"How To"

Rhaphidophora Decursiva How to Grow

February 10, 2022 Leave a Comment

Rhaphidophora Decursiva also known as the Dragons Tail is an awesome plant to have in your houseplant collection. It’s dynamic leaf structure is unique and beautiful. This plant, like it’s cousin the Tetrasperma is a very easy care plant.

To grow a Rhaphidophora Decursiva you need great lighting, the right soil, pot and proper watering.

Rhaphidophora Decursiva Houseplant — Rhaphidophora Decursiva

How to grow a Rhaphidophora Decursiva

Light
Soil
Water
Pot

Light

The Rhaphidophora does best in bright indirect light. If your window pours in direct sun move your plant back a few feet. These climbing plants live in the understory of the forest and can handle for a short period of sun before burning.

Pro Tip: If you want your plant in more direct sun you will want to acclimate it first by giving it an hour the first day then two hours the second day until it’s in eight hours of sun or or less.

Soil

Rhaps do well in a moisture retentive chunky soil mixture. You can make one by using coir, pearlite and orchid bark. This will allow the soil to hold moisture but not for too long and bark to give the roots something cling to while adding drainage along with the pearlite. If you prefer not to buy all of these separate items for a mix. You can use a prepared bagged soil and add orchid bark.

Pro Tip : You will need to add a slow fertilizer to this mix. Worm castings or a pelleted plant fertilizer will work.

Water

The Decursiva is very drought tolerant, if you happen to forget to water. It can take a while before it shows signs of dehydration. If you are seeing signs of dehydration such as wilting, dying foliage or leaf spots you have waited too long to water. Give this plant a full drink of water when the top few inches of soil are dry. Depending on your pot size and type you may need to water sooner or later if its a pot that holds moisture. My Rhaphs that are in plastic or ceramic get watered every two- three weeks. My Rhaphs that are in terra cotta are watered every week to week and a half.

Pot

You can grow the Rhaphidophora in just about any type of pot. Remember your pot must have a drainage hole in order to properly grow any plant. If you are growing your plant in ceramic or plastic adjust your soil mix to have more drainage by adding more orchid bark or pearlite because those types of materials help to hold in moisture. If you are growing in terracotta your soil mix will dry a lot faster so make your soil mix more moisture retentive.

The Rhaphidophora Decursiva is a fun houseplant to have in your collection. It’s one of the more easy plants to grow indoors and if you take good care of it, it’ll reward you with gorgeous new foliage.

Happy Gardening,

Ciearra

How to Grow A Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma

February 10, 2022 2 Comments

The Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma is a very easy and forgiving houseplant to have in your collection. Although it is also called a “mini monstera” it is not a Monstera. The Tetrasperma is part of the Araceae family just like the Monstera but the Monstera is not in the Raphidophora genus. I like to treat it like its a Monstera when it comes to care. So lets make this super easy.

In order to grow a Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma you need proper lighting, soil, pot and watering schedule.

How to grow a Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma

Light
Soil
Water
Pot

Light

The Rhaphidophora does best in bright indirect light. If your window pours in direct sun move your plant back a few feet. These plants live in the understory of the forest and can handle only a short period of sun before burning.

Soil

Rhaps do well in a moisture retentive chunky soil mixture. You can make one by using coir, pearlite and orchid bark. This will allow the soil to hold moisture but not for too long and bark to give the roots something cling to will adding drainage along with the pearlite. If you prefer not to buy all of these separate items for a mix. You can use a prepared bagged soil and add orchid bark.

Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma Climbing a trellis

Water

This plant is so forgiving if you happen to forget to water. It can take a while before it shows signs of dehydration. If you are seeing signs of dehydration such as wilting, dying foliage or leaf spots you have waited too long to water. Give this plant a full drink of water when the top few inches of soil are dry. Depending on your pot size and type you may need to water sooner or later if its a pot that holds moisture. My Rhaps that are in plastic or ceramic get watered every two- three weeks. My Rhaps that are in terra cotta are watered every week to week and a half.

Pot

The Rhaphidophora Tetrasperma is a fun houseplant to have in your collection. It’s one of the more easy plants to grow indoors and if you take good care of it, it’ll reward you with gorgeous new foliage.

Happy Gardening,

Ciearra

Water Propagation | How To

January 24, 2022 Leave a Comment

This blog post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission to fund my houseplant habit if you use these links to make a purchase. You will not be charged extra, and you’ll keep me in the garden. It’s a win for everyone, really.

Water propagation is by far my favorite way to propagate houseplants. Matter of fact I love to water propagate garden plants as well. Most root up so easy once put in water. How do you do it? I have to admit that it’s as easy as cut, stick in water and wait but I’ll go more into detail.

Have some vessels ready:

You must have something that can hold water. It can be a simple as a pickle jar, jelly jar or even those clear plastic cups your Starbucks drink came in. If you are just starting to dip your toe in the water propagation world my suggestion is to start with glass. The size of the vessel is relative to the size of cutting(s) you’re adding to it.

Water Propagation — Empty Starbucks bottles are great for Propagation

Start cutting:

Now that you have a vessel for your propagation It’s time to take a cutting from your plant(s). Be sure that you are using clean shears or scissors and that you are making your cut in the correct spot. It’s not always obvious on each plant where the best place to make a cutting is and for that you will have to do research. Some plants you can cut anywhere along the stem and others you will need to make sure that a node is present.

After you’ve figured out where to make your cut depending on the plant you will either let that cut callous over for 24 hours or you can plunge that cutting directly into your vessel with water. Keep your propagations in a warm well lit area.

PRO TIP: If you keep your cuttings on a heat mat that can speed up root growth. Here are the heat mats I use for seed starting. They work great for propagation as well.

