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You might be over-watering it. Does that planter have a drainage hole? If not, you might want to repot into one that does.

Fiddle leaf fig care can be tricky, so to make sure you don't over-water in the future, my best tip is to pick the right soil and to make sure it's in a planter with a drainage hole. I seriously used to be a notorious plant killer until I figured out the right soil combinations for my plants. For fiddle leaf figs, I like to use a 33%/33%/33% soil mixture of (1) Miracle Gro Moisture Control, (2) Miracle Grow Cactus, Palm & Citrus Mix, and (3) Miracle Gro (regular) Potting Mix. This just ensures that the fiddle leaf gets the right amount of moisture and drainage. I usually water once every week or two, depending on how dry the soil is. This is also a great fiddle leaf fertilizer.

I've been fighting them on my large Dracaena for over a year.

The 'cotton-swab with alochol' method will kill the ones you find, but if the plant is of any significant size, it's pretty unlikely you'll find all of them.

The best solution I found was to buy a bunch of insecticidal soap spray concentrate like this: https://www.amazon.com/Safers-Insecticidal-Soap-500mL-Concentrate/dp/B0002J9VAO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1540950829&sr=8-2&keywords=insecticidal+soap+concentrate&dpID=3163103GJ4L&preST=_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

And a larger spray bottle like this: https://www.amazon.com/Solo-418-Ergonomic-Gardening-Fertilizing/dp/B000BX4VXI/ref=sr_1_10?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1540950862&sr=1-10&keywords=pump+sprayer

Then mix up a bunch, and spray the plant down every two or three days, while occasionally rinsing it with regular water sprayings.

You'll need to do this for awhile because the eggs are not vulnerable to the spray, so you need to go through at least one entire lifecycle (probably a few to catch them all).

The reason you want to rinse with water occasionally is that otherwise the soap will accumulate on the plant, and after awhile the plant doesn't photosynthesize as well with the film all over it.

The method I described works best for plants that can tolerate a fair amount of spraying. Succulents and cacti will need to go with the alcohol swab method or you risk killing them by overwatering.

More pictures would be helpful, as it looks like a pretty healthy plant overall!

Chlorine/fluoride/salts would usually cause brown tips, not spots. I think it might be fungal or bacterial.

Get some neem oil and dilute 1 part to 9 parts water. Use cotton rounds to wipe all the leaves and keep track of the brown spots. In addition to being a 100% natural fungicide and pesticide, it also makes the leaves nice and shiny!

The roots should be white, thick and healthy. If they smell foul or are black, you have root rot.

I usually check my pothos every week, but end up thoroughly watering (to run off) every other week depending on the season and how much light they get.

Checking for pests is literally getting up close and personal with them. If you have a jeweler's loupe, use it (cannabis cultivators always have a loupe so forgive me for assuming everyone has such an odd thing). Spider mites, mealybugs, thrips, fungus gnats, and scale are house plant's most common enemies. Learn what they look like.


I always recommend that houseplant and cannabis gardeners keep spinosad (Saccharopolyspora spinosa) on hand as it is non-toxic, safe for consumable plants, and effective against aphids, caterpillars, leaf hoppers, leaf miners, mites, soft-bodied scale, thrips, etc. I also recommend an 8 week systemic to prevent most of the pests listed from coming back (spider mites excluded.) The systemic is only rated for non-consumable plants and will need to be reapplied every eight weeks.

I've had some concerned questions about the systemic's active ingredient and its toxicity. Imidacloprid is an
odorless analog of nicotine, a chemical used in the past for controlling aphids. Imidacloprid is of low
toxicity (used in flea collars) and is classified as a "reduced risk alternative
pesticide."

Your soil looks good, with perlite added to loosen the soil and allow air to circulate, but since it's a few years old, the nutrients may be leeched out. New soil (with perlite to keep it from compacting) would give the roots a boost. If you're going to water it a little every day, as another commenter suggested, add some Mosquito Bits to the top layer of soil to prevent fungus gnats (who love wet soil!)

Terra cotta pots suck the soil dry, I don't use them unless it's for succulents. I would repot this in fresh potting soil inside a different container with a drainage hole. If this guy's soil usually looks this dry, and if it's more than 5ft from a super bright-ass window it won't grow. Everyone severely underestimates how close plants have to be to a window. And no growth is a sure sign of underwatering. If it was getting enough water but not enough sunlight, it would grow, just weirdly.

If you want zero guessing involved, I would read up on what that plant likes and pick up a super cheap moisture and light meter like this one from Amazon. Has saved me a lot of trouble when I have to check if a big plant is dry or if the sunlight isn't strong enough.

You might need to figure out a different way to water it. Ideally, you water enough that water comes out the bottom, and you let it drain away so that the plant doesn't sit in water. This is easier to do with a little plant that you can easily put in the sink or something while it drains.

I'm not sure what kind of potting set-up you have, but for my big plants that I can't realistically move/lift every week I have an inner pot that sits within a larger decorative pot with a plant stand in between to create a space and airflow. I will get some sitting water from drip-out, but it's not a huge deal because the plant isn't sitting in it.

When I can, I bring a big shallow plastic container over to the plant (imagine the kind of thing made for under-bed storage), put a plant stand or baker's cooling rack into the container, put the plant on top, and water it generously. After it stops dripping it goes back into the outer pot. This keeps me from having to carry a big ol tree through my house.

Piggybacking off your comment since it's relevant...

It's possible to add drainage holes to just about any pot! A tile/glass drill bit like this one can be used even when the plant has already been potted (as a last ditch effort when the plant isn't strong enough yet). Just have to be super gentle with tipping it.

has there been any improvement over the past month? HERE is an article about proper care for your plant.

