Ficus elastica , commonly relate to as a gumshoe plant or condom tree , are a very beautiful and underrated tree - like indoor houseplant .
With their shiny , glowering greenish leaves these plants can be enjoyed as a medium sized houseplant , or grown prominent enough to be the focal compass point of a room . They can grow telling quantity in just a few years , especially if add outside during the summertime months .
To make a rubber industrial plant more shaggy-coated , pruning is necessary . To rationalize a rubber industrial plant :
safety plants reply very well to pruning , peculiarly if its done around late spring or early summertime . They can thrive either as a tall tree , or be maintained as a bushy shrub .
cut a condom industrial plant helps to keep it in good health , while encouraging a want shape and size .
Rubber Plant Overview
caoutchouc plants are native to Southeast Asia , where they can turn to be up to 100 feet marvelous in their raw home ground . As a domesticated houseplant , they are loved for their unique leave and low maintenance qualities .
The name rubber plant actually comes from their milky white sap , which is sometimes used to make innate rubber .
You ’ll see this sap bleeding from the cut and plucked leaves during pruning . Be careful , because this sap can have hide aggravation and stain airfoil .
fortunately , rubber plants are highly malleable and easy to shape to your liking . Although the classic rubber plant with its waxy , dark green leaves is the most common , there are a multifariousness of other colours as well .
maintain your rubber plant in a humble pot is one soft way to restrict its emergence as a little houseplant .
Pruning is also very important for rubber plants , because they tend to farm quite tall and lanky rather quickly . If left unchecked , they may even snap under the weight of their own branches .
They can handle a reasonably aggressive pruning in comparability to most other plants . After a major trimness it might depend a little odd and bare , but do n’t interest , it will rapidly fill in the outer space with new leaves .
Before Pruning Your Rubber Plant
Rubber plants can take the form of a tall , slender tree or a more compact , shaggy shrub . assert a prophylactic plant as a shaggy-haired shrub takes a little more planning and attention .
When to Prune A Rubber Plant?
Although rubber works are considered hardy enough to treat some pruning at any time during the year , it is encouraged to look for the early growing time of year ( late spring or former summertime ) for a speedy recovery .
If you must prune during the declension or winter , restrict yourself to making only a few minor cuts .
Since these plants can address a baffling prune , the final shape is up to you . With their soft , bendable branches and lively way , it is possible to get creative and make something alone .
However if you would like to make more dramatic changes , it ’s recommend that you crop in a few stage over the course of a couple month . This will ensure that you avoid shocking the flora .
Pruning A Rubber Plant to Promote Bushiness
Step 1: Make a plan.
Step back and keep your prophylactic flora . settle how you would care it to look considering its emplacement and existing ontogeny .
For example , if your rubber plant is on a table or ledge without very much place to grow , it would believably be best kept as a shortsighted , pear-shaped shrub .
Pruning sidelong branches will perk up new development to replete in the plant middle discussion section , so opt a size of it that you’re able to snip down to and then admit it to satiate itself in .
Step 2: Remove any branches which seem out of place.
Start by trimming back any of the lower branches which appear to be growing direct out horizontally , or any which are troubled to your desire configuration for the plant .
Some branches will seem to grow in unknown directions , curving , or much faster than others . Remove these to keep the plant search tidy and presentable .
you’re able to also absent some branches and leaves from the mediate section of the plant to keep it from appear too dumb , but this is a thing of personal penchant .
Step 3: Cut to your desired height.
Once your caoutchouc industrial plant has spring up to your desired hight , cut off the top set of leavesbeforethe node . By cutting before the lymph gland , or else of after , you are essentially leaving a minuscule stump behind . This will prevent the works from sending out any more vertical chutes .
For a more compact shrub - like rubber works , snip the top off when it reach a upper limit of about four feet tall . This will encourage the plant to grow more horizontally and produce a more rounded form , rather than growing tall and weedy .
Step 4: Encourage leaf coverage by pruning often.
