I've been doing some gardening in my kitchen. Its a bit chaotic in there right now, its work in progress... I decided to move the philodendron, I did not realize how long the vines were until I had untangled the entire plant, it also needed a re-pot so I re-potted it into a slightly bigger pot and hung it from a chain and I've ran the vines along the chains.

I also took two small cuttings from the plant to make another plant, I'm unsure if they will take root so I only took two cuttings.

I'm hoping the plant will be ok because its in a lower light setting then where it was before.

I garden in the kitchen too! And when it's cold out, in every other room also.

The vine and ZZ plants look good! It's fun to do various things with the vines. They will make roots that attach to walls, furniture. If that's not OK, keeping them on the chain would be good.

The rubber plant looks like it's not doing as well in the low light.

purpleinopp said: I garden in the kitchen too! And when it's cold out, in every other room also.

The vine and ZZ plants look good! It's fun to do various things with the vines. They will make roots that attach to walls, furniture. If that's not OK, keeping them on the chain would be good.

The rubber plant looks like it's not doing as well in the low light.

The rubber plant has been suffering quite a bit because it was grown under a strong grow light and as the plant grew taller I had to keep moving the light higher then the bottom growth declined the light was also eating a lot of electricity so I packed it away. Since then some of the leaves curled and its not been happy since but it is very slowly improving.

I'll be adding a 6500k LED strip light above the philodendron for winter to keep it happy and the good thing is philodendrons only need 5 to 6 hours of bright light a day to stay happy plus it will also have the natural light from the windows, the added bright light should speed up its growth. I've never had issues with the Philodendron or Pothos sticking to the walls I have even tried to make it stick to the walls.

The Pothos at the back of the kitchen took a hit, it was once a lot more lush and bushy than what it is now because I originally had the Pothos hanging down and I was struggling to water it without the water pouring off the surface of the plant rather than the soil absorbing the water, it used to get dry up there so I switched it around and re-potted the pothos into a floor pot and trailed the vines upwards instead and the plant hasn't quite recovered a lot of the vines broke as well but I put those in water.

Its all work in progress... I've ordered some of the lights.

Here are some better photos of the recovering rubber plant.

I'm rally not sure what to do with this rubber plant... I'm just wondering if I would be better pruning it right down and removing the stick and the healthy parts I cut off can be re-rooted and the bad bits tossed away.

What are peoples recommendations?

Anybody?

I will get to work on it tomorrow if not.

Summer is the best time to make bold moves (heavy pruning and repotting) with your tropical trees. June is actually the best month but if you decide to do anything serious, it should be soon or wait unti next summer. I'm not saying cutting your tree back from Sep through May, only that recovery time will be unnecessarily prolonged and during that recovery period the plant's ability to defend itself against insects and diseases will be significantly limited. Day length and light intensity peak around the summer solstice and the combination of the two factors means the plant's ability to create food/energy during photosynthesis should be at maximum which ensures the fastest recovery.

You have a lot going on with your tree, and it's level of vitality is quite low. What did you have in mind? What is your vision for the plant? What do you want it to look like? Do you want a single trunk or a multi-trunk clump or grove planting?

You're on the right track with cutting the plant back and getting a new start. Long term use of stakes, strings, ropes, and wires, as well as starting a number of cuttings in the same pot are all sort of stop-gap measures that don't serve the plant well.

I can help you with the initial pruning and the pinching that follows to increase ramification (fullness - branch and leaf density). Too, you'll get the most cooperative response from the plant if you repot it as well ...... unless the root mass is really small and there is no significant root congestion.

Al

My vision of the plant was to have a single trunk with a more tree like appearance but once cut back I'm going to have a lot of cuttings left over that I'm not sure what to do with as I don't have the space or areas of light for more rubber plants so I was thinking about putting the cuttings in the pot around the main steam of the plant to create a thicker truck by using the other cuttings, so several trunks together giving the appearance of a thicker truck while creating a fuller looking plant... would this be possible?

I also have a problem... Where I want to cut there wont be many leafs left on the main steam, my understanding is that a plant needs at least 3 leaves but I may end up with one leaf on the main trunk once cut as the other leafs are curled and I would like to get rid of those so that the plant can spend its energy on growing new healthy leafs. How does this sound?

Edit: So I've had another look at the plant and given it is an examination and I know exactly where I want to make the cuts. The main steam will have two healthy leafs after the cut, I will also have two healthy cuttings left over to use. Another possibility would be to graft the two healthy cuttings back on to the main steam... probably easier said than done with the grafting...

Update... well I had nothing else to do this morning so I thought I would crack on with things. The rubber plant was spending too much energy trying to create new growth in so many places than what it had from being under the grow light.

So I've given the plant a prune and it looks better than I thought. I decided not to save any of the cuttings because I don't have room for more rubber plants and they wasn't the most healthy neither... Hopefully this rubber plant can grow into a healthier plant now.

One thing I forgot to mention about the rubber plant was that when it was under the grow light, it was also in a large planter and had a big root system which was severely cut to fit a smaller pot so the plant had a lot of punishment during the transfer. This plant was originally an experimental plant.

Good luck with your rubber tree. I hope the experiment works well for you-and the tree! I like what you've done with the rest of your "family". There's greenery all around and it's very soothing.

I'm going to be conducting some light experiments soon. I've found plants grow best at 6500k color temperature but I'm going to do some experimentation with some 8000k car fog light bulbs and have these shining on the pothos.

This summer hasn't been very sunny, so far its been many weeks of dull overcast days . I'm hoping the weather picks up soon so I can have some sunshine coming through the windows.

I think car head lights could make good grow lights for house plants.

