Rubber Plant Looking Sad? Here’s What Yellow Leaves Really Mean (And How to Save Yours)

Rubber plants are some of the hardiest houseplants available. These members of the ficus family are attractive, grow quickly, and require minimal care and maintenance. But even this easygoing tropical can experience common houseplant issues, and yellowing leaves are often the first sign that there’s a problem.

Here are six common reasons for yellow leaves on a rubber plant, plus tips for how to fix each one.

Overwatering

One of the most frequent causes of houseplant problems is overly wet soil, which can itself be caused by insufficient drainage, the wrong type of pot, or watering that’s simply too heavy or too frequent.

To determine if overwatering could be the cause of yellow leaves on your rubber plant, check the soil. Does it feel moist and soggy, and is the pot unusually heavy? If so, too much water is likely the culprit.

To address the problem, allow the plant’s soil to dry out completely. Check to make sure that the pot has adequate drainage holes and that it isn’t sitting in a cache pot or saucer full of excess water. Going forward, water only when the top 2 inches or so of soil have dried out, and ensure that water drains fully from the pot after each session.

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Underwatering

Not enough water can also cause problems for rubber plants. If the soil is very dry and crumbly, the plant feels particularly light for its size when you lift the pot, and you don’t remember watering recently, there’s a good chance this lack of water is causing yellow leaves.

Give your plant a deep watering to thoroughly saturate the root ball, ensuring that all excess liquid drains out the holes in the bottom of the pot. Check the top couple of inches of soil once a week or so, and water when they have just begun to dry out.

Too Much Sunlight

Rubber trees can handle part shade to part sun, but more than a few hours of direct sunlight each day can damage the plant’s leaves, especially if it hasn’t been acclimated to its new conditions. Sunburn may show up as yellow or dry, tan patches on leaves.

If you suspect your rubber plant’s yellow leaves were caused by too much direct sunlight, move the plant further from the light source or use a sheer curtain to filter direct light. It’s not possible to reverse sun damage, but you can prune off affected leaves to encourage new, healthy growth as the plant recovers.

Pest Problems

Sap-sucking houseplant pests like mealybugs, scale, and spider mites can damage your rubber plant’s tissues, causing spotted, discolored, or yellowing leaves.

Inspect foliage and stems carefully to look for signs of pests, like sticky, clear honeydew that many sucking insects leave behind. You may also see the pests themselves.

Scale appear as flat, brown ovals, often on the undersides of leaves, while spider mites leave traces of webbing behind, and cottony masses on leaves indicate mealybugs.

Once you’ve identified a particular pest as the culprit on your rubber plant, quarantine it from the rest of your collection (and inspect nearby plants for signs of pest activity). Remove visible insects with a cotton ball dipped in rubbing alcohol, then treat the plant with an organic pesticide like horticultural soap or neem oil regularly to control the infestation.

Sudden Temperature Changes

Have you recently moved your rubber plant to a new location, or has the weather changed? If your plant was exposed to a much colder or much hotter temperature than it’s used to, the environmental shock could cause leaves to turn yellow or drop off altogether.

While there’s nothing you can do after this has happened, you can keep your rubber plant away from cold drafts, windows, and air vents, and wrap the plant carefully to insulate it if you have to transport it in cold weather.

Natural Aging

Believe it or not, the occasional yellow leaf on your rubber plant isn’t necessarily a cause for alarm. These plants naturally shed the older leaves as they age.

So if the yellow leaves you encounter are growing low on the stem and occur infrequently—and your plant seems otherwise healthy—there’s probably nothing to worry about.