Wandering Jew Plant Care

Common Name: Wandering Jews
Scientific Name: Zebrina pendula
Lighting: Bright to Moderate
Watering: Moderate to Heavy

Wandering Jews is a houseplant that many claim to be one of the easiest houseplants to grow. The Wandering Jew is a vining plant with leaves characterized by white, silver and purple foliage with stripes down the length of the leaves. Since the plant tends to vine, hanging baskets or areas where it can trail down are the perfect locations for the Wandering Jew. Wandering Jews do flower with flowers colors ranging from purple, white and even some pink varieties.

This houseplant does best in bright sunlight, with a combination of direct and filtered sunlight. If the foliage color doesn’t seem to be as dramatic as it used to, your Wandering Jew probably isn't receiving as much light as it would like.

Wandering Jews prefer moderate to heavy watering. Aim to keep the soil moist most of the time, however not soggy. Allow it to try ever so slightly in between watering. They also prefer a slightly higher humidity level.

Wandering Jews also prefer to be more root bound, so typically you don’t need to repot much, in fact barely at all. One care tip I can share is that you should try to prune the ends of the stems often. By pruning the ends of the stems back, the plant will branch out and become more full and bushy. You can also create new little plants, by taking cuttings from the plant and rooting in water.

One area of caution with this houseplant. I found on a few Web sites posted that sap from Wandering Jews can cause skin irritation to humans. So take caution.

 

Piggyback Plant Care Tips

Common Name: Piggyback Plant, Mother of Thousands, Youth-on-Age
Scientific Name: Tolmiea menziesii
Lighting: Moderate to Bright
Water: Moderate

The Piggyback plant is characterized by long stalks of heart or star shaped leaves with a rough edged appearance to the foliage. Foliage is a generally a pale color plus the foliage is fuzzy! Piggyback plants grow very quickly and most are vining thus hanging baskets make a great home for this houseplant.

The Piggyback plant prefers moderate to bright in-direct light levels. So filtered light works best. If too much direct light is received the foliage could burn. This houseplant will also tolerate lower light levels, but may not look its best when in that environment.

The Piggyback plant likes to have its soil kept evenly moist at all times, however not soggy. This houseplant does not like its soil to dry out. If the soil does dry out, the foliage will turn brown and the plant will quickly deteriorate. This houseplants foliage has a drooping appearance to begin with so don’t overwater thinking the drooping is from that.

The most unique characteristic of the Piggyback plant separating it from other houseplants is their means of reproduction. Buds will develop at a leaf's base. From these buds, new plants will grow thus the name "Piggyback". Many times you can simply pick a leaf and gently push it into the soil to start a new plant. They root very easily.

Share any of your tips to care for this houseplant by commenting below.