The leafy rubber plant
Published on: Sunday, November 17, 2019
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Why shouldn’t it be? For the plant is none other than the highly adaptable Ficus elastic, which is also known as Rubber Plant. Although the plant is not as bouncy as natural rubber, it is nevertheless very versatile in the sense that it can either be a shade or ornamental tree, a shrub, a potted plant, or a structural tree for indoor or outdoor decorative purposes – all rolled into one.
Where on earth can one get so much for so little? Even struggling and scraping the bottom of a pot would not yield another grain of sand, in much the same way as scraping the bottom of a rice jar would not yield another grain of rice, but with the rubber plant, it is possible to get more for very much less.
Basically, the rubber plant is a foliage ornamental that is grown mainly for its lush green glossy leaves. Its uniquely attractive leaves make it one of the most outstanding of all foliage plants and it has one of the best formed crowns of all shade trees because of the leaf characteristics.
Individual leaves are big and highly visible, and the rate of leaf drop is never severe. The result is that as the plant grows larger and taller, a large thick crown is formed to create a very dense and cool shade in the garden.
On this basis, its structural value is often recognised and is thus used to dot open green spaces especially in urban environments. Its roots are deep and expansive and has great soil consolidation ability, which serves well in slope protection and surface preservation.
It is important to take into consideration the strength, expansion, strangling and penetrative power of such roots when used in confined spaces or in built-up settings, and where required, mitigatory measures have to be taken.
Since ancient times, great numbers of old buildings have been damaged or destroyed by many varieties within the Ficus genus as a result of uncontrolled growth and development of such plants.
In its natural habitat, rubber plants can grow up to 30 metres of more in height, with a great likelihood of sideways expansion into huge clumps as a result of countless numbers of aerial roots that morph into large pseudo trunks. This makes felling so difficult that it would indeed be easier to fell a 50 years old dipterocarp kayu balak than a similarly aged rubber plant.
As leaf abscission is not intense, the rubber plant is therefore perfect as a potted foliage plant which is most suitable to be used for decorative purposes both under outdoor and indoor conditions.
The few that fall to the ground are easily removed as they are light and visible and do form matted layers. Moreover, it is really a breeze to propagate and look after it. All these are plus points for the rubber plant which few other ornamentals, if any, can beat.
Considering the above factors, it should be a wise bet to try growing a couple of the rubber plant for the indoors and outdoors as well. Just make sure its growth is well under control.
How to propagate the rubber plant
The exciting part in growing the rubber plant is at the point when propagation is about to be done. This is usually carried out by the use of one of more vegetative means whereby parts of the parent plant are selected and then excised which are then treated or dealt with in such a way that they are set to grow on as living individual plants.
Two methods are commonly employed in the propagation of the rubber plant. These are basically propagation methods such as by the use of cuttings and air layers or marcotts. Such methods are very simple and are so common that they are widely used by gardening enthusiasts to obtain bountiful rewards in terms of the beautiful new plants.
These methods are described as follows:
By Cuttings – start by taking a 30-40cm length of cutting from the terminal portion of a healthy shoot. Do make sure that the cut is made at an angle and in a clean manner without any splits or tears. Upon making the cut, a white latex-like sap begins to ooze out from the injured point.
This is clearly and immediately visible as soon as the cut is made, which helps greatly as a visible warning to not get it on your clothing or skin. Getting clothings removed is easy but skin? “Susah oh!”
Then remove the leaves from the lower third of the cutting to leave only the healthy ones at the upper section. Keep the cutting under shade for a short period of time until the sap stops oozing out from the cut end. If rooting powder is available, the cut end may be dipped into some of the powder before inserting it into a potful of compost, peat, soil or coarse sand, or a mixture of such materials.
Even without the availability of rooting powder, the process may still continue without problem. Water the pot well and ensure that the cutting stands firmly in the rooting medium by stabilising or staking them with a single straight rod.
Finally, look for a cool, humid and well-shaded site to place the entire contraption for several weeks. And make sure it is not subject to being blown left and right by monsoon winds.
To reduce loss of moisture through transpiration, some people choose to wrap the remaining leaves around the stem and tying them with a piece of rubber band, while others prefer to cover the entire cutting and pot with a large transparent polythene bag that has been punched with several small holes for aeration. Whichever method it is, they still need to be placed initially in a cool shaded location for rooting to commence.
