Pruning Large Rubber Tree

Rubber tree ficus elastica is a bold evergreen tree with an upright shape and big leathery leaves.

Pruning large rubber tree. Trim the other branches to enhance this shape and to concentrate growth. For these smaller trees a long handled hedge trimmer is a labour saving option. Rubber tree plants gets large if not pruned in order to control their size. Continue reading below to learn how to prune a rubber tree plant to remove unwanted parts of the plant and make it bushy the pruning of the rubber plant will confine your rubber plant in a pot or in ground to a lower height but thick and bushy.

How to prune a rubber plant. Pruning a rubber tree plant is simple and quite easy. Prune trees regularly throughout their life to keep them healthy safe and aesthetically pleasing. Prune the rubber plant with a sharp pair of pruning shears.

It lets in light and reduces the tree s vulnerability to wind damage and is an opportunity to remove diseased or damaged wood. These will easily snip through the rubber plant s branches and prevent the stems from ripping or tearing. To create this form select the largest healthy stem to be the plant s central trunk. Inspect for pruning needs annually.

Rubber tree plants ficus elastica tend to get rather large and need to be pruned in order to control their size overgrown rubber trees have difficulty supporting the weight of their branches resulting in an unsightly display and possible snapping of the branches. 5 x research source if you have a young rubber plant with thin stems you could also trim it using a pair of sharp household scissors. Large limbs equal large wounds which are more difficult for a tree to seal and leave the tree open to disease insects and rot. Usually involves shortening side branches all over the tree to make it smaller and more attractive.

Pruning a rubber tree for branching the most common way of correcting a rubber tree that won t branch is to break apical dominance. Pruning which encourages branching of the leaves can help. In layman s terms this means removing the top growth on the main stem thus re directing a hormone called auxin downward where it will encourage branches to sprout on down the stem. The rubber tree plant tends to grow rather quickly and if left untrimmed it may start looking lanky and could be prone to breaking.

Do not defer pruning until limbs get large.