Plants Archives - Page 39 of 39

Polka Dot plant are generally small , very unique and comes in different color. They come in combination of white and pink, white and green (mostly available), green and pick and green and red. As there name suggests they have dotted structure in the whole leaf which attracts many to buy these. Even seeing them from far away they look quite unique and attractive. Polka dot plant Care needs Well draining soil, fertilizer, on time watering as Hypoestes phyllostachya are indoor growing plants and their roots are very strong. You can grow them in outdoor garden too but then you will need proper pruning so that it does not spread more. Growing them is easy and their root also grows very quickly. Polka Dot Plant has many hybrid which are with red, silver, white spots which is covered with dark green color. Their bright polka dot attracts attention in front of other plants. In my view, selecting Polka Dot plant with pink & green color leaf will be the best choice to make because it is quickly catchy in the eyes of the people and looks very cute. It is not difficult to grow as their life is very short so take good care so they can give you beautiful foliage, these plants used to showcase in the house for an year or two of its lifespan. You can propagate this plant, and also if you wants to buy, then it is easily available in the nursery or online. it is one of the best indoor plants that people would grow for its beauty & also for its cheerful foliage. Indoor plants are used to make your house more of nature friendly and also some of them do purify air quality. So they are interesting as outdoor plants are. In Indoor they do grow slow but at least they are removing some toxic inside your house. Now lets me tell you about some background information on this amazing plant. Background Information Plant Scientific name is Hypoestes phyllostachya (Polka dot plant), comes from Acanthaceae family. Polka Dot Plant(Hypoestes) origin is from Madagascar, South Africa and it is also found in South East Asia. It is also known by the name "freckle-face". It has very colorful leaves. Polka Dot Plant grows about 8-12 inch high and the foliage color is Dark green with pink. Their habit is to grow in partial shade and full shade but not in direct sunlight. They need better soil which must be well drained and moist. The growing USDA Zone are 9-10. It can tolerate 65°F or 18.333°C. The plant seeds need at least 7-14 days for germination so don't be sad if it doesn't' show up and you should put 8-10 seeds per plant. You can also grow it from cutting/propagation method. The Stem grows four-angled having green leaves with white or pinkish dots pattern. The Flowering season is from spring to autumn. Other common names of this plant are flamingo plant, measles plant, freckle plant. Every Plants needs your care , just the small part of your time. Three Polka Dot Plant CHECK PRICE IN AMAZON Single Polka Dot Plant CHECK PRICE IN AMAZON Also Read : Orange Star Plant Flower, Care, Propagation, Pruning[Detailed Guide] How to Grow Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya) The easiest way on how to Grow Polka Dot Plant is by harvesting it. Cut 3–4 inches long from its tip and remove the leaves up to 2 inches below, do not cut the upper leaves, dip it in good fertile soil and water it. These plants are very suitable for indoor and you can keep them on any side, where it only gets indirect light , the plants will grow there. These plants(Hypoestes phyllostachya) have small flowers and they give seeds in a very good condition.Germination takes place in warm temperature means 18-25° Celsius, remember that you have to keep the soil moist. Also Check :Autumn Blaze Maple Tree - Beautiful Amazing Shocked to See its Beauty (Hypoestes phyllostachya) Polka dot Plant Care Below is the caring aspects of hypoestes plants including light, soil, humidity, temperature, leggy conditon explained and many more. Polka dot plant care requires you to take care of certain things and the answer on how to care Polka dot Plant is don't put these in outdoor light area where it gets direct sunlight which will make them leggy, a condition its gets ugly. Also check soil is well drained and moist. Organic Fertilizer are great for these plants , Mix it in soil after every 2-3 months. Indoor they don't need much care, but outdoor you have to take care of plants in winter when below 55 degree can freeze those plants. Leggy condition only happen when you put them in sunlight, to solve this you can prune it and remove top leaves pinch off every. Here are 8 tips on polka dot plant care: Light Conditions: The first thing that you have to take care of this is that you do not give direct sunlight to your plant or do not place it in front of sunlight, because it can spoil the leaf of your plants, for that you will have to see a good place. A shade area where it should not get direct sunlight on the plant. If you accidentally leave your Polka Dot Plant(Hypoestes phyllostachya) in front of the sun rays, then the plants leaves might get brown color which means they are burned. If you keep the plant outdoor in the pot, then you can make a wooden shade on top of it, so that the sunlight does not pass, and your leaves are not get spoiled. If you put them in your house