Appreciation post: the guy who saved my fiddle leaf fig from root rot

I overwatered my fiddle leaf fig for 3 months straight and the leaves started dropping like crazy. A random guy at the nursery told me to repot with perlite mixed in and now it's pushing out new growth. Has anyone else gotten stuck with a plant that just wouldn't bounce back until someone gave you the right fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevinallen3d ago

Man, I did the same thing with a snake plant of all things. You think a plant that thrives on neglect would be hard to kill but I managed to drown the poor thing in love, basically turned its pot into a swamp. Some kid at the hardware store saw me staring at the droopy mess and told me to chop off the mushy roots and let it dry out for a week before replanting in cactus mix. Figured I had nothing to lose so I tried it and now that plant is almost too big for its pot, which is somehow worse because I don't know what to do with all that growth.

sanchez.ivan3d ago

I gotta push back a little on the "thrives on neglect" thing lol. I think that's actually why people end up overwatering them. Like yeah they can handle being ignored for a bit but they still need water sometimes. The real issue is people see "low maintenance" and treat it like it's a plastic plant or something. It's still alive lol. Your hardware store kid gave you solid advice though. That root rot recovery trick is basically magic for snake plants. I had one that was totally mush from overwatering, did the same thing you did, and now it's pushing out pups like crazy. Its about finding that middle ground between caring too much and not caring at all.

tessap973d ago

Right, because apparently you can't love a plant to death, just to mush.