Philodendron bipinnatifidum

Most philodendrons are climbers, but not this one. Tree philodendron (also called split leaf philodendron) grows as a large semiwoody shrub with enormous glossy leaves and a single erect unbranched stem that tends to fall over and sprawl when the plant gets large. The robust stem bears stout aerial rootlets between conspicuous leaf scars. The leaves are up to 3 ft (0.9 m) long, deeply dissected into many wavy-margined lobes and held on long petioles. Older and larger plants develop leaves that are more deeply dissected and more ruffled. The inflorescence consists of a 1 ft (0.3 m) long purplish red spathe enclosing an upright spadix with many tiny petalless flowers. Specimens grown indoors rarely flower, however.

Tree philodendron can get as large as 15 ft (4.6 m) tall and 15 ft (4.6 m) wide with a stem 6 in (17.8 cm) or more in diameter. Windowleaf or ceriman (Monstera deliciosa) is superficially similar to tree philodendron, but it has actual holes (windows) in the leaves instead of just indentations and lobes.
'German Selloum' has very narrow leaf lobes, and 'Variegatum' has leaves with yellow markings. Numerous hybrids with other philodendron species have been developed as well. The old name, Philodendron selloum, is still frequently seen.

Location
Philodendron bipinnatifidum, the tree philodendron is native to the rainforests of Paraguay and southeastern Brazil.

Culture
Tree philodendron grows best in fairly moist, well drained, fertile soil. It requires little care except occasional grooming should lower leaves become discolored, and watering in times of dry weather. Take care in placing a tree philodendron, though, lest it encroach on walkways or grow too close to buildings; a small specimen will get big!

Light

 Philodendrons don't like full sun. Grow tree philodendron in dappled or partial shade. Indoors, position in bright light, but not direct sun. Sunlight filtered through a curtain is good. Variegated cultivars need more light.

Moisture

Not at all drought tolerant, tree philodendron should get regular watering. Keep the soil moderately moist by watering regularly. In the winter, keep the soil just barely moist. Tree philodendron has thinner leaves than most species in the genus and therefore needs a little more humid atmosphere. House plants should be misted regularly if the air is very dry. Place an electric room humidifier near the plant in the winter.

Propagation

 Philodendrons are easy to start from cuttings. To propagate this nonclimber, take shoots from the base of the plant's stem and root in potting medium.

Usage
Tree philodendron is a popular container plant for public buildings and offices, but not for small rooms! Use this impressive foliage plant in a large hall or a spacious room.

Features
For a tropical foliage splash, tree philodendron is a winner. It is most effective standing alone or in combination with other lush-leafed plants such as gingers and bananas. Since it prefers some shade, tree philodendron is superb for a courtyard or against a wall in a pool yard. It can be used in beds under trees to soften the stark trunks and serve as a foliar background for lower plantings. Caladiums planted in a drift in front of a tree philodendron can be quite effective. Great in containers - indoors and out!

Philodendrons have been used as house plants for centuries. There are more than 200 species and even more hybrids.

Scindapsus aureus

One of the most popular & easy caring indoor plant is the Scindapsus aureus , it can survive as an indoor plants at any place at home , office , restaurants , even it can be at your bathrooms .

It is considered as an evergreen root climbers from S. and S.E Asia and Brazilia. The most popular species is known as Scindapsus aureus have another botanical name - Epipremnum aureum. Scindapsus is a climber with aerial roots - a moss stick makes an ideal support. The stems are sometimes allowed to train from a hanging basket or wall display. Keep the plant well away from droughts.

Growing conditions:
 Average warmth in summer, .Semi-shade or bright light. Keep well away from direct sunlight.

Watering & Misting: 
Water sparingly in winter. For the rest of the year water thoroughly. Misting is necessary. Never use a coarse spray.

Propagation:
 Take stem cuttings.

Pest and Disease Management for Indoor Plants

Growing Plant Indoors: Insect Pest Management

Because of the extremely simplified ecosystem, indoor plants may suffer from the lack of biological controls, that is, the predators that would keep plant pests in check in a more biologically complex environment. Insect pests may be even more difficult to control in the house than in the greenhouse, where lacewings and predatory mites can sometimes be maintained on a year-round basis.

