@Ladybuglover15 - For us to be most helpful we will need a little more information.

What kind of soil are they potted in? MG (miracle grow)? a picture of the soil will help if you are not sure.
What kind of light they getting? What direction does the window closest to them face? How far away from the window are they? Do they get full sun/filtered sun/mostly shade?
Do you fertilize? How often, with what fertilizer and at what strength?
Have you re-potted since you received the plants?
It would be helpful to have close up pictures of each plant.

Hi, I'm not sure the soil so I will attach a photo. They have not been re-potted since I received them. I have not fertilized them at all. They sit in a south window - about 2 feet from the sill. They get quite a bit of sun, but the window is small so there are not lots of hours of direct sunlight on them. Thanks for all your input! I'm quite a novice at house plants. :)

Thanks so much! I loosened the soil around the roots and gave it a couple really good waterings and it is already perking up. :)

Is it ok to add miracle grow soil these types of plants? Also one of the stems broke off. What should I do? Can I replant it?

With few dissenters, the general consensus among the more experienced growers is that, as they are packaged, Miracle-Gro products and their counterparts (soils based almost entirely on ingredients that are very small - peat, coir, compost, composted forest products, sand .....), make it very difficult for the grower to provide (soil) conditions that support the level of root health plants must have to remain healthy.

Personally, I think that any soil the grower cannot water to beyond the saturation point (so you're flushing the salts that exist in tap water and fertilizer solutions that accumulate in soils if you aren't flushing them regularly) at will, w/o the need to worry that long periods of oxygen deprivation, due to the soil remaining soggy for an extended period, will kill roots and limit root function.

Is it ok to add miracle grow soil [to] these types of plants? A grower can pretty much do as he/she wishes, but since plants are organisms that can only react to their environment, what decisions the grower makes has an impact on how close a plant can come to realizing its potential. Roots are the heart of the plant, so it's imperative that the root system is healthy if you expect the plant to be healthy.

MG and other soils can often be used as a smaller fraction of a soil when it's mixed with pine bark of appropriate size and perlite. If you're interested, we can talk about a soil or soils that can make healthy plants a more reachable goal. If you're not up for that, you might consider mixing 1 part of MG potting soil with 3 parts of coarse perlite.

The broken part can be started as a cutting. How to best go about it sort of depends on whet you're working with. How about a picture of the cutting and the broken end?

Al

Hi my rubber plant leaf is start drop since 1 week after i take if from garden the leaf start brown & then droping its happend to bottom leafs only i submit a photo with my massage so plz help me thanks !

I seem to have a similar problem - the soil seems to be dry when inserting a finger from the top, even if i watered it today. But i'm afraid to overwater it given that the pot only has one hole at the bottom. Can anyone tell me if the issue is over or underwatering?

Hi,

Try taking a wooden dowel, chopstick, wooden ruler or pencil, insert into soil ALL the way down in the soil to bottom of pot, wait a couple of minutes & then remove. If stick is moist or dirt sticks to it, there's still moisture, then wait another day or 2 before watering.

You should be watering 'til you see water coming out the bottom. One single hole in the pot is normal, how many nursery pots are made. One hole is absolutely fine & the usual.

KarenS, NYC

Thanks so much. Done that and the soil didnt stick so I will water it some more today. Fingers crossed it will improve.

I forgot to add: pls empty out the overflow water after a few minutes. It's important that the plant not be left sitting in any water for more than 15 minutes or so. Good luck.

KarenS, NYC

Done that and the soil didnt stick so I will water it some more today. This makes me think you're not watering to beyond the point of complete soil saturation - so you're flushing the soil when you water. If you cannot water correctly, it would be best for your plants if you changed to a soil you CAN water correctly without having to worry the soil will remain saturated for an extended period, thereby limiting root function, or worse, wrecking root health. Also, when you do water correctly, it shouldn't be a matter of allowing the pot to sit in the effluent exiting the drain hole and dumping it after the pot has stopped draining. That practice actually provides the salts in the effluent a pathway back into the soil, and nullifies to a considerable degree the flushing process. If you can't water over a sink/ bathtub/ tub and wait until the pot stops draining before returning it to a collection saucer, it's best to set the pot up on blocking placed in the collection saucer to eliminate any pathway by which the effluent makes its way back into the soil. Something like you see in the image works well. For large pots, you can set them up on pieces of treated 2x4s, or, Trex lumber or its equal.

Dissolved solids/ salts in the effluent will very quickly reach a state of isotonicity (balance) with the level of salts in the soil solution if there is a pathway back into the soil.

Al

Hi all, I came across this thread and am hoping to get some help. I believe the plant in the white pot is a rubber plant. It has always thrived but over the past few weeks it has started to droop to the sides and I can’t tell if it needs more water or less. When I stick my finger in the soil about 2in it’s dry.

also, the rubber plant in the blue pot has started drooping and just lost two new leaves that seemed to be lighter than the rest, does it need more water or less?

The smaller plant is not F elastica ..... looks much like F glumosa or benghalensis, but there are more than 1,000 species of ficus, so ......

