Fatsia problems

abelleta_08

Hi everyone,

I bought a fatsia recently and it started to have problems quickly. There some tiny holes on the leaf and brown patch. The young green leaf starts to have brown on edge. Does anyone what reasons it goes wrong? 

Please help. Thank you. 

Fairygirl

Hi @abelleta_08 -  Are you keeping it inside and next to a radiator? It won't like that. 
They're outdoor plants 

I'm assuming it has a pot with suitable drainage too. The damage looks minimal apart from the leaves which have a bit of browning, which could be from waterlogging, but it could also be from severe heat. Would need to see the whole plant.

Dovefromabove

They are sometimes sold as houseplants ... but if indoors they need coolish  conditions and good light but not direct sunlight. 

More info here https://www.thespruce.com/growing-fatsia-japonica-inside-1902617

Big Blue Sky

The big brown spots look like burn marks - the plant must have touched the radiator while it was on. I don’t think they will heal, but it might be a good idea to make sure the leafs don’t touch the hot radiator in the future. 

abelleta_08

Fairygirl said:

Hi @abelleta_08 -  Are you keeping it inside and next to a radiator? It won't like that. 
They're outdoor plants 

I'm assuming it has a pot with suitable drainage too. The damage looks minimal apart from the leaves which have a bit of browning, which could be from waterlogging, but it could also be from severe heat. Would need to see the whole plant.

Hi Fairygirl, 

Sorry for late reply. 

I bought the Fatsia from indoor flowers shop. The florist said the plant is outdoor or indoor. So I left the Fatsia outdoor for few days at the beginning of November. However I started to find a brown sport and the leaf issue. In fact I dunno when they have those spots. I moved it back to the indoor 2 weeks ago, I gave water from bottom to avoid too much water, the pot has drianage holes. I am putting new pictures here and whole plant pictures. The brown spot did not spread but I found a leaf edge disappeared (Please see picture 02 and 03). Is it normal to Fatsia? 

Pic 01 Whole Plant.
Pic 02 The leave right edge looks disappearing. 
Pic 03 Same leave as Pic 02.
Pic 04 Close up of the central of the plant.

abelleta_08

Dovefromabove said:

They are sometimes sold as houseplants ... but if indoors they need coolish  conditions and good light but not direct sunlight. 

More info here https://www.thespruce.com/growing-fatsia-japonica-inside-1902617

Hi Dovefromabove,

Thank you for the link. I left the plant indoor because they shop where I bought from, he told me that it is too cold for the plant, I can move it to outdoor when it is warmer. At the beginning they told me it could be outdoor. When should I move it to outdoor balcony? The balcony is Northern west facing, it doesn't have direct sunlight. 

abelleta_08

Big Blue Sky said:

The big brown spots look like burn marks - the plant must have touched the radiator while it was on. I don’t think they will heal, but it might be a good idea to make sure the leafs don’t touch the hot radiator in the future. 

May be it was there before I bought it, because I did not turn on radiator. I actually didn't check the whole plant before I bought, and I should have. 

abelleta_08

philippa smith2 said:

As your Fatsia was a recent purchase presumably as an indoor plant (as most are ), it will have been raised in the optimum conditions for sale.
It will inevitably suffer a little if you cannot recreate the conditions it was grown in.
Looking on the bright side, they are pretty tough plants ( inside or out ) so if you take the advice given above, you should eventually end up with a nice plant. 

Hi Philippa,

Does Fatsia have indoor and outdoor two types? I saw many Fatsia around my area, they are locating outdoor in the pot or in the planter and they look very good. I wonder would it be my Fatsia is indoor only. 

abelleta_08

philippa smith2 said:

Your Fatsia japonica is really an outdoor plant but many Garden Centres buy in plants from a grower and display them inside protected from the weather.  There's nothing to say you cannot have them as house plants but they can get very big and unwieldy and do suffer from the dry atmosphere indoors.
If you are planning to keep it outside on a permanent basis, it will need to be gradually hardened off beforehand. Best way to do that is to start putting it outside when the weather improves in the Spring.  Shelter from sun and wind and bring in at night if frost is likely.  If you follow that regime for a few weeks, you should be OK.
Just bear in mind that they are quite large plants ( which is why best planted in the ground really ) and will need potting on into ever larger containers to get the best out of them.
Best of luck
  

Thank you very much! I am glad that it can be outdoor, in fact I want to get Fatsia for balcony on a permanent basis. However the leaves was dropping and I started to find some tiny holes on leaves after I bought the fatsia straight from shop to balcony. So I will take your advice, I wait Spring time and move the plant out to balcony. So does it mean I can leave the plant outdoor permanently afterwards? 

abelleta_08

philippa smith2 said:

It does depend where you are located.  My experience only covers the southern areas 
of UK, France and Spain 

We are in London, however northern west facing. We only have some sunlight in summer.   

I have very good spot for Fatsia in balcony if it can live without direct sunlight. Please advice. 

Fairygirl

They really don't need much, if any, sunlight.