How to Grow and Care for Homalomena

Homalomena spp.

I prefer to dwell out my tropical desires by bringing the luxurious, leafy greens of the rainforest into my residence.

And there’s no higher specimen for doing that than the magnificent homalomena, aka shied plant.

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A relative of different foliage favorites like philodendrons and Swiss cheese crops, defend crops have massive, showy leaves that scream “I’m hanging out within the lush understory of rainforest on a stunning tropical island.”

As with their aroid family, they’re easy to take care of and enliven your area with their grand show. Outdoor, they are often cultivated in USDA Hardiness Zones 10 to 12.

Homalomena (home-a-low-mean-a) is a genus within the Araceae or aroid household, which additionally contains caladiums, monstera, and philodendrons.

Homalomena means flat moon from the Malaysian “homalos” for flat and “mene” for moon.

Really, it’s a mistranslation of the Malay vernacular, however right here we’re. It’s actually a great description of the massive, spherical leaves.

There are about 160 species within the genus, however solely a handful in cultivation.

H. expedita, H. philippinensis, H. rubscens, H. schismatoglottis, and H. wallichii are a couple of of the extra frequent species grown as ornamentals or houseplants.

Most have ovate, cordate, or elliptical foliage that’s massive and waxy, which has earned them the frequent names of defend plant or queen of hearts.

The foliage is often inexperienced, however is perhaps variegated with cream or white, and even pinks or reds. Some species have a definite anise-like scent.

Don’t strive a pattern of the leaves, although. Homalomena is poisonous to people and animals.

Easy methods to Develop Homalomena

Species on this genus are variable by way of their progress habits, dimension, and shapes. Some are discovered rising wild in swamps, and others in drier, sunnier areas.

Usually, these species that we domesticate as houseplants choose plenty of moisture, wealthy, loamy soil, and reasonable mild.

Soil

First issues first, you want a pot with drainage holes that’s about an inch bigger than the basis ball of your homalomena.

It must be stuffed with a wealthy, water-retentive potting medium. A product that incorporates perlite, sphagnum moss, or vermiculite will work.

I personally love FoxFarm Ocean Forest potting combination.

It’s water-retentive and has plenty of good things, like forest humus, earthworm castings, sphagnum moss, bat guano, and crab meal.

FoxFarm Ocean Forest

You could find FoxFarm Ocean Forest in 12-quart baggage accessible by way of Amazon.

Water

Hold the soil moist always, or simply let the highest of the soil dry out between waterings.

The homalomena crops will begin to droop somewhat once they want extra water.

Attempt to water simply earlier than they begin drooping, but when they begin to flag somewhat bit, it received’t damage them.

You’ll want to empty any catchment pot or saucer that you’ve beneath the pot about half-hour after you water.

Mild

For those who transfer the plant too rapidly, you may see burnt spots on the leaves.

Temperature

As tropical species, homalomena crops can’t abide frost or freezing temperatures.

Something below 50°F for a protracted interval will trigger yellowing foliage and a failure to thrive.

Ideally, it’s best to maintain yours in a spot that’s not less than 70°F throughout the day and round 60°F in a single day.

Fertilizing

Feed your homalomena each two or three weeks throughout the spring, summer time, and fall.

Any gentle, balanced houseplant fertilizer will do. My private go-to is Dr. Earth’s Pump and Develop meals.

It’s made utilizing waste scraps from grocery shops and is the suitable stability for foliage houseplants.

Dr. Earth Pump and Develop

Decide up a 16-ounce bottle with a handy pump at Arbico Organics.

Pruning

You don’t have to do a lot to take care of your homalomena.

Sometimes a leaf shall be broken, will change colour, or will look like deformed. Typically your homalomena will begin to tackle a form that you simply don’t like.

In these cases, you’ll need to escape a clear pair of scissors or pruners and provides the plant a snip. You are able to do this any time of yr.

Take away these and put the specimen in brighter mild – step by step, as mentioned above!

You’ll want to wipe the leaves with a humid material each few months, or extra typically if your own home is as dusty as mine is.

It’s troublesome for the homalomena to photosynthesize if the leaves are coated in mud.

Repotting

As your homalomena grows, you’ll have to repot it in a container one dimension up. It is best to do that each few years till the specimen reaches its mature dimension.

When the homalomena reaches its mature dimension, it’s best to freshen the potting soil each few years.

Cultivars to Choose

There are dozens of Homalomena cultivars and hybrids available on the market, all with similarly-shaped foliage and an identical progress sample.

The distinction lies within the leaf patterns or colours, and a few are extra upright whereas others have a extra spreading progress behavior.

Listed here are just some of the extra attention-grabbing choices on the market:

Black Velvet

I’m going to allow you to in on somewhat secret. I really like the look of black crops and there are a number of alocasias which have beautiful matte black leaves. However I wrestle to maintain alocasias comfortable.

The leaves begin out deep maroon when younger earlier than reaching their mature colour. The stems are brilliant crimson. Don’t maintain them in low mild or the colour received’t be as deep, nevertheless.

Camouflage

‘Camouflage’ is a very beautiful H. wallisii cultivar.

The shiny leaves are closely variegated with angular mottled patterns of darkish, medium, and light-weight inexperienced, with an acuminate kind, which simply means they’re considerably oval with a sharp tip.

You realize that traditional jungle camouflage? It undoubtedly resembles that.

