Why does my fiddle-leaf fig have long bare stems and pale new leaves?

On a fiddle-leaf fig this shows as a long bare stretch of trunk below the leaves, a crown that looks small for the height of the plant, long gaps between the leaves on new growth, and new leaves that come out smaller and paler than the ones below. The plant leans towards the window.

The most likely cause is not enough light. The entry says this is a canopy tree, and that the usual reason one fails indoors is that it is too far from the glass. A plant in a corner two or three metres from the window holds its leaves for a while, makes none that are full size, and sheds the old ones from the bottom, which leaves the trunk bare.

To confirm it in a minute, measure the gap between two leaves on new growth and compare it with the gap on older growth. If the new gaps are longer, the plant is stretching. Check how far it stands from the window, and whether the nearest sheer curtain or a neighbouring plant takes the light away. The leaning is the plant's own give-away.

Two other causes are worth ruling out. Winter shortens the day, so a plant that was compact all summer and began stretching in autumn in a spot that has not changed is doing its best with half the light. Too much nitrogen is the other: soft, floppy, oversized pale growth on a plant that is fed often, rather than thin growth reaching in one direction. The entry asks for half strength monthly in the growing season and nothing in winter.

Growth that has already stretched does not shorten, so you judge the recovery by the next few leaves, which should come in closer together and darker once the light is better. Allow a growing season before you judge the change.

What this plant wants

The fix

Move it nearer the window and turn it a quarter turn each week. To fix an existing bare stem, cut the top off in spring and let it branch.

Read on

Long bare stems and pale new leaves

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.