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I found this plant in the recycling room in my building and its taken quite well to its new home. But what is it?

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This is the rubber plant, Ficus elastica. It has white sticky sap and can grow into a tree (100 - 200 feet 30 - 60 M) tall when grown outdoors in the tropics.

This plant will tolerate shade, neglect and more. A nice appearance and good health is maintained with

  • diffuse high light
  • regular watering
  • fertilize lightly once a year
  • repot yearly if you want a big plant
  • do not be afraid to cut back hard if it looks leggy. This plant will bud slowly from old wood
  • pests are infrequent due to the hard waxy coating but mealybug and scale can occur. Soap and water applications at 5 ml/l will control the problem.
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  • Now we just need a metal tree and we never have to buy tires again!!
    – corsiKa
    Apr 21, 2016 at 20:45
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Looks like a rubber tree to me. If you break a leaf off, is it sticky milky ooze?

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  • Yes the latex does ooze out.
    – max
    Apr 22, 2016 at 0:00

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