AGONY PLANT ISSUE #4

Fussy ficus? Difficult Dieffenbachia? Agony Plant is here for you.

Fiddle leaf figs are a firm favourite amongst the G&T crowd, but they're not without their struggles and can be one the fussier of the houseplant crew. In this instalment of the Agony Plant, we tackle one of these foibles:

Help! My fiddle leaf fig is putting out new leaves and seems overall very healthy, but the new leaves have little red veins and splotches on them, is there something wrong?

If you're a proud fiddle leaf fig parent, you should be seeing a bit of new growth about now, and if you spot some red marks on the leaves it can be quite worrying, especially when you can't see it on any old leaves.

These markings might be few and far between, in patches or completely covering the leaf - however they appear they are a sign of what we call 'edema' - basically bruising on the leaf.

This is caused by moisture stress, most usually from overwatering (an easy mistake to make in sunny, warm weather). The plant takes up more water than it can use and this causes the cells to burst, leaving you with little red bruises.

The good news is, it won't kill your plant (not straight away at least) - ease up on your watering and you'll be fine.

The red marks do mellow and sometimes even disappear completely as the leaf grows and darkens, so it's really nothing to worry about it.

REMEMBER! Always use the finger test before watering - stick your finger into the top couple of centimetres of soil, and if it's dry, water it, and if it's wet, don't!