Too Bad.
All you can do is rinse it out.
This is what happen when you ask,advice from ,people interested to sale stuff.
Fig tree does not need any chemical spray to thrive.
When it started dropping bottom leaves one by one,it is because the tree wants to !,in order to create more light for the leaves and fruits it wants to keep.
Also! place it in total shade,and make sure it has good drainage and moisture.

Not being funny but i'd take some cuttings off the best looking branches and pop em in the fridge just in case.

If you have a real bad rust problem,because you leave in the Deep humid south(Louisiana)then you should spray the ground under the fig tree to kill the spores,and not the leaves,especially the healthy leaves.
But you do not say where you live in your profile.
One other thing you can do is break off the diseased leaves manually.

If you have a real bad rust problem,because you leave in the Deep humid south(Louisiana)then you should spray the ground under the fig tree to kill the spores,and not the leaves,especially the healthy leaves.
But you do not say where you live in your profile.
One other thing you can do is break off the diseased leaves manually.

It sounds like too much was applied or the concentration was too great. Copper spray must be very diluted with water or it can harm plants. The one I use says to mix 3 tablespoons with 1 gallon of water for apple trees or 4 tablespoons with 1 gallon of water for peach trees (doesn't list figs). I've always applied it with a half gallon squirt bottle and it takes me a long time before I need to refill the bottle. Soaking it on with a hose sounds like too much would be applied and at who knows what concentration. Rinse it off the best you can and hope the plants come back. I killed all the foliage on a small fig tree last year by overdoing it with the fertilizer. The more I grow fig trees the more I see that it is always best to start with a small amount or low concentration of anything that you use on the trees until you know what levels they can take.

Joe

hey guys,

herman, caz, and joe,thank you so much- thank you for your post. i did research on the net and everything and it all said to use copper fungicide. i didnt even directly spray the trees with the hose, i sprayed it into a container and put a thin layer on with a hand-help spray bottle to make sure it wasnt overdone. AND i diluted it with extra water bc i am paranoid about using things like this!!

herman- i live in northeast PA. its been v humid and the leaves were developing brown spots, turning yellow, and falling off the trees starting at the bottom. im pretty sure it was rust... i removed all effected leaves manually (well almost all, i couldnt do all of them bc pretty much all the leaves had at least a few dots on them). so spraying the dirt in the pot should be enough to kill spores, and then just remove effected leaves?

im so depressed... they may pull thru, some of the leaves look uneffected. why should i keep them in the shade? to keep them from getting sun burn?

rose

Keep it in the shade or half shade in the afternoon,so the tree comes out of shock,and start putting new leaves again.
It is so you have a better chance of saving the tree.

herman,

i will. it has been very dark and rainy for the past few days and there is literally no sun, so this may be a good thing for my poor trees.

i am hopeful- there are some leaves that are NOT effected... im hoping these will carry the trees through the season until its time to go dormant. thank you SO much for your help. i was reading your posts a few months back about pinching the growing tip to start fig growth earlier- worked great!!! :o)

rose