Good:

Bad:

As for the stalks softening up.... it's like they've become brittle and hollowish? Almost like a flower after it's bloomed. Prior to this, each branch had 2-4 leaves similar to those seen in the Good category above. They wilted and died over a period of 3-4 days, after being put outside in heat or being overwatered.

Stalks:

It's a real shame, as that particular tree had five good branches filling in a good section of the overall shape. Upon inspecting it to take these photos, I did notice that the tape combining the plants appears to have pulled snuggly into the trunk of the tree whose leaves died. See below:

Would this possibly have caused it? Should I cut them away, or can it bud again? Thanks!

That would not have caused it. The plant was overwatered and rotted, hence the dried up hollowed out stems.

That was my fear. Why would it have occurred so dramatically in one tree while the other tethered to it continues to grow rapidly?

So that 1 particular tree have 5 branches and 1 dying? All other branches from other three just fine? How many branches each tree have?

Gudang,

please don't do the same thing again.

The 'tree' is actually made up of four individual trees that have been braided together. I bought it about four or five months ago on severe discount, as most of the leaves that were on it were browned and old, with two of the trees having none. I potted up into a larger pot, using a quick 5:1:1ish mix that probably needed more bark. I put it in an indoor spot where it received sun through a southern window for most of the day, and it seemed to respond. Several leaves grew on one tree that had had none, and then finally the last one opened up and budded. I should have taken pictures, but each branch had 2-3 healthy bright green leaves growing from it. The weather improved and my reading here drove me to gradually move it outside, eventually to a spot in the yard which receives full sun all day. After several days outside, the soil was completely dry so I gave the tree a good watering. The temperature during this time was actually pretty hot/humid, ranging from the high-80s to 90s. In retrospect, I wish I had timed the movement outdoors to a point where it wasn't such an abrupt shift in temp, but everything I'd read made me confident it would do fine.

The next day all the newest leaves were limp. On a different tree, however, small green tips were poking out of branches that already had established leaves. I moved the plant to a brighter spot of the shaded porch. Over the next few days, the limp leaves would shrivel and fall off while the other tree's new leaves grew out and did just fine. I've inspected all of them routinely since, and can't see any indication that anything's wrong with any of the trees but the one.

The other fiddle leaf, which I also posted about above, continues to lean. I rotated it to see if it would respond. There is an easy give to the plant at the base when I lift it to straighten the trunk, but otherwise it seems sturdy and none of the leaves are sagging whatsoever. Should I interpret this sudden lean as healthy growth or is something wrong?

It's braided seem only for sale purpose, reclaim space, and save container cost, which mean, if you wanna make them healthy, you better start with give them individual pot.

...I'm not sure that possible?

One or more of the trees maybe have root problem since the beginning, so they hard pruned and put them into single pot. On worst case, some have no root at all so sale them individually isn't possible. So i think, some of your trees have only small root, or forming root just after replant.

Yeah, but wouldn't unwinding the trees and cutting apart the roots be much riskier? And wouldn't the trees look ridiculous?

I'd like to do a proper repot into some good mix, but I'm not sure when exactly that should happen. There are some new leaves budding that I will try to photograph later.

For me, separating the braided trees would probably be the final nail in the coffin! Or at least mean a very lengthy unattractive recovery. More experienced people would probably do better.

Alex, is your braided lyrata a different variety than your leaning one?

Thanks for responding. I have no idea if the varieties are different, but I was not under the impression they were. If they are, I'd obviously love to know.

Yeah, it's risky to split them up. You can wait to do it only if another branch also dying, with the risk, all die together at same time. When you split them, you'll know which one that have root problem, and make like 10 or more cuttings for propagation before they completely dry.

I'm not sure that the separate stems would be unattractive. I've seen a lot of nice looking bamboo plants in people's offices that have spiral stem. Of course a stem that was braided with three others will be more crooked, but I could see how even that might look interesting, rather than ugly, to someone who's not too attached to conventional forms.

