Newbie transplant advice...

Hi , I have purchased these three little rubber plants. Each little square 2.75 inch plastic pot has three plants or stems and the top of the tallest leaf is approx. 8.5" from the base of the pot.

Maybe I went a little crazy buying three of them , but I just loved the look and color. I have had them for about two weeks and they keep getting new leaves curling out of a wonderful red fold/cover thing.
See,, newbie here.. lol

SOOO,,, I really need to transfer them. I know I shouldn't put them in too large of a pot.
At first I wanted to find a somewhat large in diameter pot that sat low and pot them all together.
But then I thought there would be too many of them. So today I purchased three pretty pots that have one drainhole at the bottom edge. (vs. the bottom middle of the pot).
The new pots are approx . 6" tall by 6.5" wide. Are these too big?

Any advice would really be appreciated! Thank you, Flowerlou.

Gosh, as healthy and growing as those are, I wouldn't hesitate to put them in a 6" pot....I like azalea pots best because most plants don't like the depth of a regular 6" pot....maybe someone else will jump in and say if the pots you are describing are too big....they are awesome looking....

Most of us have killed a few dozen indoor plants over the years, from doing this very thing - wanting to transplant into bigger pots than needed. My personal experience with rubber plants, is that they love to be rootbound, so unless those little beauties are poking roots out the drainage holes, I'd leave them be for quite a while.

If you were to transplant them, they would most likely stop putting out top growth, and commence growing roots to fill the new pot.

If they get top-heavy, just put them, pot and all, into a ceramic pot a size larger, or a decorative pot.

They are amazingly shiny, aren't they, I can see why you couldn't resist!

Here's the link to Plant Files for this Ficus Tree. They will get VERY large! Down here in Florida folks have them outside in the ground!

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/718/index.html



and more good info here:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ST252

This message was edited Apr 1, 2007 8:37 AM

Shoot, I will try this again,,, pc crashed just as I tried to post.
There are roots growing out the bottom of the tallest one and some starting on the other two.
BettyGail, what is an azalea pot? Is it lower and wider?
At first I wanted to plant all of them in a larger round low saucer like pot. But then was afraid that wouldnt work.
I will look at the links plantladylin posted.
WHAT to do,, what to do. I was planning on doing this today.
thank you all.
Mary
(in Ohio, so these will never be outside)

Marylou ... Flowerlou: I think they probably do need to be repotted if you have roots growing out of the bottom of the pots. I wouldn't pot up too a real large pot, but they look like they are in little 2 1/2" pots now, so you could go up one size. How to know for sure if your 6" or 6 1/2" pot is okay is to unpot them and look at the roots ... if they have pretty good size root structure I would think your pot would be fine. You could always pot one in the larger pot and the other's in a little bit smaller pots and keep watch to see how they do. Or, you could plant them all together in a larger pot. Keep us posted on how they do for you!

Lin

Thanks everyone, went ahead and potted them, all but one in the 6" pots. (I ran out of potting soil). I also had an Aralia that a bought at the same time and I think it was REAlly needing a transplant. Tomorrow I will get a larger bag of mix.
Funny, I am so used to buying huge bags of soiless mix for outside stuff and here I bought just a small bag for this new indoor housplant kick. lol
While I was repotting one of the rubber. trees I was thinking about where to put them so my two y.o wouldnt pick the leaves. and darn! if the little thing didnt fall out of the pot as I was trying to cut it out not to tear the roots. Lost a big upper leaf. It got cut in half. I suppose if it cut at the stem base I could have used root hormone and planted it??
Could be really wrong on that one.. :)
Will let everyone know how it goes,, thanks again.
Mary

Mary, if all goes well-you can send one of the rubber plants to college with your 2 year old. I got another one back in Feb. and I spray the leaves with water and wipe them. My son will be 2 in May and he loves rearranging my plants~plant stand to coffee table, outside to inside, etc. He's dropped his share. Most can be saved.
Here's a picture of mine when I first got it. I'll send an updated pic. very soon.
Elizabeth

Pretty Elizabeth! I just love the dark shiny leaves. So far the dropped plant seems to be fine. Keep us posted on yours. Mary