Ficus - the rubber tree and the rock fig

Hi all.

I bought the rubber tree a couple months ago, maybe more. The nursery lady told me it was over-watered due to a new employee. I still watered it once a week, at first. But now, I haven't watered it in over three weeks and the water stick still says "Wet." It seems to be doing fine, maybe even starting to sprout new leaves. But is it possible that it cannot be watered that long and still thrive?

Same with the rock fig. Not exactly the same. I didn't buy it over-watered, I've had it for about four years now, but the water stick has said "Wet" for a long time now and I haven't watered it for three weeks. This one doesn't look so wonderful. But it never has. Kind of a spindly creature.

Is it that I have the decorative polished stones on top of the soil? Is that what's keeping these plants wet? They're both in the solarium and get plenty of sunshine.

See if this helps, Diane:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1136338/?hl=ficus+in+containers

Al

Dianna,

What kind of a Ficus did you buy? Was it the "Benjamina"--which is the tree.
There ia also the Rubber Plant (also a Ficus).

--First question I have is---
Does your pot have drainage? A hole at the bottom?
Since your "water stick" keeps saying "wet"--the water may be sitting in the bottom of
the pot. This is NOT good! Pots need to have holes at the bottom for drainage.

--Second Question:
Even if the pot you bought has drainage--did you, perhaps, set it in a decorative pot
that does not? Like the Oriental, ceramic pots.

--Third question---
Did you re-pot it after you bought it? If you did--we have a lot more to talk about.

Gita

Thank you both. I read the ficus link, Al, and it was interesting, though too advanced for me. I can't do soil amendments right now. I haven't mastered the correct way to water plants yet.

I learned from that article that the water meter isn't so accurate. I suspected that the last time I tried to keep houseplants, about five years ago. Maybe more. The only one that survived is that rock fig I wrote about about. I had so many houseplants back then. And some beauts. Big ones. Killed them all. I'm trying again. Now I got about 13, who were probably crying as I drag them out of the nursery to their certain doom.

No, really, this time, I'm keeping them alive. I have a new house with so many windows and skylights. And a huge yard thriving with all kinds of plants I don't know. I'll get to those in the Spring. I joined Dave's Garden, so I am dedicated this time.

One reason I'm doing houseplants again is I'm filling up all the indoor pots I used to have living plants in, years ago. (I have managed to keep ferns and succulents alive, outside, and am continuing/expanding on that with the clay pot graveyard I have.)

ANYWAY, Gita, the ficus is an Elastica one, not a Benjamin thing, ( of which I have bought a new little one, though I killed two bigger ones in the old days... But I love those). I did re-pot the ficus in question. When I bought it, it was listed for $70. I debated between it and a more low-lying one. I chose it because of its height and the location I had planned for it. So, I took it upfront and the proprietor told me it was over-watered by a new employee and charged me only $35. She didn't have to do that. I was ignorant. I was impressed by the customer service.

The other, the rock fig one, the one I've had awhile, is all wet too. It didn't act that way before. But I would hardly water it. Just as I walked by it with bottled water my son left out overnight, I'd douse it. Barely break my step. It managed to survive. Now that I'm trying to be a good plant owner, it seems to be over-watered, but I haven't watered either of these guys in weeks. It doesn't seem right.

My pots do have holes. I may have a black thumb, but I know that much!

Here's a pic of the rubber tree one. I took it now, at night, so it might not be the best picture. It doesn't look like it's dying, but I find it hard to believe it's okay for it to go that long without being watered.

And here it is in it's pot. It looks kind of ugly from this view. I see I need to clean that pot. But just so you can see the pot is not big for the plant size (I think?)

Lots of plants don't need a lot of water in the winter. They're in a dormant period. Your plant looks great. Is that a new leaf it's putting out?

Well, my post went just after your first pic. Hopw long have those bottom leaves been off?

It never had bottom leaves, is it supposed to?

But you're right. Just because they're houseplants to us, doesn't mean they don't have seasonal behaviors. It makes sense to me now!

Yes, those are new leaves.

Also, want to say for the record, I know "it's" is wrong. I meant "its"

Here's my rock fig, not that it will shed light on ITS being wet, but just because I took its picture and may as well add it to this post while I'm posting. It's spindly, but a trooper. Kind of like Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree.

Diana, here's a link to some lovely examples of Ficus elastica.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/12055/

I still think yours looks fine. I wish I knew more about the rock fig.

And now worries on punctuation or grammer. We aren't sticklers. ^_^

Hi, Diana. In a kindly way I have to say your plants do not look ok. They are highly stressed/strained and show signs of one or more chronic issues.

