And if so (or even if not) can I root the stem cuttings? This is my moms plant and as you can see it's grown quite tall and leggy. She's asked me numerous times to cut it back for her but I confess I don't know much about houseplants. I want to make sure I cut it back properly and if there's anyway to save what I cut off I could end up with a plant or two of my own. ;-)
I sure would appreciate any and all advice.
Thanks,
La
Here is a shot of one of the leaves.
This will help, yes it is a rubber tree and it is leggy because it is not getting enough light.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/718/
8)
Larry
I agree with Larry. It is a Ficus elastica or Rubber Tree and does look as though it needs more light.
I've seen these plants down here in Florida in the Landscape that are 30-40 feet tall.
You can prune your mom's plant back and root the cuttings for more plants. I would use a general potting soil that is well draining and water moderately but do not overwater. The mother plant will branch out from the area where you take the cuttings.
Hmmm, I have a little different view from here. Stem and tip cuttings are usually easy from elastica, but this plant is obviously growing under stress, which means that cuttings will have a very low carbohydrate reserve & be difficult to root. You also don't want to be removing much in the way of foliage because the leaves are the workers that make the plants food - and it will need most of them to get through the winter, which leaves any radical pruning out.
I would temporarily abandon the cutting idea in favor of a more suitable, long range plan. I would remove the growing tip and the top three leaves on the main stem by cutting just above the leaf that points at the candle in the picture. I would then remove the growing tip & last leaf on each of the other stems.
There is a growth regulator (auxin) that is primarily produced in the growing tips of branches (apical meristems) that suppresses lateral growth along that branch. By removing the auxin source, another growth regulator (cytokinin) becomes dominant and will stimulate growth all along the stem behind the pruning cuts. This new growth will occur primarily in existing leaf axils (leaf crotches), but it can also arise from old leaf locations or adventitiously (randomly). The number of new branches will depend on current energy reserves and on the quality of the cultural conditions you provide after the pruning.
To make the plant full and bushy again, you'll need better light, and a little pruning lesson. Each time the plant grows a branch with 5 leaves on it - cut it back to two leaves. This very quickly multiplies the number of branches, fills the tree out, and, since there are going to be many more branches, you'll have lots of pruning opportunities to select from that insure a pleasing shape. ;o)
Again - give the tree as much light as you possibly can through the winter. When spring comes, you'll want to move the plant outdoors where it will REALLY take off. You make no mention of what the soil the plant is in is like, or how tight the roots are. You may wish to consider a repotting & root-pruning next summer to get the plant in tip-top shape.
Al
Oh - there would be no reason you can't try to root the tip cutting from the main stem. If you decide to take my advice, I'll help you prepare it.
Al
Wow you guys thanks so much! I'm heading to my mom's house right now and I'm going to take a copy of all of your responses and we'll assess the situation and decide on our best plan of attack. If we do cut it back some I will definitely make an attempt at getting the cuttings to root, so any advice there would be marvelous as well!
Thanks a million,
La
This message was edited Oct 8, 2007 4:26 PM
Lala_Jane: I use a rooting hormone whenever I take cuttings. You can find it at Wal-Mart, Home Depot or Lowes. The brand I find here is by Schultz and the name isTakeRoot, it's in a powder form and comes in a little plastic container. All I do is take the cut stem and moisten it, then dip it in the TakeRoot rooting hormone and stick it in a pot of moist soil. Some people like to use a little paint brush and brush it on but I'm too lazy for that. I just stick the cut end of the stem into the powder and then right into a pot of soil.
Keep us posted on how it goes!
Old thread, new progress.
Mom moved the plant to a spot with better lighting and it did seem to be much happier. However mom wasn't. There was no way around it...... she was bound and determinned to be rid of that tall center branch. So over Thanksgiving weekend I took the plunge and cut it off. I cut it into 4 sections, dipped them in rooting hormone, and put them in a tented pan of soiless mix and perlite with bottom heat.
Today I was rewarded. The rest of them are showing no signs of rooting, but as long as they stay healthy looking I will leave them to their own devices and see what happens.
Woo Hoo ... You got roots! Congratulations! The "Mother" plant will probably start branching out now too! I'm sure all of your cuttings will grow roots eventually ... some just seem to take longer than others sometimes.
Again, congrats! Keep us updated as your new babies grow!
So glad someone bumped this up cuz I needed to read it. Attaching pics of my rubber tree and asking for some help. First of all please look at the leaf that looks burned and tell me what Im doing wrong. I water with room temp water with miracle grow in it and I do keep it in an area with pretty good light (could psbly need more) With the other pics, guide me as to where to do the cutting on the longer branches. As nervous as it makes me, Im going to go ahead and try it.
2nd pic
3rd pic
How often are you fertilizing it? Too much fertilizer can make the edges of the leaves turn brown like that. Low humidity can make leaf tips turn brown too, but that's not what yours looks like to me. I would guess either fertilizer burn or too much salt buildup in the soil (which can be a side effect of using a bit too much fertilizer, but even if you're fertilizing correctly it can also happen over time from a combination of fertilizer salts, minerals from your water, etc)
If you don't get a lot of responses here, you might also consider starting a new thread with your question, more people may notice it that way.
My money is on exactly what Ecrane said. I have something I wrote about tip burn & marginal necrosis that I will post in a separate thread when I get time later.
Al
I dont remember the term but I hear flushing out salt build up is just a matter of running alot of fresh water thru the soil; is that right? I dont fertize more than every 2 weeks. Maybe during the winter I should do it less. I have alot of my tropicals in my makeshift wanna be greenhouse/use to be gazebo and they are all doing well humidity wise. Maybe I should put this little fellow out with them. It couldnt hurt. I was reading something like the weak winters we have here wont hurt it either. I hope it doesnt die on me cuz I'd searched hi and lo for this plant.
What about cutting the tips to make it bushy? Any advice on that? Should I wait till spring since I have that leaf problem? Thanks guys for all the help.
Depending on how much fertilizer you're using every 2 wks could be OK, or it could be too often. I'd say if you're using the "regular" concentration of the fertilizer that's probably too often, but if you're using it half strength or quarter strength then maybe it's OK. I'm not familiar with the fertilization needs of ficus trees so hopefully someone else can advise you on what the proper amount is. But as I said in my earlier post, even if you're using an appropriate amount of fertilizer, the salts will still build up in the soil over time, and if you have a lot of minerals and things in your water that can make the salt build up faster too. I'd try giving it a good flushing and then maybe back off a little on the fertilizer--either dilute it more or feed a little less often and see if that stops the other leaves from getting brown edges (it won't cure the ones that are already brown...those edges will not go back to being green, but hopefully you can prevent leaves that aren't already brown on the edges from getting that way).
As far as moving the plant--I really don't think the problem with your leaves is caused by lack of humidity, I think it's a soil issue and moving it won't do anything to help that. I don't know if I'd take the chance on moving it to a place where it may or may not be as happy as it is now. Plus moving to a different set of conditions will also create more stress for it and it's already under a little stress, so if it were my plant I would probably leave it where it was. See what other people say, maybe I'm wrong! I definitely wouldn't put it outside though--Plant Files lists it as zone 10 so I'm not convinced it would make it through your winter especially if it's in a container rather than planted in the ground.
You may wish to read this:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/797500/
Al
Thanks Tapla
