Monday, September 21, 2009

Nosy Neighbor (Hypoestes phyllostachya)

Hypoestes phyllostachya, or "polka-dot plant," has two main distinguishing features. One is the small pink dots all over the leaves, which are both sort of adorable and the main reason why people bother to grow the plant, and the other is its deep, burning desire to find out what's going on over there, with over there defined as wherever the plant is not already growing.


So far, this latter tendency has brought the plant out of its native Madagascar and into homes and gardens all over the world. As well as, alas, quite a few wild areas.

Yup, that's right, it's another invasive species. I found reports of it becoming invasive in Australia, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Zimbabwe, and India, though details are hard to find. The most specific information I could find about Hypoestes' invasiveness was this short article from Invasive Species Weblog, which tells us that Hypoestes isn't doing anything very dramatic in Costa Rica, but it is crowding out native species, and it's confusing the local butterflies,1 some of whom are trying to use it as a host species to lay their eggs on. This doesn't work; for whatever reason, the caterpillars in question can't, or won't, feed on polka-dot plant, and so starve, and then there are that many fewer butterflies the next year. This sort of quiet ecological disruption is likely also happening in the other areas Hypoestes has taken an interest in, because that's how these things usually work.

According to one site I ran across, Hypoestes phyllostachya is that rare creature that began its interactions with humans as a houseplant, and then moved out into the garden as an annual. I doubt this, though I suppose it's possible. Certainly it's become a lot more potentially useful to outdoor gardening in recent years: for quite a while, the regular species form, green with pink dots, was the only variety available. It's nice, and apparently not hard to grow, but not everybody's garden has space for pink polka dots. That's changed recently, with the addition of new, white- or red-spotted varieties, as well as varieties where the dots have gotten so large that the leaves are basically just pink (or white, or red) with green margins and veins. These all have variety names, but the names are wildly inconsistent from seller to seller and are best ignored.

Various three-inch plants from work. We didn't very often have the red and white varieties: I think this particular batch might have been brought in for Valentine's Day (2008), though I'm not positive about that. As far as I ever noticed, all three colors act the same way and need the same care, though the pink is the only one I've ever had at home.

I don't know how outdoor gardeners actually feel about the plant. We had it both springs I worked in the greenhouse, and it didn't sell well either year, though there could be a lot of reasons for that. 2008 had the historic flooding, and 2009 had the overall collapse of the economy, so neither one was a particularly good or typical year.

I have been surprised to learn, though, that some people really hate this plant indoors. I recently checked a book out from the Iowa City library (House Plants, by Andy Sturgeon; it's unclear whether it's the exact same edition as the Amazon link, though2) where Hypoestes was, first of all, categorized as a "pariah" plant,3 and then also repeatedly insulted: "this objectionable little thing," "There's one [variety] called 'Splash' which is particularly nasty," "they aren't as easy to kill as they should be." This seems to me like an overreaction, though I'll admit it's not my favorite plant either.

I've personally only ever grown Hypoestes indoors, and I find it kind of unsatisfying as a houseplant, mostly because it seems to need constant grooming in order to look nice. Since I have very little time for plant-grooming, this means that my Hypoestes will rarely if ever look nice. But let's move on to the care information, since we're practically there already. I'll try, in this profile, to give care information for the plant indoors and out, since a lot of people do in fact move from one to the other through the year, but I've personally only ever grown them indoors, so bear that in mind.

A six-inch pot with three plants in it. They've been allowed to get a little out of control, I suppose, but this could look pretty good if it were shaped a little. Or at least it could look good by Hypoestes standards.

LIGHT: Outdoors, there's more or less general agreement that these should not be placed in full sun, which is too intense. After that, opinions diverge, with some websites saying that partial sun is okay and others saying they should get no direct sun at all. I personally would go with partial sun, if I were planting some outside, but it may not matter that much. Either way, the plant will let you know whether it's happy: the pink spots will shrink and/or vanish if the plant isn't getting enough light, and the leaf will bleach to a lighter green if it's getting too much.

