The rubber plant (Ficus elastica) is truly a monster amongst houseplants. While the plant can not grow outdoors in cooler climates, its size and also vegetation make it an in-demand houseplant for many people who have the room to grow it. Nevertheless, despite their enormous dimension, rubber plant trees constantly looks sickly in a house if they fail to grow a lot of arm or legs, which provides a spindly and also weak appearance. But how do you make the rubber plant bushy?
To make a rubber plant bushy you are going to have to prune the plant. This is the only proven method to help the rubber plant begin branching out. Using a pair of sharpened cutter, which has been sterilised to be sure you do not infect plant. Once pruned the tree will expand from the node. This is area where the leaf connects to the stem of the plant.
Make a cut simply above the node diagonally and also on nodes facing the direction in which it is preferred for the tree to expand. Sometimes rubber plants have a main stem; cutting it out can motivate branching.
What is a Rubber Plant?
Also called India rubber plant and also India rubber tree, Ficus elastica is an unbelievably important source of all-natural rubber, as its name recommends, and is belonging to southeast Asia. Somewhere else around the world, these plants are expanded indoors where they make out fairly well. They have thick, elongate fallen leaves that can get to a foot long and can expand fig-like fruit on their branches.
Ficus elastica rarely expands outside in The United States and Canada, in addition to Phoenix az, Arizona, where it is utilized as a landscape design plant in huge atriums and courtyards. It can get to 25 feet in height or more– much more in preferably warm climates. In other places, gardeners can their bring potted rubber plant outside in summer season. The plants are intolerant of freezing and can just weather temperatures greater than 32 degrees as well as less than 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
The soft-wooded evergreen grows upright, though they might round with age and also size, and also their spread never ever gets to the exact same degree as the tree’s height. Lopsided trees can end up bowing somehow.
Rubber Plant Propagation
After the trimming process, there unavoidably will be some remaining stems. It’s feasible to grow new rubber trees from these stems. Initially, choose the best-looking cuttings that have in between two and also four fallen leaves as well as go to least 6 inches long. Next, eliminate the leaves closest to the cut end and also dip it into some rooting hormonal agent.
After that, put the cut end right into moist, well-draining potting dirt and cover it to maintain humidity, however still making certain that air can get in and that the cover does not touch the plant. Location in a warm, humid area away from direct sunlight as well as, in a few weeks, it ought to establish roots and also continue to expand. Ensure the plants are kept in warm as well as moist locations around the house or, in warmer locations, beyond your home.