The major pests indoors are aphids, scales, whiteflies, mealybugs, and mites. (These first four are all closely related Homoptera, producing honeydew.) The pest insects usually enter the home on the houseplant itself or are brought in with other garden materials and find their way to the house plants.

The first strategy you might wish to use when a few bugs appear is physical: handpick, squash, or rub them off. Cotton swabs or a small brush dipped in alcohol may help you to get into hard-to-reach nooks and crannies where the insects may be found. Washing the plant off in a mild soapy water may also help.

During late spring and summer, when plenty of general insect predators and parasites are found in the garden, putting the afflicted plant outdoors for several weeks may take care of the problem. Either the pests will be consumed, or, as with migratory aphids, the summer generation may fly away to another host.

Twice a small hot pepper plant that grows indoors on our kitchen windowsill and provides us spices for chili and beans has been infested in the early spring with an aphid (Myzus persicae). Infestation became obvious because the aphids’ honeydew (the sweet, sticky sugar protein excreted by many plant-sucking insects) began to shine on the leaves. We usually squished the first few aphids by hand, but invariably the aphid population escaped this control measure and began to spread. Usually by this time, the weather had become so mild that the plant could be set outside in a protected sunny spot on the porch. However, the aphid parasites and predators had not arrived in the area yet, so the pepper plant had to be hosed off vigorously each week. If this was not done, the plant began to turn yellow and drop its leaves. As the season progressed the biological controls appeared. First we would notice parasitized aphids among the colonies; then we would see syrphid fly larvae and adult lady beetles consuming their share. By early summer not an aphid was to be seen. Apparently all had either been eaten by insects or flown off to other hosts. The plant was then promptly moved back into the kitchen, where it lived without apparent insect companions until another spring. How did the aphids get there each year? Since there are a couple of early spring aphids in our area that can live on more than one species of plant, it is easy to see how a winged one might fly or be blown in through an open window or door.

Several years ago, aphids got started on this same plant quite late in the spring, and soon after we noticed their presence parasitized individuals became apparent. Not only had the aphid found its way into the house, but its parasites had too. Since none of the parasites’ parasites found the plant, the parasite proceeded to wipe out every last aphid, ending the problem for that year without our having to move the plant outdoors. But that event has not been repeated, perhaps because we are reluctant to leave the kitchen window open without screens because of house flies.

When moving plants infested with honeydew producers outside, you might wish to place them on stands with ant-excluders around the legs so that ants don’t prevent the aphid predators and parasites from doing a good job.

For bug-infested plants that are too large to move, handpick, or hose off, you can import predatory lacewings or mites just as in greenhouse pest management. After cleaning up the pest insects the predators will die off from lack of food, so for each new outbreak new predators will have to be imported. An excellent book on using biological controls on houseplants is Windowsill Ecology, by William Jorden.

What about using synthetic commercial poisons on house plant bug problems? We have expressed our thoughts on pesticides elsewhere. If you feel that a plant is so valuable that it must be saved at all costs, and have exhausted all safer methods of insect management, then be sure to select the least toxic material that will do the job. Move the plant outdoors, and wear a mask and gloves while handling the poison and treating the plant, washing yourself and your clothes afterwards. Remember, the house plants are supposedly being kept to increase your pleasure and health, not to add one more touch of poison to an urban environment already burdened with substances toxic to humans.

Growing Plants Indoors: Plant Disease Management

When plants look sick, and no insect can be found, the usual assumption is that it is being attacked by a pathogen. Plant diseases are harder to cure than either insect infestations or salt build-up (Another occasional threat to house plants—guests surreptitiously dumping unwanted alcoholic drinks into the nearest greenery—will not be dealt with here.) Read “Preventing Plant Disease” further along in this article as a handy checklist.

