Halp! I’ve had this FLF for 4 years. Once upon a time, when I lived in a south facing apartment, she was absolutely thriving. But then COVID happened and for various reasons I had to leave her in the care of my roommate. They did not get along, and I feel like we have been desperately trying to get back in synch ever since.
Lately she’s been hemorrhaging lower leaves. A new one falls at least every week. There was a recent growth spurt on the top two trunks, but as you can see the leaves are small and misshapen. 3rd/bottom trunk has not put out new growth in well over a year
Current influencing factors:
North Facing windows, supplementing with Sansi 36W grow bulb. we’ve been in this apartment with this placement for 7mo now
Grow light is typically on from about 6a to 7pm, but I occasionally turn it off during the day when the brightness is personally inconvenient
using Jacks 20-20-20 fertilizer every other watering cycle during the growing season
“braided” and staked the trunks over a year ago to help ease the visual pain of the barren branches..
moisture meter was added yesterday (when I soaked & fertilized) to get an idea of how we’re actually doing instead of basing it on leaf drooping/weekly watering schedule, it’s about 2-3” into the soil, and already indicating that it’s dry, as you can see
I have not been rotating the plant.. simply because it looks weird shrug
I don’t have any humidity control and live in a very dry climate, however using a humidifier is unfortunately not feasible where the plant is located and there is nowhere else to put it in this apartment (I’m in a studio, all space accounted for)
I recently started using an AC, which is located in the kitchen with a fan to direct air into the living space, but doesn’t directly hit the FLF
….I think that’s all of the potentially relevant information. It’s a damn good thing they’re pretty because lawd am I tired. As many of us do, I’m wondering if it’s time to throw in the towel and get a rubber tree or a regular ole ficus. But I’ve put sooo much effort into trying to get her healthy it’s hard to jump ship.
I just dream of a pretty, tall, bushy and branching fiddle in that corner, is it possible??
by gracie__strange