You could find ‘Camouflage’ in six-inch pots from Vegetation for Pets by way of Amazon.

Emerald Gem

If you’d like a classic-looking homalomena, ‘Emerald Gem’ is the one.

The spade-like leaves come to a rounded tip, with a traditional emerald inexperienced hue. It’s generally known as the generic homalomena. It has a beautiful dense, upright progress behavior.

You could find ‘Emerald Gem’ accessible in six-inch containers by way of Walmart.

Mint

H. rubescens ‘Mint’ has the heart-shaped leaves attribute of the Homalomena species, nevertheless it’s additional particular because of the colour of the foliage.

Younger leaves are pink, taking up a brief streaked inexperienced and pink look earlier than settling right into a matte, mint inexperienced hue when mature.

The stems that maintain the leaves stay a reasonably pink colour all through their lives.

Pink Splash

As if the heart-shaped foliage of this H. rubescens cultivar weren’t cute sufficient, the emerald inexperienced, shiny leaves are mottled with cream and pink on pink stems.

Mauro

H. wallisii ‘Mauro’ has mild inexperienced or golden yellow leaves with deep inexperienced splotches on the margins and veins.

Selby

Most homalomena have considerably shiny foliage, however ‘Selby,’ a H. wallisii cultivar, sports activities matte emerald inexperienced leaves with yellow-green facilities.

The darker colour strains the veins and margins of the shield-shaped leaves, with small splotches contained in the lighter hue.

Star Mud

‘Star Mud’ has deep, darkish inexperienced leaves splattered with spots and streaks of sunshine gray-green. Watching this one is like gazing on the evening sky into the Milky Method.

Hiding beneath the cordate, or heart-shaped, foliage are faintly pinkish stems.

‘Star Mud’

Prepared for some stargazing? Decide up a starter plant at Amazon.

Propagation

For those who ask me, one homalomena isn’t sufficient. We want extra!

You may propagate defend crops from cuttings and by division. Right here’s how:

From Cuttings

Cuttings are a dependable and simple approach to propagate homalomena.

Search for a wholesome stem and lower the leaf off utilizing a pointy, clear knife or pair of scissors just under a leaf node.

Stick the lower finish right into a four- to six-inch pot stuffed with a water-retentive potting combine. The stem must be buried a couple of inches deep in order that it stays upright.

Moisten the medium and tent somewhat clear plastic over the container. You might additionally use a cloche. This helps maintain the air humid across the plant.

Hold the soil moist and place the container in an space with brilliant, oblique mild. Any direct mild will overheat the plant, so keep away from that.

As soon as new progress begins to kind, take away the cloche and develop the brand new begin as regular.

From Divisions

As soon as they develop into established and begin rising, these crops can develop quickly.

Both take away the plant from its container or, whether it is rising within the floor, dig a piece out with out eradicating the entire plant.

Take it out of its container and gently tease aside a piece with roots and stems.

Replant the unique part and fill in across the roots with new potting medium. Plant the eliminated part in its personal space.

For those who don’t need to take away the homalomena, use a hori hori knife to dig a piece out of the mum or dad and gently wedge it up.

Fill within the gap you made with contemporary soil and repot the eliminated part.

From Transplants

Whether or not you purchase a potted specimen to transplant or you might have a slicing that you simply grew in a container, finally you’re going to need to transfer it into a special pot or into the bottom.

To do that, gently take away the homalomena from the present container and loosen up the roots somewhat.

You don’t have to do away with all of the dust, however you do need to give the roots some room.

Place the basis ball within the new container or gap, fill in round it with soil and water properly. Add a bit extra soil if the soil settles.

Managing Pests and Illness

I hope you received’t ever want this part, however no plant is completely resistant to issues.

Let’s chat in regards to the frequent pests to look at for.

Pests

The standard line up of houseplant pests will fortunately feed in your plant. We’re speaking about aphids, mealybugs, and spider mites.

Aphids are a well-known foe for nearly anybody who grows crops, whether or not indoors or out.

These small, sapsucking bugs collect by the handfuls (or a whole lot!) to cluster on the stems and undersides of the leaves to make use of their sucking mouthparts to attract out the sap.

On high of that, they’re coated in a white, waxy coating. At a passing look, they will seem like fungal progress.

Our information to managing mealybugs has extra info.

Spider mites are tiny arachnids which you’ll be able to’t see with the bare eye. What you possibly can see is the tremendous webbing they depart behind. For spider mite management, try our information.

Illness

I really like a houseplant that isn’t susceptible to all types of issues. Who doesn’t, proper?

Homalomena is generally solely topic to root rot, after which provided that you overwater or the soil is just too compact, so the water can’t transfer by means of it.

Root rot causes the leaves to show yellow and brown, after which finally collapse.

Below the soil floor, the roots are turning rotten and mushy. For those who catch it early sufficient, you possibly can completely save your plant.

This entails cleansing up the roots and treating them with a fungicide like copper. Study extra about the way to cope with root rot in our information.

Attain for the Moon

Whether or not you’re attempting to carry part of the tropical life to your area otherwise you simply need some low-maintenance greenery so as to add some life to a spot that’s missing, homalomena is the reply.

Protect crops look fabulous in ornamental pots as a part of a group of houseplants.

Are you rising defend crops? If that’s the case, tell us within the feedback part under which cultivar or species you might have and why you like it.

Then, proceed your houseplant adventures by testing a couple of of our different guides subsequent:

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