Zebra plant (Aphelandra squarrosa) is a finicky houseplant. It’s grown for its vividly-striped foliage and beautiful golden flowers. The exotic zebra plant is a beautiful option for indoor gardening, but only if you know the right tips. Let’s go over the proper care for your zebra plant and prepare you for what you’ll need to do.
I. Appearance and Characteristics
Aphelandra squarrosa (commonly but ambiguously called “zebra plant”) is a plant species in the family Acanthaceae, which is native to Atlantic Forest vegetation of Brazil. This plant is often used as a house plant. This plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.
Dark, blackish-green glossy leaves with white veins give the zebra plant its name. Just for its foliage alone, it’s a delight to grow!
But when the zebra plant blooms, it absolutely shines. From a bract that’s yellow or orange in coloration explodes many yellow blossoms. The flower spikes of these tropical plants can reach up to 4″ in length and are beautiful.
This plant flourishes in abundant, but not direct, light. It does not bloom often, but it can be encouraged to bloom by prolonged daily exposure to light. It is also very sensitive to moisture content; too much or too little water will cause the lower leaves to brown and fall off. It likes to be kept moist, but not wet. On average, it needs frequent, small amounts of water, as opposed to an occasional, thorough watering.
The plant flourishes when the temperature is in the range of 18-21 °C (65-70 °F); and will suffer if the temperature drops below 15 °C (60 °F) for prolonged periods.
Zebra plant isn’t toxic, but it can be a skin irritant. It’s best to prune while wearing gloves to avoid getting the sap on your skin. Wash and sterilize your pruning shears to remove any leftover sap once done.
II. How to Grow and Care
Sunlight and Temperature
Zebra plants thrive when given bright, indirect light. While it can tolerate a bit of shade, it won’t flower as often or as long if it’s not given enough light. Be sure to avoid direct sunlight, as it can scorch your plant’s leaves.
The zebra plant prefers temperatures between 65-80 degrees Fahrenheit (18-27 degrees Celsius). Happily, this coincides with most people’s preferred indoor temperature range!
Never allow your zebra plant to spend long in temperatures below 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius). It can cause damage to the plant’s beautiful foliage.
If you’re trying to grow your zebra plant outdoors, be sure that it’s in a sheltered location. It needs light, but not direct sunlight. Placement under a thick tree canopy or porch should work well. Growing in a greenhouse is an option as well to increase the humidity.
Watering and Humidity
Sensitive to over and under watering, zebra plants can be a smidge tricky to maintain. Keep up moist soil throughout the active growing season, and stay watchful.
In the winter months, you can allow the soil to dry out a bit between waterings. The ideal for those cooler months is a barely-moist environment.
For best results, use filtered water that’s just over room temperature for your zebra plant. This mimics the temperature of a typical rain.
Your zebra plant is a humidity hog! It prefers humidity around 60-70%. This can pose a problem indoors, especially if it’s near a vent.
Keep your plant out of direct lines of vents and away from heaters. Mist its leaves, but only when you feel that the moisture will evaporate quickly. Try to avoid lots of standing water on the leaves whenever possible.
You can also place a tray of water with some pebbles beneath the zebra plant. The pebbles keep the pot out of the water, preventing overwatering. The water will provide ambient humidity around the plant.
If all else fails, turn on a humidifier to provide cool, damp air nearby. This keeps zebra plants happy and healthy. In conclusion, zebra plants need high humidity!
Soil
A zebra plant will grow best in soil that is neutral to acidic. A multi-purpose potting blend is adequate for a zebra plant—you can also incorporate sand into the mixture to ensure that it drains well. If a flowering plant is your goal, feed using fertilizer every one to two weeks during its growing season (spring and summer).
Fertilizing
Zebra plants are hungry little things. Those flowers take a lot of food to produce! During the growing seasons in spring and summer, aim for feeding every 1-2 weeks.
It’s best to use a water-soluble quick-release plant food to feed your Aphelandra squarrosa. Aim for a balanced fertilizer blend, diluted per the manufacturer’s instructions. Don’t fertilize zebra plants in the winter months.
Pruning
Keep a watchful eye on your zebra plant flower bract. As flowers die off, it’s important to remove them fast. If left in place too long, the lower leaves may start to droop and fall off. This will leave behind only stems with tufts of leaves at the top.
You can prune the stem and leaves of zebra plants back once the bract dies to a pair of leaves at the plant’s base. This will encourage a bushier growth pattern in the spring.
Propagation
Propagate a zebra plant in the spring by using stem cuttings from your original plant.
Using a sharp, disinfected cutting tool, cut 2- to 3-inch-long sections of stems from side shoots of the plant.
Dust the cut ends in a rooting hormone to increase your chances of successful propagation.
