Fiddle Leaf Fif Tree Holes in old leaves

Hi,

I have had my fiddle leaf fig since January 15 and it seems to be going well. It has grown around 4 or 5 new leaves since i bought her. The new growth looks beautiful with big green glossy leaves.

The older leaves towards the base have just started to get a fee small holes in the leaves and wanted to check it out now rather than it wait until it got worse - see image 3 & 4

The plant is in a smallish pot that i bought it in. Next spring (September) i was going to re-pot it in a larger pot

I water the plant every 2 weeks. I sit it in the sink and fill the bowl up and let it sit for an hour or so. Then leave it in the sink to completely drain for a few hours before moving it back into the living room. It sits by the window and doesn't get direct sunlight.

Around the end of summer (February) i gave it some slow release fertilizer.

I can not see any bugs on the plant .

Image 1 = the new foalage
Image 2 = showing a healthy plant (i think?)
Image 3 = Holes in leaves
Image 4 = Small hole in bottom leaves
Image 5 = Overall plant sitting in its 'spot'

Thank you in advance.

Monique

I wouldn't worry too much about the holes. It's not a disease or result of poor cultural conditions. It looks like mechanical injury or the feeding site of a passing plant-eating insect.

Water the plant on an 'as needed' basis instead of on a schedule. Use a sharpened dowel rod or bamboo skewer stuck deep into the pot as your 'tell'. If it comes out damp or dirty, don't water. Fertilize regularly while the plant is growing well. Fertilizers with 3:1:2 RATIOS are very good for houseplants. Examples of 3:1:2 ratios would be 24-8-16, 12-4-8, 9-3-6, ...... Repot your plant at the summer solstice, around Mid-December. Repotting is different than potting up. Repotting doesn't have inherent limitations, potting up does. Your plant likes lots of direct sun, but would appreciate some protection from midday sun if you summer it outdoors.

Al

Thank you Al,

I have found a piece of dowel so will use that. When you said fertilizer 3:1:2. What do you mean? 3 parts what to 1 part what to 2 part? I understand the ratio but don't know why there is three measurements. Fertilizer to water to ?

Also what is the difference between repotting and potting up.

Sorry for my stupid questions. I am not a green thumb...haha

All fertilizer are labeled with 3 numbers. These are the elements plants use the most of, the macro elements.
The first number is nitrogen.
The second number is phosphorus.
The third number is potassium.

When you read the details you may find the nitrogen comes from several sources (Ammonia related, nitrate compounds or urea). Each of these behave a bit differently so some nitrogen is available right away, and some takes a little longer to become available.

Some fertilizers also have trace minerals, especially iron, at much lower rates than the macro elements. These might also be called micros.

Some fertilizers have secondary elements. These are minerals that plants use at an in-between rate. Less than N, P or K, but more than the micros. These are elements like calcium, magnesium and a few others.
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Read the label on the fertilizer to see how to apply it. The company wants you to buy more fertilizer so they will try to get you to apply as much as possible without hurting the plant, so you will use it up and have to go buy more. The fastest growing plants probably do use the fertilizer at this rate. I do not think that most figs are that fast growing. See what tapla says, but perhaps use the fertilizer at a lower dose than the label suggests.

Potting up is moving the plant to a new pot, larger than it is in. The best time is right before the plant starts a growth spurt. Tapla can tell you the optimum time.

Repotting is removing the plant from its current pot, scraping off the old soil (probably not all of it, don't damage the roots), doing some root pruning if needed, then putting the plant back into the same pot, or the same size pot, with new soil.

Do a search for more posts by tapla, usually in answer to other questions about Ficus species.

For example, here is a thread about Ficus benjamina:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/637118/#b

Retro - A fertilizer's ratio is different than its NPK %s. 10-10-10, 12-12-12, and 20-20-20 are all 1:1:1 ratios. 30-10-10 is a 3:1:1 ratio, and 24-8-16, 12-4-8, and 9-3-6, are all popular 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers. The NPK %s determine the fertilizers RATIO, which is the primary consideration when making a fertilizer choice. Plants use about 6X as much N as P, and about 3/5 as much K as N. 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers furnish nutrients in almost exactly the ratio at which the average plant uses them, which is a distinct advantage. Plus, note what Diane said. I use Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 as my "go to" fertilizer because it has ALL the essential elements in a ratio the plant favors and it doesn't get its N from urea, which tends to make houseplants get lanky and lose their compactness.

You should find this thread to be helpful:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1136338/?hl=

Al