How to propagate: Rubber plant (Ficus)

The Ficus is a well known indoor plant that comes in many various types. From a Ficus Lyrata to the Ficus Robusta, the propagation is simple. Just like the care of the Ficus. Although you need a lot of patience when propagating.

Propagating a Ficus in 4 steps

Step 1: Disinfect

First clean the knife you might be using.

Keep the knife under hot water and clean them well. This prevents you from unnecessarily transferring bacteria during the propagation.

Do you happen to have disinfectant or pure alcohol? Disinfect the tools after using hot water. Let's get away with those bacteria and fungi!

Step 2: Take cuttings

Choose the way you would like to propagate. You can choose to place the cuttings in water, or directly into soil.

In both cases, cut a piece with at least one leaf.

• For propagation in soil, choose a cutting with a maximum of two leaves
• For propagation in water the cutting can have up to four leaves.

Step 3: Apply rooting hormone

Do you happen to have cutting powder at home? Then you can apply the cutting powder to the ‘open wound’ of the cutting. Let the powder dry well!

Don’t have any cutting powder? No problem. You can also easily propagate without. Although the use of cutting powder can stimulate root growth. So it is an interesting option to consider.

Step 4: Taking care of the cutting

It is important to regularly moist the leaves with a plant sprayer. As soon as the cutting has roots of about 5 to 10 cm, you can repot it.

For cuttings in soil, make sure to keep the soil slightly moist. As soon as you notice that the cutting is stuck in the soil, roots will probably have formed. You can then remove the plastic bag.