How to Prune a Fiddle Leaf Fig (Video)

Pruning a fiddle leaf fig is an important part of keeping your plant healthy and looking its best. In this video, we’ll discuss how to prune a fiddle leaf fig, the tools to use, and what to look out for to keep your plant safe. After you prune your plant, don’t forget to feed it with Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant Food, available on Amazon now!

To learn more, read The Fiddle Leaf Fig Expert, your complete guide to growing healthy fiddle leaf fig plants. The book is available in full-color paperback or Kindle edition on Amazon now!

How to Prune a Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree

Pruning is important to the health of your fiddle leaf fig tree, and it helps them look good too!

Trimming off the leaves can help your tree allocate its resources to the healthier leaves, promote airflow between the leaves to prevent fungus, and shape the tree into that lollipop tree shape if that’s what you’re going for.

The only issue is, fiddle leaf figs can be quite sensitive and prone to shock, so we want to remove the leaves in a way that won’t harm the tree. You can read our guide to pruning and shaping your fiddle leaf fig plant here.

But first, here are our tips for pruning without sending your fiddle into shock.

Things to Consider Before You Prune:

Why are you pruning?

Factor in how damaged or how healthy the tree is overall and what you want the overall shape of your plant to look like. This might mean removing leaves with more than 50% damage, thinning out crowded areas, or removing drooping (or even healthy) lower leaves to make a bushy fiddle look more like a tree.

How healthy is your plant?

Removing damaged leaves can help the health of a plant, but don’t worry about shaping a plant if it’s struggling. Now’s not the time! Focus on removing damaged leaves and getting your tree healthy again before shaping.

How big is your plant? | How to Prune a Fiddle Leaf Fig

Take the size of your tree into account. My rule is to not remove more than 5 leaves from a small fiddle leaf fig or 10 leaves from a large on at once.

When You’re Ready to Prune a Fiddle Leaf Fig

Wash your hands before pruning and use clean, sharp pruning shears like these to avoid crushing the stems or spreading bacteria (because this can lead to bacterial infection, which can seriously endanger your plant!).

To remove a leaf, make one quick, clean cut at the base of the stem near the trunk. And that’s it! Again, don’t remove more than 5-10 leaves at once, depending on the size of your tree.

Pruning can be scary at first, but you’ll get the hang of it quick and find that it’s one of the most valuable things you can do for your plant.

Before you get started, read our guide to pruning and shaping your fiddle leaf fig plant here.

Grab the Essentials for Your Fiddle Leaf Fig:

• Premium Fiddle Leaf Fig Potting Soil
• Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant Food
• Root Rot Treatment
• Houseplant Leaf Armor to protect against insects, bacteria, and fungus (As an added bonus, it also cleans and adds shine to your plant’s leaves!)
• Moisture meter to always know when your plant is thirsty.

To learn more:

• Join our Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant Resource Group on Facebook to chat with other fiddle leaf fig owners about pruning and more.
• Sign up for our free Fiddle Leaf Fig Care 101 Webinar for advanced fiddle leaf fig care.
• Make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter.
• Read The Fiddle Leaf Fig Expert, your complete guide to growing healthy fiddle leaf fig plants. The book is available in full-color paperback or Kindle edition on Amazon now!