Rubber plant suffering from this thing
Plant: Ficus elastica variegata
How long have you owned the plant? (no data provided)
Plant Parent
All my plants seem to be suffering from this thing and I’m not sure what it is…and was hoping you could share your expert insight
Darryl
Could you please show me a closer photo of this leaf?
Plant Parent
Darryl
Thanks for the photos. Your plant definitely has a thrips infestation:
- The rusty brown patches and rough leaf texture is the damage caused by thrips eating away at the leaf surface and laying eggs into the leaf tissue.
- The slender black insect is an adult thrips:
Here’s my detailed article on treating thrips.
For your specific plant, I think it would be worth considering cutting the plant back (at the white line) to rid yourself of the most heavily infested leaves – the red x’s (looks like most of the ones near the top – the newest leaves).
Good luck!
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