How to Plant Baby Rubber Plant Cuttings
by JoyUsGarden in Living > Gardening
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How to Plant Baby Rubber Plant Cuttings
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Has your Ficus elastica gotten too tall or too leggy? Did you know that you can turn it into a tree form? Here's how to make a Rubber Tree (Rubber Plant) branch out.
Supplies
Air Layer Your Houseplant
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Some of the other houseplants which air layer beautifully are Weeping Fig, Fiddleleaf Fig, Dracaenas, Dumbcane, Umbrella Tree, Dwarf Umbrella Tree and the Split Leaf Philodendron. The 2 plants which I’ve successfully air layered in the past are the Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia Tropic Snow) and Burgundy Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica Burgundy).
I air layered the mother plant & removed the baby once it was showing significant rooting.
I let the mother plant settle for a few weeks before starting to remove the leaves at the very bottom.
Every 3-6 weeks I took a couple more leaves off.
Head’s Up! Watch Out for the Sap.
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The Rubber Tree emits a milky white sap which is considered toxic to people & pets. The sap has never irritated me but it could be irritating to you. Be sure to keep it away from your face & wear gloves & long sleeves when pruning or handling a Rubber Plant if you think it’ll affect you. You’ll need to clean your pruners soon after.
Immediately after removing any of the leaves I wrap the trunk with a rag to cover the nodes where they’ve been taken off. I also wrap the leaf stem that’s been cut off. The sap drips like crazy for about a minute or 2 & this prevents it from running down the trunk of the plant, onto your skin or clothes, or onto your floor.
Head’s Up: the Sap Can Stain Your Clothing or Rug If Not Contained or Cleaned Off Right Away.
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A few of the leaves were stubborn to come off. I used a sharp floral knife to start the process & then pulled them off. Be sure not to dig too deep into the bark.
Head’s Up: You Want to Remove the As Much As the Leaf Stem From the Trunk As You Can. It Just Looks Better That Way.
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When the top 4 nodes were producing new growth, I then removed the 4 older leaves right below those new sprouts.
I don’t remember any new growth appearing on the trunk after I took the leaves off. I removed the leaves gradually because of the dripping sap factor – it was just easier for me to do it this way than all at once.
Rubber Tree Plant Care Timeline
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I thought you might be interested in how long this has taken. Here’s the timeline of how this all went down:
I did the air layering at the end of April 2018.
The air layered portion was cut off & planted at the very beginning of Sept. 2018.
I could have done this at the end of July but got involved in traveling & with other projects. You know how that goes! I started to remove the leaves in early October 2018.
It is now the end of May 2019.
What's Next?
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My living room has 20′ ceilings but the light in there isn’t quite bright enough for a Variegated Rubber Plant year round. Once this plant hits the ceiling in my dining room in a few years I’ll have to do this all over again. Another pruning adventure!
Happy gardening,
Nell Foster