Hi Guys

I've had this pretty large rubber plant about 8 months now, and although it's consistently lost a leaf every few weeks (going yellow and dropping off which I assume was from over watering) it's generally been healthy and growing well. Over the last 4-5 weeks though I've noticed that all the new shoots that are trying to grow end up dying. They go yellow, then develop brown spots, then shrivel up into a dried brown husk. If I pull this off there is a fresh green shoot underneath, which then also proceeds to die (photos attached).

To be honest I still don't feel I've got the watering right, as the soil retains a lot of moisture and when I use my soil gauge it always tells me it's between damp and wet more than about 2-3 inches down, so it may just be overwatering, but when I've left if for 3-4 weeks sometimes to dry the soil out, leaves still fall off so I really have no clue what I'm doing wrong... it still has loads of leaves, but I still want it to grow and try to stop it dropping so many leaves.

I should add that the top half of the plant seems to be healthy, and rarely loses leaves (and is growing quite well), the problem seems to be the lower half of the plant...

Any ideas!?

Thanks
Ian

It is hard to give you a definitive diagnosis without a photo that shows the entire plant and pot and more information about available light and just how much and how often you are watering.

For starters, make sure your Rubber Plant is close to a moderately sunny window and not off to the side. Stop using the meter because they are notoriously inaccurate.

I suspect you repotted. If so, how large is the new pot? Does it have a drain hole? Did you add soil to the top of the original rootball? What soil did you use?

Yellow leaves can be caused by inadequate light and either over or under watering.

Thanks Will, I'll try to give you the info I missed out last time!

Watering - about every three weeks because this gauge keeps telling me the soil is wet. Also not sure if you can advise but I've no idea how much water I should be giving it... soaking the soil, or just a few cupfuls.

I haven't repotted it, and have included a picture of the pot below. It has drain holes and then stones sitting between the plastic pot and the stone outer pot.

The photo also shows the position of the plant. It's a very light room, but it's not right in front of a window, I don't have room to keep it there as it's quite big. As I said though, this is only a recent problem and I'd have thought that if it were a light issue, it would have been a consistent problem throughout it's life....

Anyway, hoping this extra info will help you.

Thanks
Ian

Thanks for the photos and added info, Ian. (Nice home!)

The room is very bright, but the light intensity that is usable for your plant drops off dramatically with every foot of distance. Yours is too far from the window to thrive. It usually takes quite a while for plants to show symptoms of adverse conditions unless they are extreme. Yours is just now starting to shed leaves as it cannot support as many leaves as it can in stronger light. Your Rubber Plant won't die where it is, but it will continue to lose lower leaves as it adds new, smaller leaves at the tops of the stems.

Water it when the top 1-2 inches of soil feels dry to the touch, regardless of what the meter reads. When you water, add just enough until a bit runs through the drain holes of the nursery pot. This will require you to lift the inner pot up a bit so you can when this is happening.

If new leaf shoots are not developing properly, it is likely to be a water-related issue.

Great, thanks so much for the advice!