or indoor, then you have to see that they are not getting very bright sunlight, otherwise what happens is that the leaves starting to get pale, and their color becomes less beautiful light green which means that they are not getting proper indirect sunlight. HUMIDITY You need to take care of plant by keeping 3-8 polka dot plant together, they keep maintaining Humidity together. Polka Dot Plant require at least 40-50% moisture to grow. If you live in United States dried areas, then you can buy a self-watering pot, in which what happens is that you just need it to maintain it by pouring water on its bottom layer, then it itself absorbs the water. Due to which the lack of moisture in plant can be solved. Just keep in mind that you should give water to the bottom layer time to time when its gets dry. Polka dot Plant Watering Make sure to take care on how much water should be poured, In how many days should I give water to plants, should it be poured every day or in a week? I will give you the awareness of all these questions here. The first thing I should tell you is that your soil should be correct, in which the water does not stop and goes to the bottom, soil should be moist not waterlogged , moisture retention needed to develop the root in young plant. And if the water does not dry properly, then it create fungal infection or other diseases. They first stop the growth of the Polka dot plant and then kill the plants slowly slowly. In fungal infections, they eat the leaves making leaves brown. What important thing to take care: Give water when needed. Pour water till it leaks out from pot's bottom. But you should pay attention that when the soil looks dry, then only you add water to it. Also Read : Cast Iron Plant – Guide on How to Grow (Aspidistra Elatior) – Best Method Polka dot Plant Leggy You may ask me what is this leggy mean and what is this condition have to do with the plant?Leggy means long legs if human is to be denoted. But in the case of the plant, leggy means the part that connects the stem and the leaves, it becomes long, so that our plant looks like a ugly, if your Neighbor plant expert accidentally comes to your house and see that your plants getting leggy. Means you did not do proper care , due to which these plants can no longer hold their own body and will eventually became weak. If you want to resolve it, then pinch off its tips, prune the plants if its height is longer than what. it should be 8-12 inch. TEMPERATURE: If you live in the southern states of the United States, then the temperature that these plants need to grow is 64 to 80°F, which happens in the indoor, but if your Polka dot plant are kept outdoor, then the temperature must be lower than 54°F. which means plants may get freeze to death. So either you bring the plants inside or you can wear frost blanket. These plants(Hypoestes phyllostachya) needs your care but if you put them outdoor they may get cold, and if it is cold enough to freeze plants they won't handle it, and then not going live for long. So keep it in indoors. In the normal and medium warm temperature in indoor, the plant grows with less water & sunlight. FERTILIZER Having a fertilizer is very important for the care and growth of a plant, you can feed fertilizer in plant when the root system started developing, and what it does is it provide vital micro nutrients need in soil so that plant can grow bigger and better. The best fertilizer you use is the liquid fertilizer of Miracle-Gro. Miracle-Gro Fertilizer CHECK PRICE IN AMAZON How to Use fertilizer in Polka dot plant First you remove the lid, it will be sealed, peel it off. After that you give directly to plant without water, do not mix it with water. Recommended : only half per ten square feet. Mix it with 2-3 inch soil make sure don't spoil the root. Apply it every 3 months as per the product recommendation guide. There is also a demo video in Amazon so you don't get confused, check that out as well. Always remember to read the instruction before applying. Common problem Common Problem when you forgot to keep in check of its foliage. Care needed with daily pinching off leggy stems they grow back and this problem goes about a year long. SOIL It is also important to have a good fertile soil and along with it a pot or a container in which there must be sufficient holes so that water can go out easily. Also i must say mixing some sand or peat moss can make easy water drainage & better air supply to roots. Also you can use perlite so roots of the plants gets proper air. You can use potting soil for the plant , suggesting using Bark chips as mulching ingredient so that your plants water can not get evaporate quickly. Also put some mulch on the top layer of the soil so that your soil does not get dry, until it catches the right growth. It increase the fertility and overall health of soil. Also Read : Pink Polka Dot Plant – Information and Caring Guide(With Best Soil) Cast Iron Plant - How to Grow, Care, Types, Pruning, Propagation[Guide] Polka dot Plant Benefits I have describe a list of hypoestes benefits: Polka dot plant benefits are as container plants can be shifted to any place easily. Hypoestes Benefits of thriving in direct sunlight results in Polka dot bright healthy leaves. Low light makes the polka dot plants foliage lengthening, drawing