Ficus Elastica (Rubber Plant)

[Webos]

Anyone attempted or heard of attempts at Bonsai Ficus Elastica (Rubber Plant)?

[shibui]

I've seen a couple but just 'sticks in pots'. Large leaves, reluctant to branch, little taper, why bother?

[Webos]

I noticed one in a pot at my brothers' house today...nice trunk but big leaves...Wondered if they reduce well like other figs

[Jamie]

i dont see why they wouldnt reduce in leaf size, i have never used the species before, or seen to many either, but it could be possible to reduce the size of the leaves.
if it has a good trunk and good features you could always use grafting techniques to graft a different foliage on to the trunk with, skys the limit with what sort of leaf you want, rubignosa, microcarpa, nerifolia, obliqua.

personally i would try nerifolia for the leaf, i love the shape of the leaf and they can make great trees!


jamie

[Joel]

I haven't heard of grafting figs but why not try? Personally, i would use Ficus macrophylla 'Little Ruby". Let us know how it goes!

P.S. Thanks for using the botanical name. There are a few things called rubber trees, so it helped here. Ok i hope im not getting too picky here, but for the future, elastica does not have a capital 'e'.

Good luck!
Joel.

[Jamie]

joel? you havent heard of grafting figs? hmm, well it is used quite widely especially for trees that have good trunks but not the best sort of foliage.
Jerry Meislik has some good reference in his site about it plus there is a whole heap of info just from a quick google search.

can be free grafted, approach grafted, thread graft etc.

and although some have better success rates then others ie. free graft V approach or thread graft, the approach or thread graft will have a higher success rate than that of the free graft.


jamie