My entry way plan is coming together, slowly but surely. After scouring all the local garden shops, the home depot, and even ordering a baby fiddle leaf fig online (who arrived dead), I finally came across my new favorite plant this weekend on a quick trip to Ikea!! I totally love it, duh. It was only $12.99, so much more reasonable than the $275 tree I saw at my local garden center. Thank you for being so cool and inexpensive Ikea!
Needless to say, I’ve spent a good amount of time reading up on how to take care of it, and prune it, and water it. They are sensitive little beasts but I’m ready to give it the love it deserves. If you have experience with a fiddle leaf fig, and have some hot tips you’d like to share, I’ll happily take them.
As you can see from the first pic I didn’t stop and grab a nice planter for the fig tree. Here’s a few favorites that I have my eye on. I’d like to find the perfect planter for not-a-lota-chedda’ (it’s still cool to say that, right?). A few of the these are pretty expensive (although, I am sure extremely worth it).
| Modern Black & White Planters
1 2 3 4 |
Fun!!! I usually only see tropicals and cacti at IKEA. What else did you see in the plant section?
Hi Shaylyn! I was pulled in by the Fiddle Leaf tractor beam, I didn’t notice anything else around me. It was one of those moments where I could hear a chorus of angels in the background and everything but the fig tree was pulled out of focus.
Seriously though, I think it was just the usual ikea stuff, except for the FLF.
Omg i totally understand. I just went to a local nursery and they had small ones for only $8. I got one and a monstera deliciosa which was super cheap too. I’m thinking about going back to get the only other one that was left.
Well it’s good to know they switch it up every once in a while. I know out east, friends have found topiaries and other ornamentals different from what we get in the great midwest- Here’s to hoping!
Congrats! I named my FLF ‘Freda’ and when she arrived she was tall and graceful and very lush. Then my Dad and Brother took her outside to give her a bath and left her in the scalding sun one hot day last summer and she still has yet to recover. She’s still alive and is doing OK but has lots of leaves with sun scorch. So my advice is don’t water more than once a week…and keep out of the blazing sun. Also, never leave your father and brother in your house unattended.
Freda and I wish you and your FLF a very long and happy life! :)
I like that you name yours Freda… Mine is definitely a girl, we will have to see about names.
I’m already scared of not putting her in direct light or too close to drafts or dry heat. That seems to be just about every place in my house, so I hope I can find a good home for her. Good tip on watering just once a week, that’s something I can keep track of.
I totally lol’d at your father and bro-in-law comment. Not to be trusted.
Totally going to get one tonite!! I’ve been wanting one for AGES and could find one at a reasonable price. That’s awesome you found it at IKEA!
Janelle!
Yeah go! There were 4 yesterday when I was there around 1pm. I just checked the IKEA website, and it said “Most Likely In Stock”.
Good luck!
PS, it’s nice and warm out today so you won’t have to worry too much about getting it home safely.
*couldn’t find one*
PS. Totally love that your text font uses ligatures!
If your leaves start to look bronzed and fall off, you probably have spider mites. Mine lost 90% of it’s leaves before I figured that out. I kept reading that they were testy about water, and was convinced I was either over or under watering it. Also, I’d maybe use a planter that will make it easy to see when the water starts running through so you don’t end up over watering it. I read somewhere too that you should use cactus soil. If mine lives until spring, I’m going to try re-potting it.
Oh, this is good to know. Sorry yours took such a beating from the spider mites. Do you know where they come from? I will heed your advice on the planter, and try to find a pot with drainage. Thanks for the tips! Hope yours makes a full recovery!!
I’ve had spider mites wreck havoc with my pepper plants. I’ll put them in the shower, spray them down with some diluted Dr. Bronners soap, and then give them a super good rinse-
I just got back from Ikea with two fiddle fig trees :) I’m reading up online about how to care for them and discovered your site. Just curious, how are yours doing? Are they growing at a good speed? Some of my leaves are torn, so I may prune them off. I also need to get two nice planters but don’t want to spend a lot. What did you decide upon for yours? Looking forward to hearing (hopefully!) that your plant is still alive and well! Would also love to hear any care tips you’ve learned along the way.
Thanks!
One more question….I just noticed that there seems to be two plants in each potter. Did yours come that way, too? Did you separate them when re-potting or keep them together?
Thanks again!
Hey Nicole! Isn’t it such a good deal??? I am no expert, but I have managed to make my grow (after almost killing it too). First things first. I purchased mine on a warm day in February, it was like 40º and I didn’t feel like I had far to go from my ikea to my car and then from my car to home. It was either this cold weather or where I placed the tree in my house that made it’s leaves fall off for weeks after bringing it home. I put the tree in my entry way and it’s leaves started to slowly turn black from the outside in and then fall off. I let about 10 of them fall off before I started to get scared. In a panic I moved the tree up to the sunniest room in the house (our back sun porch) and within weeks it started growing new leaves at a crazy fast pace. It’s probably grown a foot since then and continues to thrive. I still don’t know if it was the location in our house or it’s quick introduction to a Minnesota winter that made it’s leaves turn black. I’m afraid to find out by moving it back to the old location since it’s doing so well upstairs.
The one trick I’ve learned is that they like being watered about once a week. I wait until the leaves start to go a little limp, and then give it a big dose of water. Make sure your pot has drainage too. My plant seems very happy with this method of watering, usually it gets watered about once every 5-6 days.
I haven’t split it yet, and I just purchased another more tree like single stalk plant. I am scared to split my ikea plant, as I’ve heard that they have a hard time adjusting to being repotted. Maybe further on down the road when I feel it’s more stable I’ll give it a whirl. I’ll take a before and after picture in the next day or two and post it here so you can see it’s progress. Hope that I was able to help.
Thank you so much for the response! I still have my two plants in the ugly, black plastic pots they came in and haven’t done anything with them yet. My plants aren’t very tall (too short to place them on the floor – I think), so I’m not too sure where I want to display them in my home. The soil seems moist so I haven’t watered them yet either. A couple of my leaves came ripped. Did any of yours? If so, did you cut them off or just leave them as is?
One more question….I just noticed that there seems to be two plants in each potter. Did yours come that way, too? Did you separate them when re-potting or keep them together?
Thanks again!
I had two fiddle leaf plants.one is doing fine but sometimes I see brown spots.i trim it. The other one small I’m having problems.i see bug and little worms I have not change or repotted yet cause I read they are very sensitive.i wait till cools down. Any suggestions why I had this problems.please advice