Hi all,

I've got a fiddle leaf fig plant that I've had for about two years. She's suddenly getting some brown spots and little yellowing on a few of the leaves and for the life of me I can't figure out what the exact issue is. I've dealt with the little red spots on the tip of the leaves before which turned out to mean I was underwatering which was easily corrected. But these are large brown spots and newfound yellowing, which I've tried to identify through plant apps and research. I'm still not sure if it's root rot, overwatering, improper sun, or some other disease. A couple of leaves have fallen and I'm still not sure if that's from age or from this issue. One was a tiny leaf town at the bottom and the other was closer to the middle of the stalk.

Can anyone tell? I'm especially curious because all of the brown spots are in places where those leaves are constantly in the shade due to the leaves above them. (In my living room the main source of sunshine is a skylight so the light comes from directly above and some leaves are in permanent shade because of the leaves over them, the spots are seemingly on those leaves.)

This plant also holds onto water for dear life, though I swear I chose a well draining soil and there's a drainage hole in the pot.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

boost!

Are you able to add a pic of the whole plant?

purpleinopp said: Are you able to add a pic of the whole plant?

Yes, sorry. I finally got around to taking a full photo.

The last leaf with browning on it has dropped off. If one more leaf dropped I think I'd officially call this plant sparse. But no more leaves are damaged. It barely grew this spring and summer though. Only two new leaves. It used to grow like crazy. :(

It looks very good to me. I think the loss of the older and lower leaves is just normal senescence as the trunk ages and lignifies.

It's probably growing slower because it has used-up any extra nutrients and root-space in the soil. You could fertilize and/or repot to a larger pot. Check the drainhole to make sure the roots haven't plugged its current hole. That would explain the wetness. If you do repot, don't remove any roots or soil. It will grow new roots into the new soil and being rootbound isn't a real problem for houseplants that won't be planted into the ground.

purpleinopp said: It looks very good to me. I think the loss of the older and lower leaves is just normal senescence as the trunk ages and lignifies.

Okay great! Some of the leaves that dropped were in the middle of the trunk instead of the bottom so that freaked me out a bit.

Thank you!