Despite their incredible popularity among houseplant enthusiasts, Fiddle Leaf Figs (Ficus lyrata) are known to be a bit high maintenance. Because of their persnickety reputations, we all tend to worry over every little thing when it comes to our Figs at home. One persistent concern is whether or not Fiddle Leaf Figs should have hard or tough leaves and what exactly you should expect from a healthy fig tree?
Healthy growth on a Fiddle Leaf Fig should be glossy and pliable. Leaves may start thin but thicken over time, but if you find your leaves are hard, tough, or brittle, this may be a sign of abscission, a natural process of dropping older leaves, or it could be that your Fig Tree is underwatered.
As attentive caretakers of our houseplants, it is natural to question why our Fiddle Leaf Figs may have hard or brittle leaves. Like many other conditions, this could result from something totally normal and natural, or it could be a sign that something is wrong. Let’s dive in a little deeper to help clarify the difference.
What to Expect From Healthy Fiddle Leaf Fig Growth
When trying to diagnose a potential problem with your Fiddle Leaf, an excellent place to start is understanding what to expect from a happy, healthy plant performing at its best.
If a Fiddle Leaf Fig has all of its needs met and is in optimal growing conditions, you can expect to see lots of healthy, new growth developing. But what exactly does that look like?
Healthy growth on your fig tree starts as a new leaf emerges. This leaf will begin much smaller in size than more established leaves, but it will grow to the appropriate size over time. The new growth should be soft and pliable and often has a glossy shine right from the get-go.
As the leaf matures, you will notice that, in addition to growing longer and wider, it will actually get thicker, too. A big factor in how pliable a leaf is, comes down to its thickness, so you’ll find that new leaves tend to be very flexible, but over time, as they get thicker, they become a bit more rigid and sturdy.
Now, even though a leaf gets thicker as it ages, it should still retain some of its elasticity. You should still be able to gently bend or roll the leaves without breaking them. Very brittle leaves could indicate that something is wrong, but we’ll get into that below.
Also, it is normal for more mature leaves to gradually lose some of that glossy shine that was so conspicuous when they were brand-new leaves. This is a natural part of the aging process. In most cases, if you look at older leaves closely, you will still see they have a cuticle protecting them, even if it isn’t as glossy as newer growth.
You may also notice a natural scalloped shape to your fig’s leaves, with natural curves along the edges of each leaf. This, again, is quite normal for Fiddle Leaf Figs. However, they should still feel bendable and pliant when handled. If the curls of the leaves become more pronounced and they start to feel dry and brittle, that’s a sign of underwatering.
As you make your way down to the oldest parts of the plant, it is normal to find much thicker and more brittle leaves. Plants will naturally discard the oldest leaves over time as new growth fills in. Part of that process involves reducing the amount of water and resources that go into those older leaves before shedding them completely, which dries them out and makes them more rigid and fragile.
Why Are My Fiddle Leaf Fig Leaves Hard?
If the above description of normal, healthy Fiddle Leaf Fig growth doesn’t seem to be what your particular plant is presenting, a little investigating may be in order. The good news is that if you find your Fiddle Leaf with hard, brittle leaves, most likely, the cause is only one of two things.
Reason 1: Old Age and Abscission
The first reason your Fiddle Leaf Fig might have hard leaves is a totally natural one that isn’t any cause for concern. Like most plants, as Fiddle Leaf Figs continue to put out new growth in the form of both stems and leaves, the oldest parts of the plant age and begin to lose productivity.
To stay healthy and keep its systems running efficiently, a plant will naturally discard those older portions of the plant to focus resources on newer, more productive parts, eventually allowing them to drop from the plant entirely.
This is a process called abscission, and it occurs any time a plant drops any part of itself that has matured or aged, like a seed pod, a fruiting body, or even an old leaf.
In many cases, as a plant prepares for abscission, resources, like water and nutrients, are diverted away from the portion of the plant it is planning to drop. In regards to an old leaf, this results in the leaf drying out and becoming rigid and brittle.
As the water content in the leaf drops, you may also notice that it becomes discolored or begins to brown at the edges. It may curl in on itself and lose any remaining shine.
Again, this is a totally natural process that keeps the plant running as efficiently as possible and isn’t anything to worry about. If this is the case with your particular plant, you will find that the most mature leaves near the bottom of your Fiddle Leaf are in various stages of abscission. You might witness one or two leaves dry up and feel hard to the touch before dropping off the plant.
Overall, this process should only happen occasionally. If you are seeing this happen rapidly or you witness newer growth going through this, something else is causing your plant distress.
Reason 2: Underwatering
Aside from old age, the other most common reason you may find hard leaves on your Fiddle Leaf Fig has to do with underwatering.
Remember that healthy Fiddle Leaf Fig leaves should be pliable and bendable, only really thickening up and becoming hard as they reach the end of their lifespan. However, if you notice that newer growth is becoming brittle, you should examine your watering habits to see if your plant is thirsty.
As your plant dries out, the amount of water the plant can move through its systems decreases. To conserve what’s left and to keep its vital processes running, the plant will often sacrifice its leaves.
As the water pressure in the leaves drops, you will begin to see that pliability and plumpness decrease as the leaves wilt and become brittle. This may coincide with other classic signs of underwatering, such as leaf wilt, leaf curl, and burnt leaf tips. But often, brittle leaves may be the only sign a plant is suffering from underwatering.
If underwatering is the culprit, this will happen all over the plant, not just in the oldest tissue. A quick check of the plant’s soil can confirm. If the top several inches of soil are dry, you likely are dealing with a watering issue.
To fix this, you need to water your plant immediately. Make sure to give your Fiddle Leaf a deep, thorough watering, allowing excess liquid to drain from the bottom of the pot. Moving forward, monitor your plant frequently, checking to see if the top two inches of soil have dried out. If so, it’s time to give your plant another deep watering.
A Quick Note on Thin Leaves
I mentioned before that it is natural for new growth on Fiddle Leaf Figs to be relatively thin initially but to thicken up as the leaf matures.
Sometimes, you may notice that your fig’s newer, thinner growth feels hard or brittle, but the rest of the plant seems OK. This may still indicate underwatering because thinner leaves tend to be more susceptible to changes in internal water pressure.
As a plant dries out, the thinner leaves will lose their water content faster than thicker ones, which may be the first indicator that your plant is thirsty. A properly-watered plant’s new growth should remain pliable as long as it continues to be watered adequately.
Final Thoughts
Although they seem like super finicky plants, I prefer to think of Fiddle Leaf Figs as great communicators. If something is wrong, they will tell you…sometimes in a very dramatic fashion.
If you find your Fiddle Leaf with hard or brittle leaves, be sure to assess what parts of the plant are affected to determine if there’s a problem. If you suspect your plant is underwatered, adjust your watering habits to get your fig back on track.