Litterbuggy, I understand your point - I've seen really nice spiralled bay tree standards, and I have a couple of trees outside that are a bit zig-zagged (from the wind) which look kinda cool. The spiralling is usually done around a pole though, and I suspect it would be much trickier to separate these trunks, I don't know how flexible they are, and maybe they've even fused together to some degree? Plus you'd have to separate the roots.

Maybe if you picked one or two that you liked the best and concentrated on minimising the damage to them by sacrificing the others if need be? This is all assuming the OP even wants to try this!

Alex, if you think they're the same then I'm sure they are, I just had an impression from the photos that the braided ones had different shaped and smaller leaves, and that they were growing in more of a cluster. I think I unwittingly bought a different cultivar, maybe a Bambino or a Compacta, which are, well, smaller and more compact than the regular lyrata, as the names imply :)

Your first picture above is not sign of root malfunction. It's just sign of nutrients deficiency. Brown pattern that spread on younger leaves is sign of lack zinc in soil. What you should do is ONLY give zinc to the soil, not replace the soil/repoting. The root zone should never be touch.

Repoting is risky task because in every repoting, root hair will damage that make plant unable to metabolism normally. Healthy plant will form root hair in few days and healing, but unhealthy plant will take longer.

Ok, it's happen already. We should move on and see what we have here. There are 2 possible steps you can do under that condition.. but both risky...

Some more photos from the braided fig tree above:

Here you can see new growth popping out of one of the trees, with tree that lost its leaves (and might be dying?) in the background:

Some other recent growth on a different tree, again right next to the struggling tree:

Here is a better view of the trunks/roots, and why I am dubious about being able to successfully untwist them even if I were willing to lose one or two of the trees:

And here's another update on my leaning fiddle leaf... does the growth nodule/leaf bud there in the center look.... wrong?

Shavaun, your plant looks sad! It's much more dramatic when massive leaves flop, compared to little leaves just shrivelling up, you have my sympathy!

How long is it since you repotted? How did that whole process go - I'm assuming you used the mix Dave helped you with. Repotting a stressed plant is more traumatic for them (and probably you too!) than a healthy plant, but yours was unhealthy only over a short period, it wasn't that bad.

Hopefully it is only transplant shock and just needs more time. The fine roots, the ones that take up water and nutrients, will have been damaged and need to regrow. Might need patience and some nursing along in the meantime - others may have more specific advice for you about that.

Regarding fertilising, the mix it came in would have had a slow release form in it, which would not have all disappeared in the month you've had it. Plus, if you used that bagged potting mix as your peat portion of the 511, that will have some too. Plus, damaged fine roots won't take up nutrients so they'll just sit in the soil causing more harm than good. Plus, if you start supplementing single nutrients here and there, you can throw the whole balance out of whack.

If you're certain there's a specific deficiency (such as when soil has been tested in a commercial cropping situation and a deficiency -or excess - is found) then go ahead. Otherwise hold off. Fertiliser is not medicine. When your plant starts to grow again then use a complete liquid fertiliser (I use dyna gro FP)

Good luck!

Try foliar feeding. In absence of root or when root doesn't work properly, giving plant nutriens through their leaves is the way.

Do foliar feeding at morning or 3 hours before sunset. Give plant good light and air circulation. In 3 hours thin water layer should gone to prevent fungus. Repeat the treatment till your plant steady, no more leaf drops.

@alex

Your leaning ficus seem lost it's one only bud. It's taking too long for it to form root hairs after repoting. Btw, why did you repot it? What kind of soil it previously living?

If that ficus able to form root hair, it will have new buds low near soil surface. Good root branches able to form more than 1 buds. Just make sure the soil moist. Only that way the root able to form root hair. If you ever let root tips dry too long (late on watering maybe), that's another problem. The tree need to form new root buds, then root hairs. Need longer time to be normal if the tree still have enough energi. If it's deposit energy/sugar too low or no longer available, the tree will die.

Alex, you're right, that leaf bud does look wrong! As for the lean, could it have been knocked? Any kids, dogs, basketballs you can blame? Wind? Parrot perched on it? Being recently repotted in gritty maybe it wasn't that stable yet.

