Will add photos as soon as I figure out how to!

Rubber trees are sun loving plants. I would repot it into regular potting soil. You should probably prune it to make it bush out and make it stand up better. It might have girdling roots if it hasn't been repotted for a long period of time. They root like weeds in potting soil. It just takes a few months.

I have two rubber trees on my patio in direct sun. I agree with Dave that you want a fast draining soil like the ones he mentioned. Definitely read those threads he posted.

I have a rubber tree that i got from Home Depot about 2 years ago. It is in regular potting soil and doing great. It hardy needs watering in the winter time.

Probably doesn't need much water during winter due to the regular potting soil.

The more frequent you can water, the better it would be for the plant.

Not saying it won't survive in standard potting mix as a lot of them do.

Just saying, something like 5:1:1 or gritty would be the best possible thing you could use.

Thank you so much for the wonderful tips and links. Took a little bit, but I read them all thoroughly.

As a result, I'm debating between...

5:1:1, gritty, or Al's pine/fir bark, turface, and gran-I-grit.

Repotting now or allowing plant to acclimate first (possibly potting up) in the meantime?

Does anyone recommend one over the other?

Also, after reading the linked articles I have 2 new concerns.

1) she has been on the porch the last 2 days. From what I read, leaf loss isn't a problem when moving from favorable to optimal. But now I'm concerned about the stress of moving back indoors. It's only been 2 days, but will be a 20 degree and probably 20% humidity change.

Should I take her in right away? Or in the evening when temps have dropped closer to that of indoors?

2) she lost some of her topsoil on the ride here. My boyfriend picked her up and didn't take the precautions I would have. It appears she lost 2-3 inches of her existing top soil and I topped off with a peat moss and perlite to minimize damage until I have a plan of action. I'm assuming I should water right away?

Some leaves have begun to curl just a bit. Assuming this is why?

I will apologize in advance for asking for personal options and specifics in a not so short-and-sweet way. Until I'm able to spend a few hours studying and taking notes, I really do appreciate the help!

If you want to repot, I'd do it as soon as possible.

5:1:1 would probably be easiest to source and the cheapest to make.

However, gritty with outlast 5:1:1.

Id repot and keep the plant outdoors recieving ambient light from the sky and no direct sun. You can acclimate it to direct sun a couple weeks after repotting if you choose. They will grow the fastest and will have superior ramification.

Keep it there until nightime temps start to drop below 55° F in the fall.

id also recommend picking up a bottle of dyna grow folliage pro 9-3-6 for your fertilizer. It's probably the best out there.

May art fertilizing 2 weeks after the report or when see you new growth.

I'd repot into the same exact pot that it's in.

After not having been repotted in 7 years, the roots are going to be a tangled mess. You'll probably need to remove some.

Make sure they if you do a full repot that you keep the roots moist while working with them. Mist them with water every couple minutes if needed.

Also, did you just dump a bag on perlite on top?

id also prune the top too so you can get a little better shape out of it and encourage back budding.

Thank you for the quick response, Dave!

I have a bag of red lava rock here. Would that be good to incorporate?

Ill run to the store this afternoon. If I can easily gather what's needed for the gritty, I'll go that route. If not, I'll do the 5-1-1.

Any recommendation for what pot size to increase to? It's 16X16 round now.

I mixed the perlite and peat after

As seen in this photo, it was a quick attempt to cover the roots that were exposed after transport. And seeing her leaves drooping scared me!

You'd probably be fine keeping it in the same size pot.

As is said, after 7 years (that's a really long time) without a repot, the roots are probably a tangled mess and some of them would likely need to be pruned.

It should be able to fit in that same pot after all is said and done.

Make sure the pine bark you get are fines/mulch. You don't want nuggets or anything that's too decomposed.

Thank you, thank you!

Looks like I have my work cut out for me after the Lils are in bed ;)

The thing with the gritty mix is you can be a slave to watering, especially in the summer time. And if the pot tips over it makes a big mess!

