That's actually called "ground-rooting" and has been used forever. For those plants than can be anchored in such a way, it is still a great way to root. Perhaps because my fiddle leaf is never in the sun, other than early morning or very late afternoon, I don't have the algae problem. I live in the deep south (Mississippi), and we certainly have heat in the spring/summer/fall and humidity all year long. I take a foot from my "mother" fiddle leaf ficus (25 + years old) both spring and late summer just to keep her at no more than 7' tall. I air-layer to do my "trimming" and have produced many dozen plants over the years.
I just love SC and travel there when we play USC in football. I have also white-water rafted in the far northwestern corner (GA on one side of the river and SC on the other) several times.
