I got this rubber plant tineke almost a month ago. I repotted it (keeping its original soil, added 6 parts of potting soil and 2 parts of cactus soil for well draining mix) in a little bigger pot than it came in. I put it in the east facing indirect bright light room, in the corner. I noticed the edges were getting brown, and more edges has gotten brown recently. On Sunday, i gave it a shower to wipe down the leaves. The brown edges started before the shower. Mind you, the area it was in, when the sun goes west, that's when the direct(when the window is opened)/ indirect very bright light shines on the plant. So last night i moved it to the opposite corner, about 10 12 feet away from the window to prevent the leaves being burned. What is wrong with my plant, can it be saved?

Your leaves are not getting burned from the window light, they are getting brown from excess moisture in the soil. When you up potted your rubber tree you increased the water volume. A plant pushes water through to the edge of its leaves, and if given in excess, this can cause veins at the edges to burst, which leads to browning. Let the top two inches dry well before watering again and give it a lot of indirect sunlight. As long as the sun doesn't hit the plant, give it all you can. Variegated Rubber trees lose their vargaition in low lighted shade. Good luck

oneeyeluke said:Your leaves are not getting burned from the window light, they are getting brown from excess moisture in the soil. When you up potted your rubber tree you increased the water volume. A plant pushes water through to the edge of its leaves, and if given in excess, this can cause veins at the edges to burst, which leads to browning. Let the top two inches dry well before watering again and give it a lot of indirect sunlight. As long as the sun doesn't hit the plant, give it all you can. Variegated Rubber trees lose their vargaition in low lighted shade. Good luck

Oh ok that makes sense. So should i downsize the pot/soil?

NO keep it in the container you have now, because you don't need to stress the plant any more at this time. Let the top of the soil dry well before watering again. You got this now, and will have a very pretty plant soon. Good luck

Your plant is reacting to the repotting. If you left the roots and the original soil undisturbed, then the only issue will be proper watering. If you removed some of the original soil, then you may continue to get more brown leaf edges.

Remove any soil you added to the top of the original rootball when you repotted as that soil prevents oxygen from penetrating the root zone readily and makes it harder to determine when to water. Then, allow the top half-inch of the rootball to feel almost dry before watering it thoroughly.

oneeyeluke said:NO keep it in the container you have now, because you don't need to stress the plant any more at this time. Let the top of the soil dry well before watering again. You got this now, and will have a very pretty plant soon. Good luck

Thank you!

WillC said:Your plant is reacting to the repotting. If you left the roots and the original soil undisturbed, then the only issue will be proper watering. If you removed some of the original soil, then you may continue to get more brown leaf edges.

Remove any soil you added to the top of the original rootball when you repotted as that soil prevents oxygen from penetrating the root zone readily and makes it harder to determine when to water. Then, allow the top half-inch of the rootball to feel almost dry before watering it thoroughly.

Thank you! How much do I water it after the top soil dries? When do I fertilize it and how much, how often? Many thanks!

As I wrote previously, after removing the excess top surface soil, let the top half-inch of soil get dry before watering. It is hard to be more specific than that.

Fertilizer is not medicine and will not help your plant so don't use it at all.

WillC said:As I wrote previously, after removing the excess top surface soil, let the top half-inch of soil get dry before watering. It is hard to be more specific than that.

Fertilizer is not medicine and will not help your plant so don't use it at all.

I have not watered the rubber plant in like 2 weeks and the leaves are continuing to turn brown/getting burned. What do I do? Do i repot it into a smaller pot and remove the new soil and keep the original soil that's already attached to it?

If you removed the loose soil from the surface, I would expect that the top half-inch of soil would dry out within about two weeks unless water has collected deep in the pot. Re-reading your original post, if it is more than a couple of feet from the nearest window, then inadequate light may be causing it to not dry out properly.

In any case, repotting it will not help. Try to be patient.

The leaf spots are permanent and will never go away. Until the plant has had a chance to recover more leaves may continue to discolor. If new leaves remain healthy then you are good.