I have a rubber plant I bought at Sam's 2 years ago. It has three
plants in that pot. I didn't move it to another pot. I fertilized it
twice a year. Of late I'm seeing that the new leaves are getting
smaller and smaller. The big leaves all fell off. So the plants don't
have any leaves in the bottom half. They are just bare. So I airlayerd
them and want to move to a bigger pot in hopes of making them look
better. My question is after they develop roots and I re-pot them,
will they grow bigger leaves?

Thanks.

"ted" wrote in message
m...
I have a rubber plant I bought at Sam's 2 years ago. It has
three
plants in that pot. I didn't move it to another pot. I
fertilized it
twice a year. Of late I'm seeing that the new leaves are
getting
smaller and smaller. The big leaves all fell off. So the plants
don't
have any leaves in the bottom half. They are just bare. So I
airlayerd
them and want to move to a bigger pot in hopes of making them
look
better. My question is after they develop roots and I re-pot
them,
will they grow bigger leaves?

Thanks.

Probably yes, but not because you air-layered them.
They will grow bigger leaves because they are in new compost with
adequate fertiliser.

Feeding them twice a year, unless it is with a slow-relaease
fertilizer is not enough.

Small new leaves while dropping the older leaves is a classic
sign of Nitrogen deficiency.
Nitrogen, unlike many other nutrients, is mobile in the plant so,
if the plant is growing but
is short of N, it just robs it from the old leaves (which then
drop) in order to make the
new ones.

Repot and feed liquid feed weekly, or use a slow release
fertilizer.

Air-layering is fun though, isn't it?

--
Gerry
www.garden-guide.net
.... for responsible gardening