Philodendron Bipennifolium Complete Care And Propagation Guide

Philodendron bipennifolium is a big plant with some long leaves as same as all other varieties of philodendron. They also have vine and beautiful big growing leaves look very beautiful. This plant is known by different other names such as Lacy Tree Philodendron and Golden violin. Plants from this genus have a good growth ratio and we have written a guide on different varieties such as pink princess philodendron and philodendron ginny and my favorite houseplants. It is an easy to grow houseplant and helps to remove toxins from the environment and make the air clean.

These big leaves look amazing when the plant grows well and when your plant gains its height of about 5-6 feet, then leaves will look amazing lying down. You will see a difference in color and it will get dark or light green depending on the light conditions and you can also see some variations.

Origin

Basically, these plants are originally from South America and is a native plants of Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia. Now, this plant is loved by many gardeners from all over the world and is available in many local plant nurseries. Now it is grown in many countries which are Brazil, the United States Of America, France, and Peru.

Philodendron Bipennifolium Care

Basically, it is very simple to grow and care and no special experience is required to care for this plant. It has two or three different things but all other care process is the same as it is for other houseplants.

As it has small vines which should be supported by any support like a moss pole and things like that will help to grow your plant better. While all other factors regarding the care guide for this plant are below:

Light

Filtered and bright light is good for Philodendron Bipennifolium, if you are growing it in low or bright light conditions you will see some actual changes in the color and structure of plant leaves. The leaves of this plant are hypersensitive to direct sunlight which can easily burn the leaves and will affect the growth rate of your plant. About 10 hours of indirect and bright light is highly suitable and with the seasons and time manage the light conditions for the plant and provide about the needs of the plant.

If you are not able to provide enough amount of light, you can see different growing problems for your plant and a few ones are listed:

• Slow Growth Of Plants
• The leggy and weak looking plant is trying to reach the light
• Dropping some leaves and new leaves are growing smaller

Temperature

Normal house plants’ temperature varying between 75 to 85° Fahrenheit is highly suitable. Low or high temperatures can result in damaging the plant’s health so maintain good and required temperatures for your house plants.

Humidity

Humidity is necessary and you should need to maintain a good humidity level as it is a native plant of rainforest areas where humidity level remains high. Low humidity below 70 or more can damage the health of your plant and here are some basic tips to increase the Humidity level:

• Mist Plant Leaves
• Wash Your Plant
• Grow more plants together so they will strongly increase the humidity level
• Or fill a water bowl and place it near plants to increase the humidity level

We are also having a solid solution against humidity, Do you have more plants that need more humidity like Calathea Maui queen and many more? A humidifier is going to work very well in these conditions and it can increase the humidity of a specific area which is helpful for plants.

Water

After maintaining the required humidity level, your plant soil will stay humid for more time. And such plants need a balance water schedule, you can easily understand the water requirements of the plant after testing it for 4-5 days. You just have to make the soil humid, not wet.

Overwatering can bring many problems for Philodendron bipennifoliums as you know that, mainly it invite root rot disease which prevents the roots from getting required oxygen level and your plant will sho different unhealthy activities. A weak plant ave high chance of pests attacking and overwatering will also change the color and variations of the plant.

Good pot and required soil mixture will manage the water conditions automatically, in the same way, less or underwatering will also cause different issues. Water when the soil feels try or you can use different tools to manage this. Watering conditions will change in every season as in summer and winter, so follow the tips below to know the best about giving the required water to plants:

• To understand conditions perfectly use your finger to understand the soil conditions
• Different tools like a soil moisture detector will work well
• Don’t use hot or cold water, Normal room temperature water is suitable
• Fill the water requirements of the plant every time while watering

How To Understand That Plant Is Having Watering Issue?

Here are some tips which can because of bad timeline in watering and some tips to understand the requirements of the plant:

• Crispy Leaves
• Leaves Changing Color as yellow leaves ( yellow leaves can be because of bright light conditions)
• Leaves are dropping and it is because of overwatering
• Root rot is one of the major problems due to overwatering

Fertilizers

Slow-released fertilizers are used to feed this plant and it is a very easy process that will continuously help your plant to grow better we mostly use this fertilizer at the start and end of the growing season but you can use it for the whole year with some optimum time difference about 3-4 months. More fertilizers can damage the plant, and water every time after using any kind of fertilizers. Liquid fertilizers can also be used to spray on the leaves of the plant.

Pruning

It’s good to do the pruning of house plants when needed. Mostly indoor plants don’t need a lot of pruning work but if you have grown outdoor, you should need to do more care and pruning also. It’s a big plant and must need pruning to grow better, so on time and perfect repotting will help the plant to grow better. Pruning can be done 2 or 3 times a year and we mostly do the turning of our houseplant at the start of spring or a few days before the spring season.