Indoors, the story is surprisingly similar: partial sun, very bright indirect, or very bright artificial light works just fine. I've grown Hypoestes with and without natural light, and the plant doesn't appear to care which.

WATERING: I'm sure Hypoestes could be overwatered if a person were really trying hard, but it's not easily done, in my experience. All the normal cautions apply indoors: don't make the plant stand in its drainage water, water thoroughly when you do water, etc. Outdoors, I'm really not sure, but my impression of these in the greenhouse was that they always needed water, and even if they didn't need water, it was good to water them anyway because they were about five seconds away from needing water. If your plant should happen to dry out, it will usually come back, if you catch it soon enough, though you will generally have to pay for your mistake with a little defoliation.


TEMPERATURE: I hear these will not grow well below 60F/16C. They will, however, survive light freezes (they'll die back to the ground but will resprout), and are perennials in USDA zone 11. Possibly. Allegedly. Plants which are too hot will wilt, because they transpire a lot, but this doesn't necessarily mean anything's wrong with the plant: usually it will go back to normal when it cools down.

HUMIDITY: Indoors, this is potentially a problem, though I'm not sure how one knows when to blame humidity specifically. Outdoors, there's only so much you can do, of course. Indoors, you have the options of putting the plant in an enclosed space, like a terrarium (which it will outgrow almost instantaneously), setting the plant on a pebble tray (which I'm not convinced does much to increase humidity, but people keep recommending it), adding a humidifier to the room, grouping it with lots of other plants, or doing a hell of a lot of misting.4

An unplanned seedling growing in a pot at work. The first pair of leaves are always solid green like this.

PESTS: This plant is surprisingly pest-resistant. Outdoors, the only problem everybody mentions is powdery mildew, though depending on the source, root rot, mealybugs, aphids and whitefly could also be an issue. I've not personally ever had any pests on my Hypoestes, nor do I remember any such problems at work.

The plant is also not attractive to deer, though it's uncommon to have a deer problem indoors.5

PROPAGATION: The primary purpose in life of any Hypoestes is: to get somewhere else, so it is an extremely agreeable propagator. The flowers are self-fertile, and if you permit the flowers to develop will produce seeds, which have a tendency to fall into a neighbor's pot and sprout (hence the "person" for this profile: Hypoestes phyllostachya is possibly the single best example of a plant that is always trying to get all up in another plant's business). This self-seeding, indoors at least, happens just often enough to be annoying, but not so often that one can rely on it for propagation purposes.

A not-great picture of a flower.

Polka-dot plant is much more reliably propagated from cuttings. In fact, you can treat cuttings pretty much however you want, and they'll work. Planted directly into damp soil, cuttings will look dead as hell for about three to ten days, and then all at once they will stand up, dust themselves off, and start looking for neighbors to seed into. Rooting cuttings in water is even easier: water-rooted cuttings don't even play dead, and are looking for new territory before they even have roots.

GROOMING: And you will have cuttings to work with. Oh, will you ever have cuttings to work with. The reason for this is that Hypoestes needs to be pinched back ruthlessly, all the time. Which is okay if you have that kind of time and focus, but it does, seriously, require a bit of dedication.

My personal plant, last Friday morning before I cut it all back. I'm ashamed, but this illustrates a lot of what I'm talking about in the profile: the lower stems are bare because I've let the plant get too dry, the one sprout at the bottom came up after I cut the plant back, the stem furthest to the back is a flowering stem, with tiny leaves at the very tip of the stem but nothing else. All of these except the resprout were cut back to the ground; there should be new stems coming up within a month.

The flowering stalks are also not nearly as attractive as the regular foliage, and the latter turns into the former in a gradual, sneaky way: the new leaves start out large and then steadily get smaller and more vertical as the stem lengthens. Eventually, short-lived flowers start popping out of the spaces between the leaves and stems. Ideally, you will want to pinch back any branch that starts looking like it's going to turn into a flower spike as soon as it starts to happen, but if you don't, all is not lost. The stems can be cut pretty much anywhere at pretty much any time. If things turn really dire, you can even cut all the stems back to the ground: the plant will (usually) start over again by sprouting new stalks. With a plant that's gotten tall and leggy, this is often the best way to start over.

