Question
Ms. Kittle,
  I have a 38 year old rubber tree, my father gave us when we married. Stretched out it is currently about 8 feet tall.  I have successfully air-layered it two times(couple of years ago).   We have lived in Raleigh NC for 25 years, and every spring we move it to our upstairs porch ( unscreened) where it faces west & receives very good light thru trees. In the winter it lives in front of the west window and tolerates poorer light.
    It has become very ill the past couple of months, losing more and more leaves.It is now droopy, very few leaves at the ends of branches.  the greener branches feel and look soft and wrinkly. The darker "barkier" branches are not hard and one  shoot has peeling bark on the lower plant. In desperation, we repotted with new soil in the same pot(12 inch) two weeks ago and the root system looks good but not extensive as I would have imagined.

I hope you can help me,this plant is a part of me and has traveled with us from Chicago where we lives to other parts of Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky and now North Carolina. I have given my 2 grown children the air-layered starts when they married and bought their own homes.   Please help.   Sadly, Luci

Answer
Luci,

It has been given too much water or has been put in a pot that does not have a drainage hole or a drain tray underneath it or it been left sitting in a drain tray full of water. It is not a swamp plant. It cannot sit in water constantly. It must have a drain hole in the pot and a drain tray under it. It should not be watered until the soil surface has been dry for at least 4 days.  Then a half hour after watering the drain tray should be emptied of any excess water. If you can't pick it up you can empty it with a turkey baster.

It sounds like it may be too late to save it. If the trunk is soft and mushy it will not get firm again. Try cutting way back on the water and give it as much sun as possible. Maybe one of your children can give you back a cutting from their plants. Or you can buy a new rubber tree and grow it in memory of the one lost. If there are some firm stems still on the ends of some branches you may be able to take some cuttings and dip them in rooting hormone and insert them in a fresh pot of soil in a pot that has large drain holes and a drain tray under it. You can put several cuttings in one pot until they are rooted. When they are rooted they need to be separated. Good luck with your plant or cuttings.

Darlene