Bought this ficus elastica tree around a month ago, there are a few minor small brown spots on the edge of the leaves when I bought it. But the spots seemed to grow bigger! I'm worried that it's some kind of fungus disease or root rot.. The plant is in its original nursery pot and I used promix potting mix to repot the plant after I got it. I have never fertilize it since I got it and the plant is near a south-facing window with no direct sun.

I'm also treating fugus gnats in the soil of the plant right now. So far I've used musqutio dunk soaked in water to water the plant and safe's end-all houseplant insecticide to spray the fungus gnats on the surface of the soil. I'm not sure if that could be the reason too.

I'm still a newbie at taking care of houseplant so any suggestions would be helpful! Thanks in advance!

FloraLi said:Bought this ficus elastica tree around a month ago, there are a few minor small brown spots on the edge of the leaves when I bought it. But the spots seemed to grow bigger! I'm worried that it's some kind of fungus disease or root rot.. The plant is in its original nursery pot and I used promix potting mix to repot the plant after I got it. I have never fertilize it since I got it and the plant is near a south-facing window with no direct sun.

I'm also treating fugus gnats in the soil of the plant right now. So far I've used musqutio dunk soaked in water to water the plant and safe's end-all houseplant insecticide to spray the fungus gnats on the surface of the soil. I'm not sure if that could be the reason too.

I'm still a newbie at taking care of houseplant so any suggestions would be helpful! Thanks in advance!

First of all, congrats on jumping into the world of house plants; the tineke rubber tree is a great plant to begin with! If you've got fungus gnats, then there's a pretty good chance that the soil was at one point too wet. They're really awful to deal with in the house, but typically go away if you let your plants dry a bit between waterings. A telltale sign that you have root rot, is if the plant acts "loose" when you try to wiggle it. If it stays firm and upright, it most likely isn't root rot, or severe root rot anyway. A picture of the whole plant may be helpful, too. Rubber trees while extremely tough and tolerant plants, are kinda weird when it comes to their leaves. My tineke has random brown bits on their leaves, but I keep mine outside in a few hours of direct sun. Its leaves were fine in that amount of light until recently when temperatures rose and I began watering more frequently. I'd say it most likely has to do with water, but we should wait until someone like @WillC comes on here before taking action. Someone like him would give you information I didn't even know existed. For now, don't do anything drastic like change its pot or change its spot in the house. This will just stress the plant even more.

CrazedHoosier said:

First of all, congrats on jumping into the world of house plants; the tineke rubber tree is a great plant to begin with! If you've got fungus gnats, then there's a pretty good chance that the soil was at one point too wet. They're really awful to deal with in the house, but typically go away if you let your plants dry a bit between waterings. A telltale sign that you have root rot, is if the plant acts "loose" when you try to wiggle it. If it stays firm and upright, it most likely isn't root rot, or severe root rot anyway. A picture of the whole plant may be helpful, too. Rubber trees while extremely tough and tolerant plants, are kinda weird when it comes to their leaves. My tineke has random brown bits on their leaves, but I keep mine outside in a few hours of direct sun. Its leaves were fine in that amount of light until recently when temperatures rose and I began watering more frequently. I'd say it most likely has to do with water, but we should wait until someone like @WillC comes on here before taking action. Someone like him would give you information I didn't even know existed. For now, don't do anything drastic like change its pot or change its spot in the house. This will just stress the plant even more.

Thanks for the info! The leaves stay firm when I wiggle the plant so I think there's no severe root rot. See attached for more pics of the plant. I figured it might be overwatering since when I used musqutio dunks infused water to water the plant I didn't let the top few inches of the soil to dry out between watering. So that might be why.
I found some millipedes (I think?) in the soil too after the applications of musqutio dunk water... Gross me out a little but I did some research it says they don't harm the plant??

The leaf spotting and pest problems are due to the soil replacement that apparently you did, if I read your post correctly. It is never a good idea to place a plant's soil or to repot a new plant. So many things can go wrong when either is done, especially when done incorrectly.

