First, sorry I have been away. Things have been a little nuts here for too long. Will try to be more active, I promise. Now for my question: It is growing really, REALLY well but it is growing straight up. I know I need to replant it into a larger pot. In the pictures it is well over 12 inches tall and it even put out what I thought was a flower stem which never did anything. Is there any way to get it to bush out a little more? Can I take some cuttings and get the lower parts to bush out or do I need to simply start new ones? Also, you can barely see it but the odd "leaf/pistol/whatever is right in front on the closest branch. It started out like a new leaf but never opened up and is still completely closed and solid. Could this have been an attempt at a flower? Maybe still a flower possibility or is it just a weird one? moderator's note: added a more descriptive title to topic
I have never grown one as a houseplant, but outside they will grow in either sun or shade. The shaded one doesn't blooms as well and the one in part sun. It doesn't put out a stem for flowers, they are nestled down where the leaves join the stem. One of it's common names is Moses in a boat because the blooms are nestled in a folded leaf before opening up completely. It is a relative of the Spiderwort so if you know what those flowers look like then you can be looking for that shape but light purple on the Wandering Jew. Yours looks like it needs more sun, that's why it is getting lanky..it's reaching for light. You can pinch it back to keep it shorter but until it gets more sun it will continue to grow tall and lanky.
This is actually grown under full artificial lighting, no sunlight at all. 80 watts of plant grow bulbs. I did cut off some of the stalks to try and get some to fill out so we will see what happens. I have never seen that type of plant flower in real life but I found pictures so I know what to look for now. Thank you. It is in a rather shallow container/pot right now though. Maybe 2 inches deep and is 6x6 or so. Might be part of why it is so lanky, not much room to get a root hold and growing more to the light. I also have not fertilized it either and found that I should be so that may be the cause also. All the pictures I have seen look about like this though so I am not sure it lanky or not. Do you have a picture of one that is fuller or a link to one?
The main two reasons plants get long and lanky are too much nitrogen and not enough sunlight. You might want to put the plant in a deeper pot tho just to cut back on how much watering you have to do since they like moist soil. I don't grow plants inside so I am not familiar with how an 80 watt grow light bulb compares to real sunlight but everything I have read about growing Wandering Jew indoors says it needs some sunlight every day. Most recommend planting it in a hanging basket and hanging in front of an east or south window...or out on a covered porch that faces east for a few hours everyday. Pinching back the stems should influence the plant to put out more lower growth and become bushier but that will take more than a few days to see results so don't give up on that process too soon. How close together the leaves appear on the stem depends on where you have it growing. I have seen some that are a dense ground cover with barely a couple of inches between sets of leaves and some in hanging pots on porches that are a little fuller than yours and trailing down and not so dense. I have two outside, have been for roughly 5 years, they die back in winter but always show up again in spring. They are both getting too much shade this year, one because the trees have grown so much in the last couple of years and the other because I moved a piece to an area where the shade was too dense. So pictures of mine won't show a nice compact plant. You might try putting yours outside for a while each day to see if that helps it's growth pattern too.
They do grow a lot different indoors for me than what I have heard about them outdoors. I have had them for a while now and not had any die off, yet. I hope not to have any at all but we will see when it starts getting colder. That could explain why it was so hard for me to get them to grow well when I got them because it was cold. I may try some in the hanging basket in the window to see how they do. Would be a nice experiment to see how they do and if I can get them to get really close leaf sets. Eventually I hope to finally get a home of my own and let them colonize a section around a big oak tree or similar tree. Thanks for the advice, I think a deeper pot is definitely in order soon to let them have plenty of water and grow the way they want to. I hope they will stay full and grow well through the winter but this rental gets so cold they may not do as well as I would want them to. I will let you know how they do as it gets colder. Maybe we can collaborate some info and get an idea of how well they do without any sunlight. Between my lighting knowledge and your growing knowledge maybe we can get them massive and full without a drop of sunlight. I should replace the bulbs anyway so maybe that will make a difference. Can always give more light but I think newer bulbs with better spectrum might be all they need to be fuller indoors. The good thing is they grow so well I can experiment a lot and not have to worry too much about killing them.
HEY!! Is that the one I sent you last summer?? I think it looks great! Deanna :-D They grow so fast that they tend to get root bound I really like that green and white one in the white bowl behind it. What is the name of this one?
