5 Must-Know Tips On How To Grow Your Fiddle Leaf Fig In Canada

I don’t doubt there are many places in the world that it is easier to grow fiddle leaf fig trees or bushes… but living in Canada and trying to grow fiddle leaf figs here can push you to your plant loving limits! If you follow me on Instagram or have been reading Honey & Betts for a while, you know I am not good with plants and the less maintenance the better – so how did I fall in love with taking care of my fiddle leaf fig in Canada?

The 3 plant images are of my first fiddle leaf fig plant (I bought in June 2018 at the south side Edmonton Ikea location, I’ll talk more about that in this blog post) – slowly growing it’s first leaf in my care. It took 2-3 weeks after I bought this fiddle leaf fig bush to push out it’s first tiny little leaf – but I was a proud plant mama and so happy it finally happened after nothing growing for nearly a month!

So you may have read above that I bought my real fiddle leaf fig from Ikea, for a whopping $28 CAD! Don’t assume it was in mint condition – it was very sad looking when I bought it but I was determined to nurse it back to health. And now a year later, I snatched up a second fiddle leaf fig from Ikea and they are my beautiful plant babies.

If you are wondering if your local Ikea has fiddle leaf figs in stock, I believe they have a pattern of only selling a handful (around 30) fiddle leaf figs in mid June at the Edmonton Ikea location. I have many followers who stalk the Ikea website refreshing the fiddle leaf fig page to see if their Ikea finally has them in stock, and it took a whole year before they had them again from when I bought mine.

Just thought I would share that little secret if you’re looking to add a cheap fiddle leaf fig to your plant collection!

Though if you find that your nearest Ikea location does have them in stock, run! When I arrived the site and internal stock site showed that there were 6 fiddle leaf figs left in their store but there were none left in the plant section of Ikea… then an employee shared that if the fiddle leaf fig plants are damaged they throw them away. What is on the palettes is what is available in store!

So run to your local Ikea before they sell out if you really want one!

Back to my 3 tips on how to make your fiddle leaf fig grow in Canada:

The best sunlight is a south facing window – I have my two fiddle leaf figs in my front living room that is a south facing window. In Canada, summer brings so much sunlight but winter presents the challenge of getting them enough sunlight in the short daylight available. With it being south facing window they get the morning and afternoon sun!
Water your fiddle leaf once a week – I am so strict about this! I have successfully nursed that sad Ikea fiddle leaf fig back to health by only watering it once a week. It’s hard to calculate how much water to give it, since I moved it to a much bigger pot when I first brought it home. I use a small 1L (4 cups) watering can, and I use 3 for my big pot. Then 2 full watering cans for my smaller pot. Your plant will let you know with yellowing or browning leafs if it’s getting enough or too much water. Just watch for the signs!
Fertilize your fiddle leaf fig – I did a little research when I bought my first fiddle leaf fig and it was suggested that a liquid fertilizer would help them grow a lot. I have been using this liquid plant food available in Canada, and my fiddle leaf figs have grown so much! I give them each 2 mL mixed with their weekly water. I measure the liquid plant food out with a plastic baby Tylenol syringe. I stopped using fertilizer for a couple weeks and my plants were not happy – the leaves they grew the following weeks were sad and I knew the only thing I had changed was not giving them their liquid plant food. So, I never forget now!
Dust all your fiddle leaf fig’s leaves every 2-4 weeks – it’s tedious once your fiddle leaf has lots and lots of leafs, but in Edmonton, AB it is dry and the dust accumulates easily. I’m always surprised the amount of dust that comes off their leaves, especially in the little clusters and close to the stem. I’ve heard of other plant parents using a bit of beer on their cloth while wiping the dust off but I haven’t experimented with that yet.
Rotate your fiddle leaf fig’s pot, from daily to weekly – especially in the winter, I find rotating the pot a quarter daily helps them get an equal amount of sunlight when there is not a lot of sunlight for them to reach. I tried rotating them a quarter around every week and the leaves grown those following weeks were smaller than the ones with the daily rotation. But if daily rotation isn’t achievable, just make sure you’re rotating them in the best schedule you can!

Those are my 3 must-know tips on how to make your fiddle leaf fig grow in Canada! You can do it! Aside from making sure to not water them too much and not water them too little – follow these 3 tips and your fiddle leaf should thrive.