The leaf spotting is probably a result of damage done to the tiny root hairs when you removed some of the original soul. As @CrazedHoosier has pointed out, the gnats were introduced with contaminated soil that you used when you repotted.

Fortunately, Rubber Plants are quite tolerant and yours will probably be okay. Remove all the soil from the top until you start to expose some roots and then stop. Discard that soil because that is where many of the gnat larvae reside. Then allow the top inch of the remaining soil to dry before watering. Give it just enough water so the top inch gets dry again in about a week. Letting the soil get good and dry will help eradicate the gnat larvae.

For future reference, leave al your new plants in their nursery pots. They can be double potted into something more attractive, but leave the roots and soil alone.

WillC said:The leaf spotting and pest problems are due to the soil replacement that apparently you did, if I read your post correctly. It is never a good idea to place a plant's soil or to repot a new plant. So many things can go wrong when either is done, especially when done incorrectly.

The leaf spotting is probably a result of damage done to the tiny root hairs when you removed some of the original soul. As @CrazedHoosier has pointed out, the gnats were introduced with contaminated soil that you used when you repotted.

Fortunately, Rubber Plants are quite tolerant and yours will probably be okay. Remove all the soil from the top until you start to expose some roots and then stop. Discard that soil because that is where many of the gnat larvae reside. Then allow the top inch of the remaining soil to dry before watering. Give it just enough water so the top inch gets dry again in about a week. Letting the soil get good and dry will help eradicate the gnat larvae.

For future reference, leave al your new plants in their nursery pots. They can be double potted into something more attractive, but leave the roots and soil alone.

Thanks for replying! After I bought the plant I discovered that the soil in its nursery pot was contaminated with fugus gnats that's why I repotted it in its nursery pot with fresh soil but unfortunately it didn't help... the fungus gnat came back again after a few weeks probably due to the residual eggs left in its original soil.

I might have damaged the root a little when I tried to get rid of as much contaminated soil as possible.

Do I need to do anything to the brown leaf itself? I think for now I'll just keep it that way unless the spot keep expanding.

Soil replacement is a natural reaction to soil pests, but unfortunately, it often has dire consequences. It is the tiny roothairs that usually go unnoticed but do most of the work that are easily damaged during soil replacement and repotting. It may take a while for your plant to recover from that trauma. There is no quick and easy fix for that trauma. Follow the watering instructions I provided above and be patient.

FloraLi said:

Thanks for replying! After I bought the plant I discovered that the soil in its nursery pot was contaminated with fugus gnats that's why I repotted it in its nursery pot with fresh soil but unfortunately it didn't help... the fungus gnat came back again after a few weeks probably due to the residual eggs left in its original soil.

I might have damaged the root a little when I tried to get rid of as much contaminated soil as possible.

Do I need to do anything to the brown leaf itself? I think for now I'll just keep it that way unless the spot keep expanding.

I had a huge issue with gnats. I tried replacing my top soil. I also put rocks on top of the soil so the gnats wouldn't be able to go down into the soil. That helped a lot. I also used an insect control:




I know some don't like to go the chemical route, but this worked wonders. Just sprinkle some on the soil when you water and they die!

Imidacloprid is an effective chemical treatment for many indoor pests, but it is potentially hazardous and I don't recommend it when there are other safe and effective options. Rocks don't work.

The top leaves of my Rubber Plant are browning on the outer edges then there's a long stem that is void of leafs to the bottom and those leafs seem good....
I have transplanted the plant into a larger pot being careful not to disturb roots. I have also looked to make sure I haven't any bugs, etc. and there does not seem to be. I don't over water, or underwater or over fertilize and my pot has adequate drainage. I have had this plant outside for a good couple of months during the summer and it absolutely loved it, infact the brown spots faded almost completely. Of course it's going into fall & winter so party's over and inside it comes. I live with a lot of pine trees/ conifers etc. which block most of my outdoor light. Forget about direct light, I really don't even have much indirect light. To make up for that I have florescents over my house plants and that works great for most but I'm just wondering because the browning is on the top leaves (which is closest to the light and not on lower ones) if the florescents might be affecting my Rubber Plant?

