Pruning an Overgrown Rubber Plant Ficus elastica. They are not from a disease or pest. Home More advice Home & Garden. Soil for Rubber Plants. For many of them (including some landscape plants too), air layering is the best method. Prune the rubber plant with a sharp pair of pruning shears. A classic houseplant, the rubber tree plant (Ficus elastica) grows up to 100 feet tall when grown outdoors. Widely grown as potted plants, rubber trees (Ficus elastica) are easily propagated using tip cuttings. As long as the soil is well-draining, watering your rubber plant once or twice a month will do. The plants are perfect gifts to share with the garden-challenged, as they thrive on neglect and rise above abuse. Now, there are only a few leaves left, and they are all at the top. In it's natural habitat it grows over 30 metres tall, however, the varieties grown indoors are a much more manageable height. House Plant Expert suggests, in particular, that a “well-draining and well-aerated potting soil is needed. The Rubber Plant, Ficus elastica or Ficus robusta, is a hardy accommodating low maintenance houseplant, it also goes by Rubber Tree or Rubber Fig. December ,1998 My husband has an out of control rubber plant that he is very attached to. Once you know how to care for a rubber tree plant and it is growing well, you can begin the propagation of indoor rubber tree plants. This will allow a … If you simply want more plants, then it would be better if you were to take tip cuttings from one of more of the stems and root them separately. He's let it grow unchecked, and since we live in a small house, it really is cramping our (ok, mine more than his) style. Rubber trees are hardy and versatile houseplants, which leads many people to wonder, “How do you get a start of a rubber tree plant?” Propagating rubber tree plants is easy and means that you will have starts for all of your friends and family. Welcome to The Garden Helper! Basic Snake Plant Care. In my horticultural book, the Rubber Plant is the easiest of the ficus trifecta to maintain and keep alive. The snake plant is flexible about lighting and humidity but it is fussy about the amount of water it gets. Rubber plants prefer bright indirect light and fare best when they are kept in temperatures in the 65 to 80 F. (18-27 C.) range. Our information will help you to understand how to care for a Rubber Plant correctly. Rubber tree (Ficus elastica) plants, also known as Rubber fig, rubber bush, rubber plant, or Indian rubber bush, grow best in warm and bright conditions.