A last thought on maintaining house plants: they do grow best with attention. Whether this is a response to increased carbon dioxide from human respiration, to the caretaker’s alertness with respect to watering, bug management, and repotting needs, or to some relationship between humans and plants not yet satisfactorily explained, the authors are not prepared to guess.

Preventing Plant Disease

1. Do not over-water.
2. Do not over-fertilize. (Excess nitrogen may encourage aphid infestations indoors as well as out, in addition to creating weak, over-succulent plants more susceptible to disease.)
3. If you or experts you are able to ask for advice cannot diagnose the ailment, try repotting the plant in fresh material.
4. Leaves infested with mold or fungus leaf-spots can be cut off and composted. Necrotic (black) areas on cactus can be cut out with a sharp knife. The cut area should be dusted with sulfur and the entire plant left to dry, out of direct sun, in a light, well-ventilated place until the wound has calyxes over.
5. Where crown-, stem-, or root-rot is the problem, it is best to destroy the plant. Avoid the problem in the future by not over-watering or over-fertilizing, and by keeping water off susceptible plants.

Common Homeplant Problems

Each of us have one or more of potted indoor plant , and none of us have not faced problems with his plants , In this article We’ve prepared a list of the most common problems of houseplants. If you’re having a problem with a houseplant, it’s most likely going to be due to one of the following.

1. Overwatering.

More houseplants die from overwatering than from any other cause. Never let the pot sit in water in a saucer. Put marbles or pebbles in the saucer and set your pot on top of them to raise the pot up and away from the water in the saucer. Make sure the pot has adequate drainage holes. Allow soil to dry out in between watering. When you water, water the root zone of the plant, not the foliage.

2. Air is too dry.

Keep all your houseplants away from heat sources like heat registers, electric heaters, or radiators. Hot air blowing on a plant will quickly desiccate it. Mist plants to increase humidity, especially if you live in a dry climate. It also helps to place pots on shallow gravel filled trays of water.

3. Not enough light.

Put the right plant in the right place. Consult plant labels and packaging, and reliable books, magazines, and internet sites to determine a plant’s light requirements. Plants that need full sun rarely make good houseplants. Plants adapted to the low light levels of tropical forests do quite well in our homes.

4. Ambient (room) temperature too hot (especially at night).

The best houseplants are all tropical species that are able to tolerate the warm nighttime temperatures we keep in our homes. Temperate zone plants are often killed by warm nights because they burn up more fuel than they are able to make. That’s why miniature roses do not survive indoors, they starve to death. Turn the thermostat down, especially at night, to 60 degrees.

5. Pot bound.

If your plant sucks up all the water you give it and then wilts a short time later it’s probably pot bound. Up-pot the plant to a larger pot and add fresh soil. This way you give the plant a larger volume of soil to plumb for moisture. Alternatively, take the plant out of its pot, shave off an inch of roots and soil around the sides and bottom of the root ball, then put the plant back in its pot with fresh soil.

6. Temperature, humidity and/or light regime changes, as when the plant is moved.

Some plants, like Bougainvillea and weeping figs, drop most of their leaves when you move them to a new location. Make the change gradually, if possible, and give the plant extra nutrients and water to cope with the shock.

7. Not enough water.

Determine the right amount of water for the particular plant (read the tag or look it up). Some plants, like cactus and succulents, require very little water. Other plants will tolerate being constantly waterlogged. Most plants, however, fall somewhere in the middle. In general, allow the soil to dry out in between watering and mist plants to increase humidity. Make sure the plant is not pot bound.

Insect pests, such as fungus gnats, whiteflies, mealybugs, and scale insects.

Plants under stress are more susceptible to pests. Make sure you put the right plant in the right place to reduce stress. Give it the proper amount of light and water, the best temperature regime, and soil conditions to allow it to thrive and you’ll have fewer problems. Wherever possible, choose resistant cultivars and always inspect and quarantine plants when you first bring them home.