I'll limit my preaching to the observation that the best way to deal with the problems you have now, is to keep them from happening in the first place. The most important factors that determine your plants growth and vitality levels are your soil choice, watering habits, your nutrient supplementation program (fertilizing) and light. End of sermon. ;o)

By what you've offered so far, it sounds like we can eliminate light as the issue. This leaves us looking at something soil related and/or your watering habits. Often, they are inextricably intertwined, as I suspect is the case here. If you water a plant and 3 weeks later the soil is still wet, you can be sure you have root issues and the soil is inappropriate and too water-retentive. Now is not a good time to be repotting weak plants, but I can offer tips that should help you get your plant through the winter so you can get it outdoors where it will gain enough energy to tolerate repotting and root-pruning.

Before I go any further, I want to be sure I didn't offend you with my sermon, and that you'd be open to considering following some advice if I explain why I offered it and present it in a way that makes sense to you. BTW - I've helped people turn around trees like yours hundreds of times, both in forum settings and in 'real life'. ;o)

Ball's in your court.

Al

Dianna---

The reason I asked you if you had re-potted the plant is that,
too often, when "newbies" (and i appologize if you are not in
that category) repot a plant in a bigger potthey put the plant
in the pot and then fill it up with soil.

A larger pot is also deeper and you need to put the extra inches of
soil in the bottom first so the plant can remain at the depth it was
used to growing. One must NEVER add the extra 2" or even 1" of soil
over the surface of the plant. This alone can slowly kill your plant.

I also worry about your plant staying too wet for so long,.
Tapla has given you good suggestions....

What "might" have happened at the Garden Center you bough it
from is that this Rubber Tree had become too dessicated for too
long. It is a tough plant--but the fact that it has lost most of it's
leaves makes me think it has been dry for too long--and then it got
overwatered...by the new employee and then by you as well.

In an extended dryness--the roots can shut down and can no longer
absorb any water. The plant then wilts--and looks like it needs to be
watered. This may explain why the soil still registers as
"wet" after 3 weeks.
IF this is the case--the plant will not likely recover.

Here's a suggestionIF that is what has happened.
You could unpot the plant and cut back all the roots that seem soft,
mushy or rotten to where they look healthy.
Then--re-pot it in fresh potting MIX in a, propper manner, and be careful
with the watering until it starts to show signs of fresh growth.
Keep it just on the moist side.

Another option, after the root pruning, would be to cut off the green,
growing top, with about 4"-6" of stem and see if you can root it.
Then cut back the bare stem to about 6"-8" and
let it re-grow new leaves. This should happen as soon as the roots
start re-growing.

Rubber Trees are very common. You can get a new, full one for $12
at any HD or such.
I, personally, do not have patience to do all this if I have a sickly plant
Gone! Plants are easily replacable for a few dollars....

Sorry--but I do not know anything about a Rock Ficus.

Gita

Thank you all. Kwanjin asked me about the bottom leaves of the rubber tree last night, so I looked at it this morning and see where they were-- indeed, all these notches cut off. If I knew something, I would have known not to buy it. I'm not smart about plants yet. But I can't throw it out. It's my baby. I'm saving it from overwatering.

I'm not offended about being ignorant how to care for plants. I know I am. I try to do the water and light right, but I just put in some soil I bought from the nursery and let it be. I can't manage the soil amendments or whatever. It shouldn't be that complicated to keep plants.

I am going to the nursery tomorrow to get some more soil for a lot of ferns I bought this weekend and need some soil for one succulent I plan to repot. In that regard, I do pick the bag that says its the right stuff, but soil-mixing is too advanced for me. I read things about adding 1 part this to 3 parts this or such, but it seems a lot of trouble. I bet I sound lazy.

Today the rock fig said, "moist," so it's coming down. The rubber tree still says "wet," but on the lowest notch.

What Gita wrote makes me think I can save my house fern (some kind of pteris) that I bought a couple weeks ago in a 2 inch pot and I left it in there and stuck it in a convenient decorative pot. It's foilage was BIG, way bigger than any 2 inch pot plant you ever saw. It was bone dry every time I checked. I only checked every five days and now it got wilted. So I repotted it today, but it's in a sorry state. When I took it out of its original container, it was all desert sand dry and had big roots wrapped all around. If it doesn't recover, I can cut the roots like you recommended above. I just can't handle the ficus elastica's root. It's too big for me to manage. And I don't want to cut it down. I'll feel bad about hurting it.