Our zz plant is flowering. Its got two flowers that we initially thought were new growth.
It used to be right up against the window, but with its size, it blocked the window pathway too much. So we moved it closer to the couch about a year ago.
We repotted this plant several months ago because we felt it was growing too close to the pot edges and drinking water far too fast (~biweekly waterings). We barely moved it up — maybe 0.5" bigger? Didn't disturb the soil it was already in – just added more around it.
Anyway, around this time, we scaled back watering to about 1x/mo. We noticed some stems losing vigor, getting veiny, and eventually yellowing after ~2 months.
After realizing this, we upped the water to 1x/3 weeks, once the soil was thoroughly dry and the leaves felt less plump.
We also went on vacation for about 3 weeks, where our houseplants did not receive water or any care for about a month.
At this point, we slowly brought our plants back to their watering schedule.
About 4 weeks ago, we noticed some new growth and thought we were getting new stems. Surprisingly, a few days ago, we noticed the first flower in the middle of the plant, and today, the other growth turns out to be a flower on the side of the pot.
I understand that plants can flower for any number of reasons – ranging from a death bloom, to happiness, to stress, etc.
I thought it's unusual to get 1 bloom, let alone 2 on a houseplant zz…
Several stems are showing lack of vigor after we got back from vacation, so I'm leaning towards stress from under watering around vacation time. But I'm just not 100% confident.
Rhyzomes feel plump. Stems don't feel soft. What can I do to further diagnose this, other than just wait it out and hope for the best?
Thanks!
by Wolfdale7
6 Comments
Oh wow 😍😍😍
Omg never seen this before! I didn’t know that they flowered! Thanks lol you have given me a new life’s mission. 💚💚💚🌿🌿🌿
Just to add a little more clarity, we have maybe 4 or 5 stems showing a decrease in vigor, which has me worried for the plant, and that the flowering is not coming from a happy place.
Hard for these to show up in photos, but it’s loss of deep green, and increase in veining of the leaves on these stems. Historically, when this happened to other stems, they turned yellow and then died.
https://preview.redd.it/ke3pxsiwx3zf1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5d92b97f14deb3cc162f3cd482c9ec75a318b56a
I didn’t even know they could do that!!!!! I fear mine could never 😭 congrats!!
I’ve never made a zz happy enough to flower! Kudos!!!
They are probably flowering because they are stressed. When you repotted you probably should have went larger with your pot size. I don’t think .5” did much for the roots to stretch out. If it were my ZZ plant I would have probably gone up 2” in pot size.