From our perspective deep in the soil, water is everything. It is our lifeblood, the medium through which we absorb essential nutrients. When you underwater us, the soil becomes a dry, hard desert. Our tiny root hairs, the delicate structures responsible for drinking, shrivel and desiccate. We become brittle and unable to function. Without water, we cannot transport nutrients up to the leaves, and the entire plant begins to starve and thirst simultaneously. Conversely, when you overwater, you drown us. The soil becomes a waterlogged swamp, filling all the air pockets. We roots need oxygen to breathe and function. Trapped in saturated soil, we begin to suffocate and rot. This rot is a bacterial infection that turns us soft, mushy, and brown, and it can quickly spread, severing the plant's connection to its foundation.
Our leaves are the most honest billboards of our internal state. When we are underwatered, our primary goal is conservation. We will curl our leaves inward, or they may become crispy to the touch, starting at the edges and moving inward. This is an attempt to reduce surface area and minimize water loss through transpiration. You will see us droop dramatically, becoming limp and lifeless as our internal water pressure (turgor pressure) plummets. In stark contrast, an overwatered Fiddle-Leaf Fig sends a different message. The leaves often become soft, mushy, and weak, not crispy. They may droop but feel heavy and waterlogged. The most telling sign is edema, where we absorb water faster than we can use it, causing cells to rupture and creating tiny, blister-like bumps on the underside of our leaves. Eventually, these blisters can turn into brown spots, often starting in the middle of the leaf or at random points, with a yellow halo surrounding them.
Do not ignore our foundation. The soil tells a clear story. For an underwatered plant, the soil will have pulled away from the edges of the pot, becoming compacted and dusty. It will feel bone-dry deep into the pot. A quick check of our stem might reveal it has become brittle or wrinkled. For the overwatered plant, the soil will feel constantly damp, cold, and may even have a musty or sour odor—a sure sign of anaerobic conditions and root rot. Gently pressing the base of our stem near the soil line might reveal that it has become soft, unstable, and may even ooze sap. This is a critical sign of advanced rot.
The sequence of events is crucial for diagnosis. Underwatering typically causes a rapid, widespread reaction. You might see multiple leaves across the plant, especially the older, larger ones, suddenly droop and curl within a day or two of being too dry. The plant looks dramatically thirsty. Overwatering is a slower, more insidious killer. The decline is gradual. You might first see a single yellow leaf, then a few brown spots on another, and a general lack of new growth. The problem often starts at the bottom of the plant with older leaves yellowing and falling off first, as the plant tries to sacrifice them to conserve resources for newer growth, all while the root system is slowly decaying out of sight.
