Thaumatophyllum xanadu
The xanadu philodendron (Thaumatophyllum xanadu) is a kind of tree philodendron with an upright development behavior that units it other than the vining sorts.
Although it might probably develop tall with a considerable trunk, it’s going to nonetheless behave as an epiphyte, clinging and climbing into any close by bushes, making it a secondary hemiepiphyte.
The identify “xanadu” conjures visions of an idyllic paradise, someplace luxurious to flee to, and also you higher consider once I first heard of this explicit philodendron, photos of a plant befitting utopia crammed my thoughts.
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And since my concept of heaven doesn’t contain fussy crops that by no means look wholesome regardless of my greatest efforts, xanadu has a everlasting residence in my houseplant assortment.
On this information, we’ll enable you to make your xanadu philodendron look as stately and dramatic as everyone knows they’ll.
Right here’s what we’re going to speak about to make that occur:
Stately xanadu was initially referred to as ‘Winterbourn.’
It was named for Veronica and Barry Winterbourn who patented the plant in 1988. So far as we all know, it was first bought by an Australian Nursery, Home of Vegetation, in 1983.
It was patented in the US underneath the identify Xanadu™, however the patent has since expired. You’ll additionally see it bought underneath the identify ‘Aussie.’ Or it may be misspelled as “Zanadu.”
The historical past of the xanadu philodendron is wild. It’s prefer it appeared in business commerce out of nowhere sooner or later and everybody had a concept as to the place it got here from.
Fast Look
Widespread identify(s): Xanadu philodendron
Plant kind: Epiphytic aroid
Hardiness (USDA Zone): 9/11 (open air)
Native to: Brazil
Bloom time / season: Evergreen, flowers in spring
Publicity: Partial, dappled shade; brilliant, oblique gentle
Soil kind: Unfastened, gentle, effectively draining
Soil pH: 5.5-6.5, barely acidic
Time to maturity: 10 years
Mature dimension: 5 ft large x 5 ft excessive (relying on cultivar)
Greatest makes use of: Hanging plant, houseplant, specimen
Taxonomy
Order: Alismatales
Household: Araceae
Genus: Thaumatophyllum
Species: Xanadu
Some botanists believed it was a cultivar, sport, or hybrid of the tree philodendron, Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum (syn. Philodendron bipinnatifidum).
Others say it’s a just lately found species from Australia.
The latter are incorrect, because it’s not a local species from Australia. We all know that there aren’t any indigenous Philodendron or Thaumatophyllum species there.
There are additionally gardeners who’ve been rising xanadu philodendrons from seed from crops collected from the wild in Brazil.
Like different members of the Thaumatophyllum genus, it probably originated in South America.
In 2018, the Philodendron subgenus Meconostigma was reclassified as its personal genus, Thaumatophyllum. This plant was assigned its personal species: xanadu.
Tree philodendrons (T. bipinnatifidum) and xanadu look extraordinarily related. Solely specialists and severe hobbyists can inform the distinction.
For instance, the petioles of xanadu have a cupped, c-shape. On bipinnatifidum, they lack the cup.
Giant, deeply-lobed shiny inexperienced leaves emerge from a large central stalk which may develop as much as 4 toes tall.
At maturity, the xanadu philodendrons will typically attain about 5 toes large in cultivation. Wild specimens can attain nearly double these dimensions.
When grown as a houseplant it’ll typically keep loads smaller until you repot recurrently into bigger containers and supply a lot of brilliant daylight.
In USDA Hardiness Zones 9 to 11 you may develop it open air and in spring it’ll bloom with a white spadix and spathe, adopted by seeds in the summertime. Indoors, the plant is unlikely to flower.
Xanadu makes a flexible houseplant both in a small ornamental pot to maintain it petite or gracing a big entranceway in a sturdy urn.
You may even develop it in a dangling container, the place it appears tremendous cool, although don’t count on it to weep.
Enjoyable reality: Xanadu is a coloration reference for an off-gray coloration on the RGB scale. It has a coloration coordinate of #738678, and it was named for this plant.
There’s one other tree philodendron generally known as ‘Xanadu-II’ which has bigger and extra deeply lobed leaves, however it has by no means gained the recognition of its mum or dad.
