Rubber Plant Care: Big Leaves, Few Demands, One Common Mistake

Ficus elastica sits in the shadow of the fiddle leaf fig and is a considerably better plant for most people. Same architectural presence, thicker and tougher leaves, far more tolerance of being slightly mistreated.

Nearly every problem it has traces back to one thing.

The one common mistake

Overwatering. Those thick leathery leaves store water, and the plant slows right down in low light and in winter, so the soil stays wet far longer than people expect.

Water when the top third of the soil is dry, thoroughly, then let it drain and empty the saucer. Roughly every one to two weeks in summer, every three to four in winter.

Yellowing lower leaves that drop is the classic sign of too much water. It is also, confusingly, what a rubber plant does when it is too cold or has been moved, so check the soil before concluding anything.

Light

Bright indirect. It will tolerate medium light and grow more slowly, and it does badly in genuine gloom.

Variegated forms such as Tineke and Ruby need noticeably more light than the plain burgundy Abidjan or the standard green. The pink and cream sections have no chlorophyll, so a variegated plant is working with less leaf area and needs brighter conditions to compensate.

A little direct morning sun is fine. Harsh afternoon sun scorches.

Why the lower leaves drop

Some of this is normal. A rubber plant naturally sheds its oldest lowest leaves as it grows upward, and over a couple of years that produces a bare stem with a tuft at the top.

It becomes a problem when it accelerates. The usual causes, in order:

1. Overwatering. Lower leaves yellow, go limp and drop, soil damp.Most likely
2. A move or a change. Ficus species dislike relocation and respond by dropping leaves a week or two later.Common
3. Cold or a draught. Below about 12°C, or a cold windowpane, or a door opened every morning.Common in winter
4. Too little light. The plant sheds leaves it cannot afford to run.Slow decline
5. Letting it dry out completely and then soaking it, repeatedly.Inconsistency
6. A large drop in humidity, such as heating coming on in October.Seasonal

Leaves do not regrow from bare sections of stem. Once a section is bare it stays bare, so the fix is structural rather than remedial.

Making it branch instead of growing into a pole

Left alone, a rubber plant grows as a single upright stem. If you want a bushier shape you have to force it, and the mechanism is the same as for any other plant with a dominant growing tip.

Cut the top off, just above a node, in spring. The plant branches from the buds below the cut, usually producing two or three new stems. Do it when the plant is about 15cm taller than you want the branching point to be.

It will bleed milky white sap from the cut. That is normal. It stops within a few minutes. The sap irritates skin and is worth keeping off furniture, so have a cloth ready and wash your hands.

The cutting can be rooted. Take a section with two or three leaves, let the cut end dry for an hour so the sap stops, then root it in water or moist mix.

Soil, pot and feeding

Ordinary compost with a generous handful of perlite. A pot with a drainage hole, one size up when roots come out of the bottom, which is usually every two years.

Do not overpot. A large pot of wet soil is the fastest route to the overwatering problem this plant is already prone to.

Feed at half strength every few weeks in spring and summer, nothing in winter.

Wipe the leaves. They are large, flat and glossy, and they collect dust that measurably cuts the light reaching them. A damp cloth every month or two makes a real difference and is also when you will notice scale, which ficus species attract.

Worth knowing

Rubber plants are toxic to cats and dogs. The milky sap irritates the mouth and stomach, causing drooling and vomiting, and it irritates skin on contact. Rarely dangerous, but the sap is the part to be careful with rather than the leaf.

Scale insects are the pest to watch for. The woody stems camouflage them well, so run a finger along the stem occasionally rather than only looking at leaves. Sticky leaves or a sticky floor under the plant is the first sign most people notice.

Rubber plant is regularly confused with fiddle leaf fig and Ficus altissima when young. They want similar but not identical treatment, and the fiddle is considerably fussier. Photograph a leaf with the stem visible and Identium will tell you which you have.