Once the trunk is woody, these plants are quite rigid, so I don't think rotating it will be enough to straighten it, that's more done regularly as a preventative. I'd stake it, for now. You have puzzling plants!

Only one week since the repot--for some reason I thought it had been over a month. I advise watchful waiting. The tree was very weak when you got it, the repotting stress set it back more than it would have with a healthy plant, and you may have killed some of the newly-grown feeder roots when you underwatered after putting the plant outside, which would have caused a bigger setback.

How much root work did you do? I assume, of course, that you kept the roots wet all the time, removed all of the old soil from the roots, and made sure to work the new mix into any gaps. All of that messing around does damage the fine feeder roots, so even a plant with lots of energy reserves will sulk for a while, while your plant, with very little stored energy, will take a little longer to start chugging along again.

So monitor the soil moisture closely with a dowel and water enough to moisten the soil in the root zone. Probably don't let the mix get bone dry for the first couple of weeks. Also, keep it out of direct sun for a while more. With some conservative care I'd guess you'll see improvement in another week or so.

You'll know when the root system is growing when you see new growth aboveground. At that point you can resume fertilizing, water normally (continuing to use the tell), and get it back into the sunlight.

Hi all. I'm in Fort Worth Texas and just purchased two small FLF. One to keep and one for a gift. They are in 6 in. nursery pots. I'll try to post pictures. The gift one seems ok. I'm going to pass Al's soil recommendation and care along with plant.

The one I'm keeping seems older and is pruned as a tree, no lower leaves and one trunk. (Forgive my lack of correct terms). The pot was extremely light weight with roots coming out the top and bottom. I watered throughly and put in an East facing window. After I watered it really perked up ( I didn't know it was droopy, so it surprised me!). My question is, should I pot up (learned that term on this forum!) since it seems root bound and needs to make it through winter? Or repot? Or do nothing-which seems neglectful?

I bought an 8 in. nursery type pot but it seems huge compared to what it's in.

I live in a tiny condo without any outside storage so soil components may be an issue...I do have cactus and orchid (seems like lots of pine bark) potting soil.

Thanks for insight. It being August is throwing me on repot/potting up.

Cindy

I would repot. Don't pot up as that could cause more issues with an already routbound plant.

Its late in the season, but the plant looks healthy enough to handle it.

I'd go with Al's 5:1:1 mix. Do a full bare root and untangle and prune any problematic roots.

Keep the roots wet during the entire process and water thoroughly right after the repot.

I think this year pot up is better. Pot up only giving better room to expand. Use more dense soil to increase stability, nutriens uptake, and cover rootzone from freezing air during winter. It's retain humidity longer and plant's normal metabolism able to remove excess water.

Next year you can do root pruning and repoting. On root pruning, most of root hairs will be gone, so plant unable to lift excess water up during transpiration. On that situation, you better use better drainage soil mix. Al's mix for example. Better drainage soil will keep soil moist, not wet, so it will make your tree easier to form root hair without rotting.

Potting up with all of the circling roots will not give the tree any room to expand.

Either leave it until next year or repot. Potting up with do no good at all.

Thanks for both of ya'lls input. I think I'll go with the repot-makes more sense to me. Not sure what problematic roots will look like but am thinking (not assuming :) that any big giant roots or ones heading back towards the middle. I saw some pictures of Al's bare roots...kinda scary to go that far but I'll do what seems best keeping it wet the whole time.

I've only had it two days and it may take a day or two to gather soil items. Thinking a week or so of acclimation to new location might be good before I attempt root surgery. Any thoughts of orchid mix for pine mulch? It states "processed forest products." Probably not, huh? Could I use cactus mix as peat? Or MG? I have those.

Thanks!

Oops...should I put it back in 6 in. pot or move it into 8 inch? Thanks.

The current pot should be fine after you root prune. Be ready to start fertilizing with something like Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro, which has a perfect NPK ratio for your ficus as well as a comprehensive list of other nutrients that plants need. Keep the plant out of direct sun for a while after repotting, and start fertilizing and put it back in bright direct light after you see new growth.

