Gadenin日本語Get the appThe loop, in order
Everything this plant does hangs off a sequence rather than a calendar, which is useful because it means the same instructions work in either hemisphere and in any heated room. There are four stages and each one prepares the next.
The plant grows long trailing stems through the warm months. Those stems then need a cool, drier spell to be persuaded to set buds at their tips. The buds develop and open once warmth returns. And the moment flowering finishes, the stems are cut back, which produces the new growth that becomes next season's flowering tips.
Break the loop at any point and you get the familiar result: a healthy, glossy, entirely green plant. The two commonest breaks are skipping the cool rest, because the room is heated all year, and cutting back at the wrong moment, because the plant looked untidy in late winter.
What each stage asks for
The table below is the whole management of the plant on one page. Note how sharply the watering, feeding and temperature change between the growth stage and the rest, and how completely pruning is confined to a single window.
| Stage | Length | Temperature | Water and feed | Pruning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm growth | Roughly five to six months | 68-77F (20-25C) | Top inch dry, half strength feed fortnightly | Pinch tips early in the stage only |
| Cool drier rest | Six to eight weeks | 58-62F (14-17C) at night | Water when the top half is dry, no feed | None at all |
| Bud and flower | Two to three months | 65-72F (18-22C) | Evenly moist, half strength feed fortnightly | None, and do not move or turn the plant |
| Cut back and renew | Two to four weeks | 68-75F (20-24C) | Normal watering, no feed for a fortnight | Shorten long stems by a third to a half |
Light stays high through every stage, including the cool rest. Cool and bright sets buds; cool and dim just draws the stems out and weakens them.
Running the cool rest
This is the stage people leave out, and it is the one that decides whether you get flowers. The plant needs about six to eight weeks with nights around 60F (16C) and a drier pot, with no fertilizer, in the brightest cool place you have. An unheated spare room, a landing away from radiators, or a bright enclosed porch that stays above 55F (13C) all work.
Do not let it get properly cold. Below 55F (13C) the plant starts dropping leaves rather than setting buds, and a night near freezing will finish it. The target is a definite drop from summer warmth, not an ordeal.
End the rest as soon as you see bud swellings at the stem tips, which look like tight green knuckles. Move the plant back into normal warmth, resume even watering and a weak feed, and then leave it entirely alone. From first swelling to first open flower is five to seven weeks.
The one week you are allowed to cut
The pruning window opens when the last flower falls and stays open for about two months. Outside that window, leave the pruners in the drawer.
This is not a rule of thumb but a consequence of where flowers form. Buds arise at the ends of stems that grew in the previous season, so any stem you shorten is a stem you have disqualified from flowering. Tidying a leggy plant in late winter, exactly when it looks worst and the urge is strongest, removes the entire coming display.
- Cut back the longest stems first Take the bare, over-extended stems back by a third to a half, cutting just beyond a pair of leaves. Leave the shorter, well-clothed stems alone so the plant keeps some shape while it regrows.
- Turn the prunings into cuttings Four to six inch (10-15 cm) semi-ripe sections root in three to five weeks in a warm, humid propagator. Take more than you need; this is the free replacement for an ageing plant.
- Repot now if it needs it This is also the only good repotting window. Go up one pot size at most, into an open mix, and only if roots are through the drainage holes or the plant dries within two days.
- Pinch the regrowth once When the new shoots reach about six inches (15 cm), pinch each tip once to double the number of stems. Stop pinching after that, because from then on every tip is a potential flower cluster.
- Feed through the warm months Half strength balanced liquid feed every two weeks while the stems are lengthening, then stop completely a fortnight before the cool rest begins.
The four dates worth writing down
This plant runs on a long enough cycle that memory is genuinely unreliable, and the useful records are only four entries a year: the day you moved it into the cool room, the day the first bud swelling appeared, the day the first flower opened, and the day you cut it back.
With one year of those dates you can see how long your particular rest needs to be before buds appear, and therefore how far in advance you must stop pruning. With two years you can work backwards from when you would like flowers and start the cool spell deliberately, rather than hoping. Add a line each year for how many stems flowered and which ones, and the pattern that the uncut stems are the flowering stems will make the pruning window impossible to forget.