I have a rubber plant that is several years old that is growing out rather than up. I have neglected the poor thing, but it is now taking up too much space. How can I direct its growth upward?

More light will make the new growth more upright. Those stems leaning to each side do not look like they can be coaxed to stand up on their own. The options for them are trimming, staking, tresllising, or weaving/braiding them together so they hold each other up. Can't assess the viability of the last option for the particular plant fully from just the pic.

@purpleinopp How low can I trim my rubber plant? I would like to make the stems thicker and eventually more upright.

Tiffany, Braiding is a interesting option

Frenchy, trimming can remove any parts which are not pleasing to your eyes, but unless the move is planned, the new growth will be similarly etiolated in the same spot.

If you do have a spot with more sun to where it could move, I would do that first, to get the plant growing more vigorously before cutting anything off. Whenever you decide you want to trim, you could do 1 branch, then wait for new growth to start on it, then do the other 2, so your plant does not have such a dramatic loss of foliage at one time.

Thanks Tiffany - will try the trimming one branch at a time.

Happy to suggest. Best luck to your lovely plant!!