Why does my fiddle-leaf fig have leaves falling off?

On a fiddle-leaf fig this is green leaves falling, often the lower ones first and sometimes several in a week. They fall while still green, or with a dark patch, rather than going yellow and papery first, and the stem above is left bare.

The most likely cause is change. The entry puts it as a move to a new room, a draught from a door or a swing in temperature, and the Royal Horticultural Society lists overwatering, low winter temperatures, low light, too much fertiliser and cold draughts as the reasons ornamental figs shed leaves. This is a canopy tree that has no experience of being carried between rooms, so a move to a new spot, a repot, the heating coming on or a window left open can all start it. The entry notes it sulks for a month after a repot, dropping a leaf or two, and that is normal.

To confirm it in a minute, ask what changed in the last fortnight. Was the pot moved, repotted, put near a vent or an outside door, or did the heating come on? Stand where the plant stands and feel for a draught.

Two other causes are worth ruling out. Water at either extreme: push a finger into the compost to 4 or 5 cm, and a sodden pot or a bone dry pot both drop leaves, as the NC State plant toolbox says. Light is the other. A plant two or three metres from the glass holds its leaves for a while, makes no new ones and then drops old ones from the bottom, as the entry describes.

Leaf drop does not stop the moment the cause is removed. A plant adjusting to new light or temperature sheds what it cannot support, and then stops, so allow some weeks for it to settle, and treat the first new leaf as the proof that it has.

What this plant wants

The fix

Settle it in one place with steady light and warmth and leave it there. New leaves come once conditions stop changing.

Read on

Leaves falling off

The same sign on any plant, with the causes in the order they are likely.

Fiddle-leaf fig care

Light, water, feeding, repotting and the rest of the entry.

Check it in the diagnoser

Opens with the plant, the part and the sign already chosen.