Can You Grow a Fiddle Leaf Fig From Seeds?

Have you ever wondered how your gorgeous fiddle leaf fig plant came to be? Maybe you look at all the trees in the nursery and wonder how they are grown. This leads many to ask, can you grow a fiddle leaf fig from seeds?

The short answer to the question is YES. Fiddle leaf figs can be grown from seeds. However, think twice about ordering fiddle leaf fig seeds online as you will not be able to grow a plant from the seeds because they require specific conditions to grow.

How Can You Grow a Fiddle Leaf Fig From Seeds?

First let’s break down the biology of plants for you. To get a seed, you need the plant to be pollinated and what you need there is a fruit, a flower, and a pollinator of some sort. Usually an insect. That’s where the problem comes in for fiddle leaf figs.

The pollination part is where things get interesting for fiddle leaf figs. Read more about how to grow a fiddle leaf fig from seeds.

Fiddle leaf figs are native in the wild in only two places on earth. Fiddle leaf figs are native to Western Africa and Australia. There they need to be pollinated by a certain type of wasp that only lives in these regions. Without this particular wasp, pollination cannot occur. Without pollination, a fiddle leaf fig cannot grow.

With a fiddle leaf fig houseplant, having the fruit and flower is very rare with a plant in houseplant conditions. Even if on the chance your fiddle leaf fig does have a fruit and flower, you would need the special wasp to come in and pollinate it. That is why the fiddle leaf fig seeds you see online are fake. Most likely they are grass seeds and you’ll waste your money and be frustrated.

In the instance that you were able to find a real ficus lyrata seed, the process of germination is extremely tough.

How Fiddle Leaf Figs Are Grown for U.S. Distribution

I spoke with one of the top fiddle leaf fig producers in the U.S.; they supply nearly 70-80% of the plants to nurseries in the United States.

He shared that he has seen a fiddle leaf fig from seeds, but it actually can take up to three months for the seed itself to germinate. You have a very high failure rate where your seed actually doesn’t germinate, you have wasted three months waiting for it to happen.

If you were to get a seed and germinate it and spend three months and it grew into a seedling, those seedlings are actually very hard to grow. They’re very susceptible to problems and they have a low success rate of growing into a full plant.

You might think that growers would use propagation as a means to produce more fiddle leaf figs, but they actually use a faster process. So should you try to grow a fiddle leaf fig from seeds?

Growing Fiddle Leaf Figs By Propagation

Propagation is an easy way to produce another fiddle leaf fig plant. This involves taking a cutting of your plant and placing it in water along with a rooting hormone to help it grow roots.

It can take 4-6 weeks to see roots from the cutting. Once the roots have grown, you are ready to pot in fresh fiddle leaf fig soil and watch it grow! If you take 4 cuttings, you have a nearly 100% success rate of growing at least 1 healthy new fiddle leaf fig.

This video shows you how to propagate your own fiddle leaf fig.

About our new Houseplant Propagation Promoter

The exclusive formula of Houseplant Propagation Promoter helps support strong growth and photosynthesis, and it protects new cuttings against bacteria and toxins that can cause new cuttings to fail. With this easy-to-use product, you will be able to clone your best plants more quickly, even tough-to-propagate species like fiddle leaf figs. It also comes with a free Complete Propagation Guide, which includes photos and step-by-step instructions. Click here to buy now.

Now you can share your new knowledge about how fiddle leaf figs are grown with your plant friends and family! Come and chat with other fiddle leaf fig lovers in our active community on Facebook.

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.
• Houseplant Propagation Promoter to propagate more quickly and with more success.

To learn more:

• Sign up for our free Fiddle Leaf Fig Care 101 Webinar or enroll in our free Fiddle Leaf Fig Course for advanced fiddle leaf fig care.
• Download the free Propagation Guide
• 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!
• Click to join our community on Facebook: Fiddle Leaf Fig Plant Resource Group.