Hey girl! I too adopted an extremely large and unruly rubber tree! I found mine in the beginning of April at an estate sale. They had it outside on a side patio. I happened to glimpse it through the sliding door. It was still freezing at nights then, but it was nice out that day. I didn't know what kind of plant it was. The man I bought it from ($3) told me that ever since he placed it outside, that it was much happier. He pointed out all the new growth. Making me think I could keep it outside (NO! Not in April. I'm in CT). I left it out for one night, and then brought it inside the next day after I was able to properly ID it. Some of the leaves curled from being outside. Since being inside, It's been shooting up new growth like crazy, and dropped only 5ish leaves like I said. It hasn't dropped any in a very long time. I think it's finally adjusted to it's new spot.

The problem is the soil. It was in desperate need of new soil when I got it. It also had roots exposed. I knew bringing it inside would be a huge adjustment, so I did minimal work in the pot. Without taking up the roots too much, I took old soil out and mixed in new. What I read online told me that regular potting soil would be fine. So, that's what it's been in. - but some of the leaves are wavy or curled. The soil also stays damp for far too long. I feel like I have watered it maybe once a month. The more I read on soil, the more I realize that this is not optimal for the plant. I want her to be big and beautiful and HAPPY. Which would mean faster draining soil, and more regular waterings.

I'm going to switch to the 5-1-1 or gritty, and wanted to hear your opinion on the two. Which did you decide on? How is your plant adjusting? It is beautiful by the way! Great find! I don't know if you've trimmed yours up, but I've kept mine long and tall. I just wired her up with a support stick. I only trimmed a few sideways branches that would not conform to a vertical existence, and propagated them for gifts.

The day I got her:

Today:

Hi Kate I have my two rubber trees in 511. Both mixes would work well but when plants get large the best choice would probably be 511 based on weight. Gritty would get very heavy with large trees.

Thanks Vance! That's definitely something to think about. I was looking online at pricing for materials... it seems the 5-1-1 is actually more expensive to make than the gritty. At least where I was looking. Is there a website anyone can recommend? I calculated, and I need to make at least 7 gallons.

If you can find a landscape company near you. You probably can get pine bark mulch for cheap, but it's bulk. Perlite I got off of amazon a few years ago. I use Napa floor dry in place of peat.

Thanks Vance! I think I'm going to buy a pre-mix from Bonsai Jack. It seems cheaper and easier than mixing it myself, FOR NOW. After more research of places to buy from, and more time to plan out when I can mix and screen it all, I will make my own. Probably for re-pots and for future plants.

If you're going to repot, you need to do it very soon. I would do minimal pruning as this is not the best time of the year for a full repot. Next June, around Fathers Day, is The best time to drastically root prune and prune foliage.

I would, however, recommend you bare root and repot. The rubber tree will probably be in shock for a few weeks and will drop a few leaves, but should recover nicely for winter. It will not do as well as it would have if you did it in June, unfortunately.

So I know this response in WAY overdue, but I thought I'd update in case anyone else stumbles across this post.

Sourcing the gritty mix, re-potting, pruning... it all seemed like a lot and it also sounded like time was of the essence. So, I marked my calendar for Father's Day week, as Vance suggested, and put it off until this year. Maybe a few weeks behind but, shhhhhh, don't tell him ;)

Holy moly, these guys (Dave and Al) know their stuff. I did as Dave suggested. I repotted, took off about half of the height, and propogated every single inch of the cuttings. And a "tangled mess" is no joke. There was one root in particular that circled the pot and stretched out to over 12 feet long!!!

Here's what I'll say about rooting the cuttings (and post pics soon to prove it), Al is 100% right on the rooting in water vs medium debate. Every single cutting took! Not sure what I'll do with over 30 baby rubber trees ;) But here's the fun fact... yes, they'll root in water. But nothing like being stuck in turface. The cuttings in water that have taken up half of my kitchen counter have a ton of tiny little root buds popping out and a tiny bit of new growth. Even the sticks that I could have sworn were dead and had dropped their leaves weeks ago. However, EVERY single cutting dipped in rooting hormone and stuck in turface have and abundance of nice roots circling the bottom of the cups and much more new growth. So even though the cuttings in water are showing signs of life, there's no telling how they'll transition. Since I'm tired of changing out stinky water every few days I may not even wait to find out. I now need to pot up the ones in turface so I'll probably stick the water rooted cuttings in those same containers and see if they'll make the transition.

Long story, not so short... Pick your method and madness. Just know that even if there are several ways to get something done, if someone has done it a gazillion times over they may just know their stuff!