As cite above , maintaining a rubber plant as a shaggy-coated bush does want a small more maintenance than its other shape as a taller tree - like houseplant . To attain a bushy rubber plant , it require unremitting pruning .
When a cut is made after the node , one and sometimes two fresh branches will start to develop from the office where the cut was made . Once the plant has had a opportunity to reclaim from the last pruning and beam out some new sloping trough , dilute these ones back too .
Continuously pruning the new lateral development will give you controller over how boneheaded and bushy the plant life becomes .
Step 5: Propagate new cuttings back into the pot.
handily , propagating the cuttings of a rubber plant is quite easy . By planting these cuttings back into the mass of your rubber industrial plant , you’re able to achieve a more shrub - similar appearance by helping to fill in the lower sections of the flora .
After branches have been trim during pruning , these can immediately be transfer back into the same passel as the original industrial plant , or rout first in a glass of water .
Quick Guide to Propagating Rubber Plant Cuttings
The easiest way to propagate rubber plant cuttings is to take a small leg from a goodish , mature plant and permit it to settle down in piddle or grunge . The master principle when take a cutting , is to verify it has a knob for Modern increment to spring up out of .
Ideally , your cutting will be around six to eight column inch in length with more than one node on it . Since rubber industrial plant take quite well to extension , you’re able to often but plant a cut directly back into the mess of the industrial plant it was taken from .
Be sure to keep the territory moist , and you ’ll have about a 50/50 chance of success with this method . A helpful put-on to increase the likelihood that your cutting will propagate this way , is to dip the deletion end in a rooting hormone before planting .
If you prefer higher betting odds , you could opt to permit your cutting to root in a cup of water first . take root in a cupful of water and transplanting to grime with a healthy found root system , ensures the success of your cutting in its new place .
Ensure GoodCare After PruningTo Promote RapidRecovery
Pruning can be a very trying process for plants . When pruning any plant , it is super important to make certain that the right care requirements are met afterwards . This will make it gentle for the plant to convalesce and thrive .
In term of oecumenical care , rubber plants are quite easy to exert . The key to a healthy and thriving golosh plant is a well balanced amount of sun and water .
If your condom plant is n’t happy , it will initiate to drop its abject leaves as a sign that one of these two resources is lacking .
rubber eraser plants favor to be located in a stain where they will receive bright , indirect igniter which is n’t too hot .
The idealistic location for a India rubber industrial plant in front of a southward - facing windowpane with a shear drape . This will allow the plant to welcome plenty of twinkle , without the vivid heat from direct sun .
India rubber plants will not digest sit in water , so well - enfeeble soil is important . The frequency of lachrymation required for a caoutchouc works will vary according to the seasons .
In the summer calendar month during the grow time of year , assay to keep the soil moist but not over - saturate . This is specially important after pruning .
Since these plants are not profound feeder , extra fertilizer wo n’t be of any welfare . Feeding with a 1/2 strength diluted fertilizer about once per calendar month is all they will need thrive .
Conclusion
rubber eraser plants are a rewarding , fast - growing , and comparatively low - upkeep industrial plant to keep in your home . Their ductile branches and tolerance to manipulation make for a extremely adaptable houseplant , which can be a good conniption for any decor .
If allow the exemption and support to grow marvelous , they will quickly surmount your expectations as an indoor tree - similar houseplant . However with their luscious disconsolate dark-green leafage , they are evenly as beautiful if stay fresh minuscule like a bushy bush .
Even though sustain a rubber plant as a modest bush requires slenderly more provision and maintenance , the atonement of customize a plant to suit your specific desires will make it worth the excess attempt .
Written By
Amber Noyes was support and raised in a suburban California town , San Mateo . She holds a passe-partout ’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a type B in Biology from the University of San Francisco . With experience working on an organic farm , pee preservation enquiry , Fannie Farmer ’ markets , and plant nursery , she see what makes plants thrive and how we can substantially understand the connexion between microclimate and plant health . When she ’s not on the land , Amber loves informing citizenry of novel mind / things related to horticulture , specially constitutional gardening , houseplants , and growing plant in a small quad .