How you can Develop
Preserving xanadu joyful is kind of simple, supplied you give it the circumstances the plant requires.
Let’s begin with rising medium.
Rising Medium
Aroids like xanadu philodendron want a chunky, unfastened potting medium with water retentive properties.
If you happen to’re rising indoors in a pot, I’d suggest you buy an aroid combine formulated for these kinds of crops.
Molly’s Aroid Combine is an effective alternative. It’s made up of bark, coco coir, worm castings for vitamins, biochar, and clay pebbles.
Molly’s Aroid Combine
You could find five-quart luggage out there from Very Vegetation by way of Amazon.
Or should you favor to make your personal, mix 4 components orchid bark, two components perlite, one half coconut coir, and one half worm castings.
Open air, amend your soil with loads of coconut coir and bark, in order that it’s unfastened and ethereal.
You can too develop xanadu hooked up to a tree or different help. That is harder to do indoors due to the quantity of area it requires.
However if you wish to go this route, connect the roots utilizing twine or glue – or each. Then, affix sphagnum moss over the roots.
You’ll must hold the moss persistently moist always.
Mild
Develop xanadu in brilliant, oblique gentle or morning daylight.
Direct daylight isn’t essentially a nasty factor, as long as it isn’t for various hours within the morning or some dappled gentle all through the day.
Offering loads of gentle will assist the xanadu philodendron develop giant and bushy.
Open air, a part-shade location works greatest. If you happen to’re rising in a sunny spot, ensure you present some safety throughout very popular durations.
Water
Hold the soil evenly moist always. It ought to persistently really feel like a well-wrung-out sponge and will by no means be allowed to dry out.
You need to cut back the quantity of water throughout the winter and permit the floor of the soil to dry out between watering.
It’s exhausting to say how usually you’ll must water, since how rapidly the soil dries out will fluctuate with environmental circumstances.
Both use your finger or a moisture meter to examine the soil each few days.
Temperature and Humidity
Xanadu likes it good and heat. Of their pure atmosphere, they have an inclination to thrive when the temperatures are within the low 80s.
However they’ll be completely tremendous in temperatures that vary from 65 to 90°F.
You need to keep away from exposing your xanadu philodendron to something under 60°F, although temperatures within the 50s for brief durations are unlikely to do extreme harm.
It would kill off the foliage however the roots will doubtless survive as long as the temperatures return to regular pretty rapidly.
Xanadu grows in tropical rainforests so the crops are used to plenty and many humidity. However they aren’t too fussy in regards to the decrease humidity present in most houses.
If you happen to can hold the humidity to about 50 %, that’s excellent. If you have to increase humidity, you may at all times hold your plant within the kitchen or lavatory, or use a small humidifier.
Fertilizing
For vigorous development, feed your plant as soon as per week or each different week utilizing a gentle, balanced, or all-purpose meals.
If you happen to’re on the lookout for concepts, Arber makes a pleasant all-purpose choice made out of rooster manure, biochar, and natural compost. It’s the product I take advantage of for all my aroids.
Arber All Objective Fertilizer
You may decide up three-pound luggage at Arbico Organics.
Scale back feeding to as soon as a month throughout the winter months.
The place to Purchase
You could find xanadu at a lot of completely different retailers as a result of it’s such a well-liked plant. You’re not going to should hunt too exhausting to seek out it.
Xanadu Philodendron
If you happen to’d like to start out with one thing small, snag a dwell plant in a one-quart container from Nature Hills Nursery.
If you happen to’d like one thing a bit older and bigger, you could find a specimen in a 10-inch pot from the American Plant Trade by way of Amazon.
Upkeep
Xanadu is a “self-heading” kind, which is a time period that philo lovers use to explain sorts with stiff, inflexible stems that kind a form of trunk permitting the plant to develop upright reasonably than as a climbing or trailing selection like heartleaf or ‘Brasil.’
Left to their very own gadgets, finally they may develop into so giant that they’ll’t help themselves.
That is the purpose when, within the wild, they might connect themselves to a tree to proceed their lifecycle.
The decrease leaves will shed naturally, leaving a naked stem.