I'm not sure how much of the grooming stuff is applicable to people growing this plant as an annual outdoors: they may be less leggy and weird under more ideal conditions. No experience with this.

FEEDING: As you would expect, a plant that grows this fast needs to be fed pretty regularly too. I don't think they're terribly particular about the formulation you use, though since you want to promote leaves and not flowers, a high-nitrogen fertilizer (like 24-8-16) is probably better than a 20-20-20 or whatever.


I have reluctantly concluded that polka-dot plant must be toxic to children and pets (which probably explains why deer won't eat it). Nobody is willing to identify a particular toxin or provide any specifics about how dangerous it is, but it does tend to be on all the lists. A few sites seem to really emphasize that Hypoestes is toxic to cats, though I don't know why, whether the listmakers just think cats are really important or whether it's significantly more dangerous to cats than other animals. You know how it can be with toxicity lists. I expect it's probably toxic to a lot of things, though, which might explain the Costa Rican caterpillars.

The poor, confused things.

-

Photo credits: all mine.

1 It turns out that butterflies actually are the airheads you've always secretly, deep down, suspected that they were.
2 And I don't recommend it anyway: the pictures are beautiful, but there's remarkably little information in it. Each plant he discusses gets maybe 200 words, if it's lucky, and a lot of that isn't care-related: it's just, like, a verbal description of this plant that there's a gorgeous picture of on the same page. The book might be decent for finding out what you have, because the pictures are generally large and clear and pretty, but it would be very close to worthless for trying to figure out how to take care of it. The one positive (besides the photography) is, there's a bit of snark here and there: although I believe that all plants have their good points, I like a plant writer who's not afraid to stake out positions against certain plants occasionally for the sake of being interesting.
3 Part of the category description: "Some plants are unquestionably vile. Laws should be passed to prevent their sale in the shops and they should be made unwelcome in our homes. There are plenty to choose from: brash gaudy things that totally lack style and plain ugly things without any obvious merits. Many were popular in a bygone era and quite frankly should have been left there."
I agree with Sturgeon about some of the plants he calls pariahs (Begonia rex-cultorum, Ficus elastica, Codiaeum variegatum), disagree about others (Saintpaulia ionantha, Epipremnum aureum), and have mixed feelings about, or no experience with, the rest (Hypoestes phyllostachya, Peperomia caperata, Impatiens walleriana, Solenostemon scutellarioides, Aphelandra squarrosa).
4 Of those options, the terrarium is the most effective, followed by humidifier, grouping, pebble tray, and misting, in that order. Misting sounds like a good idea, but if your home has any kind of air circulation in it at all, the humidity gain you get from spraying water around is going to be lost the moment the moistened-air has a chance to drift away. You either need to prevent the wet air from leaving (terrarium, grouping) or continually replenish the moisture (humidity, grouping, pebble tray). Misting doesn't really accomplish either.
5 And if you find that you do have a deer problem indoors, usually you can manage it by spraying plants with soapy water: this interferes somehow with the deer's natural egg-layinga cycle, as well as killing deer larvae.
     a Look it up.


38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, "vile" indeed. I loathe this plant. Hideous. The first one I ever ever saw I thought had been left inadvertently uncovered when the ceiling was being painted. Nasty ugly thing. And yet - people actually GIVE ME THIS THING. Ah, umm, thanks. Not to worry, a little forgetfulness will take care of that.

Terrible to think that it can be an invasive in areas of the world that have so many much nicer plants.

Emily said...

I had to toss my Hypoestes phyllostachya - once it contracted aphids, it was impossible to kill them. I power rinsed, and sprayed with soapy water, and cut it back, hard, but nothing could stop the aphids and I didn't want them to spread to more plants. I will say I'm pretty sure I brought the aphids in with a different plant that I also had to throw away, but I'm still not planning on trying this one again. Too much hassle.

