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jennapriestley

droopy rubber plant-help!

8 years ago
I bought this plant two days ago and they were in the same container so today I split them into two and they’re so droopy! What do I need to do??

Comments (13)

  • 8 years ago

    I'm pretty new here and there are many who are better qualified to give advice, but the general rule when it comes to Ficuses seems to be excellent drainage to prevent overwatering and as much light as you can give them. If it were me, I would want those in smaller pots with drainage holes. I would use a potting mix with lots of perlite (I add extra to bagged mixes) to drain quickly and allow air to reach the roots. And I would put them as close to a very bright window as possible. Personally, I also like a product called Superthrive to help stressed out plants.


    Do some searching of the forums. There's lots of good information here about Ficus plants. And hopefully some more experienced folks will chime in.

  • 8 years ago

    oh my god! i wanted to help you but i was told by everyone not to help. this happened to my ficus after I repotted into a decorative pot. i am not sure if it’s because you overwatered or the water did not drained properly. you have you check. in my case, the decorative pot was without any holes in it so the water was retained and roots are soaking in water. in about 24 hours the leaves are droopy and all! so what I did, i moved it into a pot with holes in it. but before doing so, I made sure the root ball was not soaking wet with water. I used newspaper and towel to dry it a little bit before placing it in the new pot. the new pot also only had 1 hole to it. it was not enough... so I had to put ballast! I used large pebbles and placed it at about 2 inches at the bottom of the pot. the gravity will drain the water out of the soil into the ballast and out of the hole. this ensured that my ficus is not soaking in water. I also used a fast draining soil in the new pot. i gave it a few days and placed next to the window with lots of indirect sunlight and it came back alive!!! 3 weeks later, it had new growths and all! im sure people will start commenting to this and be mean to me again and say to not listen to me. so I leave it up to you to decide.

  • 8 years ago

    dave, why dont you tell elen what to use as ballast instead of achieving nothing and countering what I said?


    btw elena, use the big ones... this is the exact ones I used and it worked




  • 8 years ago

    Because you’re not at a point to yet be giving advice. I countered what you said so she didn’t make that mistake.


    Jenna, those plants are much to small for those pots. If you still have the original growers containers, repot back into those.


    The soil oil looks to be too water retentive as well.

  • 8 years ago

    i was only sharing my personal experience! anyway, jenna... i am not a botanist like other people here so my reply was just based on my experience and how i dealt with it

  • 8 years ago

    dave are you saying what i used as ballast cant be used as ballast? i wonder what you use?

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Yes. im saying don’t use peddles or small rocks.

    You need to take some time and read up more on ballasts.

  • 8 years ago

    didnt you read what I said? use BIG ones...

  • 8 years ago

    Those aren’t big rocks.


    And I don’t use a ballast. I use a soil that doesn’t require it.

  • 8 years ago
    So the plant in the white pot is actually in its original container, just placed inside the white pot! But it was two separate trees in the same pot so I wanted them to grow separately. Wondering if I should stake them? I may have over watered cause I watered them two days in a row. But the pots have great drainage holes.
  • 8 years ago

    If you’re watering when you can still detect moisture in the soil, you’re overwatering.


    Use a sharpened wooden dowel and stick it in the pot all the way to the bottom and pull out to inspect.


    Dark, damp with soil clung to it means don’t water.


    If if it comes out clean and dry, that means it’s time to water.


    Check every day or so. And don’t worry, the sharpened dowel will not damage the roots.

  • 8 years ago

    Mike, read Al's soil article. There is a lot of good information in here. It will help you understand more about different soils, watering, ballast and much more.

    https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2842847/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention-xxii#n=966


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