My pregnant belly was the only bulging thing to hold me back from giddily jumping for joy the minute I wandered upon finding my long-awaited obsession of bringing home a Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree to nurture alongside my yet-to-pop newborn. I have been searching high and low at major gardening retailers during our trips to the city, but none to be found. And living in the mountains where Spring nights are still at or below freezing temperatures, shipping is yet to be a viable option.
But low and behold..my good 'ol local Wally World came through for this mama! I got to bring this baby home for additional nesting before my actual baby comes home! Yippeeeeeeeeeee! I knew it the instant I laid eyes on it that it was the beauteous ficus lyrata in the middle of the walkway as we approached it's hearty, elephant ears-like leaves that could be no mistaking it.
SAVINGS CAUGHT
I have been daydreaming for the longest time about raising an infant fiddle leaf fig tree to a looming six-foot towering canopy over our living room sofa with the simplistic slim-line trunk that branches out at the top with a foliage of bushy, dark green, forestry leaves. I was willing to even splurge a couple hundred on a mature tree if it came down to it, but my frugal ways could not justify spending so much on impulse, so I continued to do my research of where I could find the cheapest, local, or "just a drive to the city" option, and even considered raising a tiny starter tree to reach the ideal mature height over the years, if it meant catching those savings initially. I scoured my nearest IKEA in the city, but could not find these particular live plants in stock. Darn. Searched typical garden centers at Lowe's and Home Depot high and low during the warm season months when live plants should be at its optimal stock, but without luck. Darn. Well, I guess it was back to Pinteresting inspirational photos of the Mr. Ficus that I hoped to have of my own one day...
And that one day finally came! I found my three-foot ficus baby for $27, got a potting soil mix bag for $5, and reused a planter that I already had from my annual summer, outdoor geranium plantings. Can this mama get a whoop-whoop from a Wally-World's "savings-catcher"-like joy?!
GREEN THUMB-ING FICUS LYRATA CARE
GENERAL FICUS LYRATA CARE
SUNLIGHT: Indirect bright sunlight, place in a room with full-day, filtered sunlight
TEMPERATURE: Think of its native rain forest origins; still, warm conditions 68 degrees or so
SOIL: Rich & peaty well-draining soil. Re-pot in a wide and deep pot for adequate root growth
WATERING: Allow the soil to fully dry before watering again and water until it drains out into saucer to avoid root decay. About weekly or as soil dries out. Signs of over/under-watering include browning or wilted leaves. Watch out for pests too, although I have not had this issue.
TREE TRAINING
My vision for this houseplant is to have the one slim trunk with a bushy foliage of leaves branch out at the top, with an ideal mature height reaching six feet or so over the next few years of growth. I was ready to have at it, stripping away the leaves to mimic the bushy top. But, STOP! Hold your horses if you are aiming for the same look, there's actually something called training your tree and involves much more care and education than shaping the tree's actual growth than by merely stripping the leaves, hoping it will branch outwards. Without making specific cuts to the trunk to pave the way for branching out, the trunk will just continue to grow straight upwards with only leaves sprouting out along the way.
LEAF STRIPPING
Removing the leaves ideally serves the function of trimming off the unhealthy or dead leaves. This allows for the energy source to then flow towards the growth of the healthy leaves and trunk growth upwards. Less wasted energy, means the plant can thrive to grow upwards and outwards, forming new buds of life.
BRANCH OFFSHOOTS
In my research, I found really great information to train your ficus tree to grow branch offshoots. And nope, as I mistakenly thought, removing the leaves does not make room for branches to start growing out of the trunk. It has to be the actual tree trunk snipped to form these branches. I had an ah-ha! light bulb moment with that one! Makes sense. And in the case of branching out at the top for full foliage of leaves to bud off of those branches, it must be snipped at the top. You'll need to snip off the trunk area right below a set of leaves, it will begin to ooze with a milky substance that is normal and will eventually dry up, think of it like a cut that bleeds over and seals up to begin the healing process.
For my plant, I decided to cut about four leaves down from the top, reserving that stem of the top two leaves to hopefully grow roots to form another plant to eventually pot and raise to another tree. I then removed the lower leaves to have more energy output and to start looking like the tree I hope it to be. So far, I've had my plant for almost two weeks since the training cuts, stripping, and re-potting and my plant seems to be thriving with sturdy green leaves; no signs of branching out or any new leaf buds have yet to appear. As your tree grows, don't forget to brace it with the support of a stick gently tied to the trunk as a guide to grow straight.
Sit tight with me for the next few years as I keep you updated with the growth of my Mr. Ficus! I will keep you posted with any changes of growth and with the end result should I achieve the ideal looming canopy of my mature fiddle leaf fig tree. I will strive to nurture it so that it doesn't die while in my round-three-mommy-with-a-newborn-again, sleep-deprived care.
With LOVE. Always,
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