It looks sunburned and possibly has pest pressure going on. Brightest indirect light you can find right now, make sure soil is dry before soaking for an hour or two and draining completely (like in a sink or tub). Don’t water on a schedule, always test if it’s dry by sticking your fingers down into the soil. I would treat it with an insecticide soap, follow directions and reapply, don’t let sun contact wet leaves when treating. Good luck, it’s a pretty ficus.
edgeofverge
Looks like sun scald to me. In general this plant is in good condition. I would repot though. That pot doesn’t look big enough for this size plant. Make sure the new pot has holes in the bottom and a saucer so you know you aren’t over watering.
Charming-Note-5030
Can I cut off all the brown leaves or wait for them to fall off on their own? She said she doesn’t know if she overwatered or underwatered it, how do I find out?
Dragons-in-Trees
Look up lots of information about Focus Elastica aka “Rubber plant.”
Your plant appears to have been in way to harsh sunlight and could use some support/pruning.
Not sure where you’re located but if you’re about to head into winter as I am, you’ll want to do that pruning ASAP as they tend to stop growing altogether from late fall to early spring in my experience.
Pruning is easy but look up how to prune these specifically, because they grow in predictable directions from the cut.
Good luck!
Many_Mud_8194
That plant hate light. I’ve one of 3m+ high in my garage and it get 0 direct light I have to cut it often and I make clone from it. I’m in Thailand tho and garage is fully open so get lot of indirect light. I water once every 10 or 14 days, wait for the soil to be dry, it hate too much water. I feed it very lightly once a month
Nataliza
Looks like a sunburn, but it’s possible it might have pests. Look *really* closely at all the leaves, top and bottom. Some of them are tiny (like REALLY tiny), like thrips and spider mites, so look carefully. If you don’t see anything, probably just a sunburn. You can snip the burned leaves for aesthetics if you want, and put it somewhere with filtered sunlight.
motherofhellhusks
Ah, one of my favorite plants! I have a collection of different cultivars that give me a lot of joy. This seems to be an issue of overwatering, which is doable to overcome!
First, take a look under the hood. They’ll go down hill fast when they’re pot bound or sitting in a soggy pot. Make sure the pot has a drain hole and soil isn’t compacted. If it smells sour or roots look black/mushy, cut away those parts and dust the roots with mycorrhiza or cinnamon. Replace the soil even if the pot still fits. I use a mix of coco coir, coco bark, reptile bark, perlite, turface infield conditioner in the large particle size. You want a mix that drains well, ficus HATE wet feet.
Pruning the damaged leaves will be necessary; this allows the ficus to redistribute that wasted energy into healthy growth. There is a chance that it’ll back-bud from those nodes, but it’ll need time to recover first.
For fertilizer (start next year around early April) I use Oscomote.
Lighting-wise, stick with east or west facing windows. They like it bright, but not direct.
Watering depends on the vessel volume. They like some dry down time between waterings, I usually wait until the top 4-5” of substrate is dry in my biggest (14×14) and 2-3” inches for the smaller ones.
Hope this helps!
ETA: use a pot liner for ficus elastica so you can remove it from its cachepot to water and drain. It may seem like a needless step, but it makes down the road care much easier and reduces concern over planter material.
No_Weird4336
Sunburn and pests
jerricka
Definitely has thrips.
tab_tab_tabby
Thrips + sun burnt.
If you have other plants, good luck not killing them all….
OkMission9167
It does look like the sun burn maybe to a hot window… that’ll do i
Effrijim
Definitely sunburn. I had a philo do this.
Cultural-Nature-2391
No I know exactly what this is. It happened to mine. It needs fertilizer!!
Cultural_Wash5414
Looks like sunburn 🥵
zback636
The plant was burned by to much sun to quickly. Those damage leaves won’t repair themselves and won’t help with photosynthesis. Best thing is to chop them off. I would chop the entire stem not just the leaves. Your plant will branch now and be a little wider. I don’t know if that’ll be a problem for you. But don’t keep those bad leaves on your plant.
m3rmaid13
First of all I’m jealous because that’s a big plant that has potential. If this were mine I would throw it in the shower or do a very long rinse down with the garden hose. Cut off the leaves that don’t look smooth and green. Then wipe/dry every leaf front and back with a cloth. Spray it down with Capt. Jacks Bonide Dead Bug spray (you can get it at home depot and its a pet safe way to kill a lot of pests). Then I’d repot in a pot with good drainage in the bottom. If you’re new to plant stuff then the yellow bag of miracle grow potting soil and the pink bag (orchid bark) are a good combo. The bark helps make the soil more airy. When you repot you can spray the roots down so most of the dirt is off. Anything that looks squishy or rotten you will want to remove. Healthy roots usually feel slightly rubbery, not mushy. Don’t give up if it looks a little sad for a few days. All of the stuff above is a big shock so the plant will react but I think it gives you a good baseline and makes sure you’ve handled a lot of common issues up front. Once you get it cleaned up a bit post clearer pictures of the leaves if you can and people can help spot pests.
mishmishtamesh
This plant only needs a bright location with indirect sun and water once a week. It is doing fine. Has just been sunburnt.
