Rubber plant (Ficus elastica) care

Trees · easy to keep

Last updated 27 October 2026

Rubber plant (Ficus elastica) wants bright light, including some direct sun. Water it every 9 days. Water when the top 5 cm is dry, thoroughly, and empty the saucer. Ficus hate both extremes and will drop leaves to tell you about either. Pot it in free-draining loam-based compost. Balanced feed at half strength every two to four weeks in spring and summer, and repot every 1.5 years. Humidity: room humidity is adequate; above 50% reduces leaf drop. Mildly toxic to cats and dogs.

The rubber plant: thick, glossy, oval leaves on an upright stem, in deep green, burgundy, or variegated cream and pink. Much more forgiving than its fiddle-leaf cousin and considerably faster — a single-stemmed plant can put on 60 cm in a good summer. Pinch the top out to make it branch.

Quick facts

Water: Water every 9 days. Water when the top 5 cm is dry, thoroughly, and empty the saucer. Ficus hate both extremes and will drop leaves to tell you about either.
Light: Bright light, including some direct sun.
Humidity: Room humidity is adequate; above 50% reduces leaf drop.
Soil: Free-draining loam-based compost.
Feeding: Balanced feed at half strength every two to four weeks in spring and summer.
Repotting: Repot every 1.5 years.
Toxic to pets: Mildly toxic to cats and dogs. The milky sap irritates the mouth and stomach and can irritate skin on contact, so wear gloves when pruning. The ASPCA lists Weeping Fig (Ficus sp.), the genus as a whole, as toxic to cats and dogs (checked 26 October 2026).
Difficulty: Easy.
Mature size: 2–3 m indoors; leaves 20–30 cm.
Native to: Northeast India to Indonesia.

Watering a Rubber plant

Water every 9 days. Water when the top 5 cm is dry, thoroughly, and empty the saucer. Ficus hate both extremes and will drop leaves to tell you about either.

That cadence is the one PlantParlour sets for this species when you name it, and it is deliberately on the cautious side — a plant that asks a day early is safer than one that asks a day late. Log each watering and the reminder moves with the plant rather than with the calendar.

Light

Bright light, and the more the better — several hours of direct morning sun suits them. These are canopy trees, not understorey plants, and the leggy, leaf-dropping ficus in a dim corner is the single most common indoor failure of the genus.

Humidity and temperature

Room humidity is adequate; above 50% reduces leaf drop. Central heating in winter is what turns a comfortable room into a dry one, and it is the usual reason an established plant suddenly browns at the edges or picks up spider mites.

Soil and potting

A loam-based compost (John Innes No. 2 or its equivalent) with perlite mixed through. Ficus want weight and structure around the roots rather than the airy mixes aroids like.

Feeding

Balanced feed at half strength every two to four weeks in spring and summer. Stop feeding in autumn and start again when you see new growth in spring — feeding a plant that isn't growing just builds up salts in the pot.

Repotting

Repot every 1.5 years. Every second or third spring, one size up. A ficus resents disturbance and will usually drop leaves after repotting — that is normal and passes in a month.

Common problems

Leaves dropping after you moved it
Ficus dislike change — light, temperature, position, all of it.

Fix: Put it somewhere bright and leave it there. Resist the urge to fix it; the drop stops within a few weeks.

Leaves falling off: how to read it on any plant
Brown spots spreading from the leaf edges
Overwatering. The roots are suffocating.

Fix: Let the top third dry out fully before the next water, and check the pot drains freely.

Brown tips and edges: how to read it on any plant
Bare lower stem, leaves only at the top
Not enough light.

Fix: Move it into the brightest spot you have and prune the top back in spring — it branches from below the cut.

Leggy, stretched growth: how to read it on any plant
Sticky leaves and a black sooty film
Scale insects on the stems and leaf undersides.

Fix: Scrape them off with a fingernail, then treat with horticultural soap every week for a month.

Propagation

Take a stem cutting with two or three leaves in late spring, dip the cut end in water to stop the sap flowing, then root it in damp compost under a bag. Air layering is more reliable for a thick woody stem.

A cutting taken in PlantParlour keeps its link to the plant it came from, so a propagation years later still traces back to the mother plant — which is the point if you ever sell or trade it.

Toxicity and safety

Mildly toxic to cats and dogs. The milky sap irritates the mouth and stomach and can irritate skin on contact, so wear gloves when pruning.

The ASPCA lists Weeping Fig (Ficus sp.), the genus as a whole, as toxic to cats and dogs (checked 26 October 2026).

If your pet has eaten a plant, call your vet, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661. Both are open around the clock and may charge a consultation fee. Take the plant or its label with you.

This is general information, not veterinary advice. We don't test plants: what we say about toxicity follows the ASPCA's published plant list as it stood on 26 October 2026, and that list can change. "Non-toxic" means not poisonous — a pet that eats enough of any plant can still vomit, and fertiliser, pesticide or leaf shine on a plant can harm it. It also only helps if the plant is what you think it is. It covers cats and dogs only; ask your vet about rabbits, birds, reptiles or anything else, and a doctor about children. Read our terms.

Every houseplant in the library the ASPCA lists as non-toxic to cats and dogs

Named cultivars and variegations

Ficus elastica is sold under several cultivar names. Care is the same unless noted; variegated forms carry less chlorophyll, so they grow more slowly and want more light than the plain species.

Cultivar	Also sold as	Water
'Tineke'	Tineke rubber plant	every 9 days
'Ruby'	Ruby rubber plant	every 9 days
'Burgundy'	Burgundy rubber plant	every 9 days
'Shivereana'	Shivereana rubber plant	every 9 days

Where the variegated forms are grown differently from the plain Ficus elastica:

'Tineke'

Cream and pale-green variegation with a pink midrib and pink sheaths on new leaves.

Light: Bright light with a few hours of direct morning sun, which brings out the pink. It needs more light than a plain rubber plant to keep its colours, and grows slower.

Watch for: New leaves coming in plain green. The stem is reverting: green tissue grows faster than the variegation, and a stem that has made one plain leaf will usually go on making them. Give it more light, and cut the stem back to a node below the last leaf with good variegation; growth from that node carries the pattern on.

'Ruby'

Variegation flushed pink and red, strongest on new leaves.

Light: Bright light with a few hours of direct morning sun. The pink only develops in strong light; in a dim room 'Ruby' looks like a cream-and-green Tineke.

'Shivereana'

Fine pale-green and cream speckling rather than broad sectors; slower than other rubber plants.

Light: Bright light with some direct morning sun. In medium light the speckling greens over and it barely grows.

Questions people ask

How often should you water a Rubber plant?

Water every 9 days as a starting point — that is the cadence PlantParlour sets for Ficus elastica. Water when the top 5 cm is dry, thoroughly, and empty the saucer. Ficus hate both extremes and will drop leaves to tell you about either. Light, pot size and the time of year all move that number, so treat it as a reminder to go and check rather than a rule.

How much light does a Rubber plant need?

Is Rubber plant toxic to cats and dogs?

Mildly toxic to cats and dogs. The milky sap irritates the mouth and stomach and can irritate skin on contact, so wear gloves when pruning. The ASPCA lists Weeping Fig (Ficus sp.), the genus as a whole, as toxic to cats and dogs (checked 26 October 2026). If a pet has eaten part of a plant, call your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435 straight away.

How do you propagate a Rubber plant?

Or browse every plant in the library.

Keep this plant's record

PlantParlour gives your Rubber plant its own page: a photo timeline, reminders set to the cadences above, and every watering, feed, repot and problem written down. Trade or sell it and the whole history goes with it.

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