• 2022-12-21

Detailed knowledge of rubber tree maintenance

Rubber Plant or as they’re scientifically known Ficus Elastica are one of my FAVORITE indoor plants. They can be small enough to sit on your desk or so large that they touch the ceiling. They come in a few varieties (that we’ll talk about in a bit!) but regardless of if it’s a small rubber plantlet or a huge rubber plant tree this easy to care for guy is going to give you all the warm plant lover vibes! (Just make sure you treat it like a friend)

This post is chock full of everything you need to know to not only keep your Rubber Plant happy, but absolutely thriving!

Fun Facts To Keep In Mind

Rubber Plants are not self supporting, the longer they grow the droopier they get. You can keep your rubber plant standing upright by using bamboo or dowels. I just use the leaves to hold it in place.

Rubber Plants are quick growers, growing as much as 24″ in a season!

Rubber plants are poisonous. They produce a milky sap when their leaves or stems are broken. This sap contains latex and can be poisonous to animals and humans.

Rubber Plants consume their soil, so keep a supply on hand for when things get low! We’ll dive into this more later.

Anatomy of a Rubber Plant

The Rubber is a cousin to the fickle Fiddle Leaf Fig, and commands the same presence without making you cry tears of frustration.

It’s thick waxy leaves start out as a soft coral and deepen to a dark green as they age. Leaves are oval shaped with thick stems that connect them to the stalk.

The new leaves are grown in a sheath. The sheath starts out as a tiny deep burgundy spike. As the leaf grows inside, the sheath lengthens and turns a shocking shade of pink. The leaf emerges from the sheath and the sheath falls off completely.

If the plant is in growth mode, when the leaf opens there will be a new sheath with a leaf growing inside!

Um, I did not know this the first time my Rubber got a new leaf. I was out of town and came home to find this pink thing on the floor. I thought my kids broke my new leaf off and heads were about to roll, until I looked up and saw this cute fresh shiny leaf. When the sheath falls off, just throw it away and don’t murder anyone.

At the base of the sheath, right above the older leaf is the node. See the little red circle? Nodes are where new branches can grow if a plant is broken or cut for propagation (which we’ll talk about in just a bit!)

As Rubber plants grow, the older parts of the stalk develop a bark, Most indoor Rubber plants wont grow thick enough to have their stocks turn into self-supporting trunks and will need support from bamboo stalks