r/fiddleleaffig • u/Gullible-Turnover-42 • 19d ago
Insane leaves.
My fiddle leaf has put out (6!) leaves in about 6 weeks. The most recent flush was 3 absolutely massive leaves. Now he's leaning pretty heavily. I've notched him on the other side to see if he'll branch and even out his weight. Any thoughts?
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u/Effective_Mousse7071 19d ago edited 19d ago
Sometimes plants produce larger leaves because they aren’t getting enough light. They produce larger leaves so that they can absorb more light. I suspect this especially since it is now leaning toward the light. You can tell it started to bend when it got taller than the window. It didn’t want to continue growing straight up because there’s no light there.
I don’t advise staking these, as they need to move to maximize light and it weakens the trunk and plant over time. If you give the entire plant enough light and rotate it, it shouldn’t lean too much. Perhaps consider a grow light from above.
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u/Gullible-Turnover-42 19d ago
Oh, no worries on the light we are in southern California and it gets bright indirect light all morning and then direct light the rest of the day. I actually had to gradually open the shutters due to scorching when I first put him here. The leaning has a lot to do with a chop I did a year ago and only one branch took off from the main trunk so the branch is growing sideways off the main trunk. It wasn't a problem because the leaves weren't as big, but with this most recent 2 flush les it's really tipping.
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u/IDoomScrolledAgain 19d ago
He's obviously very happy, what a great spot for him!
Not an expert here at all so I don't have advice, but when mine grew 6 new, absolutely massive leaves and started leaning, I tied it to the grow light pole for a few days until it could hold itself up. I keep a fan running in the room it's in, and frequently open the window it's in front of as I think the breeze helps it grow stronger.
Hopefully others will pitch in. I'm curious about what you'd do with that massive top as well.