I got this pink princess about two months ago and some of her leaves are looking like this. I have only bottom watered twice and must about once a week. I thought maybe she wasn’t getting enough light so I added a plant light to her stand. Any thoughts as to what I’m doing wrong here?
What is the soil looking like? It looks a little dense and possibly wet. It’s hard to see from the pictures.
1 likeHere we go, too wet?
I’m only going by my own experience, so I’m sure there are plenty more people who know much more than I do, but I believe most philodendrons like a airy, well draining mix. I make up a super chunky mix for mine so that it dries quickly. It depends on how long it stays wet after you water. If you’re worried about the lighting, there are a few free apps to check the lighting it’s getting. I use photone but you’ll need to create a diffuser out of paper. They like bright, indirect light. For me, I try to aim for at least 10,000 lux, but I go overboard with grow lights. It can certainly do fine with much lower than that.
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Yeah, looks like it’s in straight-up coco coir from what I can see. She’ll definitely do better with a chunkier mix. The simplest but slightly pricier option is to buy one online; repotme, Molly’s aroid mix, pretty in green, and bonsai jack all make good options. If you only have a couple tropical plants then this is probably the way to go. If you have or plan to get more plants, especially aroids, then there are lots of DIY options. The simplest is a quality potting mix combined in a 1:1 ratio with perlite. Fox farm ocean forest is popular for a reason. If you’re up for a 3 ingredient mix then combining coco coir, perlite, and orchid bark in a 1:2:3 ratio works very well for aroids (monstera/philodendron/pothos) as well as for some other common houseplants like ficus
1 like Also it was a good call to add the light. These guys can survive with 150-200 footcandles (a few feet back in the direct path of a non-south-facing window) but to get good growth and good pink you really want more like 400+. In greenhouses, where they optimize conditions for the fastest growth and strongest variegation, they give 1500-2500 fc. So basically the more you can give it the better.
1 likeThank you so much for your advice! I will look to get her repotted soon and she already seems perkier with the 12h light on her today.
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