A Gardeners Forum
Posted By: plantqueen Rubber Plant - July 11th, 2006 at 05:46 AM
I have a rubber plant that I have had for about a year now. It is losing leaves and I am not sure why. The leaves are dropping but they are still green when they drop. I lost about 5 leaves over the weekend. Can you somebody help me out? What am I doing wrong?
Posted By: preciousgreenfingers Re: Rubber Plant - July 11th, 2006 at 07:53 AM
Are you over watering it? Also rubber plants dont do well in low light. They need indirect bright light. Hope that helps
Posted By: Anonymous Re: Rubber Plant - July 11th, 2006 at 07:55 AM
They can be VERY tempermental....any change can cause them to lose leaves.....In the summer I always put mine out on the back porch in a shaded spot and it really takes off....but if you over or under water it, it will get stressed and drop leaves.

Or even moving it from one spot to another....luckily when I moved mine outside it didn't drop one leaf. But they are very testy plants.
Posted By: plantqueen Re: Rubber Plant - July 12th, 2006 at 05:58 AM
I have not moved it a lot but it doesn't get bright light either. I water it about once a week. Is that okay? I live in Minnesota. Can I put it outside or will it get too cold at night? If I can put it outside, can it take morning sun or no sun at all?
Posted By: Anonymous Re: Rubber Plant - July 12th, 2006 at 07:52 AM
What do your temps get down to at night?

Here is mine........I move it out on the porch where it gets morning sun, total afternoon shade(in the heat of the day).........

[Linked Image]

In the summer with it being outside I water it every 2-3 days because it dries out fast.

Bright light is always best, just not direct full sun for hours at a time.
Posted By: plantqueen Re: Rubber Plant - July 12th, 2006 at 09:00 AM
Right now it gets down to about 60 at night. Sometimes even in the 50s. Will that be okay?
Posted By: plantqueen Re: Rubber Plant - July 12th, 2006 at 09:02 AM
Your tree looks wonderful by the way! Mine doesn't look bad but it keeps losing leaves. It is not quite that big either. I will have to post a pic of it if I can figure out how to do that.
Posted By: Anonymous Re: Rubber Plant - July 12th, 2006 at 09:13 AM
Thank you! Check out these links...I'm not so sure about the temps...I don't want to say go ahead and then have it do even worse. Around here it is mostly in the 60's and ocassionally 50's right now too and mine has done well.

rubber tree


more rubber tree
Posted By: plantqueen Re: Rubber Plant - July 13th, 2006 at 04:18 AM
Thanks for you help! I think I might try and put it outside for a while. If I think it is going to get too cool at night, I will just bring it in for the night. Or is that not a good idea to be bringing it in and out?
Posted By: Mandy N. Re: Rubber Plant - July 15th, 2006 at 01:51 PM
I have been having this same problem with my rubber tree, and I pulled it out of the planter and the roots are totally growing out of the bottom and winding around the pot! Should I trim the roots, or repot it into a bigger pot. I showed this plant and Will said that it looked fine in the pot that it was in. Maybe I over watered it a little, but I will let it dry out a little. What should I do with the roots??? Duh
© A Gardeners Forum [Archive]