According to Al, the first time youprune the roots you should "saw the bottom 1/3 of the root mass off, then correct the problem roots (encircling, girdling, j-hooked roots, roots growing back toward the center of the root mass, and roots growing upward). Next repot, remove any roots growing straight or almost straight downward. The ideal situation is to have a fairly flat system of large roots near the top of the pot radiating horizontally from the trunk, and lots of increasingly smaller roots radiating off the larger roots near the surface that serve as anchors and plumbing." (my emphasis)

That's a nice plant. Good luck!

That's great, I bet that made you smile! If the dead stem pulls out fairly easily, that's what I'd do. If it doesn't, then maybe it's not 100% dead so you could just cut the dead parts back and see what happens. The risk is it rots and affects the other stems, but that's not so likely in your new soil. Ideally it'll dry and shrivel up so you can ease it out. I'd be loathe to disturb the whole plant again!

Don't stress, just enjoy! Did you put any slow release fert in your soil mix? Or use a potting mix with some in it as your peat portion? Now that you're seeing leaf growth (which means the roots have re-established so your plant can now direct energy to leaves, a good sign) you can fertilise.

Get on to that now if there's none in your soil. Use a liquid you can use when you water eg. Dynagro FP. There's no rush if your soil already has a granular slow release in it, but many people still use a liquid fert as well, when there's growth. Just ask if you're not sure :)

Excellent. You're on to it :)

Question for ya'll. I got two fiddle leaf figs a few weeks ago. The little one looks great. The big one is leaning and I thought it would straighten out from the sun but it hasn't. I was gonna leave them alone till next year since it's late in the season but the one leaning is bothering me (OCD). I just bought some gritty mix and plan to buy some foliage pro 9-3-6. I don't wanna size up (unless suggested otherwise) I just wanna repot into better soil and set the plant up right. And since I'm doing the big one i might as well do the little one also, right? When you say to bare root it but keep it wet would I get a spray bottle and periodically spray the roots to keep them wet? Also when I bare root it how do I ensure that the gritty mix gets "all back up in the roots" when I repot. If that makes sense? Any videos you guys could link to help me visualize this? Should I trim the roots now or wait till next year? I'm open to suggestions. I really want to keep these babies alive as in the past I've killed succulents and this is my first plant ever owning. I'll attach photos of Shrek and Princess Fiona. Oh one more thing. On Shrek you can see some small growth at the bottom. Should I keep that? Thank you for any and all advice!

To correct the lean, could you lift the plant out of the pot and scrape some of the soil away from the sides so that you can put it back in straighter? Then put the loose soil back in to fill any gaps? Does that make sense? Probably a two person job. Less disturbance that way and you can save your repotting for a better time. No harm done if it's too rootbound for this - just slide it back into pot.

When you repot, do them one at a time, so you can learn from any stuff-ups (yes I'm speaking from experience...) If the first one goes well and looks good, do the second a couple weeks later. They're beautiful big trees!

Yep, they like to dry out down to the bottom, and then be watered thoroughly enough that some comes out the drainage holes. I water a bit, wait 10-15 minutes, then water again, to make sure the soil is wet properly. I've been using Dynagro FP almost every time I water, at a dilute rate in my watering water. About 1/4 tsp per gallon in winter, and will increase to maybe 1 tsp per gallon in summer. Every month or two I flush the soil with plain water, in the shower. Give the leaves a good rinse while I'm at it :)

Our water is roof-collected rainwater (we're rural) which makes it easy. City water is not always great for plants (the pH, hardness, fluoride and chlorine levels aren't always ideal) so you might want to check that. Not sure how sensitive FLFs are, but some people do avoid tap water.

When I say my "watering water" I just mean the water I water with. I don't water with plain water first then fertilise. I just water with dilute FP.

Thats 11 times I typed "water". Just in this reply ;) Make that 12.

Look up how to check soil moisture using a wooden dowel, if you haven't already.