Anyone who owns a rubber tree often cannot get enough of it. So it's good to know how to multiply it.
The rubber tree is a pleasant fellow among the green plants. Easy to care for, fairly undemanding yet attractive, it's only understandable if you want to propagate your tree to have even more of these low-maintenance plants in your home. You have several options to do this.
The rubber tree belongs to the genus Ficus Elastica and can be propagated like most Ficus varieties: by cuttings. You can't go far wrong with this. In the worst case, only the pupils die. Alternatively, you can sow the rubber tree from seed, but this is not as easy as propagating it from cuttings.
Propagate rubber tree from cuttings
» Option 1: Use the shoot as a cutting
❶ Spring is the best time for propagation. When the time has come, first carefully break off a shoot from which a new leaf will grow. Now that the tree is oozing sap, carefully blot the sap.
❷ Then place the shoot in a glass of water and wait until roots have formed. Here you have to be patient, because it can take a few months for this to happen. Don't be surprised if there is no change at all for a few weeks. As long as the leaves remain green, the cutting is alive.
❸ Once roots have formed, you can plant the cuttings directly in the ground. This variant offers you a new potted plant straight away, but due to the long rooting time, the cuttings require a lot of water and often die in the ground.
» Option 2: Use the branch as a cutting
❶ If your rubber tree thrives, it can grow to an impressive size. In nature, for example, it can grow up to forty meters high. To prevent your specimen from hitting the ceiling at some point, it is necessary to cut your rubber tree from time to time. To do this, you can simply cut through the trunk at the desired point. The rubber tree then develops new shoots below the cutting point and continues to grow.
❷ You can then immediately use the cut piece as a new pupil. Ask thatCut into a glass of water or, if the size requires it, into a vase filled with water.
❸ After about three months, sufficiently large roots should have formed. You can then plant the cutting directly in the ground.