How Often Should a Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree Be Watered

For people who love a little drama and want their indoor planter to be the center of everyone’s attention, no other house plant could be as perfect as the extremely beautiful Fiddle Lea f Fig tree.

While a smaller succulent or flowering plant has its appeal, the commanding and bold allure of an indoor potted Fiddle Leaf Fig tree can be almost impossible to look past.

This is primarily why the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree is a popular indoor plant for wide-open restaurants and spacious hotel lobbies that tend to look incomplete without a well-selected centerpiece attraction.

Apart from being the focal point of your living space, an indoor potted Fiddle Leaf Fig tree can offer multiple other benefits that significantly add to its overall appeal.

For instance, a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree can act as an excellent air purifier, can provide some essential shade from a large sun-facing skylight, and can create an overall calming and relaxing ambiance.

Moreover, another popular reason behind a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree’s global demand is its significant tolerance against varying external conditions.

Although a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree enjoys a fast growth rate and grows nearly ten feet tall when kept in its ideal conditions, it can still survive and retain its health for an extended period of poor care.

However, just because a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree can survive long periods of neglect, it does not mean that persistent or deliberate mistreatment will save the tall indoor planter from premature plant death.

As a matter of fact, if a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree’s watering requirements are not met as advised, the African plant will lose its visual appeal, shed off most of its leaves, and die way before its expected lifespan.

Hence, paying attention to its hydration is crucial if you want to keep enjoying the calming and breathable ambiance a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree tends to create.

Continue reading to learn about the African Fiddle Leaf Fig tree’s characteristic appeal and the essential watering requirements to maintain its health and visual allure.

Moreover, the article also highlights what happens when a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree is overwatered, underwatered, or kept in an environment that directly affects its hydration and well-being.

Finally, the article lists some excellent tips to help treat a poorly watered indoor Fiddle Leaf Fig tree, along with shedding light on some bonus points every Fiddle Leaf Fig owner needs to know about.

Let’s get started!

Table of Contents

Why Is the African Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree so Special?

Originating from Western Africa’s rainforests, the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree is a beautiful lush-green planter that can be planted outdoors or potted indoors.

Easily distinguished by its large, violin-shaped leaves, the deep green foliage of a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree can instantly add calmness and serenity to any landscape or room where it is placed.

With intensely pigmented leaves that are covered in veins and thick glossy cuticles, the way a Fiddle Leaf Fig plant branches out of its dark brown and thin trunk allows it to reflect a true but smaller African tree.

So, for people who want to bring a bit of the African continent to their homes while still keeping the overall mood chic and sophisticated, a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree is the only planter they need.

Moreover, another key reason for people, especially hotel owners, to choose the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree over other indoor trees is its fantastic height and size.

Usually, a well-kept Fiddle Leaf Fig tree will only take a couple of years to reach a whopping eight- to ten-foot-tall height, after which it will continue to grow its striking canopy sidewards.

Eventually, after nearly a decade, a healthy Fiddle Leaf Fig will fully take up an entire corner or center of the room, becoming the primary focal point and key feature all visitors will instantly be drawn towards.

However, no matter how appealing a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree can be, improper watering and persistent neglect will directly affect the African plant’s beauty and survivability.

How Often Should a Potted or Planted Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree be Watered?

Adapted to living and growing in the African wetlands, a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree will need proper hydration to grow, develop immunity, and survive the many challenges it might face during its life.

However, the amount of moisture provided to the African plant’s soil will greatly impact its health and well-being.

Ideally, a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree should be watered just enough to dampen its soil moderately. This means one should water their tall planter at least once or twice every five to seven days to keep the soil sufficiently moist and the plant properly hydrated.

However, the amount of water one needs to provide their Fiddle Leaf Fig tree will depend on where the planter is planted.

Outdoors

As mentioned above, a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree can survive outdoors and indoors.

However, since the outdoor atmospheric conditions are far less predictable or controllable than the indoor environment, your watering schedule should adjust accordingly.

