You often place us in spots you find aesthetically pleasing, like a dark corner far from a window. This is a critical mistake. We are understory plants in our natural habitat, which means we thrive in bright, filtered light, not deep shade and certainly not in the harsh, direct afternoon sun that scorches our delicate leaves and bleaches our vibrant flowers. The ideal location for us is an east-facing window where we can bask in the gentle morning sun. Without at least four hours of this bright, indirect light, we become leggy, stretching our stems weakly toward any light source, and we will produce very few, if any, blossoms to reward you with.
Your watering habits can be our greatest source of stress. We are not cacti; we are thirsty plants with soft, succulent stems. Allowing our soil to become completely dry is a devastating mistake. It causes us immediate wilt, dropping our flowers and buds in a desperate attempt to conserve water. Prolonged drought leads to stunted growth and crispy, brown leaf edges. The opposite extreme is just as harmful. You must provide us with a pot that has excellent drainage. Sitting in waterlogged, soggy soil suffocates our roots, leading to root rot—a fatal condition that turns our roots to mush and our stems black before we collapse. Water us thoroughly when the top inch of soil feels dry to the touch, and always empty the saucer beneath our pot afterward.
Your indoor environment, especially during winter when heating systems run, is unbearably dry for us. We are tropical plants that revel in humid air. Low humidity causes our leaf tips to turn brown and crisp, and it makes us highly susceptible to infestations of spider mites—tiny pests that thrive in dry conditions and suck the life from our leaves, leaving them stippled and dusty. Please do not place us near heating or air conditioning vents. Instead, cluster us with other plants to create a humid microclimate, place our pot on a tray of pebbles filled with water (ensure the pot is not sitting in the water), or occasionally mist our leaves to mimic the moist, dewy air of our home.
While the initial potting mix provides some sustenance, it is quickly exhausted. To support our constant flowering, we are heavy feeders. Failing to feed us with a balanced, water-soluble fertilizer every two weeks during our growing season is a mistake that results in pale leaves, weak growth, and a lack of blooms. Furthermore, we are vigorous growers. If you leave us in the same small pot for too long, our roots become tightly tangled and pot-bound. This chokes us, preventing us from taking up adequate water and nutrients, which immediately halts our growth and flowering. Please repot us into a slightly larger container with fresh potting mix when you see our roots circling the inside of the pot.