Insert the stem ends into a pot filled with moist soil and place the container on top of a heating mat if your room does not naturally maintain a temperature of around 70 degrees.
The stems will also need lots of humidity to grow strong roots successfully, so it may be helpful to increase the moisture level by growing in a covered terrarium or placing plastic wrap over the top of your pot.
Root growth can take around a month. Keep an eye out for new leaves on the surface of the plant because that indicates growth below the soil line, too. Propagated zebra plants should be repotted once the plant grows roots.
Potting and Repotting
Beyond repotting propagated shoots, zebra plants do not need to be repotted often, benefitting from a new home only every two to three years. If you notice the soil has gotten lower, simply remove the top inch or two of soil and top with a fresh mix, which will give the plant an added dose of nutrients.
Pests and Diseases
- Common Pests
Whitefly infestation is a possibility. These tiny flying insects will suck on the plant sap, leaving yellow dots on the dark green leaves.
To combat these, remove and destroy badly-infested plant growth. Use yellow sticky traps to catch adults. An insecticidal soap will also help.
Insecticidal soaps also work wonders against aphids. These pests will also suck on your plant’s dark green leaves. Again, remove badly-infested leaves as necessary.
Fluffy white mealybugs may become an issue as well. These cling to the leaves, and can leave similar damage to whiteflies. A cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol can help you to remove them. Prevent their return by spraying down the leaves of your plant with neem oil.
Finally, although they’re least common, fungus gnats find the moist, peaty soil appealing. Sticky traps will trap the adults. A soil drench with neem oil can help wipe out larvae.
- Common Diseases
Because zebra plants love high humidity, you can run into many fungal issues. Here’s a short list of diseases you may encounter.
Botrytis blight can form along the edges of leaves, and can contribute to leaf collapse. Spores will form on the leaf material as well, making a gray-tan patch on the underside.
Corynespora and myrothecium leaf spots are both common. Both of these fungi cause water-soaked lesions on leaves. Myrothecium also produces spores in concentric circles on the underside of leaves.
With leaf spots and botrytis blight, your best bet is to use a copper fungicide spray. This may need to be applied multiple times to kill off the fungi. Avoid overhead watering, and mist only when you’re sure the moisture will evaporate.
Phytophthora stem rot creates black, mushy lesions on the stems at the soil line. In time, the plant will collapse due to the damage. This usually happens if water can splash infected soil up onto the stem line.
There’s no cure for phytophthora stem rot, so your best bet is prevention. Ensure you have well-draining soil, and avoid splashing soil onto stems or leaves. Do not allow water to stand around the base of plants.
And finally, we come to pythium root rot. This fungal rot usually impacts weaker plants, causing the roots to turn black and mushy. In time, the upper part of the plant will yellow, wilt, and die off.
Prevention is the key for pythium fungi as well. Overly-wet conditions can create the perfect environment for this fungi to thrive. Avoid soggy soil, instead opting to maintain a moist but not overly wet consistency.
- Common Problems
If the leaves of zebra plants begin to curl or become crinkled, your plant’s getting too much light. This actually can happen! It’s most common in situations where your zebra plant’s experiencing direct sun. Move it to a shadier location so it can recover.
Tip wilt can occur if your potting mix is too dry. This usually happens when you’ve been lightly watering it. The top and sides of the pot have enough moisture, but the center doesn’t.
To avoid tip wilt, do a heavy watering at least once a month. Make sure that the growing medium is completely damp, and allow excess water to drain off. You want consistently moist soil.
Leaf-wilt and leaf-drop can occur in multiple situations. If the soil is too wet or too dry, lower leaves can wilt and fall off. If it’s over-fertilized, lower leaves can wilt and fall off. Finally, as the flower bract dies off, lower leaves can wilt and fall off. It’s tricky!
To figure out how to handle this, you’ll have to use the process of elimination. Keep a watchful eye on your zebra plant’s soil, and be sure it stays moist but not wet soil, or dry. If your watering technique is good, reduce the fertilizer a bit by diluting it more. And be sure to trim off dead flower bracts quickly.
How to Get to Bloom
This houseplant is very finicky about blooming and getting a zebra plant to bloom twice in a season and then the next summer season is tricky at best. Here are a few tips:
If it’s summer and your plant’s bloom is fading after its six weeks of glory, cut the bract back to encourage it to flower again in the fall.
Care for the plant during the winter by placing the pot in a cooler location, but bring it right back to a warmer spot once spring arrives.
In the spring, place the plant in a spot where there’s very intense, bright, but indirect sunlight. The intensity of the light will encourage blooming.
III. Uses and Benefits
Its deeply variegated emerald-and-white leaves and pineapple-like flowers make the zebra plant a desirable garden feature. As an evergreen, zebra plant brings year-round interest to tropical gardens. These plants do best as specimen pieces but can also add accent to plants that bloom outside the summertime.
