@adsin, please go to your profile and enter your location and USDA zone. Though you apparently grow your fiddles inside during the cold months, I see that you do get it/them outside in the spring. Correct? Simply knowing one's location can really help in diagnoses and treatment of problems. Yes, your plant is definitely root-bound. That being said I had my 25 yr. old fiddle leaf ficus in the same large pot for at least 10 yr., and you better believe that she was terribly root-bound. It didn't slow her down at all. What a root-bound fiddle needs the most of is far more watering than one that isn't root-bound. In my experience at least, and I've grown 100's of fiddles, that frequent thorough watering is critical. I can't tell you how you get that watering done, other than taking the plant(s) outside so that you can use a hose to water. I have always found that my fiddles were most happy and healthy when their potting soil stayed slightly moist. That's very difficult to do if you allow that root-ball to dry out. Those root-bound, root-balls have to be soaked and soaked and soaked to get them moist throughout. A brief watering simply runs straight through the root-ball without really moistening anything.
By the way, my 25 yr. old fiddle leaf never budded and certainly never bloomed. Now that I live in Vero Beach, FL, my fiddle is planted in the yard. I slowly acclimated her to full sun and that took about 4 mo. She'll now live outside as she should and ultimately grow into a really fine tree. She had 11 "trunks" when I planted her.
Here's the fiddle just planted in the yard in September. She's grown approximately 1 foot since then.