By Air-Layers – this method of vegetative propagation is sometimes called marcotting. With skilful hands and deft fingers, it is a fact that a success rate of close to 100pc is possible, while some may even claim that green fingers may yield 100pc success! Awesome claims!
The simplest way of carrying out air-layering requires little skill. Just select a mature and straight green stem and make an upward slit with a clean knife in the stem that is just below a leaf scar. Slitting does not require ringing, scraping or removal of bark which may be more tricky.
Make sure the slit reaches approximately into or just before the centre of the stem. By bending the stem a little, the slit is forced to slightly open to reveal a small gap. If you bend it too strongly, that will end up with a snap.
Once the slit is visible, you can insert a small piece of stone or any inert material into the gap to keep it open. Then wrap some moist peat or coconut fibre, or just plain good topsoil at the site of the cut with a piece of polythene sheet, and when this is done, both the upper and lower ends of the layer should be tied to secure the rooting medium within.
If properly and correctly done, roots should begin to show in about 3-4 weeks after which the layer may be cut and removed for potting.
Keeping problem-free rubber plants
There is no particular secret on how to keep your rubber plant free from problems. Basically, the only way is to look after the plant well. However, the following tips may be helpful:
1) Unless well-hardened, the rubber plant should not be fully exposed to strong sunlight as the leaves can easily suffer serious sunburn if suddenly taken out and placed under the bright sunshine. From the shaded indoors to the outdoors, the plant should be given some time to adjust and acclimatise itself to the change of environment. Otherwise it may suffer grave injury to its most valuable asset, that is, the leaves.
2) As far as watering is concerned, it is always better to be on the safe side. So it is advisable to be a little on the dry side unless the feel of the soil tells you that it getting hard and dry, and therefore water should be given. Overwatering may lead to a soggy soil environment and drowning of the roots which may result in the yellowing of leaves and severe leaf fall. A botak rubber plant is a complete write-off.
3) Your rubber plant should be fed regularly with a suitable fertiliser at least once in two to three months. A tablespoon of a complete fertiliser of the compound type would do, and this should be lightly dug into the soil surface using a blunt digger. A supplementary application of a dilute soluble fertiliser may also be applied once in four to six weeks.
4) Depending on the rate of growth, repotting should be carried out to improve plant vigour and allow for some structural adjustments and hard pruning. An overgrowing potted rubber plant is easily noticed by the copious amounts of roots that issue through the drainage holes. In an old pot, basal roots as well as aerial roots may grow so profusely that they can overflow the edge of the pot. If complete repotting is not done, a partial one may just be as good. This is normally done by slicing into the side of the earth ball on either side and removing up to 15-20% of the soil and roots on each of both sides. Fresh topsoil enriched with fertilisers and manure is then filled in as replenishment, which also serves to rejuvenate the entire growing medium.
5) Your rubber plant should be cut back to a more manageable height once it gets too tall. However, some interior naturescapes call for plants as tall as 2.0-2.5m which means some support has to be created to keep the plant in the desired position.
6) Cleaning of the rubber plant is essential to keep it neat and tidy to ensure it maintains it shine and gloss for a long time. The large leaves of the plant tend to collect a lot of dust so this calls for regular sponging off of the layer of dirt and grime. A piece of sponge dipped in a diluted and mild detergent could do wonders to bring back the sparkle but make sure the sponge is of the soft velvety type. A coarse piece of sponge would result in badly scarring the glossy leaf surface which would inadvertently convert the beautiful plant into a haggard goner.
Avoiding the milky latex
As mentioned earlier, rubber plants release quite a bit of a white, milky latex. It may feel smooth and a little sticky but it is not goat’s milk. Some overly excited beauty enthusiasts may think it is a windfall, such as the gel from the fronds of aloe vera, or the goo from snails and slugs.
Just don’t let it get onto your clothings as you may have a hard time cleaning it up. Most importantly, the milky sap from rubber plants is never a cosmetic product and is never meant to be applied onto the face, hands or legs, as it may induce a slight reaction including itchiness and redness in some people.
So it is important to keep clean at all times, irrespective of whether you are planting rubber plants or mango or musang king.
n The writer may be reached at [email protected]
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