I’m a big fan of my Rubber Tree plant (Ficus elastica), mostly because of how fast it has grown since I bought it. In the last two years, I’ve already had to repot it twice! Although it can be exciting to repot a plant to give it the extra space to flourish, it can also be tricky to figure out the best way to do it. So, what is the best type of soil and container to use for Rubber Trees?
Rubber Trees are low maintenance plants that grow well in most soil mixes but they do insist on proper drainage. Most store-bought potting soils are sufficient, but to ensure the plant doesn’t stay too soggy, mix in additional pumice, perlite, or cactus soil. Also, make sure your container has a drainage hole!
I understand this can get a bit confusing, especially when the health and wellbeing of your precious houseplant is on the line, but fear not! Rubber Trees are resilient plants and will reward you with lots of healthy growth as long as you follow a few guidelines when repotting them. Read on to learn how to pick the proper soil and container for your Rubber Tree.
A Quick Word on Watering
Before we dive into soil and container choices for your Rubber Tree, I quickly want to review an essential and supremely important aspect of houseplant care that directly correlates to the rest of the information in this article.
Let’s talk about watering! I know, it sounds super basic, but of all the plant care issues in the world, I would say a very high majority of them are caused by improper watering techniques. Your Rubber Tree is no exception. This plant likes to be kept in moist soil but hates being super wet or waterlogged. The good news is that proper watering is easy to achieve as long as you take the necessary precautions.
First and foremost, only water when necessary. A very good rule to follow is to actually stick your finger down into the plant’s soil to see if the top inch is completely dry. If so, you are free to water your plant deeply, allowing any excess to flow from the container’s drainage hole. Your pot does have a drainage hole, doesn’t it?
The other aspect of proper watering has more to do with water retention. When watering, you want the soil to hold the proper amount of water the plant prefers, with the excess draining quickly to avoid waterlogging the roots. For this, a proper soil mixture is key.
You will also need to consider the container your Rubber Tree is planted in. Planting in a properly sized pot will ensure you have the right amount of soil for the plant. An oversized pot will contain too much soil, which, in turn, retains more water than is necessary for the plant.
Drainage is essential when speaking of water retention and proper watering technique. The best way to achieve this is to have a drainage hole in whatever container you decide to plant your Rubber Tree in. More on this a bit later.
What Type of Soil is Best for Rubber Tree Plants?
Aside from being beautiful plants that grow fast, another great thing about Rubber Trees is that they are not particularly finicky when it comes to the soil they are planted in. As long as you maintain good watering habits and ensure proper drainage, your Rubber Tree is going to do just fine in any standard potting soil mix you can find.
However, most of us houseplant owners want to see our plant babies thrive, not just merely endure, so putting a little extra thought into the soil mix you use can help you achieve the best results in regards to your Rubber Tree’s health.
Rubber Trees are native to tropical rainforests across Southeast Asia, where it is humid, hot, and everything is damp, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Rubber Trees do best when those conditions can be mimicked in our own homes.
Unless you live in a particularly dry climate, most households are plenty warm and humid, and therefore imitate the Rubber Tree’s natural climate to some degree. So, it really comes down to the soil.
To achieve the damp soil Rubber Trees thrive in, the mixture needs to be quick-draining, well-aerated, but still have enough bulk to support the root ball and the plant. Proper watering should be enough to keep the soil moist, and as the top dries out, the entire pot will be ready to receive the next watering.
Soil that is too dense or compacted will hold too much water. Excess water in the soil can cause issues with the plant’s roots, making things like water and nutrient absorption and gas exchange more difficult. This can lead to long-term health issues.
By choosing a well-drained soil mixture to plant your Rubber Tree in, you can help promote growth and wellness. Like I mentioned earlier, most store-bought soil mixtures are sufficient for Rubber Trees. They all contain some mixture of peat moss, pine bark, perlite, pumice, or sand.
If you really want to ensure that your plant has excellent drainage, consider adding more porous substrates, like perlite, pumice, or even a pre-mixed cactus soil. These materials allow water to soak in quickly, drain fast, and still have sufficient structure for your Rubber Tree to grow into.
Store-Bought Soil Options
If you’d like to go the store-bought route, remember that most any quality potting soil is going to work just fine for your Rubber Tree. Most home improvement stores or nurseries carry multiple brands to choose from for all your planting needs.
Look on the label to see what the main ingredients are. As I mentioned, you should see things like peat moss, pine bark, pumice, perlite, and sand in the mix. A solid choice to plant your Rubber Tree in is Black Gold’s Natural and Organic Potting Soil. Enriched with pumice and perlite for exceptional drainage, it also has a small charge of organic fertilizer that will help provide additional nutrients to your plant as it acclimates to its new container.
Steer clear of potting soils that have wetting agents mixed into them. These are designed to absorb and maintain moisture levels in the soil, even in warmer climates, so you don’t have to water as much. Using these types of soil with Rubber Trees means running the risk of keeping the soil too wet. It is far better to practice good watering habits, so you have more control over the moisture level.
If you’d like, feel free to add supplemental substrates to your potting soil mix to ensure better drainage. I typically suggest adding one part premixed cactus soil (like this one) to three parts potting soil, but since Rubber Trees aren’t all that particular, if spending the extra money on a cactus soil is not in the budget, you can easily substitute it with plain perlite or pumice.
The idea is to just get more porous material into your potting soil mix, and a bag of perlite is cheap and will go a long way as a soil additive.
Mixing Your Own Soil Mix for Your Rubber Tree Plant
Some folks like to create their own signature blend of potting soil to use for all of their houseplants. This is a great idea if you have an extensive collection or if you want to tweak a very basic recipe specifically for the needs of each individual plant.
