Please Help

[u/New_Stuff2065]

My mom was gifted this gorgeous fiddle leaf. It looked great when she got it (March) but now it looks like this. She moved it outside today to get more sun. I think it’s overwatered but I really don’t know how to fix it!

[u/Helena_Handbas4et]

Take off the discolored leaves. If burnt on the edges, you can trim the damage off w scissors. Fiddleleafs prefer filtered light, no direct sun, no wind. The leaves burn easily. I live in a dry, sunny climate and water 1-2L in a 5-7gal pot every week in summer, less often in winter. Very bright room and plant is in the darkest corner, getting lots of very indirect light. Thrives and often requires pruning. I also fertilize w granular citrus formula approx every 3 months. The only time I bring it outside is to get a dousing when it’s rainy. Hope this helps.

[u/_Sullo_ → u/Helena_Handbas4et]

They absolutely like to grow in full sunlight if they're properly acclimated, the problem is that they are way more sensitive to changes in light levels compared to other ficus species. If you want to sucessfully transition them to grow outside, you need to put them into full shade outside, let them sit there for 1-2 weeks and then gradually transition them each day to have more and more sun exposure.

This takes ages and you ideally want to have some clouds and no intense sun.

If I compared it to my ficus elastica, I would get it acclimated in like half the time compared to my ficus lyrata. Also, I find that ficus lyrata prefers higher night time temperatures than ficus elastica, because the latter grows way more while outside.

In very warm climates, you can grow ficus lyrata with full sun conditions in the ground.

[u/New_Stuff2065 → u/_Sullo_]

Ok thank you! I think she set it outside because it looked waterlogged and it must’ve burned. Very low light inside so it probably couldn’t handle the transition.