Hi,

I purchased a fiddle fig about 6 months ago. The tree was pretty mature when purchased. Since it was brought home, I have lost a good number of leaves. Mainly from the bottom. I believe it might be due to my watering routine. Sometimes shortly after I water Frank, a leave will start turning yellow, and then it will drop. I have been trying to figure out a good watering routine. As of now, I water the plant once every 3 weeks or so, and I water until water comes out the bottom of the planter. I was pretty sure the tree was dying a slow death, but around 2 months ago, 2 new leaves sprouted. I was happy. Since then, we lost more leaves and again, I thought Frank was dying. 2 days ago, I found a new leaf sprouting where the other 2 came from. That being said, I am confused. Is Frank dying, or is Frank somewhat happy? I continue to lose some leaves, but then new leaves appear. How can I help Frank regrow many of the lost leaves? Some of the branches are looking pretty bare. I am new to taking care of plants, but open to doing whatever it takes. I attached a bunch of pics.

Your Fiddle-leafed Fig is reacting to your not watering it enough. This is a plant that doesn't tolerate dryness well at all. It should be watered thoroughly so that all of the soil is completely saturated as soon as the surface of the soil feels dry. I would expect that would be about once per week. If it takes much longer than that, there is some other issue.

Make sure your tree is right in front of one of the windows and not tucked in the corner. The more light, the better. Of course, make sure the window is completely uncovered during the day.

Like most plants, when it is under stress (in this case from excessive dryness), the plant reacts by sacrificing some older leaves while pushing out new leaves. So it will continue to lose and gain leaves simultaneously until you provide more water. Then the number of older leaves dying should be reduced while healthy new growth continues.

I have been watering every 2 weeks, and have seen new growth (3 leaves) on one of the lower branches only. The taller branches continue to lose some of their lower leaves, but the loss of leaves has definitely slowed a lot. Will new leaves form where all the lower leaves dropped? I now have 3 tall branches where I have leaves on top, but the majority of the branch is empty... How do I fill those in? The tree looks pretty bare and sad. For the below pic, green is where the new growth is, and red is where we lost a good amount of leaves.

Some updated pictures...

I am surprised that it only needs water every two weeks. Are you letting the soil get dry below the surface? Is water collecting in the bottom of the pot and keeping the soil too wet? It may also be a sign that it is not getting enough light there. One window is partially covered and I don't know if the windowed doors go outside or into another room.

Do everything you can to keep the soil damp, but not wet and to improve the light as much as possible.

New leaf growth is almost always limited to the tip ends of stems so lost leaves are not replaced and additional branching is rare. So, prevention (good light and watering) is the best remedy. If you prune back a stem, new growth will then emerge starting at the point where you make the pruning cut.