Beginner Gardening: Rubber Plant troubles!, 1 by hort_enthusias

hort_enthusias wrote:
This is a picture of my rubber plant. Last summer I air layered the top two feet because it was looking leggy like yours. Then I cut the stem back to four leave nodes and repotted it with new soil using the same pot. In about three weeks I had started to see new growth which was around the begining of September by the middle of october it was as big as this picture I took today. It is dormant right now because of winter but I'm sure when spring comes it will grow into a bushy plant. I would suggest this spring if you want a more compact plant that you do the same and as a bonus you can increase your supply of plants because when the branches are taller you can air layer them. One tip if you do cut the stem back is not to over water it because when there are no leaves to use the water it will rot if too wet. Another tip that I learned, to pervent the droping of leaves is to keep the soil moist, not wet, all through the growing season. Let it almost dry out between watering during the dormant season. looking at your plant I can see that your leaves are slightly curling at the edges my was doing the same and I read that this was because of dry air. I found that a weekly shower with my hand held shower head improved it health making it look better. Make sure you let the water drain out of the pot so you don't get root rot. I hope this infomation helps.