when you propagate a cutting ... YOU END UP WITH THE SAME PLANT ... it is still granedma's plant ...

propagate some new cuttings,. pot them properly in fresh new me3dia ... and then get rid of the old plant ...

thats is how i deal with my heirloom plants .. for the last 2 decades ...

since you already know the success rate ... dont cut all of the tips of the old plant ... keep the old one going until you are sure you have another going ..

maybe these will increase your odds ??....

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=propagating+Rubber+Plant&t=ffcm&iax=videos&ia=videos

i think you deserve as vibrant a plant as your sister.. so go make one ...

ken

ps: 8 to 10 feet from the window is probably mot good enough ...

While you propagate more cuttings, regarding shaping the plant to make it more manageable and aesthetically pleasing, I would try tying the top two branches together and tie the lower two branches individually to the main trunk so that they are all closer together and more upright. Regarding repotting, yes, pull it out of the pot and check the root ball and post pics here. The roots on this Ficus are pretty resilient. You can easily take out almost all of old mix and pot it up in fresh mix. Size of the pot would depend on the size of the root ball.

Hi, Carrie. I'd like to make a few observations based on the info you provided before I answer your questions.

[My grandmother] had this plant for years, never shaped or re-potted it from what I know. It sat on her covered screen porch, on the east coast of North Carolina. The porch was not heated/cooled, but it was shaded; got lots of bright, indirect light. Just a note that it's best if the plant is protected from temps below 55*, reason being, temps below that level can/do inhibit the plant's ability to carry on photosynthesis, the process during which the plant synthesizes its own food - sugar/ glucose. Additionally, the time it takes to return to it's normal ability to photosynthesize as temperatures lags actual temperatures significantly. This has the effect of switching the plant from using its current ability to create food/energy to using its supply of stored energy - changing from electric power to battery power would be a good analogy, and since the amount a battery can hold is finite, ........

The amount of light the plant has received is far less than it wants. The clues are, 1) the plant is unable to support itself, and 2) the length of internodes is conspicuously long.

I took some cuttings summer of 2020, and 1 of the 3 survived and is thriving at my sister's house; has a compact growth habit, lots of glossy, bushy growth. But my branches that I cut, just seemed to grow straight out again from the same place. One of the factors most important to success of cuttings is the amount of stored energy the parent plant had at the point in time when the cuttings were taken. When we propagate by cuttings, its pretty much a race to have roots form and make a connection to the propagules existing vasculature before fungal or bacterial pathogens can clog the plumbing, thereby making the connection impossible.

Ficus elastica is very responsive to pruning in that it is very cooperative about back-budding. It's good to know, however, that timing, the plant's current level of vitality (when it's pruned), and its current ability to carry on photosynthesis are all key factors in how enthusiastically the plant is able to respond. All else equal, pruning or pinching plant with low energy reserves during the months when the plant's metabolic rate is slow cannot be expected to produce anywhere near the results which could be expected if the plant were to be pruned when it's stored energy reserves AND its current ability to produce food/energy are peaking. Where you live, any hard work like heavy pruning or repotting should be undertaken in early to mid-June, when recovery should be faster than at any other part of the growth cycle. It's much better that we recognize our plants have rhythms (search Circadian and endogenous rhythm) during which its level of vitality varies significantly, and to work in concert with these rhythms to make life easier for our plants, than it is to act on impulse and not reap the rewards of working with the plant instead of against it.

Timing of pruning and pinching are also a critically important part of creating a full/ compact plant.

Your sisters plant is performing well because it isn't suffering the limitations imposed by root congestion, and it might be getting more light, and perhaps her nutritional supplementation program is more appropriate than yours. That's just a guess, but what have you been doing about fertilizing?

When I moved it to a corner (5 feet away, but angled from the windows), it dropped some yellow leaves, like 3 or 4 in rapid concession. And the rolled leaves that it had growing, kind of just stalled and seemed to shrivel up. This was almost certainly a response to a significant decrease in the light load. The affected leaves, including those you describe as being in the process of unfurling, were shed by the plant. The mechanism by which this occurs is complicated, but might be described as follows: There is a zone at the base of the leaf stem through which a sufficient quantity of a growth regulator (auxin) must flow if the leaf is to remain attached to the plant. Low light diminishes synthesis of this growth regulator, which causes an abscission layer to form in the zone. This layer walls off the leaf from the plant, and before long the weight of the leaf will cause the leaf to separate from the plant.

