Title image above is copyright © Peter from Nowra

First published 19th December 2024

Peter from Nowra (hi Peter, thank you so much!) emailed me this photo of his fiddle leaf fig, and I just stared in amazement.


Fiddle leaf fig in 38 L Air-Pot Container
copyright © Peter from Nowra

I said that that image would be burned in my brain for many many months to come, and asked if I could turn his email into a blog post to share with everyone else. He kindly granted permission, and please find his story below.

“Hi Kristi, sent a photo of our fiddle fig in an Air-Pot. It basically had two leaves about 18 months ago, repotted it in coir and perlite and it has done really well. I now put the base on the lowest level and have the pots in drip trays so roots can sit in the water and drink (I know I will get roots tangled in there but will prune them periodically).”

And in a follow-up email:

“Basically the fig had root rot from being overwatered in a pot I guess, hosed off all the old soil and used coco peat. It actually only had two stunted leaves. Now it is over 2 m and the growth this spring has been amazing.”

I hope you are rightly proud Peter, your fig is to die for!

Just while here, Peter raises a great point here about the container bases. The normal placement is three rows of cones from the bottom, which assists the root-pruning. However, there is no problem moving the base up or down wherever you wish for the result you are after.