Dry Weather

If the place you live is experiencing a regional dry spell, you must water your Fiddle Leaf Fig tree more than once a week.

Excessive diffusion can dehydrate the entire plant since the external dry conditions will cause water to diffuse from the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree’s leaves down a concentration gradient.

Rainy Season

Similarly, if you live where it rains a lot, watering the soil excessively every week may result in root rot and premature plant death.

Hence, if it rained a few days ago or is expected to rain soon, skip the previously practiced Fiddle Leaf Fig tree watering routine.

Hot Summers

Moreover, apart from water, the external temperature can also affect your Fiddle Leaf Fig tree’s hydration.

For instance, if the African plant is planted outside in the hot summer heat, its internal body temperature is bound to increase.

When this happens, the plant will have no choice but to transpire water from its leaves to cool down and survive the heat.

However, if the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree has to use this coping mechanism more than nature intended, it will get severely dehydrated from the water loss.

In such conditions, it is best to water your outdoor planted Fiddle Leaf Fig tree twice or thrice in a single week.

Indoors

Since the indoor atmospheric conditions of a house, a restaurant, or a hotel are relatively easier to control and change, people usually prefer to keep their Fiddle Leaf Fig trees potted inside.

By doing so, they can manage the temperature around their Fiddle Leaf Fig tree when summers get too hot or can provide it the much-needed warmth when the weather gets too cold.

However, just because keeping a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree potted indoors is relatively more manageable, one should not make the mistake of ignoring their planter’s changing needs.

Hot External Environment

For instance, if the skylight allows excess heat and light to reach your indoor potted Fiddle Leaf Fig tree, examine the leaf condition for signs of overheating.

If you suspect the plant is transpiring excessive water, water your indoor planter twice within that week.

High External Humidity

Moreover, since there is usually no airflow within a closed house environment, the chances of external humidity building up inside the house increase.

When the air is too humid, the soil of the indoor potted Fiddle Leaf Fig tree takes longer to dry out and retains more moisture than needed.

If you’re unaware of the humidity conditions, you might make the mistake of watering your plant when the soil is already damp.

Usually, that’s not a bad thing, but if you continue to do so, you end up in a situation where your plant will remain wet, and the soil won’t have a chance to dry up. This will waterlog the soil.

As a result, airborne fungal spores can easily settle and grow inside the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree’s wet soil.

If nothing is done about this, the growing fungus will take less than a few days to reproduce and spread to the indoor tree’s roots, causing them to rot and die.

As a result, the remaining roots cannot provide the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree with its required water intake, which causes severe and, at times, fatal dehydration.

Top Tips to Help Treat a Poorly Watered Indoor Potted Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree

If your indoor potted Fiddle Leaf Fig tree is suffering from excessive dryness or root rot caused by a fungal infection, follow the tips listed below to treat the plant:

If the soil is too wet, add a portion of dry and well-draining potting mix to the pot, and mix it in.
If water accumulates inside the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree’s pot, repot the plant into another container with a better drainage system and more abundant drainage holes.
If you suspect root rot, dig out your entire Fiddle Leaf Fig tree from the soil and wash its roots under water.

Use a pair of pruning shears to trim and cut off all decayed root matter, and hydrate the remaining roots to keep them fresh.
Follow the repotting by filling a larger pot with a new batch of well-drained potting mix and replanting your Fiddle Leaf Fig tree inside.
Moreover, invest in a humidifier if the external conditions are too dry. Similarly, if the conditions are too humid, invest in a better ventilation system.
Furthermore, if you forget to water your Fiddle Leaf Fig tree, set an alarm or mark your calendar to never miss a watering day again.
Finally, if you suspect any fungus or pests in the soil, add and mix in a natural fungicide or appropriate pesticide to save your African plant.

Final Thoughts

Although an indoor potted Fiddle Leaf Fig tree can demonstrate excellent resistance and resilience, persistent overwatering or underwatering can often result in the tall tree’s premature death. Hence, set an alarm to never miss a watering date or develop your African plant’s watering schedule according to the external temperature or humidity.