out and becoming green. It calms your mind. One supremacy is it spreads positivity around you. Also it adds fresh air indoors, there are others reasons like having feeling relaxed that eventually reduces the blood pressure & brain also started working clearly. Here are the benefits of this plant Read On. 1 . We know indoor plants can purify air by removing certain toxic chemical in air that is good for health benefits also as we need good oxygen which is clean from any harmful air. 2 . Happy feeling with indoor plants Feel better mentally which can reduce condition like depression, alone feeling, if you invest your time on these plants life could get better even best some day. 3 . With indoor plants Can make you more calm and relaxed leads to no stress leads to low blood pressure. 4 . It can heal your headaches so don't use any medicine to get rid of this, as if you fill indoor plants in your house it can make you feel more connected to nature and that will definitely make you happy. 5 . With The Happy feeling You can Lower the blood pressure you are having, I don't have anything to back this up but in the stressful environment , having some of the indoor plants that makes you more calm and at ease will help you relax and not think much on problems of life. 6 . Brain Starts Functioning , with house plants by watching them you will become creative , wanting to do something if the plant is wilting, or feeling cold. You will start using your brain to do something that will make your brain keep on working to solve a problem a plant is having. I actually Find solution and apply it to my plants until they feel happy and by seeing them growing happy ,it makes me happy. 7 . Night Sleep become more relax and Smooth , as these plant produce oxygen at night & the more good oxygen you get , the more relaxed and at rest you feel. It will eventually improve your night sleep more and if you are a person taking medicine , you don't need that anymore. But Yes Reading books then sleeping will be good if you have sleeping problems. 8 . Plants can Reduce the dust from the environment, as they can increase the humidity level inside the house or even outside environment. That's why if you see when we talk about pollution that also includes dust particles that can be reduced if you plant more trees, and in our house it increases the humidity that way dust partial don't flow and drop to the ground then we can clean the environment and save yourself from dust. Types of Polka Dot Plant (variety) There are over 99 varieties of this polka dot plant available in the world. Each Type have different color combination , different pattern. Here i have explained 7 most popular types of polka dot plant : Pink Brocade they have pink dots structure with green foliage and they grow up to 12 inch tall and wide. Pink Dot It is similar to pink brocade with pink dots covering green portion when they mature. only difference is the pinkish dotted are bigger in pink dot variety. Red Splash They have red dots with dark green foliage and they also have similar size growing upto 11-12 inch high and 12 inch in wide. Confetti Compared to above 3 variety they grow quite high in size like 22-24 inch and spread around 17-18inch. they shows 3 color and those are red , pink, rose and white. Mostly pink can be seen in dotted structure. Carmina Compared to above 4 variety this one grows bigger than every other plant having 36 inches tall and spreads about 15 inch wide. flowing color is unusual , it may gets blue , red, pink , purple. White Splash As name suggests Dots have white or cream color inside and green color outside. they grow around 12 inch wide and 12 inch high. Purpariana It has purple shades and this one grows in direct sunlight. Polka dot plant Propagation You may ask on how to propagate polka dot plant is easy and you need its cutting to make a new plant. Cutting can be done using scissor which must be first sterilize using disinfectant. You can cut 4 inch from the tip and leaving 2 or 3 leaves above and below 1-2 inch if you see leaves then remove it as that stem is going to make roots then use a small container and some water in it put the plant in it. Place that container where you get some light. You will see your new plant growing in a month. Replace container water every 3 days or in 5 days So they can nutrient from fresh water. Once you see long roots are build then shift it in a soil container. that's it. Polka Dot Plant Pruning Those who are asking on how to prune polka dot plant is from top part of the plant and make sure don't overdo it but where you see more leaves collectively coming in, trim that stem about 1 inch. Do it once a week and maintain its normal height. The good thing about this plant is where you trim it, it will grow again and you can also use these trim stems to make your new polka dot plant. Tip: give it water when its soil gets dry. Put it near window where it gets some light for an half or an hour. After pruning it needs proper light. Check full info on Polka Dot Plant Pruning. . Polka Dot Plant Fertilizer Top ranked - Top 4 Organic Fertilizers that are best in use for Indoor Plants. 1. Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food 2. Joyful Dirt Premium - Fertilizer 3. Osmocote Smart-Release- Fertilizer 4. Indoor Plant Food - Fertilizer Pest and Disease Polka dot plant are mostly kept indoors, so that they can get indirect sunlight. Due to plants stays in indoors mostly don't get pests or diseases. New gardeners who are come in plantation life make mistakes by watering more heavily which causes the root to get rot. Not only if the water is dry enough, they are taught to face fungal or bacterial infection.It is usually seen that they get attack by spider mite which is a type of pest. It is known by the name of Spider that formed spiders near in stem. And leaves, which spoils the growth of the plant. To avoid this, you can use Neem oil spray. Neem is an organic pesticide which is used to keep pests away from plants. After spraying it, put the plant outdoor So that it does not affect to those who are allergic to Neem oil. This Neem Oil can be used in many plant and shrubs , This is the best organic solution to get rid of pests and diseases, I suggest you to buy 2 you can save money here. Bonide (BND022) - NEEM OIL -2 CHECK PRICE IN AMAZON polka dot plant tips Also Read : String of Dolphins - How to Grow, Care, Propagate, Repot [Full Guide] Purple Heart Plant - Care GUIDE, Pruning, Fertilizer(Full Info) Polka dot plant leaves Curling You have a polka dot plant and its leaves started curling, when you check the plant you won't understand why it happened in the first place. Don't Worry I will discuss Why and how to fix them. Polka dot plant leaves curling, twisting or bending is because of plant is getting more direct sunlight and the issue is impacting its overall growth. In hot sun, polka dot plants may survive for some hours but it lead to curled leaves and may result in brown spots. What you need to do is find south facing window, they will grow more green and colorful in low light conditions. If you notice curl up leaves, immediately move your plants to partial light location. As you know they grow in partial sunlight or filtered light conditions , You should observe your plant if it is happy or not. This plant will shrink if it gets direct sunlight and if it gets low light , they may lose green variegation and start to fade. They love to be in a partial sunlight area , 1-2 hours of sunlight will give it a boost on growth. But still I Suggest you to consider changing the location 2-3 times, see which location that best suit for polka dot plant and check if the curled leaves are resolved or not. Sunlight from Windows filtered through curtains can be good enough. Basic reason of leaves curling: Changing the location as it might not tolerate the hot or warm temperature. Change the pot if it is too short to handle the polka dot. When We worry about our plants and started finding some solution that is when we started caring for our lovely plants. We need to care for them leads to they started growing beautifully. Read More about Polka dot plant leaves curling. Polka dot plant Drooping As you know these can be grown very easily but require some attention while growing. The Most Common reason for drooping of leaves is because of a leggy condition where it doesn't control its own stem which looks thin and ugly but it causes the structure of the plant unstable. Please refer to the above article where I explained Leggy conditions properly. Second reason may be it was not getting proper water and as you know these plants dislike drought conditions so if they dried out , make sure to give them water regularly and consistently. Third reason may be that the soil is not drying. And water is staying for a longer period of time. This may cause roots to rot and the reaction was showing up on the leaves. Leggy condition you can solve it by putting this in partial sun and pruning it very important. Polka dot plant flowers It has Small Blue or Pinkish Flower , If you ever see them they look brighter and shiner. They are regular flowers and people generally don't find them attractive. Many think that flowers started to come means plants might be dying but it's not. The bloom will last and plant also. Polka dot plant Outdoors Growing this plant outdoors requires less fertilizer and a well drained soil. Outside you may encounter leggy conditions because of heavy direct sunlight so you need to do pruning more often or may change location would be best. Outdoor it will grow much faster and become bushy so start pruning and grow this in limit to keep them attractive and eye-catching. Pruning also makes plants healthy and diseased free. Read more about Polka dot plant outdoors care. Where to grow polka dot plant The best location to grow polka dot plant is your house where it gets bright indirect light which is enough for its growth. You can also grow this plant outdoor but make sure don't give them bright direct sunlight if by chance they get it. they probably gets leggy stems which is ugly. *Indoor plants are said to be in indoor location Conclusion I think Polka dot plant are Best choice to showcase or decorate your room with natural organic plant , Easy to maintain, Easy to propagate (AWESOME). Choosing this plant allow your area to be more beautiful. Also Read : Weeping Cherry Tree – A Beautiful blossom Of Cherry flowers Red Twig Dogwood – How to Grow, Care, Varieties, Propagation [Full Guide] Red hot poker plant – 8 Tips to Grow (Kniphofia) – How to Care Perfectly