I've got this PPP for a few years, initially I hated the shape of the plant as it grew without support, then I cut it just above the most variegated leaf (still visible on the bottom), then I put it on a moss pole that's when it started to grow quite nicely. It's giving me large new leaves non stop HOWEVER the variegation is very minimal as you can see. I mostly just appreciate it for the nice mature growth but I do wish it had more variegation. If there's a house fire, this won't be the first 10 plants I'd grab and run.
What would you do if this plant is in your possession?
by 143forever
8 Comments
It is trying to tell you that it desperately needs more light. It simply will not give you the variegation that you’re looking for without light, and a ton of it. I think there is a lot of misinformation about how much light a PPP can stand without burning but it’s a lot more than you might think. And I think the people that do report burns are probably contending more with outside elements (a window that is super cold or super hot, which will then look like the plant is being damaged by the sun when it’s actually just extreme weather adverse, like most plants) more than the power of the sun itself impacting the plant.
I think the best way, to be frank, is to forgo relying exclusively on natural light and just get a grow light of some kind. You can even run a normal house lamp with a grow lightbulb in it that approximates normal light waves so it doesn’t look red/blue to the naked eye. However, it is also going to require a lot of chopping. These dark green leaves will never recover their variegation because they didn’t get what they needed in terms of light when they were growing. If you want new growth to have variegation, hit it with light.
ETA: In sum, if it were my plant, I’d start chopping, slowly and over time, the dark green leaves. I’d probably start lower on the plant to avoid stressing it out. I would also purchase a grow light.
Probably just see if i could sell it. It’s a pink pauper
The variegation is genetic, this plant just isn’t blessed. You can try stressing it by doing a big chop but that’s about it. I’d let it do its thing.
Id cut it back to the last node with the most visible variegation. I did this with mine when it was reverting and it worked well
If it were mine, I would just chop it all up into nodes and propagate. Blast them with light. One of those cuttings will produce more variegation than the others, and make that one your new moss pole bb.
I’ve had low var Florida beauties that when chopped and propped start producing normal amounts of variegation.
Worship it?
Appreciate it
I would put it in brighter light to bring out the variegation