My vision of the plant was to have a single trunk with a more tree like appearance but once cut back I'm going to have a lot of cuttings left over that I'm not sure what to do with as I don't have the space or areas of light for more rubber plants so I was thinking about putting the cuttings in the pot around the main steam of the plant to create a thicker truck by using the other cuttings, so several trunks together giving the appearance of a thicker truck while creating a fuller looking plant... would this be possible? Yes, it's possible, easy even, but you are going to get a lot of lateral breaks (branching) from low on the trunk as a result of the hard pruning. Those new branches will serve admirably and look much better as trunks than a bunch of cuttings stuck into the grow medium.
I also have a problem... Where I want to cut there wont be many leafs left on the main steam, my understanding is that a plant needs at least 3 leaves but I may end up with one leaf on the main trunk once cut as the other leafs are curled and I would like to get rid of those so that the plant can spend its energy on growing new healthy leafs. How does this sound? It doesn't sound like a problem. Ficus elastica, if reasonably healthy, is a prolific back-budder when pruned hard. Even if you pruned a branch back so there are no leaves on it, you should get new branches from suppressed buds in the leaf axil immediately above each leaf scar. Note the bud above the leaf scar facing you just above the low branch growing to the right, and other buds as well. If the top of the Ficus benghalensis in the image was removed, these buds would immediately be stimulated to grow.

You'll see the new growth in your tree within 2 weeks, but be very careful not to over-water. That is the most critical factor because the amount of water the tree will be using will have been reduced dramatically by the pruning. Use a "tell" as your guide to appropriate intervals. Ask if you are unfamiliar with using a "tell".
Another possibility would be to graft the two healthy cuttings back on to the main steam... probably easier said than done with the grafting... I'd skip the grafting for now. Ficus with finer branches lend themselves to a variety of grafting techniques.


Not sure what this ^^^ type of graft is called. I tried it and it works, but your branches are too heavy for this.

This ^^^ is a thread graft where the branch is threaded through another branch or stem until the cambial tissues merge. The left side of this branch is still attached to the tree

This ^^^ is an approach graft on a maple that has 'taken', so the graft side is now self sufficient while the supply (left) side of the graft has been severed. This type of graft would be appropriate for your tree, but it takes planning ahead to position the branch and establish the graft. Usually, you plan/grow/position the branch to be grafted one year and establish/grow/separate the graft in the following year. A shortcut can be taken if you have a cutting already growing on it's own roots that you can graft this year.
One thing I forgot to mention about the rubber plant was that when it was under the grow light, it was also in a large planter and had a big root system which was severely cut to fit a smaller pot so the plant had a lot of punishment during the transfer. This plant was originally an experimental plant. Did that occur about the same you pruned it? If yes, it is probably a good thing.
I've found plants grow best at 6500k color temperature but I'm going to do some experimentation with some 8000k car fog light bulbs and have these shining on the pothos. 8000k will be very blue and lack almost entirely the warm end of the spectrum (red yellow orange), which might be OK for foliage plants, but not much will want to bloom under them. I have about 45 Ficus, not including cuttings and layers, and I grow under 6000K LEDs. Let us know how that goes.

Al

Thanks for the info I find those grafting techniques very interesting. I'll have to try those one day.

I don't think I will see any new buds within two weeks as the weather outside has been very dull and overcast so its much like winter weather now here in London.

The 8000k lighting will be for the Pothos, devils ivy for the back of the kitchen. I also find blue light quite relaxing, I've got two coming in the mail so I could also use one in the bedroom as well.

My 6500K 100w strip light arrived today for the kitchen, this will go above the climbing Philodendron. I think that is all the lighting I need for the kitchen, I can begin my indoor jungle.

My fiddle leaf fig has been doing quite well in the kitchen. When I first got this fiddle leaf fig it was almost dead with one leaf on it, it was discounted and I bought it, it then recovered and was doing very well but last year I accidentally burnt it in a sunny window and all the leaves went brown and crispy I thought it was a gonna after that so I put it my my kitchen and it bounced back into life again and has been doing even better in this corner which doesn't really get any sun at all but its light shade area which is good because now I know I can grow a fiddle leaf fig in this corner without any extra lighting. The small spider plant behind it is also doing well.

I also have a recovering peace lily on the kitchen table which has been doing well in this spot, it still looks pale but its slowly getting its darker green leaves back with new growth, I had this plant on a sunny window and it went very pale and sickly so it goes to show not all plants like sunny windows, its liking this spot much better.

So today the sun has come out for a while although still very cloudy, the overall lighting in the kitchen isn't too bad and I'm starting to question whether it is really necessary to have an extra light above the philodendron vines... it will probably be more of a winter light

The philodendron seems to be growing rapidly at a pace I'm happy with... I know if I give plants too much light they can become dependent on those lights rather than making use of the low natural light coming in from the windows.

I will install the light now that I have it, I have also found some more room where I could put two more plants possibly 3 more but I need to make a shelf first, then I can clear some of the lower light tolerant plants away from the kitchen sink area, making things a bit more organized instead of having lots of plants stuffed in one area.

My other light arrived today that I ordered for my spider plant in the bedroom. I think the light may be slightly over kill for the plant but it also means I can have a few more plants in the bedroom as the light is pretty strong and still lights up the entire room even though the light is above the spider plant. I wont need it on all the time, I will have it on for 6 hours a day and the rest of the time it will be the natural dull light. 6 hours a day of bright light should be fine for the spider plant.

If you haven't been fertilizing regularly, you can very likely attribute the washed-out coloring or chlorosis to nutritional deficiencies.

Al