Use a pair of clean and sharp cutters, or a razor if your FLF has a thinner trunk. When performing this method, you can perform two tactics. FLFs naturally grow larger and larger leaves higher up, which adds to their top-heavy nature. Whatever propagation mix you use, you want to make sure it’s: Heavy enough to hold water and support the cuttings, but light enough that it doesn’t hold as much water as a normal planting mix because the cuttings don’t have roots at first, and you don’t want them to rot.. The notching method is a method of forming new branches but not pruning them or not removing the height of the plant. Fiddle-leaf fig trees are the “it” houseplant that refuses to go away. One by one, big, fiddle-shaped leaves dropped to the floor. Other developed black and brown edges – never a good sign. Diagonal Cut Cut around 1/3 of the way across the trunk and around 1/3 deep, at an angle. I usually use 1/2 perlite and 1/2 peat moss mix just because I always have those soil amendments on hand. This can eventually lead to a leaning Fiddle Leaf Fig through the weight of their enormous leaves. It is also a good idea to fully re-pot your FLF (which means removing as much soil from the roots as you can, trimming and planting it … This method encourages your Fiddle Leaf Fig to form a branch on each part of the stem of the plant and focuses on the bottom. Notching works best on larger branches or stems. A lot of people don’t know if they’re under-watering or over-watering their plant —it can be confusing!—but your plant will really do a lot better if you err on the side of too little water. I don’t recommend you try that. I notched my ficus lyrata and cut off the top about a month ago and FINALLY have some progress to show. Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree Artificial Fiddle Leaf Fake Floor Plant Faux Ficus Lyrata in Woven Pot 28 Inch for Home Office Decor-1 Pack 4.0 out of 5 stars 14 1 offer from $37.99 NOT completely around the stem, just a small cut. If you try pinching and it doesn’t work, take it to your local nursery and ask for help. I recently bought a new FLF where one of the stems was bending under the weight of its new, large leaves. Fiddle Leaf Fig Notching. Sometimes, this sort of 'damage' will induce the stem to make a branch. If it were mine, I would make a small nick with a sharp knife about 4" above soil level. It needs to be wider than the petioles footprint, i.e., wider than the area covered by the leaf stems attachment point by 1/8-1/4", with 1/4" being preferred. Do this above a leaf node. It’s a lot of people asking for help. Do not remove any bark. This will give it more room to grow and get taller. Well, it wasn’t long before the fig started sulking. When your fiddle leaf fig’s soil starts to feel slightly dry to the touch, water it until the soil is moistened. Most notching fails because the grower isn't aggressive enough in creating the notch. Notching a Fiddle Leaf Fig may seem scary but it shouldn’t be! When your Fiddle Leaf Fig is looking too big for the pot it may be time to pot-up (aka move it to a larger pot). I also found this fiddle-leaf-fig support group on Facebook that you might want to join. If you only learn one thing about fiddle leaf fig care from this article, please don’t over-water your fiddle leaf fig. I tried misting it daily to increase humidity, but it didn’t work. Notching Your Fiddle Leaf Fig. Fiddle-leaf figs WANT to be trees and sometimes won't branch until they are much larger. There are over 10,000 people in this thing! 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