• Mulch or top dress containers. This helps to control fungus gnats.
• Sanitize. Remove and destroy insect infested leaves or stems.
• Remove any pests you can capture, either with your hands or use a vacuum cleaner.
• Physical barriers like sticky cards work well for adult whiteflies and fungus gnats.
• Provide air movement with a fan set on low.
• Make sure your windows and doors have screens to reduce the number of insects in the house.
• Insecticidal soap sprayed directly onto the pests will kill them and is safe to use in your home.
• Use rubbing alcohol on Q-tips to grub out mealybugs.
• Drench the pot with Bt-i (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) for fungus gnats
• Spray Neem oil to control most houseplant insect pests.
• Horticultural oil (look for ones made from vegetable oil).
• Pyrethrins made from botanical sources also work well.

8. Spider Mites.

This is a common problem under dry, dusty conditions. Mites are not insects, they’re related to spiders. They are very tiny and hard to see. They come in to your house on infested plants.

• Quarantine new plants until you’re sure they’re mite free.
• Sanitize. Remove badly infested leaves and discard them.
• Blast leaves with water to wash mites away. Keep the leaves free of dust.
• Misting the foliage discourages mites (they don’t like water).
• Insecticidal soap sprayed directly on the pests will kill them.
• Neem oil controls mites.
• Horticultural oil (vegetable oil base) smothers mites and their eggs.
• Sulfur is a natural element that mites don’t like.
• Pyrethrins made from botanical sources also work.

9.Diseases, such as fungus and bacteria.

Sanitize. Pluck off infected leaves and put them in the garbage. Do not compost.

Mulch. Top dress containers to reduce splash up from the soil to the leaves.

Provide air movement with a fan set on low. Don’t crowd plants. Put the right plant in the right place. Choose resistant cultivars and keep the foliage dry when watering.

A simple spray made from baking soda prevents fungal spores from germinating.

Sulfur sprayed onto the foliage also prevents fungal spores from germinating.

Copper sprayed on the leaves will kill bacterial pathogens.

Bacterial fungicide (Bacillus subtilis) is a living bacterial culture which kills fungi.

Neem (has a strong odor for some people) Keep it away from aquaria.

10. Nutrient deficiencies.

Start with a good quality potting soil, an artificial mix that contains perlite, vermiculite, and other materials that create space and air pockets, yet retain water. Some plants, such as orchids or cactus, need special mixes. Never use garden soil in a container because it will become very compacted over time. Use a good organic fertilizer whenever possible.

Best Plants For Bathroom

Adding plants to your bathroom is a good idea, but is also an excellent way to pamper your bathroom. Bathrooms are oftentimes the perfect environment for tropical houseplants. Their typically low light and high humidity are ideal for many houseplants. Let’s look at plants for your bathroom, even plants for a bathroom with no window.

What to Look for in Bathroom Plants

Light
The best bathroom plants have low light requirements. Many bathrooms have small or no windows. While low light plants can live on little light, they do need some. Make sure that your bathroom fixtures use fluorescent light bulbs, as fluorescent produce the wavelengths of light that plants need from the sun.

Water

With plants for your bathroom, you want plants that thrive in a humid and moist environment. While many succulents need low light, high humidity will kill them and, therefore, they would not be happy in a bathroom.

Location
Because bathrooms tend to be small, placing plants on the floor is often not an option. Most bathroom plants will do well on a shelf or hanging from the ceiling. If your bathroom has a window, a window sill is good as well.

Best Plants for a Bathroom
Now we will have a few plants that do very well in a bathroom environment.

Boston fern

Philodendron

Aspidistra Elatior

Spider plant

Orchids

Lucky Bamboo

Pothos Plant

Peace Lily

Zamioculcas zamiifolia

Choosing plants for your bathroom is easy job, once you know what to look for when deciding on the right bathroom plant for your home.

Top Houseplants for Low Light Conditions

All of us love to have an indoor plant at his home , office , but most of us do not have a plenty of indirect sun light for his plants .

In this Article we will discuss the top home indoor plants which needs a low light conditions

1- Lucky Bamboo

2- Golden Pothos vine

3- Snake Plant

4- Ferns 

5- Spider Plant ( Chlorophytum comosum variegatum)

6- Dracena marginata

7- Aechmea Bromeliads