I talked to someone at a nursery at the local farmer's market, and he suggested that I was over watering; he said water twice a month. It's not uncommon to find people who regularly operate well beyond the limits of their knowledge. No one can reasonably suggest what represents an appropriate interval between waterings w/o specific knowledge about the physical characteristics of your grow medium, an understanding of your watering habits, and what the rhizosphere (root zone) looks like in terms of root congestion and whether or not the roots still have 'room to run'. I can tell you how YOU can determine what an appropriate watering interval is, but would never suggest how often you should water. See "Using a Tell" below.

So I'm thinking that maybe the leaves yellowed due to a change of season, [almost certainly not] or change of light? [much more likely] And now I keep getting random leaves with this weird spot on them. Is it diseased? No - probably a physiological issue. Odds are very high that conditions in the pot are limiting the roots' ability to function normally. When roots cannot function normally, the first plant parts to suffer are usually those most distal, which would be leaf tips and margins. If we put together a plan to tune up the root system, the physiological disorder will stop affecting leaves. Existing damage will remain, but new leaves should come on line and remain pristine as long as we can get cultural conditions in the plant's sweet spot, an easy thing to do.

I'm wondering a few things:

1.) Can I re-shape this old untrained plant? Yes, very easily. If you like, I'll show you some of the Ficus I've worked with to ease your mind re whether or not I speak from experience. I have >40 ficus and have been caring for most for more than 20 years. I also have dozens of young descendants of my older trees.

2.) Does this plant need more light? Technically, it doesn't need more light to survive, but it definitely needs more light to thrive. The plant is making more food during photosynthesis than it uses during the respiration phase, so it [passes that critical test. If you want a plant you think might just kick up its heels, some care adjustments are in order, but it would be nothing even neophyte growers couldn't handle. Should I move it closer to the window again? Yes, and if you really want to see an about=face, move the plant outdoors as soon as temps (above 55*) allow.

3.) Is this pot a problem? It could be, since it has a snap-on collection saucer. The plant should not sit in the effluent that exits the drain hole(s). The bottom of the pot should sit above any water that collects below it in the saucer; otherwise, flushing the soil as you water is an exercise w/o reward.

Should I repot in to a larger pot? How large the pot can/should be is determined by the size of the root mass at repotting time, and the soil you choose. When using a grow medium too water-retentive, pot size can be critical. I grow in a medium that would allow me to move this ficus cutting from the pill bottle it was started in to a 55 gallon drum full of soil, if I choose.

If you decide you want help putting a plan together, I'll be asking you to repot not long after Memorial day. Repotting is more involved than potting up, but if you want to maximize the opportunity your plant has to realize as much of its genetic potential as possible, repotting is essential to that goal. I regularly repot all of my trees (most every other year) because I find it essential to maintaining a level of vitality anywhere above mediocre.

Different type of drainage pot? Etc. An unglazed clay/ terra cotta pot or a pond basket inside of a cache pot would be super - much better than plastic or high-fired clay/ porcelain. This statement comes from the plant's perspective.

I'm terrified of damaging this plant and losing it. The best way to ensure that doesn't happen is - start an air layer now. It should be rooted by June, when it's time to prune. Now is about the worst time of the year to start cuttings, because your plant is pretty depleted of its energy reserves. You'll have much better likelihood of success if you start the cuttings later in the year. You can, however, employ some tricks that will predispose your cuttings to form roots by "blanching" (has nothing to do with boiling water).

BTW - there is no need to tie anything together ....... it will just make your tree look like you tied something together. You can do ALL the manipulations required to bring your tree back to a structure you can build on by directional pruning. Part of the restoration plan will cutting back branches so they back-bud. Bonsai practitioners call this chasing the foliage back to the trunk. None of the foliage or branch structure now situated well away from the trunk will remain as part of the composition.

Before I go off in any other directions, I'll wait to hear what you're thinking.

Using a 'tell'

Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant.

Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor.

In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water.

Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue.

Al