Nature Assassin said...

The Sturgeon book sounds pretty ridiculous, but having plenty of pictures is a good selling point. My favorite book is Barbara Pleasant's Complete Houseplant Survival Manual. It's completely a beginner's text, but there are SO many pictures and illustrations that it's really fun to read! Also it's laminated, so it withstands a lot of garden mishaps.

I am also coming to believe that pebble trays are a huge conspiracy.

Rosemary Waigh said...

I'm not sure why people hate this plant (as long as it's not growing where it's invasive). I think it's cute, though I don't have one because my cats are more important. Someone down the street has a bunch of Hypoestes phyllostachya growing outside but I doubt they'll become invasive here in Toronto.

lynn'sgarden said...

Funny post title there, Mr_Subj. Not much experience with this pretty (to me) plant except collecting it once in a while when I need a filler in a dish garden. And I've always killed it with too much kindness..overwater. Didn't know it could be invasive outdoors but if deer don't like it, I'm willing to try it next year. AND I never knew it flowered!

our friend Ben said...

Ha!!! You're exactly on target with its behavior in terrariums, Mr. S., as I discovered this year. Mine has been flowering, too. And your footnote about deer is priceless! Thanks for a good laugh on a tough day.

Laura said...

My main experience with this plant has been that I cannot grow it. Ordinarily my thumbs are quite green, but every specimen of polka-dot plant I've brought home or have been given has died. Didn't realize that was a blessing in disguise until now !

Unknown said...

Funny: I like this plant. Not because it's pretty (I hate pink), but because it's so cheerful and expressive. It is in my bathroom, which may account for the cheerfulness, since we shower many times a day (cyclists). It is growing so quickly up the window I suspect it's making a break.

But what I really enjoy is watching it wilt like a Victorian lady having a fright whenever it gets thirsty. It pops back up with a "just kidding!" as soon as I water it, and this arrangement seems to suit us both, since the regular once-weekly wilt is a reminder to check the water level on all the other plants around the house, and it seems to enjoy the routine too.

So, ugly or not, we have our little understanding. :)

davelybob said...

yeah, this plant always starts off really neat and then gets leggy, leggy, leggy on me. I had to put mine down a couple months ago, it was a long limp tangled mess. Yuck.

I have one of Andy Sturgeon's other books, "Planted" and it goes along the same lines. Nice pictures, an interesting selection of plants, and a heaping dollop of snark. Made for a fun read, but not anything you're likely to refer back to.

Just found this blog, it's my new favorite! Keep up the good work!

Lena said...

Wow! So informative, thank you! I've recently started my indoor plant collection and look forward to planting my first flower garden in the spring. I bought a hypoestes a couple of weeks ago and at the time of purchase it was a bit limp so I felt inclined to bring it home and work with it. After a new pot, new soil and first watering it looked great until a few days ago - it looks pretty limp but not dry. Since I'm so new at this I always thought browning leaves meant they were dry but with what I've read maybe I haven't watered it enough? I'll definitely try that route and perhaps change the location. (currently it's on a bay window sill with two other plants that are flourishing) Any other suggestions would be wonderful! Great blog and thank you.

Anonymous said...

is this plant edible?

mr_subjunctive said...

Anonymous:

Read the post, maybe? The answer to your question is in there.

Anonymous said...

I did a search for "hypoestes", leading me to your blog and I'm so glad it did! I love your blog! It is now bookmarked for many, many returns. I just love your sense of humor. You are SO funny!

I personally have a yard done in all pink plants so hypoestes can have all the space it wants in my yard. I had to smile toward the top of the blog when you asked who has room for a pink polka dot plant? I do! I do! I appreciate all of your detailed information on how to make it thrive. I live in a tropical area (north Florida) and my hypoestes are all planted in the ground in the yard. A nice surprise - they came back this spring after several hard freezes this past winter. They were heavily mulched under fallen leaves. Who knew they would come back from the roots?!

Thanks again for a great blog!
Carol
Jacksonville, Florida

Aussie Gardener said...