Stratsmom, that is the plants you sent me last, was it summer or fall? They finally took off and have been growing like wild. I hope to have a much larger pot for them and a little different setup possibly soon to give them a better home. I hope anyway. Thank you so much and hopefully some time this fall or next year I can send some to someone else to pass your generosity on. I would guess it is extremely root bound right now. Probably really bad. I also think that I have one, the tallest one in front that is getting ready to set blooms. The leaves are coming out a lot different than they have before. Almost like the boat look that I have found and that Toni explained. The leaves are forming an open end type boat shape that might be the flower starts. I would have pictures of them but it is SOOOO hot here I am weary to mess with them and damaging them. Have been watering 3 times a day outside and 1-2 times a day inside. Will get ones of this new leaf formation as soon as I can.
That is a picture of my one stalk that I think is getting ready to flower. It is pretty obvious it is different than any other leaf output so I am pretty sure it will be a flower anyway. Does anyone have any advice on caring for it? I would really like to get seeds to form so I can at least try to get them to germinate. I always like starting stuff form seeds whenever possible, just something about it gives me more satisfaction than simply doing cuttings and starting them that way. I do know they can be started form seed so I have to at least try if I get any. The funny thing is the flower is on the same stalk that has the odd looking leaf on it, just a rod that came out and never opened. Maybe it is an indicator of a male or female flower or something. The other plant is an Aluminum plant, Pilea cadierei - Urticaceae I got it at a fish and pet store. They sell it for aquariums even though it eventually dies submerged. It grows really well and starts even easier.
I used to grow Wandering Jew years ago when I had a home which had great northern facing windows. The plant used to get a little long and leggy so I gently pulled out the last leaf on each stem taking care not to break it off. Then after a few weeks or so, the plant would send out side-shoots along the stems making the plant look more full and lush. You could also cut the stems just after a leaf. Eventually, the end of the stem would grow too.
Chelsea, could you explain a little more what you mean? Last leaf, as in the newest leaf on the end or the bottom leaf? And either way, how do you pull them without breaking them? I really want to make mine look fuller so a little more detail would be helpful.
Yes, gently pull the newest leaf out making sure you get all of it or else the leaf will continue to grow but will be a mis-happed shape. With your fore-finger and thumb, gently tug on the leaf and it should slip out. I had the green Wandering Jew and this method worked perfectly. Unfortunately, I don't know any other way to describe how to do it so I hope I explained it clearly for you. Good luck!
That makes sense to me now. I just had to clarrify before I did anything to them. Mine are too tall to try that now so it will have to wait for the newer growth but I will have to try it for sure. Thank you.
Well the first flower openned today. I think there is another 6-7 of them to open sooner or later. Also, the ones I cut off, it has been less than 2 weeks and I already have numerous offshoots, 6-7 so far with what looks like 5-6 more from 4 stalks. I don't know if the conditions are just perfect or what but I have a lot of them and it was a lot faster than I thought it would be. My cuttings are also taking root now so it will soon be time to get them planted, in a much deeper pot this time so I have another group of them growing to enjoy and of course experiment with.
Well everything is growing like wildfire. My trimmings have taken root and have put out extra shoots in the new pot so I got more than I expected. I get a good root start on them with a lot of stem in the water and they are so strong right now. 3 new starts from underneath the soil too. The stem that flowered put out another stem that is now flowering. I may have 3 others that are going to flower too but only 1 that seems to for sure so far. I am gonna try to get seeds from them once the pods start to dry out a little, if they do. All the stems left from what I cut off are growing new starts very quickly and very healthily. A couple have 2 starts not to mention 3 starts from the soil from whichever ones. I think that starting a really long stem instead of short cutting has helped them put out more starts from under the soil than you might get otherwise. I am thinking I need to fertilize them really good soon with all this growth so they can bulk up for the winter. Not sure if I will use a liquid fertilizer, Jobe stakes or both but will be doing it soon. Hopefully it will get all the new starts in the original pot a really good start and maybe get some more new ones from the soil before it starts to get colder. Will post pictures later or tomorrow.
This is a picture of the starts I did a while ago. they have almost tripled in length. I started 5 of them and have 10 now with 1 extra off the stems and 4 out of the ground. These are in the south window and although get no direct sunlight they are purple as can be. Guess indirect light is just as good. This is the original plant. It is hard to see the specific places it started but there were only 2 long ones after I cut them off and now there are 15 shorter ones with the 2 longer ones I left. I will have to say that this is probably one of the easiest plants I have ever kept. I forget to water it for a week, it dries out and does fine. I soak it and I mean SOAK it on accident and it doesn't even mope. Once you have it going, bushing it out and starting new ones is so easy. I think once I find a larger planter for it and can really do something with it I can make it look like a massive purple monster in no time. Thinking maybe a 3'x3' and 12-16 inch deep square pot would be perfect for a serious monster that would be huge by this time next year. BTW, I forgot to mention that the original plant is in a pot that has no drainage at all. I don't know if it matters because the starts do have drainage but it further demonstrates this plants tolerance for just about anything.