It is likely to be a watering issue especially if you moved it into a larger pot.

Hello, I found this site and am seeking help in figuring out what is happening to my FET. I'm in a similar situation where I purchased my plant with a few spots on the leaves but now they are getting worse and starting to effect new leaves.
Once I brought the plant home I thoroughly inspected it for any pest and made sure to wipe off every leaf as it was rather dusty. I waited about two weeks after bringing it home to water, and I have not taken it out of the nursery pot. Since watering the spots seem to be larger, some are crackly but others feel soft? It is receiving south facing window lighting, moderate humidity for the winter and hasn't been exposed to severe cold temps. Any info would be appreciated.

It is likely to be a watering issue. Please post a photo that shows the entire Rubber Plant including its pot.

How do you decide when to water and how much do you provide?

How far is it from the south window?

I brought it home without knowing when it was watered last and gave it two weeks roughly to dry out, it felt very light to pick up, nursery pot and all.
As far as watering goes, I'm not sure how much to say, but I put it in the shower and watered thoroughly.
It's about 3 feet from a west facing window and a few inches from a north facing window, included in the photo. I was mistaken about the south facing window.

I think the light as you described it should be fine. It will probably need a thorough watering every week or whenever the top half-inch of soil feels dry, whichever comes first.

Help!!
I received this Ficus Elastica for Christmas and it's looking a bit droopy. I water it once weekly (about a tablespoon or two). It seemed happy for the first few months and had new growth, but now seems stunted. I found 2 brown spots on one leaf that turned bright green and fell off. That leaf also has a "scratch" on it (see picture) I've never repotted it. It used to sit on this table in indirect sunlight from an east facing window but I moved it a couple of months ago beside the table on a plant stand still a few feet from that window but under a north facing window where it still receives indirect light. Any suggestions?

I have a Tineke houseplant that has similar looking brown spots on the leaves as the original poster. I wanted to say thanks for the tips on this forum as I probably would have ruined this plant on my own.

I'm really new to plant care and everyone says the number one cause of plant death is overwatering, so I was very scared of overwatering it. I was using the "Planta" app, which had me water it on April 12 and didn't have it scheduled to water again until May 1. The app also says "All of the soil should be dry before watering again," in direct contrast to the advice here to give water once the top inch was dry. The top inch was dry so I just watered it thoroughly - so the water ran out the bottom holes - and added a little fertilizer (MiracleGro) as well. In addition I've started using my finger to test the moisture level an inch deep instead of trusting a moisture tester.

The Planta app also suggested no direct sunlight, but folks in the forum say it should have direct sunlight so I've started adjusting the blinds so it gets a few hours of sunlight a day. It's about one foot away from a south facing window normally. Hopefully it will stop getting brown edges and the new leaves will come in OK.

Please let me know if you have additional suggestions.

Plant has not been repotted, the pot is 3.25 gallons.

@Lrb0610 - Move your plant as close to the north window as possible. Remove the sphagnum moss from the surface of the soil. Then, when the top half-inch of soil feels dry to your touch, water slowly until some water starts to trickle through the drain holes. You will need a saucer underneath it. Always water thoroughly, not partially as you have been, when you water.

@kevinmeyer - Thank you for your contribution.

I downloaded the Planta app a while ago to see how well it works. It seems to be helpful in some instances, but not in others, as you have discovered. I would not recommend it. On this site, individual plants are evaluated individually and help is provided for that specific plant. General instructions often miss conditions specific to a particular plant.

The app actually lets you input the plant type, your ZIP code, room humidity and light level which in theory it uses to generate watering recommendations. In practice I think it's going too long between scheduled waterings for regular plants and in some cases making bad recommendations about individual plants (letting entire rootball dry out vs. top inch.)

It seems to cover all bases, but unfortunately, the resulting advice is often way off-base.I'm afraid it is leading many people astray.