Do you love Chinese evergreen too? Learn How to grow and care for Chinese evergreen with our detailed guide!
How to Grow and Care for Chinese Evergreen:
Chinese evergreen plants (from the Genus Aglaonema) are beautiful houseplants renowned for their lush, tropical leaves. Easy to care for and tolerate low light levels, Chinese evergreens have long-term life spans with proper maintenance.
Chinese evergreens have long been prized ornamentals in Asia and plant breeders have created numerous fascinating varieties over time. Some cultivars exhibit deep green leaves with paler green or silver splashes, stripes, or speckles reminiscent of Aglaonema ‘Silver Queen’ or Maria; other cultivars boast pink stems, veins, and leaf margins in Aglaonema ‘Crete Pink Moon’ while in some instances all leaves may feature some pink hues; there are even varieties such as Aglaonema ‘Red Star’! While Chinese evergreens tend to grow slowly enough that cultivated varieties may grow to form large clumps up to 90cm in width by 90 cm in height; there are also compact varieties designed specifically to suit more restricted spaces such as Aglaonema ‘Jubilee Compacta’ for smaller spaces!
Chinese evergreen is a slow-growing plant and should only require repotting every two or three years when its strong roots start emerging through drainage holes. Resist the temptation of upscaling to an even larger pot; excess compost could hold onto moisture that damages its health – instead, choose a slightly larger container in spring for best results.
How to Grow Chinese Evergreen
Place Chinese evergreen in a bright location away from direct sunlight, such as a bathroom. Water sparingly; allow compost to fully dry between watering sessions; feed every six weeks (less often during winter). Reduce watering for best results.
Grow Chinese Evergreen at Home
More Similar Images; To grow Chinese evergreen at home, place it on a shelf. Getty Images can provide more photos.
Chinese evergreen originates in tropical and subtropical forests in Asia and New Guinea, so bright light with no direct sunlight would be best. Although tolerating low light levels is possible, pale-leafed varieties will require more illumination compared with their dark-green cousins (although dark green leaves still can photosynthesize at lower light levels). Furthermore, its ideal environment should remain warm throughout its growing cycle (no sudden temperature swings and no temperatures below 16 degrees C will suffice), thus most living spaces will satisfy its requirements.
Since Chinese evergreen thrives in humid conditions, such as a bathroom, it would make the ideal environment to grow it in.
Consideration should also be given when placing Chinese evergreen foliage within your house since it can be toxic if consumed by both pets and people. Therefore, for safety’s sake, you may wish to raise it at a height out of reach of children and animals.
How to Plant Chinese Evergreen
Chinese Evergreen should always be planted using gloves as it can be mild to moderately toxic if inhaled, so when planting, repotting, or propagating this plant always use peat-free houseplant compost mixed with perlite for better aeration around its roots and be sure to wear protective eyewear while doing any of these processes.
Choose a pot with drainage holes at its base that fits tightly around your Chinese evergreen’s rootball, planting so that the leaf stems protrude above the surface of the compost (roughly 2cm below the rim of the pot). With either a jug or watering can, slowly pour water towards the base of your plant until it reaches the rim before slowly dispersing it throughout its compost layers – repeat this until all compost has become damp before draining off and not rewatering until after drying off has occurred again.
Misting Chinese Evergreen Plants.
Chinese evergreen is an adaptable plant and is best treated as drought tolerant rather than overwatered. Water from the top, then allow excess to drain away until no more dripped through holes at the bottom before returning it to an outer container or saucer. Allow compost to almost dry out before watering again – sometimes the plant will begin drooping as a signal that it needs water, while you could also push your finger several centimeters into compost and feel for moisture; winter will see even longer periods between watering needs due to lower light levels and growth!
Feed your Chinese evergreen every six weeks during its growing season (spring and summer), using liquid plant food by instructions in your watering can. If it’s new, check whether its nursery or plant shop has already added slow-release fertilizer; if they have, wait a year before providing any more feed as overfeeding can damage it.
As with many forest plants, Chinese evergreen thrives in high-humidity environments like our homes and offices can become dry during winter due to central heating systems. There are various methods of increasing humidity in its environment – misting the leaves can help, placing the pot on a tray of pebbles with water added on top, grouping plants creating a slightly humid mini microclimate over their foliage is also effective in increasing humidity around plants.
Periodically, use a damp, lint-free cloth to wipe your Chinese evergreen clean of household dust, gently wiping its broad leaves. Make sure this cloth doesn’t cross-pollinate with other cleaning tasks around the house as otherwise, it might transfer harmful chemicals that could harm or kill its surroundings and your plant.
Mature plants typically bloom during spring or summer in the form of pale-pink spadixes with green, cream, or yellow cowls or hoods (called spathes). To increase success when propagating Chinese evergreen from seed, harvest the blooms before seeds form so the plant focuses all its resources on leaves and roots instead.
How to Prune Chinese Evergreen
As your Chinese evergreen matures, its stems will tend to elongate and lose leaves at their bases, creating an appearance of spindly branches. To give your Chinese evergreen back its business by pruning it back into shape using gloves; you should cut each stem just above where a leaf was originally attached to encourage more leaves to form from the remaining lower parts of the stem. This will encourage new leaves to emerge on those remaining stems.
How to Propagate Chinese Evergreen
A simple way to multiply Chinese Evergreen is through the division of its basal shoots. Wearing gardening gloves, remove the entire plant from its pot. Carefully identify one shoot at the edge of its rootball; gently loosen any compacted compost around it (an old chopstick works great here); tease this shoot away from its main group before planting separately in separate pots.
Chinese evergreen stem cuttings can also be taken easily with gloves on and a sharp knife in hand. Use this cutting to cut healthy, vigorous stems below leaf nodes; remove all but six leaves; place in either a tall jar of water or peat-free houseplant compost with perlite for fast drainage, keep warm in a bright place until roots have developed; when that has happened pot up and keep moist until new shoots emerge within four to six weeks from this cutting.
Pests and Diseases
Aphids, mealybugs, and whiteflies are some of the more prevalent threats to Chinese evergreen plants, so make sure you inspect them frequently to eliminate these insects as early as possible. Spider mites could also become an issue; keeping humidity levels higher around it should help deter this threat.
If the leaf margins of your Chinese evergreen become yellow or brown and start to droop, this could indicate overwatering; if its leaves turn fully yellow and crisp instead of drooping, this may indicate underwatering – check your compost and change watering practices as necessary. If its stalks turn yellow or brown this could indicate root rot – if this occurs simply pull out and brush away any compost around its rootball before pruning off any dead or decayed tissue before repotting with fresh compost for good luck.
FAQs
Q1. How should a Chinese Evergreen plant be maintained?
To care for it properly, keep it in indirect light, water when its soil becomes dry, and ensure well-draining soil conditions.
Q2. Do Chinese Evergreens Need Sunlight?
They require indirect light.
Q3. How often should a Chinese Evergreen be watered?
Water the top inch of soil whenever it feels dry.