hey everyone its Harley and today I am
going to be sharing with you my top 10
tips for taking care and keeping your
rubber tree plant happy these are
gorgeous houseplants and very very
popular so I just thought this video
would be helpful and let me know in the
comments section down below what you
think of this video if you have any tips
you can add to this list please leave
them in the comment section as well so
anyway let's just get into it my first
tip is to purchase a healthy house plant
to begin with the way you can tell if a
rubber tree plant is happy is if they
are pushing new growth that's always a
surefire sign that they're pretty happy
another thing to watch for is even size
leaves if the leaves on the plant aren't
all the same size that means it may be
going through some things which I mean I
definitely relate to that if any of the
leaves are super discolored I would say
to pass on it just because that may mean
that there are underlying issues in the
plant that's not to say that you can
definitely revive it if you're feeling
up to it just might yeah yeah I mean
yeah that's all I can say there my
second tip is to repot it into well
draining soil a common problem with
rubber tree plants is root rot and a way
to avoid that of course is by putting it
into well draining soil you can just use
a general house plant soil mix and then
I would say to add a little bit of
perlite just to give it extra aeration
of the roots my next tip goes along
those same lines and it is that when
your repotting the rubber tree plant to
not planet in an extra big pot make sure
to plant it into a pot that is 2 inches
wider on the side and then also 2 inches
deeper down below tip number four is
that the rubber tree plant prefers
bright indirect light if you're a rubber
tree plant is a variegated version
you're going to want to keep it several
feet back from the window because the
leaves are a little bit more prone to
burning as well as if it's too close to
the window for too long it may lose its
variegation which would extremely suck
because if you bought a variegated plant
it was for a reason and you probably
want to keep it that way if it is the
all green version you can definitely
stick it right next to the window and
culligan something else along the light
brightness lines is temperature so just
make sure to keep your house above 55
degrees Fahrenheit
so once you've had your rubber tree
plant for a while something you may
notice is that it starts to lean toward
the light if that's the case then just
be sure to rope rotate your plant
sporadically so that you can get even
leaf growth if it's facing in the same
direction for too long the leaves are
going to grow on one side of the plant
causing unevenness and causing it to
bend so if you just keep rotating it
about every month or two months then you
should be good tip number six is to only
water the plant when the soil is
completely dry if you're watering too
frequently then your plant may get root
rot which we discussed earlier they are
a little bit prone to that root rot
issue we talked about another issue you
may get from over watering is browning
on the leaf tips so if you notice that
all around the edges of the leaves is
getting brown and kind of soft that's a
sign that you need to cut back on the
water ink tip number seven is to water
with room-temperature water this is just
kind of the safest method if you're
watering with too cold or too hot of
water you may shock the plant causing
leaves to drop or stunted growth or a
whole plethora of things so just stick
with room-temperature water a really
easy way to get room-temperature water
is to set fill a pitcher of water in the
morning and then water the plant with
that the next day that way it has been
sitting out in your room and you know
for certain is the same temperature as
the air tip number eight is to trim back
small discolored or just not the
best-looking leaves this helps the plant
use the energy more wisely on creating
healthier new growth instead of having
to deal with all of the not as cute
growth and wasting energy on that
another thing about the sap is that it's
very toxic so if you are cutting any of
the leaves off that look unhealthy or
anything you're going to want to use a
you're going to want to hold a paper
towel up against that wound and make
sure the SAP isn't touching you or any
animals because it can cause skin
irritation and you just want to make
sure that the SAP is finished running
before you remove that paper towel
otherwise it'll run all down your plant
and it can potentially harm like the
leaves it drips on to tip number nine is
to clean the leaves
please so what you're going to do to
clean the leaf is dip a soft cloth in
two half lemon juice half water mixture
and go ahead and wipe down all of the
tops of the leaves very very gently
wiping down the leaves like this every
month removes excess dust from the
leaves and not only makes them extremely
shiny but it also slightly helps plant
cells get more light so that it can more
easily photosynthesize which as we know
it creates the plants energy that it
uses to create healthy growth yes this
is just kind of a small difference in
the amount of light it's getting but it
still definitely makes a difference and
it does definitely look a lot nicer tip
number ten is if you have a rubber tree
plant and you'd like to get another
plant for free you can go ahead and
propagate the rubber tree plant there
are several ways to do this my personal
favorite way is to cut the plant about
three or four nodes down on the plant
and pull off the bottom leaves and stick
it in room-temperature water and it will
grow roots then once the roots have
grown so long a couple inches at least
you can go ahead and plant it in soil
this plant is extremely resistant to
bugs so you don't really have to worry
about infestations you can kind of scour
the plant every once in a while just to
make sure things are going smoothly but
like I said it's mostly going to become
a victim to root rot if anything so you
don't really have to worry too much
about this plant if you're not over
watering it these plants can grow 100
feet tall in the wild where they're
native so that's like extremely massive
that's so cool they live for years and
years and years and I mean I wish that
they grew outdoors where I live because
I really do think they're just such
beautiful plants yes the stuff that the
plant produces is actually used to make
rubber which is really interesting so
those were all 10 tips for taking care
of your rubber tree plant let me know
what you thought of this video in the
comment section down below leave any
video requests there as well I try to
get around to filling all of the
requests and thank you so much for
watching I will see my next one bye
[Music]