This spring I tried to save a Ficus elastica Tineke cutting from dying and documented the entire process in this video.

During spring, people clean up their gardens and put out the garden waste resulted from spring pruning and unwanted plants to be collected by local authorities. So it's good to keep an eye out for free plants during this period. And by doing so I found this Ficus elastica Tineke (I believe this is the correct designation although I saw similar specimens being called Ficus elastica Doescheri or just variegated Ficus elastica), in a pile of garden waste, on a cold February day. I decided to take it and have a go at propagating this variety of variegated rubber plant even though it was clearly dehydrated and there was a considerable possibility that it was affected by frostbite since temperatures for the past few days were below zero.

I looked for info on how to save a ficus tree with frost bite but I wasn't able to find any information. In the past I successfully propagated Ficus elastica in water (from a cutting of the classic variety) so naturally I kept the Tineke cutting in water. While it did not die my cutting with frostbite didn't seem to be keen on rooting either so I decided to plant it directly in soil. Ficus elastica propagation in soil is another common approach. This video shows the steps I made and also includes a time lapse of a Ficus elastica leaf unfurling. I'm looking forward to seeing some vigorous growth on the plant so that I can start the slow process of training it into a Ficus elastica bonsai.

Video outline:

0:00 I found a dying Ficus elastica Tineke cutting
0:10 Ficus elastica frost damage
0:44 Ficus elastica Tineke propagation from cutting
2:37 Ficus elastica Tineke time lapse
3:29 One month update

#ficuselastica #rubberplant #planttimelapse #ficuselasticapropagation #ficuselasticabonsai #ficustineke

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