They are hard to kill in temperate areas like the NSW Qld border (Australia) where I live. They seed prolifically. I have just finished spraying (with glypho) a heap of them that come up under some trees on a bank. It will take a few more seasons spraying to eradicate them.

Even though the most shaded ones are healthy and robust, there are nicer and less nuisance things to grow. The flower is insignificant and the plant looks untidy when it seeds.

If you want to grow it, I suggest cutting off the flower stalks

Anonymous said...

After having them now for several years, I can confidently say they are *highly reliable* perennials in Zone 9A. Even though we get several hard freezes every winter, I have never lost a single one. In addition, I get lots of new volunteers every year from self-seed.

Carol
Jacksonville, Florida

The Caged Bird said...

I adore these plants. I've had potted red, white and pink hypoestes going on three years from the original plants I purchased. The white variety seems to be less prone to the leggy syndrome than the red and pink varieties. There are several ways to prevent this action: smaller pots, pinching back new growth, and western light also seems to prevent this action moreso than eastern light.

I take my plants in every fall when it gets cold, trim them down, and watch them come back up before the spring. They are a hearty forgiving plant and continue to be a source of joy in my daily life. Thanks for the additional information about propagating this plant. Looking forward to plant babies!

Unknown said...

The Surgeon General has warned that these plants are hazardous to your mental health. They should be taxed out of existence!

mr_subjunctive said...

Unknown:

I'm pretty sure neither of those things are true.

Anonymous said...

My son gave me a small hypoestes,at first it gave me a lot of trouble. Then I figured where indoors it likes to live BRIGHT indirect light,the leaves are a bright pink almost red,also keep an eye on the watering if it gets dry it loses leaves,When this happens I cut the leggy parts off put them in water and it's all good,start new plants. I have dozens of houseplants and pink in all the green and white really cheers the whole display up.One of my favorites

Jodi said...

I found this site while googling "how to kill the noxious weed with the pink dots". I live in subtropical Australia and my backyard is disappearing under polk dot plant. If you pull it, the stem snaps and you have just spread it another 2 feet. My cat has to swim through it to get home. It is sooo not poisonous to cats. And it looooves glyphosate. Listed as an invasive seed here. EVIL EVIL PLANT!!!

mr_subjunctive said...

Jodi:

You should pot them up and sell them to garden centers in the U.S.

(Mostly kidding. That probably wouldn't actually work. But if you could come up with some way to make them worth money. . . .)

Anonymous said...

My friend gave me one of these and I love it! It's so pretty and cheery. Today it has produced 2 tiny little purple flowers which was a total surprise. Great info on in your blog.

Anonymous said...

Please teach me Sensei!

Bethany Cousins said...

I was lol the whole blog post! Excellent information, although I still happen to love my pink polka dots and their babies.

Unknown said...

I just bought a white polka dot plant recently, was kind of a "love at first sight" thing. I love variegated plants with a passion and this little babby was the only one in the store. It may be an invasive species but its still cute and I still plan on taking good care of it.

Some people grow fungi, some people grow spiders - doesn't matter what it is - as long as you love it, it should be fine.

MJI said...

I have a soft spot for them. I find them pretty, though I am more drawn to the red and the white varieties.

A pink hypoestes in 4th grade was what got me into houseplants, seriously. It was part of a water cycle assignment involving a home made terrarium out of a bottle and some soil. It lasted until it outgrew the bottle.

They grow really crappy in my apartment unless I grow them in a terrarium like setting (like how I grew the first one). For outdoor plants, they are one of my great successes. I put them on the outside edge of the garden in front of the building, right near the sidewalk. The whole area is mostly hard shade, but gets about 3-4 hours of full sun. The outside edge gets slightly more sun. They don't grow as leggy or shed nearly as many leaves and they branch out much better outdoors. Also this is zone 4a, so they will reliably die out every winter. I may or may not be able to keep one over the winter. I usually start fresh every late winter and take several cuttings for outdoor use.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the article! It was a great read!