If this sounds a bit out of your wheelhouse or you have had issues keeping your houseplants alive in the past, I would stick to store-bought mixes for now and amending them with cactus mix, perlite, or pumice to lighten them up. However, if you have the resources and the will to experiment, creating your own soil blend can yield amazing results.
To create your own blend, you will need all the raw ingredients on hand. Again, this typically includes some sort of bark (pine bark is common), peat moss, perlite or pumice, and sometimes sand.
I would suggest researching a few different recipes from reputable sources (gardening blogs, plant books, etc.) and establishing a basic mix. From there, you can experiment with adding more of one ingredient or another to tweak factors like soil acidity, moisture content, and how compact or airy the mixture is.
A solid starter recipe for Rubber Trees is one part peat moss, one part bark, and one part perlite. From there, I’d experiment with adding additional perlite to improve drainage if the mixture still seems dense.
Mixing your own soil is all about trial and error, so be sure to take your time and watch your plants carefully. And, again, if this seems too stressful for you, feel free to stick to store-bought potting soil. Your Rubber Tree will love it!
The Best Containers for Rubber Trees
Another plus about Rubber Trees? Just like soil, they aren’t super particular about what kind of container they are planted in, either. However, there are a few tips worth sharing to make sure your Rubber Tree will thrive in its pot.
What Pot Material Is Best?
Sometimes it is worth considering the material of the container you are planting something in. Porous pots like terra cotta can wick moisture away from the soil, while plastic pots tend to hold moisture in. Some plants are particularly sensitive to those subtle effects, but the Rubber Tree doesn’t mind one way or the other.
That being said, I typically like to keep my Rubber Tree in ceramic pots, mainly because I like the look of them, and they can be incorporated into many different decors. They also hold their shape, so if my Rubber Tree ever gets a little root bound, it won’t distort the ceramic planter as it could to a thinner plastic container. The downside, if I leave them too long, they might be hard to get out of my ceramic planters when it comes time to repot.
Overall, though, Rubber Trees aren’t sensitive enough to worry about what material you are potting them into. Much more important is ensuring you have the proper sized pot.
Choosing the Right Pot Size
Rubber Trees are fast-growing plants. That’s true of their branches and leaves, as well as their root system. So, keep in mind as you marvel at its beautiful growth, you may have to repot your Rubber Tree sooner than you think.
Typically, Rubber Trees like to always have a little room to spread their feet. Rainforests typically have relatively shallow forest floors, so this type of plant has evolved to grow shallow, wide-spread root systems to utilize as much space as possible for water and nutrient collection.
This means you’ll want your Rubber Tree in a pot that allows for a little more room to grow into. It’s best to choose a pot that is about 1/3 larger than the size of the root ball. This roughly equates to about 1-2″ of space between the roots and the container on all sides.
This not only allows the needed space for the plant, but it helps keep the correct ratio of soil to root system, so you never have too much water being retained by excess soil and running the risk of waterlogging your plant.
Drainage for Your Rubber Tree
The last thing to consider when picking a container for your Rubber Tree is drainage. I spoke earlier about how important good drainage is to the health of your plants, so regardless of the material you choose to plant in, make sure your pot has a drainage hole.
You will want at least one large drainage hole at the bottom of your container, although multiple holes are even better. If your pot doesn’t have one already, you can make one using a handheld drill. If that’s not an option, consider swapping out for a pot that does have one.
You’ve probably heard the trick of adding a few inches of gravel to the bottom of a pot before planting if it lacks a drainage hole. I don’t recommend this method, as any excess standing water can promote disease. However, if you must go this route, pay extra close attention to your watering habits.
When Is It Time to Repot Your Rubber Tree?
Rubber Trees are stars when it comes to growth, so you shouldn’t be surprised when your plant has outgrown its pot quickly. Typically, a Rubber Tree plant can grow so much in one season that you may have to repot it once a year until it reaches its average indoor height of approximately 10 feet tall.
I would suggest that you check on your Rubber Tree’s root ball twice a year to get a good gauge about how large it’s getting during the plant’s growing season. Ideally, you want to always give the roots room to expand, so maintaining about 1-2″ of space on all sides of the root ball will ensure enough room in the pot.
Gently tipping the pot on its side and sliding the plant out of it should be enough to see if the plant is getting rootbound. Rubber Trees do tolerate being slightly rootbound in their pots, but if you leave them too long, growth will slow down, and it may be difficult to remove them from the pots when you actually get around to replanting.
If you suspect your plant is suffering from poor drainage or overwatering, you might consider replanting your Rubber Tree in a more suitable container or with more porous soil to improve its health.
A Quick Note About Rubber Tree Plant Sap
Rubber Trees produce sap that contains latex, a substance known to be an irritant to many people. If you know that you have skin sensitivities to latex, be sure to wear gloves when handling or repotting your Rubber Tree to avoid contact with any sap that is present. Wash your hands and clothes thoroughly when you are finished. For more info on Rubber Tree sap, read this article.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, after reading this article, you’ve found that, while there are many types of soil and containers out there, Rubber Trees aren’t particularly bothered about what they are planted in. Simply put, your plant is going to do just fine in just about any potting soil you use.
More importantly, as you consider what to repot your Rubber Tree into, remember that excellent drainage is the secret to your plant’s overall health. Make sure whatever soil you use is porous enough to allow water to drain efficiently from it while still staying moist for the plant. Adding cactus mix, pumice, perlite, or sand to a quality potting soil mix can further ensure proper drainage.
As for pots, pick whichever one you like the most…as long as it has a drainage hole. Planted properly, your Rubber Tree will be strong and healthy and will reward you with lots of beautiful growth.