Hi have had a rubber plant is about 30 years old but over the last 6 months the leafs started drooping I thought it was over watered so stopped watering for almost 2 months before watering again. Within 48 hours of watering the plant is not happy.
Rubber plant really not happy.
- Thread starter Turtletom
- Start date
Plant has being left alone for 10 days and the leafs are still droopy and lifeless but not yellow and there is new growth coming. The soil has started to get what I believe to be mould so I have bought some bags of houseplant compost and am thinking a new pot aswell or shall I try and give this some more drainage?
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You can change part of the soil but not all.
Remove it from the pot.
Scratch off about 2" of soil and roots all the way around and the bottom too.
Put enough fresh soil in the pot to raise the surface to within 1" of the pot rim.
Add fresh soil around the outside and tamp down firmly. I like to lift the pot about 2" and drop it gently a few times to settle the soil. A good jiggle helps, too.
Give it a good soak. I would fill it and let it drain 3 times. This will leach out any excess salts in the soil. A half-strength watering with a liquid feed will re-apply some nutrients you may have lost.
Remove it from the pot.
Scratch off about 2" of soil and roots all the way around and the bottom too.
Put enough fresh soil in the pot to raise the surface to within 1" of the pot rim.
Add fresh soil around the outside and tamp down firmly. I like to lift the pot about 2" and drop it gently a few times to settle the soil. A good jiggle helps, too.
Give it a good soak. I would fill it and let it drain 3 times. This will leach out any excess salts in the soil. A half-strength watering with a liquid feed will re-apply some nutrients you may have lost.
NigelJ
Still Learning
When did you last repot it? and do you feed it when it's in growth?
Pots can get so full of roots that it is difficult to get the water to go in. So repot open up the congested roots I'd use JI no3 with say 30% added grit.
Pots can get so full of roots that it is difficult to get the water to go in. So repot open up the congested roots I'd use JI no3 with say 30% added grit.
As an update after reading the replies on here I went to homebase Friday and bought several bags of houseplant compost, I did intend to use some of the old soil but the soil had gnats on which I think suggests water issues, so repotted it with new soil and gave it 2 litres of water, the photo is the roots when I took them out.
48 hours after this the plant is still droops, leafes are limp and a couple turned up on itself, I think it might be dead...............
Maybe I am better grabbing a couple cuttings as there is still growth on the ends but I don't believe now is the right time and I don't have a clue how to do them.
48 hours after this the plant is still droops, leafes are limp and a couple turned up on itself, I think it might be dead...............
Maybe I am better grabbing a couple cuttings as there is still growth on the ends but I don't believe now is the right time and I don't have a clue how to do them.
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Hasn't being repotted in probably 10 years but yes gets fed just some baby bio every few weeks in the warmer months. The plant is very old but looking at the root ball when I took it out it looks brown and very weak, it is a 40cm X 40cm pot and I could definitely grab a bigger pot
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Now that you have done what you did it’s time to do what you can to save it. Ficus are actually fairly tough (they wouldn’t do so well indoors if they weren’t).
Give it as much light as you can without burning the remaining leaves.
Keep it moist, but let it dry about 2” down before watering again. Be VERY patient. You have created a very large cutting and it will take time to recuperate. Make the environment as close to greenhouse conditions as you can. This means if you can put a humidifier nearby it would help.
Expect further drooping and leaf drop. It will probably take 2 to 3 months to begin to look like something good is happening.
When you rem oved the old soil, you also removed most of the root hairs which do all of the water and nutrient absorption. It really would have been better to treat it as it was than changing all the soil.
Give it as much light as you can without burning the remaining leaves.
Keep it moist, but let it dry about 2” down before watering again. Be VERY patient. You have created a very large cutting and it will take time to recuperate. Make the environment as close to greenhouse conditions as you can. This means if you can put a humidifier nearby it would help.
Expect further drooping and leaf drop. It will probably take 2 to 3 months to begin to look like something good is happening.
When you rem oved the old soil, you also removed most of the root hairs which do all of the water and nutrient absorption. It really would have been better to treat it as it was than changing all the soil.