An unhappy fiddle

by Craig
(Sydney, Australia )

Slightly yellow at the top

Slightly yellow at the top

I have had a fiddle tree for the last 5 months, lately it’s been a little unhappy, some leaves around the bottom have turned yellow and have fallen off. I’m now noticing a yellow hue on a couple of the top leaves. The plant lives indoors in the large warehouse apartment, we have these huge windows that face west meaning it gets a lot of afternoon sun, we occasionally have the air conditioning on in the afternoon to deal with the heat from the sun.

Comments for An unhappy fiddle

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Mar 22, 2020
 Aha!
by: Jacki Cammidge, Certified Horticulturist

So how close is this beauty to the air conditioning vent? I'm going to say that this could definitely be the cause of the yellowing.

The lower leaves falling off is most likely a seasonal drop, so unless it continues up the stem there's nothing you can do about that.

The yellowing of lower leaves is usually caused by the age of them. These will be the oldest, naturally.

Another issue is the hot sun shining through glass. No plant will be happy with this, least of all one that has probably been growing in fairly dim light. Ficus is not a full sun plant. They seem to be happiest in filtered sun (ie: through a light curtain) or grown a little ways back from the window.

All in all, that looks like a very healthy plant. I would watch it, move it away from air ducts, and maybe think about repotting it sometime soon. They do best being transplanted in springtime, and as you're just going into your autumn, this may have to wait.

Hope this helps!

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