Propagating a Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree – Part 2: Jungle Updates

This post is less about propagating a fiddle leaf fig tree and more about the updates of my – used to be all big and fluffy – fiddle leaf fig tree, Jungle. If you remember from my last post about Jungle, he had gotten root rot, so it was in really bad shape. Then, when we moved to our home (with its bad lighting), it had a hard time becoming healthy again. I tried propagating the dying leaves and branches, but my husky, Rilo, ate them all.

This is what Jungle used to look like when he was all healthy and fly.

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This is what Jungle looked like after I removed the damaged leaves and branches from it.

I intended to just leave the tree outside and not even worry about it anymore. If it was meant to come back it would, right? (Which is a pretty bad way to think about a plant. You gotta but the work in, girl!) But, a couple days after I wrote that initial propagating a fiddle leaf fig tree post, my sister gave me the idea to just cut the tree all the way down, which could give it a better chance to shake back, since it didn’t have to work so hard to get water and nutrients throughout the long branches.

I moved the now baby-sized tree to the front of my house and literally a week later I had some tiny leaves coming out.

And, now, it’s gotten about 16 leaves, some of them are over 4″ wide!

The leaves developed really fast outside, but the branch didn’t grow at all. I don’t know how soon I’ll get to see growth in height, but I’m hoping that’ll happen sooner than later. Right now, I’m basically trying to figure out if I should keep him outside, or if I should take a chance on our home by bringing him back inside. We are getting our recessed lighting installed this weekend, so I think it’ll be a bit more ideal for his growing situation. (More deets on the living room and lighting update coming soon.)

I know fiddle leaf figs are really tough to keep alive; I see people killing these trees all the time on Instagram. LOL. I’ll let you know what I’ve learned after bringing two different fiddle leaf figs back from the grave.

1. These trees NEED light. Find a nice, bright location and park them there.
2. Don’t move them around.
3. It’s best to underwater, than overwater.
4. Fiddle leaf figs CAN live outside, but try to keep them in bright spot that doesn’t get direct sunlight. Direct sun burns their leaves.
5. Remove ALL brown leaves and figure out what the problem is now. Don’t wait until later.

So, since Rilo was hating on my propagation of Jungle, this will be the last post of this series. I’ll share Jungle’s progress on Instagram, though, so make sure you’re following me there! Plus, I did get a new fiddle leaf fig tree, so make sure you follow me to keep up with the progress on that one.

Do you have a fiddle leaf fig tree? Share how you’ve been taking care of it below!

Till next time,