Beautiful Plants For Your Interior
What should I know about the Rubber Plant?
Rubber is part of the Moraceae family and is a plant that also meets the name ficus elastic. Mainly native to the Amazon, this tree easily adapts to the climatic conditions of the northern hemisphere.
Ficus is ideally planted in early spring. It is a depolluting plant commonly used for the purification of indoor air in your home. And, in its most classic version, the leaves are monochrome green with variegated ribs.
In order for your rubber to develop in good conditions, it is important to install it comfortably in a special potting soil. And to ensure good drainage, fill the bottom of the pot with clay ball or pozzolane.
Rubber plant: where to plant it?
Rubber is a plant that adapts perfectly to an outdoor environment, in the garden, on a terrace, or on a balcony. But also, this variety of ficus elastic is a fabulous indoor plant.
Whatever the location of the plant, take into account that its maximum height can reach 3 meters. When it comes to planting, prefer a mid-shade location, the persistent rubber foliage is very sensitive to UV rays from the sun.
If you choose to put the plant inside your home, opt for a bright room, with a temperature between 20 and 30 degrees maximum. Outdoors, the roots of the tree can become invasive. Choose a location away from the walls or the front of your house.
How to maintain the rubber plant?
Rubber is a plant that requires regular maintenance. With shiny dense leaves, ficus elastica is also very aesthetic. In an indoor space, dust is often extremely volatile. Thus, to preserve the shine of your rubber leaves, you can occasionally clean them with a sponge and clear water.
If your plant is near the kitchen, for example in an open living room, in this case you can mix clear water with a few drops of black soap or dishwashing liquid.
The purpose of this mixture is to clean the plant, but also to control the laying of eggs of certain insect pests. In case the leaves have some mould stains, for example white mould, in this case you can clean the leaves with a mixture of water and vinegar. The latter being an antifungal impotent.
Watering
Rubber watering must be done at an irregular pace. How do you know that the rubber has been watered too much? When the leaves of the lower part of the plant weaken and fall. If this is the case, give your plant time to rest: until the soil dries a little before watering it again, but this time, in a very moderate way:
- 1 every 2 weeks during the summer period;
- 1 time every 6 weeks the rest of the year
Diseases of the rubber plant
Rubber is a relatively resistant plant to attacks of harmful disputes. The sap it contains, latex, has the power to give it an excellent immune system. Thus, attacks and invasions of aphids and midges are systematically managed by the plant itself.
On the other hand, like the vast majority of plants, rubber is very sensitive to excess water intake. Indeed, if watering is too frequent or too abundant, the elastic ficus may be seen in a soil too wet. Its roots then fill with water and saturate the absorption of other nutrients.
You will see layers of mould on the surface of the soil. If this happens, sprinkle your plant with a mixture of warm water and vinegar and leave for 20 days without watering.
Why do the leaves of my rubber turn yellow?
Rubber leaves tend to turn yellow especially when water intake is too high.
This happens when the watering rate is not respected, or when the plant is near a water point, such as a lake, pond or pond. When this happens, it is essential to let the soil breathe. For a few weeks, you can stop watering the plant.
It is also possible that your rubber lacks brightness and needs more exposure. In this case, move it closer to a window, always avoiding direct exposure to sunlight.
