Hey everyone!

About 6 weeks ago, I watered my variegated rubber plant and noticed it had signs of spider mites and some other pests. I removed the affected leaves and began treating with neem oil/dish soap/water. After a few weekly treatments, to include applying rubbing alcohol to plants with affected areas, the pests haven't returned...I think?

Anyway, since that watering, the lower leaves have started falling off. I thought it was due to the location near the window, so I moved it. Fast forward to today, and it's still happening. I let it dry out until last Saturday when I watered it until it barely was dripping water from the nursery pot.

Since then, I lost 2 leaves from the bottom today. Overall, I've lost several leaves from the bottom of the plant. It used to be full at the bottom, but it's no longer that way.

I've uploaded photos of what the plant looks like now. Overall it looks great, but it looks like these leaves have thrips or something on them?

Do I need to be concerned? Should I remove the plant from the black nursery pot to see what's going on? I've only watered the plant twice in the last 6 weeks because I was afraid I overwatered it.

The second to last picture was taken Dec. 24 and the last picture is what it looked like on Nov. 22.

It could be your very directional lights. Leaves in too much shade aren't pulling their fair share of the weight and so are dumped. Plants are a lot more brutal than people.

DaisyI said:It could be your very directional lights. Leaves in too much shade aren't pulling their fair share of the weight and so are dumped. Plants are a lot more brutal than people.

Thanks so much. That's a great point. I'll do some rearranging and see how it anything changes.

Keep trying, and keep an eye for bugs, and keep it in that plastic pot cached in the other. I had peperomia and they seemed very forgiving.
Though the blue pot is very pretty, I find those pots usually clog up and kill, hence the plastic insert.