Hi all -- I bought this fiddle leaf fig from Home Depot about a month back. Granted when I bought the tree it wasn't in the best condition (brown tips and some physical damage to leaves), but the plant seems to be looking better since. The issue is now I am starting to see brown (dry/brittle) spots along the edges. No leaves have fallen off the plant. I typically water once every 10-12 days if the top inch is dry. I am also seeing tiny brown dots on some of the leaves (not sure what it is). Any advice on how to take care of the plant. Sits away from a window in an otherwise bright room which gets plenty of afternoon sun. located in nor thern california. thx

How long have you had the tree? When did you last repot? Full repot, as in removal of all old soil, bare rooting and root pruning. what type of soil? how often do you water? What do you use to tell it’s time to water again? from the photos, it looks to be in a spot that doesn’t receive enough light. Hense the leggy growth. These are full sun loving trees naturally, so give it as much light as you can. Right up in front of a south facing window that’s unobstructed would be best. this is a good link to help understand Ficus trees. The main focus is on Ficus Benjamina, but your Ficus Lyrata (Fiddle Leaf Fig) has the exact same cultural needs. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1476078/ficus-trees-in-containers-iv?n=223

If soil is still soggy, remove root/soil mass from pot and set it on a stack of newspaper for an hour or so. Towels or paper bags work, too. Then, get your watering under tight control - only water when the plant clearly needs water. Use a wooden dowel rod sharpened in a pencil sharpener as a "tell". Stick it deep into the soil and "read" it. Water when it is nearly dry when it comes out. Leaves of FLF are known for their foliage not returning to original spatial positions after a bout of wilt. If they don't, and you don't like how it looks - no problem pruning. It will likely force new branching behind the pruning cut. Al

Given what you said about the soil, if the plant doesn't already have root rot, it's a prime candidate. I'm a firm believer in not repotting in fall, winter, early spring because it takes the plant so long to recover and it's extra vulnerable during the recovery; but, this might be a case where it's essential to bite the bullet and repot anyway. A repot is much more extensive than potting up, and includes bare-rooting, inspection of the roots and pruning back all dead or rotted roots (in this case, correcting root issues, and transplanting the planting into an appropriate medium. IMO, it's difficult to argue against setting the bar for what is/isn't a good soil high enough that you can water your plant correctly (to beyond the point of complete saturation so you're flushing accumulating salts and carbonates from the soil as you water); this, w/o your plant having to sacrifice a measure of its vitality because the soil remains saturated for a prolonged interval after watering, which is what brought you here in the first place. In order for a plant to grow, the food/energy (sugar/carbohydrate) it manufactures during photosynthesis must be greater than the amount of food/energy used during respiration. If it isn't, the plant will die unless the trend is reversed - just as a human must take in at least enough calories to replace those burned if life is to be sustained over the long haul. There are other ways of approaching the issue, such as increasing pot depth and using ballast to rid the medium of excess water, but that won't resolve the compaction/lack of aeration issue that usually accompanies use of any significant fraction of mineral soils in container media. How much effort are you willing to invest to reverse the plant's course? Al