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You may or may not have include fittonia ( fit - TOH - neeuh ) in your houseplant before , but there ’s little deny the attraction to the green leaves of these tropic works .
The common name includes nerve plant ; the two most plebeian types ascertain at your local greenhouse are Fittonia albivenis and Fittonia argyroneura .
These beautiful perennial are know as the mosaic plant or painted net leaf , feature pink , red , chicken , or white veins along with their light-green foliation , and are known to produce small white or off - bloodless flowers .
But whether you own one of the Big Two , a cultivar , or one of the three Fittonias that have not yet been driven to be either aFittonia variantor a distinct species , there ’s one problem that ’s easy to run into – leggy increment .
What Makes My Fittonia Leggy and How Do You Fix It?
You may be wondering , why is my fittonia leggy ?
Fittonias only grow novel maturation at the root tips , so it ’s very easy to end up with a leggy works accidentally .
plague of pest and insects does not encounter a role in why your fittonias are leggy . The mere thing like ignition , eating , pruning , and humidity levels are the main campaign of this condition , but they ’re thankfully all just as easy to solve as they are to do .
Insufficient Fittonia Pruning
The trouble with some plants is you’re able to forget how quickly they can grow .
In most cases , this just means a small extra length to cut back .
unluckily , Fittonias only become shaggy-coated at the apex of each radical , so leaving one alone for too recollective may result in something that vaguely resembles a flyspeck medal Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
However , it ’s never too late to get this variety of long-legged growth under ascendence .
Have a look at each stem of your fittonia and make up one’s mind how to prune fittonia .
This is where you ’ll involve to prune it .
Using acuate , infertile shears , snip the root at this point .
newfangled growth will form at the cutting backsheesh , allowing the plant life to become fuller and more succinct .
Tip : Instead of throw away your leaf cuttings , consider using them for propagation .
Lighting
Another common lawsuit of leggy Fittonias is low calorie-free condition .
Direct sun can be harmful to a fittonia . Too much sun can scorch its leaves and induce it to dehydrate . A Nerve plant prefer low to medium light or brilliant , collateral sun and humid weather condition
However , not enough light can do it to become scraggly .
One easy way to say if there ’s a lighting problem is if the leaves are all bending in one focal point .
This would suggest only one part of your industrial plant is get vivid collateral sun , and you’re able to remediate this by rotating the flora on a regular basis .
Such bending may lead to one side of the plant becoming leggy if not treat .
More importantly , you should check on your fittonia several sentence over a twenty-four hour period to understand how much light it ’s commence and when .
Ideally , the works needs bright indirect sparkle , which can equate to one of three scenario :
You want your Fittonia to get around 5 to 6 hours of promising illumination daily in all three of these cases .
If the plant is n’t make sufficient luminance , move it to a better billet . It can originate in lower light but its colour may wither and growth will slow up down .
Note that you may have to prune it back a piddling afterward to further healthier growth .
Tip : In more northern climates where the sun is less vivid , you’re able to use artificial ignition to augment an indoor Fittonia plant ’s light supply , although it will still need access to factual sunlight .
aim nigh to fluorescent luminousness or at a secure space from metal halide or sodium lamps for the best solvent .
More on Fittonia Care:
Too Much Food
Finally , too much of a good thing is always forged , and fertiliser is no exception .
In the case of Fittonias , this surplus food will advance the plant life to grow at a faster rate but at the cost of levelheaded ontogeny .
or else , it will debase out and become a leggy brass plant while becoming more sparse .
make up tending to how much and how often you feed your fittonia .
A 5 - 5 - 5- NPK liquid fertilizer stretch by one-half is perfect . employ harmonise to the packaging instruction manual in between watering and cutting back during its hibernating month .
In the event , you believe you ’ve been give it too much fertilizer , contract back on how much you use and give the plant a pruning to remold it to where you want it .
You may also wish to flush the ground on the next lachrymation to insure no superfluous fertilizer remains and skitter the next feeding to get its growth charge per unit back to normal .
Insufficient Humidity
The Fittonia works thrives in eminent humidity , thanks to its rainforest roots .
Making indisputable it savour copious wet is cardinal to repeat its lush born environment .
If things get too ironical , you might discover leafage browning or wilt . Leaf Drop Leaf fall is usually the result of cold temperatures or bill of exchange . endeavor to mimic the tropic conditions where this species by nature grow .
veritable potting soil with a peat - moss mix and a regular or shallow smoke with several bottom drainage holes is idealistic for the Fittonia .
To keep your Fittonia content , attempt misting it a yoke of time a calendar week , set up a humidness tray , or finding a cosy , humid nook for it at dwelling .
For an redundant boost , consider precede a room humidifier to create the everlasting surround .
Seeing no changes?
If your Fittonia plant is n’t render improvement with the cite methods , you might want to think about propagating it through stem cuttings to create unexampled Fittonia works .
Cut the stem a few millimeter above or below the leaf node to take the fittonia cuttings for propagating the plant life .
How to Make Fittonia Bushy?
To make a Fittonia plant bushier , there are a few techniques you could strain :
Remember to monitor your flora ’s lachrymation needs , as overwatering can lead to tooth root rot .