Pruning Process

Protect your hands by using gloves and such a safe material because it is a toxic plant. Use a sharp cutter and take down all the unhealthy branches and remove all the affected or bad leaves. Just a limited pruning is good to do at a time because a lot of cutting can give a shock to your plant. Keep the cutting branches and leaves away from children and pets.

Does It Flowers?

Philodendrons bipennifoliums Can produce some beautiful flowers in the growing season and you can also get fruit from this plant. It can produce small fruits but it will take about 20 years to produce fruits.

Repotting Philodendrons bipennifoliums

This plant will need repotting after every 2-3 years, it also depends on the environment pot and many other conditions. As always, select 2 inches bigger size pot than an older one, so plant roots will expand easily and it will grow better your pot must be having a hole at the bottom for the removal of extra water otherwise it can damage the roots.

Tips For repotting

Follow these steps before starting the repotting process:

• Repotting should be done in the evening time
• select the best and well-drained potting mixture
• water the plant 2-3 hours before repotting

These were some initial tips that you should follow before transplanting your plant. Here are some which you need to follow after repotting:

• Provide The Same Environment
• Water the plant after repotting and continue the same schedule or follow the soil requirements
• Make sure that you are providing the required humidity conditions

dense soil or loamy soil will work very well and it will help in the best drainage system. Select perfect soil which can maintain some moisture for the required time. We recommend using a cemented pot which will help in better drainage conditions instead of plastic and other pots.

Pests

Under proper care conditions, you will not spot any pests on this plant but in some cases, different pests can be found in it which include aphids, mealybugs, and scales. You can spot pests on different parts of the plant are aphids and mealybugs can be found on the backside of leaves. It will disturb the food process toward leaves and if you will not provide proper care these pests can spread and will cover other plants.

Aphids

Aphids can be a cause of death for your plant. It can easily fetch the juice of the plant which is necessary for better growth and in cases of such pests attack, it’s necessary to provide the right treatment at the perfect time. The lack of juice affects the food that the plant is getting, it will stop the photosynthesis process which can take your plant to death. An insecticide Spray will work better to prevent your plant from aphids.

Mealybugs

Your plant leaves are falling down but you are providing proper care? If yes mealybugs can be a reason. These small white bugs will be visible on the backside of plant leaves, but it is easy to get rid of mealybugs by following that article.

Scales

Scales will get the power of your plant same as aphids and it will also make your plant weak. You can easily spot these pests on your plants easily. Neem oil is a natural and perfect solution to get rid of scales and it’s a natural process that will not hurt your plant.

Disease And Problems

Like pests under proper care and a perfect environment, your plant will be having fewer chances to get any disease. Under bad care, an unhealthy environment, bad watering, and bad soil can invite some diseases like fungal infections and bacterial infections.

• Root Rot
• Erwinia blight
• Xanthomonas 
• Pseudomonas leaf spot

All these diseases can come because of improper care. You can use different fungicides and bactericides to get rid of all these diseases. If you will not notice this problem, it will spread more and more and maybe cover your whole garden which is having a lot of plants and at this stage, it will be difficult to control them. Inspect your plant after small-time and try to spot any problem if you can. Like root rot can show some slow growth, dropping leaves, and such things. Here is a small guide about all these diseases which will help you a lot:

Xanthomonas

Xanthomonas can change the color of leaves tips to yellow and light orange.

Pseudomonas Leaf Spot

Pseudomonas Leaf Spot are small spots on the surface of leaves and dropping and death-looking leaves are a sign of this disease.

Root Rot

Every gardener knows and hates this disease because it can easily kill your plant, but you can easily understand how to get rid of root rot and make your plant safe from that.

Erwinia Blight

Water-soaked damage on the stem which is spreading towards the leaves Is the most common symptom of this problem. It can make your leaves dry and can change the color of leaves.

Propagation Of Philodendron Bipennifolium

Propagation can be done in two different ways:

• Air Layering
• Through Cutting

By Cutting

• Use a sharp or cutter and get 4 inches longer cutting from your main plant
• Getting a cutting under the node, so the node will helo the cutting to grow faster
• Remove all the leaves from cutting, except the top 2-3 leaves
• Cure the cutting in a suitable area for 14 days in a warm place
• Now select your suitable pot, add the well-drained potting mixture
• You can use plastic or cemented pot
• Make sure that the pot is having a drainage hole
• Water the soil mixture before plating
• Now plant your cutting and provider the same care
• After 2 weeks you will see some new growth

By Air-Layering

This is method is very suitable for cush plants, here is a step by step guide for this plant:

• Get A healthy long cutting
• Cut about 2 inches wound in the stem
• Use damp sphagnum  peat moss around the wound
• Cover this by using tape
• After you will see some new growing roots after 10-14 days

When you will spot some new growing roots, then it’s the perfect time to transplant them toward a new medium or in a pot. SImply transfer toward a required size pot and give It proper care.

Our Recommendation

We recommend you to grow this plant because at first it is easy to care for and propagate plus it can survive for a long time and is the best plant for new gardeners.