If anyone's interested, I'll take some pics of Momma plant, water babies, and turface babies.

Ps.

Momma plant is doing wonderful! Can't forget about her. She spends her summers outdoors on a covered porch, loves her new gritty mix and 9-3-6 food, has shown her appreciation with a ton of new growth, and has back budded like a Queen.

Now I just need to pick the pros brains on how to help her get her "sexy back". She's a brand new woman but I'd still like to work on her shape.

Yes! Post some pics!

I'll take some more on Monday AM when I get back, too.

Forum Questions · More Info

I just filled one clear cup with Turface, dipped cutting in rooting hormone, stuck cutting in, cut a hole in another cup (allowing the tall cuttings to pop thru the top but still concealing moisture .Thought it may reduce chances of rot and mold, as well), taped cups together, filled with more turface, cut slits in bottom cup, and placed on porch. Would water as normal with other plants on porch and the small amount that got thru the holes seemed to be enough.

I like the way you cut the leaves on your cuttings, looks much better than just straight across! How many nodes are buried in the turface? A couple, for each one? Interested to see if you get roots from more than one site...

Thank you. Here are a few I already potted up temporarily in a bark fine mix. Once I'm home more in the next week or two, they'll be going into gritty mix, as well.

With the water cuttings, there's little buds all over. Because I'm going to stick those in turface as well, I'll have to update in a few weeks when I check.

But on the ones I rooted in turface, the roots only came from the nodes on the very bottom of the cuttings regardless of how many were buried. Because I cut all the pruned limbs into several separate cuttings, the number of nodes varied greatly. Some only 2, some 4-5. I would say all cuttings had 2 nodes submerged in the turface, though. Their size varied anywhere from 5 to 10 inches because I made sure to have at least 2 nodes buried and at least one leaf per cutting. Because there were so many sections without any leaves, the sizes varied greatly.

Hope that helps :)

Yes that helps, thanks. I think having a couple of nodes beneath the surface is the way to go, the top one being a back up in case the lower one fails. Maybe burying even more than that becomes a negative because of potential for rotting stem more so than than potential for multiple sites of roots...

Sounds like you have your Christmas presents sorted - rubber plant, anyone? ;)

Between the iris and the rubber plants... I'm surprised people aren't dodging me. Lol. 2 down, tons to go! At least it's easier than finding homes for stray kittens ;)

I'm wondering how much moisture was in the cups.

That's the best part about using the turface. It's almost like cat litter in regards to its change of color from wet to damp to dry.

When I initially stuck the cuttings, I loaded the first cup with turface I had just rinsed to reduce the dust particles. Therefore it was damp when stuck. After inserting the dusted cutting, topping with another upside down cup (with hole cut in bottom to slide over stem), I then poured additional turface thru the top hole. Then I watered just until saturated. Lastly, I cut slits in the bottom cup until I was sure it was adequately draining.

Other than sticking them in a shaded location and adding water anytime I saw the turface drying out... that was it!

With these, just having them next to other plants that were regularly watered on the porch was sufficient. The hole let in just enough, but not too much!

Ps.

Here is another pic of Momma (who will be coming back inside soon. Temps are creeping closer to 55 at night.), and 4 of her babies that I'm about to pot up in gritty mix. Some I may even temporarily pot with Momma. A lot of babies = a lot of gritty mix making!

Think I may start another thread to get advice (hint hint, Al & Dave) about how/when/where to prune the babies for optimal growth, and Momma, as well.

If I'm successful, I'll link that post to this one. I know there are plenty out there, and they've guided hundreds of people thru similar. But I'm a precious brown thumb and awfully proud of my 1st prune/propagate success. So maybe it will help someone else!

As for the ones that had begun rooting in water, here is one that I temporarily potted in a pine bark mix. A few took off (like this one! Look at the growth!) but quite a few... meh. Definitely not the 100% success like with the turface.

I wonder why only the bottom node had roots. It looks like pretty even moisture. Maybe its a rubber plant thing.

That (potting up) is a half-measure which ensures the limitations associated with root congestion remain as limitations (until a pair of human hands gets into the root mass to correct the congestion). Nothing but a full repot (or dividing plants which are better divided), during which unnecessary large and congested roots are removed to make room for fine roots, completely eliminates the stress caused by congested roots.

Al