Vent: Dropped $80 on a fancy grow light for my fiddle leaf fig and it's still dropping leaves

I saw all these posts about how the right light would fix everything, so I got a specific full spectrum panel. It's been about two months now, and the new growth is still tiny and pale. I'm starting to think the issue was the drafty window all along, not the light itself. Anyone have a good trick for figuring out the real problem before you spend more cash?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_carter1526d ago

My fiddle leaf did the same thing last winter, I mean I moved it away from the vent and the leaf drop stopped in like a week. The incense trick is good, but honestly just run your hand around the leaves and feel for any cool air movement. Those things hate change more than anything, so if the light made it dry out faster and you're watering on an old schedule, that's a double hit. I'd fix the draft first and then check if the soil is bone dry before you water again.

abby6751mo ago

My cousin's a landscaper and she told me once that drafts can drop the temp around a plant by like 10 degrees, which totally shocks them. Those fiddle leaf figs are so picky about that. I saw a video where someone used a cheap incense stick to check for air flow, you just watch the smoke near the plant. Honestly, it might be a watering thing too, the light change could have messed with how fast the soil dries out.

masonb421mo ago

Honestly, the incense trick is a solid cheap test. But before you do that, have you checked the soil moisture way more often since adding the light? I made that mistake once, the extra light made the soil dry out faster than I was used to, so I was underwatering without even knowing.