You stated that you only water when it seems dry but the article suggests once a week deep watering so that may be an issue. you also dont want to risk over watering so make sure your pot has good drainage at the bottom.

I highly suggest getting one of THESE and placing it in the pot to keep an eye one the light, water, and Ph levels.

I like to get them out of the pot, knock off what soil I can and gently squeeze the root ball at first, then use a pencil on smaller plants to kind of gently take out the roots, on larger plants I will use a small hand rake type of thing or something like this https://www.amazon.com/Mumusuki-Stainless-Tweezers-Farming-Ergonomical/dp/B07TX84BS3/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?keywords=bonsai+tools&qid=1569519652&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=bonsai&sr=1-5 but a pencil or chopstick is fine. Just take your time and go slow and try not to break too many roots

If you don’t already have one I would highly recommend a soil tester to measure how moist the soil is. I always thought “oh it’s been over a week it should be time to water again/top of the soil feels dry enough” and had fungus gnats on several plants! Now I can quickly test the soil before watering and am surprised at how moist the soil stays in my house. I’ve cut way back on how often I water and my plants are much happier!

This is the one I got

Thank you very much! I'm having difficulty finding sand in small quantities here (everything is in 50 lb bags) so do you think a gritty mix like this will be ok?

Mosquito Bits are little pieces of corn cob that are coated with the bacteria Bti, which is ultimately lethal to gnats and mosquitos but safe for humans, plants, and animals. Soak the pieces in water to extract the Bti into the water, then use that to water your plants.

Could be thrips. I battled thrips in my monstera for months, tried EVERYTHING. Then a nice lady working at my favorite nursery told me to try this: https://www.amazon.com/Bonide-Product-951-Systemic-Control/dp/B000BX1HKI

ONLY thing that has worked once and for all.

Mosquito Bits. Sprinkle them on the top of the soil or add them to the water you use to water your plants. By far the easiest way to deal with fungus gnats and a 30z container could last for years.

I bought this one and I really like it!

Good idea think that would connect with

Woods Clamp Lamp Light with Aluminum Reflector, 150W, UL Listed, 6- Foot Cord https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HHQ94C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_i32vCb5X5VPKN

I have this totally basic one, and it does the job.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FJTWK0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_zorIDb4K265WW

Also, if you think your plant might be overly wet right now, you can gently take it out of the pot so that the potting mix stays clumped together, and feel it. You can even blot it a bit by pressing with some paper towel and/or leave it out for a day or two to let air circulate and dry it out faster.

A systemic preventive. Like this

Bonide (BND951) - Systemic House... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BX1HKI?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I just grabbed one from HEB (Texas grocery store). I don’t think it was anything special, but this is it. https://www.amazon.com/Bonide-BND925-Bontone-Rooting-Fertilizer/dp/B000BX1HGC/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?keywords=rooting+hormone&qid=1573164274&sprefix=rooting+hor&sr=8-8 I’ve never had anything not root with it.

No tips on the yellowing but, as far as the fungus gnats go, I bought mosquito bits, let it sit in my watering can (with water, of course, overnight) and then used it to top water my plants and they went away. mosquito bits

I'm using this soil, water once every week or two when the soil is dry at the bottom, and live in a basement so they don't get direct sunlight. The smaller ones I have are fine, but the large ones a curling. Why?

Whoa like this? That is so cool!

I use this one. It’s actually $8 now.
yoyomax Soil Test Kit pH Moisture... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HP4FGYG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I just bought the one from this comment: I use this one. It’s actually $8 now. yoyomax Soil Test Kit pH Moisture... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HP4FGYG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I used this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Y08J3E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_x8b8CbAT8SCB2 and mixed more perlite in!

When I had a serious infestation going on I baked the soil in the oven, placed yellow sticky traps on the re-potted plants, and used https://www.amazon.com/Bonide-Product-951-Systemic-Control/dp/B000BX1HKI. It was def time intensive but it scaled back the amount of fungus gnats I was seeing to the occasional 1 or 2.

When I water it I mix a liquid fiddle leaf fig plant food with the water. I use this product: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BG98GQD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_mqduDb07X0Z58
Last time I watered it though I noticed the majority of water drained immediately from the pot. So I'm guessing barely any of the fertilizer was left in the soil.

Today I'm gonna get some worm castings delivered for my other plants, should I repot it and mix the soil with the with castings?

This

Bonide (BND95349) - Insect Control Systemic Granules, 0.22% Imidacloprid Insecticide (4 lb.) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BWZ9U8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1qsMDb3SP5RAR

This completely annihilated my fungus gnat problem, along with the yellow sticky butterflies. Brought them
Home with a Home Depot plant. Now I ALWAYS check for them, and usually will stop by the complex dumpster and completely uproot any plants I get from there and repot them immediately.

Edit: also, this worked really awesome and for a really long time. I applied in early summer and have never had another issue. Didn’t mess with any of my plants even a little.

I just threw out a an Xanadu philodendron with scale, I was too nervous of it spreading and it was not getting better.
I did use Neem on it several times and nada. I’m neeming everything now and bought this.

General Hydroponics GH2045 AzaMax, 4 Ounce https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0032JYKGG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_SUEtDb553WRHA

Ahhh! Makes my skin crawl. :( I ordered this:

Safer Brand 5110-6 Insect Killing Soap, 32 oz. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BQL8UY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_44oyCbE9KN2TW

on amazon just now. Should be here by Wednesday. I wish I lived somewhere warm where I can put all my plants outside. All of them are in my bedroom right now.

I took a clearer picture below! and no ants, just lots of small black bugs

Zoomed in pic of bugs

I tried using some home remedies like oil or soap and then bought Safer Brand Insect Killing Soap. I tried the insect killing soap 3-4 times, spread over a couple weeks, but no use.