Can anyone give me the deal on rubber tree plants?

I bought a nice variegated one-I think it's 'Decora'. I love it but It grows nice new leaves but the lower ones brown on the edges, die, and fall off. Am I watering too much (once a week)? I have liquid fertilizer in the water. Not okay? I have it in little light because the leaves fell off more in full light. I used to have no trouble with a plain one in the past that was mostly neglected. Help!!

May be too much water, too much fertilizer, or both. These plants are drought tolerant, and for me seem to do better when kept on the dry side. Do not let the plant sit in water. Are you fertilizing every week? I think that's probably way too much fertilizer ... at this time of year, most plants are "resting" and don't need as much fertilizer or water.

Hopefully one of the more knowledgeable DG folks will respond. I am not an expert, but I think you are definately over fertilizing and possibly over watering too.

Good luck and keep us posted on how your Variegted Ficus is doing.

Lin

Thanks, Lin. This time of year is brutally hot and dry inside-the furnace rarely is stopping tonight with 3 degrees that feel like -9 degrees from windchill. It is practically an art form to figure out how to water!! But I will err on the dry side rather than wet from now on and see how it goes! Thanks, again.

It could be dry air--sometimes when humidity is really low the leaves will turn brown around the edges. Misting the leaves can help. The problem could be worse also if the plant is getting warm air blown directly on it--I would make sure you move it away from any vents, etc and that may fix things too. Too much watering can also cause leaves to fall off, so I would definitely still be careful on the watering, if you have the furnace going a lot the top of the soil could look dry, but if you stick your finger down an inch or two it'll still feel wet, don't water unless it's feeling dry a few inches down.

Luckily it's across the room from the radiator and it is slightly damp below the surface. I assume it should be completely dry before it gets watered again. I will mist it too.

I have one for almost 10 years now, and only last year I found a spot where leaves are doing much better then in any other location. If it helps it is at N/W window, in the room with 60% humidity, temps right now also 60 or little more. When I found the "perfect" spot, I did not move it anywhere else. Believe me I tried before, every room in the house, every spot ouside during the summer, still losing leaves. As another poster said water when soil is dry, I do not fertilize too much, 5-5-5 in the spring and summer, if I remember, and so far is growing. Goog luck

boojum: ecrane3 hits the nail on the head. Humidity is imporant, as well as keeping the plant away from heat or cold drafts. Here's a link I found on Ficus that tells about the different types. Scroll down to the to the info on 'Indian Rubber Tree'.


http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/indoor/handbooks/landscaping/ficus.html

This is great info! I'm getting a great education from all of you! I've bookmarked the article so I can reread it. Thanks, all!

Milka, my top leaves look good now that I've stopped over watering recently. How did you know when you hit pay dirt? Mine is near a shaded (by the front porch) southeast window, but not directly in front of it. I have no west windows and my north windows are in the coldest area of the kitchen. It's encouraging to know that it takes a while to find an ideal spot. It did well on the shaded porch this summer in a similar bright shade (more eastern than southern)

The variegated F elasticas need a lot of light...are you sure it's getting enough in that location?
I'd hate to see your plant continue to lose leaves for that reason.

This one did badly in direct sun. It's getting bright light in the mornings there but not direct. I had it outside in the shaded corner of the porch (outside where it is now) all summer and it didn't lose leaves there, but it did last winter when it was in more light.

I see what you mean, but don't forget that even 'shade' outdoors is often more light than most plants get when indoors.
The initial leaf loss might have been just from bringing it indoors from the outdoors.

Hopefully it will 'shape up' for you!
If it doesn't though, do consider the fact that it might need more light.

Good luck to you!

And it could have been low humidity inside the house in the winter compared to the higher humidity that it was used to outside that made it lose its leaves too, not the light (as well as initial leaf drop from the stress of moving).

True!!
Could be both, for that matter.

Hope it straightens out for you, boojum!

boojum: Did I understand you correctly that your plant is outside on a porch right now? Is the porch heated for the winter? I would think it would be way too cold to have it in an unheated area in winter. And, Nan is right .... it does need good bright light, And, less water in the winter months.


edited to say: They sometimes do get stressed when moved from one location to another which can cause leaf drop.

This message was edited Jan 30, 2007 3:23 PM

Oh sorry plantladylin. I wasn't clear. This summer it was outside doing well on a shaded porch outside the window that it is now near but on the inside. Last winter when it was inside, it was getting direct sun and I started losing leaves. This plant as you assumed would have been very dead outside now especially in the -10 degrees last Friday (due to windchill). LOL!

Thanks to all who have given me lots of tips. I'll let you know how it turns out!