Pruning
You don’t must prune these crops until any of the leaves die, develop into diseased or discolored, or there’s a damaged or deformed leaf you wish to ditch.
To do that, sanitize a pair of pruners in isopropyl alcohol, a ten % bleach answer, or scorching soapy water and minimize the leaf off on the base near the stem.
You may be taught all the small print about pruning philodendrons right here.
Repotting
Because the plant grows, you’ll must repot it into a bigger container. You’ll must take away the unique plant and brush away the soil earlier than putting it in a brand new, bigger container.
Select a pot only one dimension up from the present one. Take away the plant from its container, and gently loosen up the roots and brush away the surplus soil.
Set the plant within the new container, and gently fill in across the roots with potting medium.
Water, add extra medium if it settles, and also you’re good to go.
Our information to repotting tree philodendrons has extra particulars.
Propagation
You may develop xanadu from seeds should you can acquire entry to them, however that’s a severe problem.
As a substitute, we’ll deal with the extra generally out there choices of taking stem cuttings, air layering, offsets, and transplanting a bought plant.
You can too separate offsets, however these don’t kind and develop into viable for planting till the plant has developed a trunk.
From Stem Cuttings
To take a stem slicing, search for a wholesome stem that’s at the very least the diameter of your thumb and has a number of leaves. It ought to ideally have some aerial roots creating.
Seize a pair of sterilized pruners and fill a four- to six-inch container with aroid potting combine.
Minimize a four- to six-inch size about an inch under a leaf or root node at a slight angle.
Take away all however one leaf and dip the minimize finish in rooting hormone. Make a gap within the potting combine and insert the slicing an inch or two deep, sufficient that it might probably stay upright.
Agency the soil up round it. Moisten the medium.
Transfer the container to a spot with brilliant, oblique gentle. Hold the soil moist always whereas it roots.
It is going to take a month or two, however finally, the plant will begin to develop new leaves and stems. That’s when you recognize your slicing has taken and roots are creating.
By Air Layering
Aroids develop aerial roots and we will harness these for propagation. Search for a department with an aerial root node.
Place a stick subsequent to the department you’re going to propagate. This can help the department because it grows.
Take some sphagnum moss and moisten it. Wrap this across the node and canopy it in clear plastic. Safe this moss and plastic to the help stick utilizing tape or twine.
All you have to do now’s hold the moss moist and look ahead to roots to develop. Whenever you see a mass of roots forming within the moss, it’s able to go.
Take away the plastic cowl and moss, and minimize the plant slightly below the roots.
Plant this in a brand new container or spot outdoors. The container ought to solely be barely bigger than the foundation mass.
From Offsets
When the plant is mature and has developed a trunk, it’s going to begin to kind offsets.
These look completely different from newly-developing leaves, as a result of they are going to have their very own central stem and a number of other small leaves.
Offsets develop from the underground portion of the meristem. All you have to do is dig down along with your fingers alongside the stem till you discover the purpose the place the offset joins the principle stem.
Take a knife or pruners and gently minimize this away, taking any roots hooked up should you can.
Plant the offset in its personal small pot.
Managing Pests and Illness
Xanadu is one powerful cookie. In a gaggle of buddies, this may be the one which by no means cries, walks it off once they break a bone, and might deal with just about any problem.
Mealybugs, scale, and spider mites will all feed on xanadu philodendrons, however they often received’t trigger a lot harm. Yellowing foliage and a few diminished development are the principle signs.
Mealybugs and scale can resemble the signs of a illness, since these pests are pretty flat they usually don’t transfer as soon as they hunker in and begin feeding.
You would possibly see tremendous webbing on the plant if spider mites are round, however the arachnids themselves are so tiny that they’re probably not seen.
In any other case, root rot is your largest concern. Root rot is a standard drawback for houseplant growers, basically. Find out about tips on how to stop, determine, and management root rot right here.
Welcome to Paradise
If your personal private paradise includes a lot of fairly tropical crops, it is best to completely embrace stately, elegant, eye-catching xanadu.
Are you rising xanadu philodendrons? Tell us what you’re keen on about this plant within the feedback part under.
When you have a hankering to be taught extra about philodendrons, we have now a number of different guides to maintain you busy. Verify these out:
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