@Tanko - Unless you removed ALL of the original soil (and that would probably kill the plant!), then the critters are probably still in there. It would have been better to take the plant back to the nursery. They should not be selling plants with infested soil.

All of those substances you were advised to put in the soil are not at all good for the plant. (That well-intentioned customer should be made to drink that mixture!).

I hope the new pot has a drain hole. If so, flush lots of plain water through the soil to wash away all that junk that you added. If your new pot has no drain hole, then I don't know how to advise you.

Otherwise, keep your FLF right in front of sunny window and water it thoroughly as soon as the top half-inch of soil feels dry.

@WillC Thanks for your insight. I went back to said nursery today and they were quite shocked at the natural remedy as well. The lady even thought that I was going to say that I used human urine to kill the bugs (I did NOT). I was advised to place the plant outside for a few days to let it dry out and to avoid any root rot. She also told me to keep her updated on the Plant so fingers crossed! Btw, I did purchase a terracotta pot with drain holes.

@Tanko - Apparently the nursery didn't address the issue of their selling plants in infested soil. That is where the problem started.

Moving the plant outside will not help and will cause further problems if exposed to direct outside sun or temps below 55 degrees F.

Your moving it to a pot with drain holes is a good idea as long as the pot is not too large. The soil in the root zone should not get dry. Root rot is rarely a problem with FLF's unless they are badly overpotted or allowed to sit in water for extended periods of time.

@WillC The nursery checked the soil of some of the other FLFs while I was there and nothing came up. They said they had to check because they get inspected regularly.

I did place the plant on a covered patio with indirect sunlight as advised. I also repotted from a roughly 10" pot to a 12" pot. The weather is fairly warm in Louisiana right now. It was 82 degrees yesterday :-)

If the plant doesn't survive, I am going to try my hand at propagating so I can attempt to control the soil and avoid pests as I am paranoid now.

Hey y'all

Lots of info here so thanks a lot!

I am a concerned FLF parent, I've also noticed the gnats. Was going to completely repot it but now I'm not so sure.
At the moment it's in the original plastic pot and soil but it's just sitting on a dish in a basket. I wanted to add some drainage rock things (like lava style rocks), but I don't want to kill it.
I've also moved it a few months back due to the winter drafts from the window (I'm in Atlantic Canada) it still gets tons of light but there are some brown spots forming.
Omg! Taking the pictures I noticed weird white little egg like things!!! Can you see them? What IS that??!

Any other info/advice is most welcome, thanks Greenies!

@KellySmith27 - The fungus gnats and the spider mites (visible in the last photo) were on the plant when you acquired it. Keep that in mind for any future plant purchases.

Don't repot or try to add stones or anything else to the soil. The fungus gnat larvae do live in the upper layer of the soil. The best antidote is to let the top half- inch to inch or so of the soil to dry out in between thorough waterings. The larvae need a lot of saturated soil to survive. Be patient but you should see a gradual decline in the gnats if you let the soil dry out a bit more.

Caveat: FLF's will develop brown spots if the soil gets too dry so don't go overboard in treating the gnat larvae. You might also try a product with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis ). It is safe to use and fairly effective in treating gnat larvae. The flying adults will die of old age after about a week, so the key is eradication the larvae in the soil.

To treat the tiny spider mites, mix a solution of plain water and a squirt of liquid dish soap and THOROUGHLY spray the entire plant until all leaf and stem surfaces are dripping wet. This is a messy task, but if you are really thorough in making direct contact with all of the mites, a single treatment is usually sufficient.

The more indoor sun, the better. FLF's are quite tolerant of cold indoor drafts.

That's great! I'll spray her down and keep my eye gnats thanks @WillC

Hi all!
New plant mom here.

I bought my first Fiddle Leaf Fern not too long ago but it isn't doing so well. I repotted it recently but haven't had time to go buy some soil so I didn't add any new soil yet or anything. It gets constant sunlight and I know it isn't being overwatered. When trying to find out why my plant hasn't been thriving I also found out it is infested mealy bugs. Are the dying leaves because of the bugs or am I having another issue? Also what is the best way to take care of mealy bugs?
Thanks in advance!

Just so I understand correctly, is it in a new pot with the root ball exposed?

Yes, is that bad? The yellowing of the leaves started before repotting. I repotted it like yesterday.

It could be an issue with watering ( @willc is good with FLFs indoors), but it would have been better IMO to leave it in the original pot before moving it to a new pot with no soil to put around the rootball. Those roots won't be moist consistently versus being wrapped in soil or a pot.

@willc, not sure if my first tag worked.

The roots seemed to me like they were overgrown in the plastic pot. They were circling around the pot like they had run out of room. My guess was that it was too small so the water wasn't really going throughout the roots very well.

Thanks for the alert, @Hamwild. Sorry about the delay but sometimes I have to work for $$ so I can pay my rent!

@hannahplant - I don't see any signs of mealybugs. Have you removed them or are they not showing in the photos? If there are mealybugs, they are not causing the leaves to die, but they do need to be treated.

Color reproductions are not always reliable, but other than the obvious yellow leaves, other leaves appear to be quite pale in color. Is that true or is it just the light in the photo?

This is a plant that does best when potbound. Put it back into the original nursery pot it came in or one of comparable size. The exposure of the rootball to the air will cause the soil to dry out very quickly. You may need to thoroughly soak the rootball once it is back in a pot in order to rewet it.

In general, FLF's do best in front of a sunny indoor window with lots of direct sun. The soil should be watered thoroughly as soon as the surface of the soil is dry unless you add soil to the surface of the original rootball, which is not a good idea. Try to keep the soil damp at all times.

I'm sure you have further questions....

@willc, could those be a type of spider mites? I do see something on that one leaf picture. Would that account for the color?

@Hamwild - I don't see the usual leaf mottling that spider mites cause. Which specific photo were you referencing? I will look again to be sure.

KellySmith27 said:

@willC There's little speckles all over this leaf. It looks like they're more concentrated around the ribs on the leaf. Could this be a pest?

@Hamwild - Yes, there are spider mites on that leaf. I was looking at the photos that @hannahplant had posted.

I scrolled up too far. One reason I dislike when folks post on another person's post. Nevermind then.

@Hamwild - No harm done!