The Rubber Plant or Rubber Tree is a beautiful plant commonly used as an indoor houseplant. It has large thick glossy leaves that can be the usual dark green, burgundy-red or even variegated. It is a very sturdy long-lived plant if minimum care and conditions are provided. It requires light of course, but can adapt to lower light than most houseplants of its size.

Its branches protrude out from the trunk at 90 degree angles. To accomodate this side growth, adequate space should be provided for the plant. These side branches can be cut off and planted into a new pot of rich garden soil. I have never lost a single specimen in propagating from cuttings of new (or green) stem growth. The other advantage to side pruning is that the parent plant can be shaped to fit the space provided. Water as needed and feed it once or twice diring its growing season with one of the commercial plant foods available at nurseries and garden centers. Change the soil every couple of years and this plant can live for decades inside. Propagation is by seed, cuttings and layering.

The first specimen above was propagated from a cutting only one year before this photograph was taken and is already more than 2 ft. tall. Specimen was photographed on my patio in Louisville, Kentucky on November 1, 1998.

Photographs 2 and 3 were taken in June, 1999 and show a huge specimen growing in front of the Boyero Hotel in Liberia, Costa Rica. The size of a rubber tree (and all houseplants) is controlled by the size of the container in which it is growing. In tropical climate zones, this tree should only be grown outdoors where there is plenty of space.

© 1999 Michael King