Both plants desperately want more light, and no one can judge better than you whether the plants are over/under-watered. It can be said with certainty, if you water when you can still detect moist soil deeper in the pot with a finger, you're not under-watering. Why not start using a "tell" to "tell" you when it's time to water? More on that below. In the meanwhile, these threads should be helpful:

Overview of Good Growing Practices

Long Term Care of Ficus in Containers

Using a 'tell'

Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor.

In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water.

Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue.

AL

I've repotted my 5feet rubber tree plant then suddenly all leaves began to droop. Its positioned indoor just by the window with an indirect bright light. What have I done wrong and can I still save it? Its 5 feet tall with only one stem. Thanks

Need more info. How did you go about the repotting? Did you pot-up a pot size or repot, which includes bare-rooting, root pruning, and a change of medium. What did you use as a medium? Is there a drain hole in the pot? Did you fertilize or use/ apply any other 'product' immediately before/ during/ after the repot other than water? Need an image of the plant and pot, please.

Al

Hi I came across this thread right when I m trying to recover my over watered rubber plant... so as you can see in the pictures my rubber plant has multiple branches... and one of them I affected and I m worried I don’t affect the rest of them.... it’s pretty root bound. Hoping someone can give me the best advice.

So this is how I have put it to let the roots and soil dry out... Is it ok to keep it like that ?

Can someone help me please with my rubber plant. :( The leaves are drooping and some leaves are turning yellow/brown and are falling off. Can you tell me what to do?

Hi..please help..my rubber plant leaves are drooping..i have watered them only after the soil was completely dry..but still the leaves are drooping..don’t know what to do..I usually keep it indoors in medium light but i also kept it out in bright light for 5-7 hours..please help!!!

..... appears the soil is to water-retentive and compacted. Roots need oxygen to function normally. If the soil doesn't hold enough oxygen or you over-water, The plant's internal water pressure drops, causing loss of turgidity and wilting.

The best way to tell if the/a soil is 'completely dry' is by using a tell.

Using a 'tell'

Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant.

Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor.

In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water.

Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue.

Al

Thank you...i have tried loosening up the top soil as well and kept it in the balcony to get more sunlight..

My rubber tree is losing bottom leaves for the last year however it’s growing like wild at the top but the new growth doesnt seem to be as strong and thick and big as the original leaves. I tried moving it closer to the light but it continues to drop. Could it be the lack of humidity or cold draft as I moved it about a year ago from a warmer room with direct light.

Hi my rubber plant leaves are dropping though the solo was dry.. I watered thoroughly but there leaves are not back on yet.. will they ever get back to the old position? I also doing if it's doing coz the leaves are too heavy??

It's a trait common to Ficus lyrata and elastica, that once leaves wilt, they often cannot recover to their original spatial position. The leaf petioles are semi-woody so when they wilt and bend compression wood forms on the inside (usually underside) branch curves. Compression wood consists of compressed cells and contains more lignin (makes wood woody/ stiff/ hard) than normal wood, which helps branches resist sagging. On the outside/ upper side of branch curves, more cellulose, which is especially good at resisting tension (which is why it produces what's called tension wood. Both strategies appear to work most of the time but wilting causes cells on the top of the bend to stretch beyond their limits, damaging some cells, while cells on the bottom of the bend are compressed beyond their limits and also damaged, which is what renders some leaves unable to return to their original spatial position.

The difference can be clearly seen in an image of a branch cross section. Space between growth rings on the top of a curved branch are far apart, indicating tension wood, and cells on the inside of the curve are much closer together, compression wood. If you want more info, use the search term "reaction wood".

Al

Hi all- appreciate any insights you have for my drooping ficus plant. historically the drooping has bounced back after watering, but this time has not been the case. i was watering once monthly when the soil was bone dry and it would perk up in the summer. this time around the drooping has lasted a few weeks and i have been monitoring and watering when the entire finger in the soil is dry. Its typically next to a window that faces west. i just moved it to a east facing window to see if that helps. there are small breaks in the leaves that now have this white chalky material on top of them (photo attached). there is similar chalky material on the bottom of the container where the holes are. i keep this plant in its original plastic bfor drainage inside a ceramic one. i water by soaking in the sink until water comes out the bottom and let it sit on a grate for 10 mins so it doesnt soak in its own water after. any advice you have would be amazing! it is winter/cold now, so wondering if temperature could be a factor or if this is a fungal thing. thanks!!

Megan, I would try watering your plant more often. When you water, do it twice in case the soil has gotten so dry that most of the water just ran by the soil but didn't soak in when you watered the first time. (Hydrophobic.) Waiting 10 mins between applications usually works well. When you water, the soil should be thoroughly moistened throughout afterward. It might take 3-4 applications the first time if it has gotten totally dry.

I also recommend reading the posts above by Al.

Thanks- i did that two days ago and now there are multifocal light brown spots on the leaves. I will also try to see if i can get more aeration to the rootspaces per Al’s discussion on oxygen above. The fractured brown crispy leaves persist, but I haven't seen any more chalky white material. thanks

My rubber plants leaves are drooping and the soil isn't draining properly.

What should I do. Plz

Also I have the plant out in the sun, is that OK or should I shift it indoor.

good topic!