19 Comments
Thrips?
Look like a sunburn
It looks sunburned and possibly has pest pressure going on. Brightest indirect light you can find right now, make sure soil is dry before soaking for an hour or two and draining completely (like in a sink or tub). Don’t water on a schedule, always test if it’s dry by sticking your fingers down into the soil. I would treat it with an insecticide soap, follow directions and reapply, don’t let sun contact wet leaves when treating. Good luck, it’s a pretty ficus.
Looks like sun scald to me. In general this plant is in good condition. I would repot though. That pot doesn’t look big enough for this size plant. Make sure the new pot has holes in the bottom and a saucer so you know you aren’t over watering.
Can I cut off all the brown leaves or wait for them to fall off on their own? She said she doesn’t know if she overwatered or underwatered it, how do I find out?
Look up lots of information about Focus Elastica aka “Rubber plant.”
Your plant appears to have been in way to harsh sunlight and could use some support/pruning.
Not sure where you’re located but if you’re about to head into winter as I am, you’ll want to do that pruning ASAP as they tend to stop growing altogether from late fall to early spring in my experience.
Pruning is easy but look up how to prune these specifically, because they grow in predictable directions from the cut.
Good luck!
That plant hate light. I’ve one of 3m+ high in my garage and it get 0 direct light I have to cut it often and I make clone from it. I’m in Thailand tho and garage is fully open so get lot of indirect light. I water once every 10 or 14 days, wait for the soil to be dry, it hate too much water. I feed it very lightly once a month
Looks like a sunburn, but it’s possible it might have pests. Look *really* closely at all the leaves, top and bottom. Some of them are tiny (like REALLY tiny), like thrips and spider mites, so look carefully. If you don’t see anything, probably just a sunburn. You can snip the burned leaves for aesthetics if you want, and put it somewhere with filtered sunlight.
Ah, one of my favorite plants! I have a collection of different cultivars that give me a lot of joy. This seems to be an issue of overwatering, which is doable to overcome!
First, take a look under the hood. They’ll go down hill fast when they’re pot bound or sitting in a soggy pot. Make sure the pot has a drain hole and soil isn’t compacted. If it smells sour or roots look black/mushy, cut away those parts and dust the roots with mycorrhiza or cinnamon. Replace the soil even if the pot still fits. I use a mix of coco coir, coco bark, reptile bark, perlite, turface infield conditioner in the large particle size. You want a mix that drains well, ficus HATE wet feet.
Pruning the damaged leaves will be necessary; this allows the ficus to redistribute that wasted energy into healthy growth. There is a chance that it’ll back-bud from those nodes, but it’ll need time to recover first.
For fertilizer (start next year around early April) I use Oscomote.
Lighting-wise, stick with east or west facing windows. They like it bright, but not direct.
Watering depends on the vessel volume. They like some dry down time between waterings, I usually wait until the top 4-5” of substrate is dry in my biggest (14×14) and 2-3” inches for the smaller ones.
Hope this helps!
ETA: use a pot liner for ficus elastica so you can remove it from its cachepot to water and drain. It may seem like a needless step, but it makes down the road care much easier and reduces concern over planter material.
Sunburn and pests
Definitely has thrips.
Thrips + sun burnt.
If you have other plants, good luck not killing them all….
It does look like the sun burn maybe to a hot window… that’ll do i
Definitely sunburn. I had a philo do this.
No I know exactly what this is. It happened to mine. It needs fertilizer!!
Looks like sunburn 🥵
The plant was burned by to much sun to quickly. Those damage leaves won’t repair themselves and won’t help with photosynthesis. Best thing is to chop them off. I would chop the entire stem not just the leaves. Your plant will branch now and be a little wider. I don’t know if that’ll be a problem for you. But don’t keep those bad leaves on your plant.
First of all I’m jealous because that’s a big plant that has potential. If this were mine I would throw it in the shower or do a very long rinse down with the garden hose. Cut off the leaves that don’t look smooth and green. Then wipe/dry every leaf front and back with a cloth. Spray it down with Capt. Jacks Bonide Dead Bug spray (you can get it at home depot and its a pet safe way to kill a lot of pests). Then I’d repot in a pot with good drainage in the bottom. If you’re new to plant stuff then the yellow bag of miracle grow potting soil and the pink bag (orchid bark) are a good combo. The bark helps make the soil more airy. When you repot you can spray the roots down so most of the dirt is off. Anything that looks squishy or rotten you will want to remove. Healthy roots usually feel slightly rubbery, not mushy. Don’t give up if it looks a little sad for a few days. All of the stuff above is a big shock so the plant will react but I think it gives you a good baseline and makes sure you’ve handled a lot of common issues up front. Once you get it cleaned up a bit post clearer pictures of the leaves if you can and people can help spot pests.
This plant only needs a bright location with indirect sun and water once a week. It is doing fine. Has just been sunburnt.