Fiddle leaf fig leaves crunchy turning brown
Plant: Fiddle leaf fig (Ficus lyrata)
How long have you owned the plant? Less than 1 month
Plant Parent
The leaves are becoming crunchy and browning.
The overall plant:
Light situation: only indirect light – the sun never shines directly on the plant.
How do you determine WHEN to water? I follow the schedule I was told/researched for this plant – when the soil is no longer moist 2 inches deep.
Describe HOW you water: I fully soak the soil, letting excess water drain away.
Other info: I put a small humidifier beside it recently.
Fertilizer: I’ve always used Miracle Gro tropical mix.
Darryl
Thanks for the photos and care details.
Since your plant has recently moved from the nursery/shop to your space, it will go through several weeks of adjustment due to the new environment. Specifically, much lower light levels – although you have large, floor-to-ceiling windows, the balcony overhang significantly reduces the total visible sky available to your plant. With a light meter, I could tell you this would not be above 200 FC – and according to my chart of light requirements by plant, a fiddle leaf fig won’t grow well unless the indirect light levels are above 400 FC most of the day. A few hours of direct sun would have also been great but perhaps your side of the building does not see the sun.
Your watering and fertilizing practices are fine but the reality is the total number of leaves on a plant will be dictated by the amount of light it receives each day. The plant you bought, with that many leaves, is a result of nursery level lighting – which is 2000 – 5000 FC most of the day. So now that your plant has significantly less light, it will inevitably lose the lower leaves until the total number of leaves can be supported by its current light situation.
If you really want to keep this fiddle leaf as lush as possible, I suggest you get a grow light: I used the Miracle LED Bulb in a standard desk lamp fixture and placed it at a distance such that the top leaf was seeing 800 FC – and kept the light on for 14 hours a day:
Even though this is beside a large window (without an overhang), I was measuring the indirect light only the in the 200-400 FC range so I decided to use the grow light to get the light levels close to 800 FC to ensure the plant would grow well – and it did!
This is why knowing how to use a light meter is so critical: you can’t just point a grow light at a plant and hope for the best…you need to measure the light and compare it to known values for good growth.
But notice on the floor: leaves have a limited lifespan – I still lost the lower leaves along the stem from time to time. That’s to be expected!
More great resources to level-up your houseplant game:
- Read my books: ‘The New Plant Parent‘ and ‘The New Plant Collector‘
- Take my online course: Essentials of Houseplant Enjoyment
- More detailed houseplant Q&As
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