I have one in a box outside in indirect sunlight that has absolutely thrived in this warm and wet Ohio summer of 2016. I bought a four pack of little guys and put them into fresh potting soil sat in a 20x4x4 rectangular planter box.(I've mixed fresh coffee grounds once or twice to the topsoil). They sit under a patio that shades them from sun, but allows for water to reach them anytime it rains. It's gotten cold out, not freezing, and I wanted to make sure they could survive a few more cold nights (Lows in the upper 40s) until I find the best room inside for my pink-polka-dots.

It has been one of my favorite plants. The pattern is very intricate (Replicated on fabric, could produce a very ornate design, possibly lucrative! Think french couture?) The pink pops against the dark green, the leaves are strong and healthy looking, closely resembles a vine but doesn't look like a nuisance as vines can be. I highly recommend the "Hypoestes phyllostachya"!




-Squid

molly said...


Thanks for this great information. It looked so demure and innocent at Lowe's and then revealed it's true nature after a month or so! The flowers are adorable but I had a sneaking suspicion it was no good to leave them there. We're starting over now after a severe haircut! Thanks again!

Unknown said...

I bought a pot of these little guys not knowing what they were, and planted them in the toughest, shadiest spot in my backyard - clay soil, maybe 2hrs' sun at best, heavy shade all day, under a gum tree. And to my surprise pretty much all of them (save 2 or 3) have survived and are doing nicely! They did get a bit leggy so I pruned it, but other than that, it's not needed love at all! I highly doubt anything else would have grown there!

Sher said...

Thanks for the entertaining blog! I bought one of these guys in the worlds cutest, smallest pot as a house warming gift for my Sis a few months ago, not really knowing what it would grow up to be. She re-potted it and it TOOK OFF in a great way. I tried to find one here in my little town (Ashland, Oregon) but none to be found during that particular week. So I swiped several cuttings from my sister's plant and put them in a jar of water - now it is wait and see! We're headed into winter so if any of these thrive, they will be houseplants. Fingers crossed.

Unknown said...

I love this plant sooooooo much, but it did not love me back. It died. I'm not sure why. I water it only when the top soil is dry. Now it is fully dry and dead. I stopped watering it after a while. However, Is there any way I can put it back to life or I lost my chance already??? T_T

mr_subjunctive said...

Mary Ahmed:

I don't have any way to determine whether the plant you've told me is "fully dry and dead" is in fact fully dry and dead, though since you said you stopped watering it, I'm thinking you'd best just buy a new one.

Unknown said...

Lol I was making research about this plant for a biology project and a whole new world just opened up to me, since I'm writing a comment already, can I use some of the information you wrote above? I'll surely credit the website in my report.

mr_subjunctive said...

Unknown:

Okay.

Double said...

Hi, I just found your website in a Google search; thank God finally talked about the same issue I have with these beauties. My polka dot lower stem is entirely bare; in fact, it has just two or three leaves remained at the top. Do you suggest I cut the stem under the leaves to trigger its growth?

mr_subjunctive said...

Double:

It depends somewhat on how big the plant is already; if it's big enough and has a solid root system, you might want to cut it down to half an inch or so above the soil line, to make a bushier, fuller plant when it comes back. If it's pretty small and maybe doesn't have much of a root system to bounce back from a pruning, then just under the leaves might be better. (You can also try rooting the bits you cut off in soil or water, if you're worried that the base might not resprout, and you want to be sure and have a plant at the end of this process.)

Double said...

Thank you very much for the response, I can't believe somebody cares about my comment! I have three separate ones in a pot, I'll do it with one of them, however I'm afraid to do so, since I'm very amateur with plants.

Unknown said...

Someone at the markets sold these to me as Aglaonemas. After watching a video on propagating Aglaonemas so I can steal some from work I realised I was an idiot and these were absolutely not Aglaonemas...only because they started flowering and their flowers looked nothing like Ags....and neither do their stalks :D #NotProGardenerNeverSaidIWas
Mine got put straight into my garden and immediately attacked by something with little mouths. I don't know what, but my other plants aren't getting attacked. Thanks?