How soon you will see root growth depends on the plant being propagated. Not all propagations grow. Some will rot and that’s ok, just try again.

Water Changing:

So here’s were me and other plant people bump heads. They say to change out your water every few days. I say change out your water if it becomes cloudy. I have not had any issues with propagations not propagating because the water was a week or two old. It’s up to you as to how often you change the water.

When to plant:

How do you know when your propagation is ready to put into soil? Best practice is to wait until there are at least a handful of roots and that they are 1/2 – 1 inch long. The roots are what anchor the plant in the soil so you want to be sure that your new propagation has enough roots to give them a good start.

**WARNING**

Switching from water to soil can be stressful for some plants. Not all will struggle but some will. Just do your best to provide them with good care and they should bounce back. If your plant doesn’t bounce back don’t worry you can always try again.

Growing a garden and houseplants should be fun so if a propagation attempt fails don’t worry. Just try again.

Happy Gardening

Ciearra

How to Grow Monstera Siltepecana

January 22, 2022 Leave a Comment

The Monstera Siltepecana is a vining and flowering plant native to southern Mexico. As it ages it develops fenestrations in the foliage just like it’s cousin the Deliciosa. The Siltepecana has silvery foliage in its younger leaves that change to a solid green as it ages.

Enough with the formality! Let’s get into how to take care of this plant. That’s what you came here for right?

This gorgeous climbing houseplant does great in bright indirect light. I can handle medium light and still grow well. I keep my Monstera Siltepecana in a bright east facing window out of harsh light. Some direct sun is ok but, be careful because plants can get sunburned.

Soil wise I have not found the Siltepecana to be picky. By picky I mean you don’t have to mix of anything fancy but I would use two mixes for this plant. I use Promix soil and it holds just enough moisture but doesn’t keep the plant wet for too long and Orchid bark. Use 3 parts soil and 1 part bark and you’ll have yourself the perfect Monstera potting mix. Use any soil you have access to and you can modify it if you feel like it stays to moist or too dry.

Watering your Siltepecana is a breeze! Water this babe when you see the top of the soil has dried. That’s it!

Just like other vining plants the Monstera Siltepecana develops aerial roots. Aerial roots help the plant cling to surfaces like trees or walls. These roots also take in moisture so if you wanted to propagate this plant all you need to do is cut under the aerial root and stick it in water.

Climbing is natural for this plant so giving it a place to climb will help keep this plant happy. It is also said that if you allow your climbing plants to climb they will produce larger leaves.

You can plant this Monstera in any sort of pot you want long as it has a drainage hole. If you ever notice that roots are coming out of the bottom of the pot it’s time for a re-pot.

A breeze to take care of the Siltepecana makes a great houseplant for your collection.

Happy Gardening

Ciearra

Polynesian Ivy Houseplant Care Tips

December 9, 2021 Leave a Comment

The gorgeous Polynesian Ivy vine is an easy care houseplant. They don’t ask for much, but give in the way of beautiful foliage. They do offer blooms but they are considered insignificant in the houseplant community and it would be best to pull them off to redirect energy back to the plant.

Polynesian Ivy Vine Houseplant Pellionia pulchra — Polynesian Ivy Vine Houseplant

This houseplant love bright indoor light preferably from an east facing window. Some direct light from the east facing window is also appreciated. During the summer months the Polynesian Ivy does well being placed in a shady spot in the garden. You will be surprised at how much growth houseplants can put on when they spend the summer in the garden.

Polynesian Ivy Houseplant Pellionia pulchra

The Polynesian Ivy houseplant prefers moist soil. The best way to maintain moist not wet soil is to allow only the soil surface to dry before watering. Keeping soil moist can be pretty tricky for new plant parents but thankfully this plant is forgiving if you let it get a little more dry then it should. I have not found this ivy to be very picky with soil as long as it’s not a cactus based soil mix. Because you want this plant to maintain moisture you do not need a sharp draining soil. I use Promix soil for 90% of my houseplants and they do great!

The Pellionia Pulchra is a severely underrated houseplant. When you take proper care of your plant it will reward you with lots of growth.

Happy Gardening

Ciearra

Philodendron Prince of Orange | How to Grow this Houseplant

December 3, 2021 Leave a Comment

The Philodendron Prince of Orange is one of my favorite Philodendrons. It’s gorgeous, easy to care for, and tolerant of a little neglect.

Mature Philodendron Prince of Orange leaves

All Philodendrons love a little extra humidity, but I’ve noticed that the Prince of Orange is not very fussy when it comes to low humidity. However, the plant will grow much better with a little added moisture in the air.

When it comes to lighting, bright indirect light works best for these understory plants. The bright light brings out a brighter orange in the new foliage. One thing to know is that the new foliage unfurls bright orange, which then fades to a medium green color over time. It is truly a stunning houseplant.

A basic soil will do for this easy going Philodendron. They like the soil to be moist but not soaking wet, so water them when the first 1 1/2 – 2 inches of soil has dried. In general, this will be about once a week to every two weeks depending on the dryness of your home.

Now here’s the tolerance part of this plant. You can forget to water it and it will forgive you as long as it hasn’t been roughly two months. You can keep it in lower light and it will still grow, but the new foliage won’t be as bright. Not too bad, huh?

Philodendron Prince of Orange Houseplant — Juvenile Philodendron Prince of Orange

As far as fertilizer, they are not too picky. I use fish fertilizer and they love it. You could use just about any balanced fertilizer on the market and they would be fine. Just be sure to dilute it with water and you’re good. Fertilizing should be done during the growing season, but it’s ok to give a low dose all year round.

If you are not sure about the Prince of Orange, you might be interested in its cousin the Monstera Deliciosa, which is another easy-to-care-for and gorgeous plant.

Happy Gardening,

Ciearra

Rhaphidophora Decursiva How to Grow

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