A Generalized Care Guide for Your New Variegated Plants

Adding to one's plant collection is always exonerating – in fact, it is quite addictive. Plants provide a certain uniqueness and lively greenery to your indoor space, which is why we've written out a simple and generalized guide to help you maintain your indoor tropical jungle.

Sunlight:

There are always many confusion on where to place your plants; should they be placed directly in front of your window? Or maybe a little bit to the side? Tropical plants, especially alocasias, grow under dense tropical rainforest canopies, where they receive bright shade, filtered light. Intense, direct sunlight will cause sun-stress on leaves, as well as browning and dry edges.

If you are planning to place your plant in front of the window, make sure no direct sunlight can reach and scorch your plant's leaves. This also depends on the direction your direction faces. The direction a window faces determines the amount and timing your room gets:

• In the Nothern Hemisphere, south-facing windows get bright, all day light

• North-facing windows get cool indirect light

• East facing windows get morning sun

• West facing windows get intense afternoon and evening heat and light

Please note: the only direction your plant room should not be in is west facing windows. Or, please make sure there are way to cool down your room during that time, and avoid placing plants directly in the intense afternoon/evening heat and light.

A lot of collectors acquire grow lights, which help with stable lighting and providing plants with 8 to 16 hours of energy for growth and development. In fact, it is more ideal and recommended for variegated plants to have a stable source of light, which grow lights tend to provide more efficiently.

Temperature:

Tropical plants are native to hot and humid areas, where temperatures are less unpredictable and do not fluctuate dramatically, even at night or evening. Alocasias do best in warm temperatures between 65F to 85F (18C to 29C) with mild temperature drop at night. That being said, Alocasias do well in average household temperature as they are well within their comfort zone. However, please keep your tropical plants away from cold drafts or near heaters as dramatic temperature will cost your plants to go into shock.

Humidity:

Although the average household humidity (around 40-50%) can be an adequate environment for tropical plants to grow in, it is recommended to provide a higher humid place (60-80%). Achieving high humidity is not as difficult as many people think...you can group plants close together, which creates a humid environment due to transpiration, a process where plants release water vapors through their leaf pore called stomata. Another way is providing a humidity tray by placing rocks, leca, etc underneath to provide some humidity.

My personal favourite, however, is getting a mini or small display box or any clear dome to trap in humidity. Please be sure to provide ventilation to avoid mold or extremely high humidity (90-100%), or open the lid to your display box a couple times a day to let out the humid air.

Pot size:

It is very important to take into consideration of the pot size your plant is in. A lot of plants do best in a slightly smaller pot or a tad bit bigger than the size of their rootball. Keeping your plants in an overly big pot or upgrading them will unnecessarily cause shock and a lot of the time, root rot. Because your plant's roots are way smaller than the pot size, it will be harder for the roots to soak up all the water in the substrate, causing the roots to be sitting in constant wet and moist environment, usually ending up in root rot. It is best to keep the plants in the pots they come in, and only upsize when there is root bound happening – you will be able to tell as it will usually require you to water more frequently and finding that the substrate dries out extremely fast.

For alocasias, they prefer being in a smaller pot as they like being root bound and often corm faster in cramped environment.

Please note: this article is to provide readers and growers a generalized idea on how to care for your variegated tropical plants. A lot of growers use different techniques and/or different routines. Find out what works best for you and your plants as well as your routine and care.