Plant of the Month – Ficus Triangularis
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In the interior world it’s not that often that we get a plant that’s new and different from the common Palm or Dracaena. That’s why, Ficus triangularis is definitely a top pick when it comes to an unusual specimen plant that will stand out and woo your guests. My Mom just fell in love with this plant the first time she saw it, reminding her of her Gingko biloba trees and their fan-shaped leaves.
The leaves of Ficus triangularis are by far the main attraction, with their very cool triangle shape and dark stem coming out of the tips creates contrast on this free-formed plant.
These native Malaysian plants are rare, so when you see them, I would recommend grabbing them while you can. I bought a beautiful 6 foot specimen for my Mom on Mother’s Day and told her that I’d take care of it for her (knowing how little care it would need).
Being in the Ficus family, these plants need at least medium to bright light and don’t want to be over watered. I sub-irrigated my Mom’s in a Jardiner and water it about every other week, right now since it’s been hot. The dark green, fleshy leaves seem to de-tract dust and only fall when you’ve stressed it out, unlike it’s Ficus benjamina relative that seem to rain leaves on a regular basis. I’d consider Ficus triangularis to be a clean interior plant, even with it’s yearly production of pea-sized green figs that dry up and fall off the tree in the summer months. This small nuisance is forgivable given all of the other wonderful aspects of this beauty. It can grow about 8 feet max and 4 feet wide, but with their slow growth they could easily controlled at shorter heights making Ficus triangularis an excellent choice for any amateur interior plant enthusiast.
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How come we didn’t get a Ficus Triangularis for mother’s day…sounds like my kind of plant. Watering about every other week is about all I can handle.
Actually Kiko, you only need to water Ficus triangularis once every other week or less depending on the weather and humidity in your house. You should definitely grab one!
I just purchased a 7 foot ficus triangularis. It has about five separate 7 foot stems, ie a multi stemmed tree. Can I separate the roots and propagate one of the stems or cut one and propagate it. How do you propagate this plant? Thank you, Kathy
Hi Kathy!
Ficus triangularis is a very slow growing plant, so although I wouldn’t recommend separating the multiple stems, I am pretty sure that it can tolerate it. I would be as gentle as possible and try to get as much root as you can intact. For the best success, I would try to keep a few of the stems together and as undisturbed as possible. When re-potting, add some extra soil, but don’t use a pot that is much larger than the root-ball. Then water with Super Thrive.
The other method of Propagation is to ‘Air Layer’ the plant. Most likely a cutting won’t be successful, but since it doesn’t take away much of the plant, I say give it a try the next time you prune.
Good Luck!
We ‘adopted’ a Ficus triangularis with 4 separate 7 ft stems in a 5 gal pot. We thought it could stay outdoors since we didn’t get any information regarding how to care for it. Is it possible to successfully
grow this plant outdoors? By the way, we, unfortunately, are one of those amateur plant enthusiasts…but we do love this pretty plant,
Please give us some advice we really could use the help.
Thank you very much.
Jennifer & family
Hi Jennifer, I hope I’m not too late to respond. Ficus triangularis prefers to be indoors with bright indirect light. Although, I imagine they would be great outdoor (depending on which part of the country you are in) in the shade or an area that gets filtered light. I hope this helps!