How to Grow Red Fittonia? A Detailed Care Guide

The leaf veins of red fittonia are red and clearly displayed on the leaves, giving it a certain ornamental value. It is native to tropical rainforest regions and is now mostly grown as a potted ornamental plant. How to grow red fittonia well?

1. How to grow red fittonia

1. Choose a flower pot of moderate size, and use 1 part each of peat, sandy soil and leaf mold mixed together as the potting soil.

2. Place tiles or other drainage material at the bottom of the pot. When watering normally, it is better to keep it moist rather than dry; water before the soil dries out completely, but do not let water accumulate in the pot.

3. On cloudy and rainy days, control water appropriately to keep the potting soil slightly drier. If the leaves droop from a temporary lack of water, you can water and spray, then cover the plant with a bag to increase humidity, and it will recover. However, after this happens several times, the root system is damaged, and afterward the leaves will wilt at the slightest mishap.

4. Red fittonia has a high requirement for air humidity, so it can be placed near a water basin or in other places with higher humidity. When the climate is dry, you can also cover it with a glass jar or plastic bag to keep dry air away and ensure relatively high air humidity, but when the temperature is high, it needs both shade and attention to ventilation. During the vigorous growth period, apply a light fertilizer twice a month.

5. After moving it indoors in winter, keep the temperature no lower than 15°C, otherwise it is prone to freezing to death. During this period, pay special attention to the water temperature when watering; do not use water that is too cold. Keep the soil relatively moist, and it is best to cover it with a plastic bag to keep it warm, which is more favorable for overwintering.

2. Propagation methods of red fittonia

Red fittonia is mainly propagated by cuttings. From June to July, take stems with 3-4 nodes and insert them into a sterilized substrate. The substrate should not be too dry or too wet. When the weather is dry, you can cover it with plastic film to retain moisture, and it will root in about 10 days. Water propagation by cuttings can also be used.

After cuttings are taken, they are vulnerable to direct strong light, so they need to be kept in a semi-shaded place, or given 70% shade. If kept indoors, place them in as bright a spot as possible, and every one to two months move them outdoors to a semi-shaded place or keep them shaded for a month, so they can accumulate nutrients and recover their growth vigor. Cutting propagation cannot do without sunlight, but the stronger the light, the higher the temperature inside the cuttings, the more vigorous the transpiration of the cuttings, and the more water they consume, which is not conducive to the survival of the cuttings. Therefore, after cutting, 50-80% of the sunlight must be blocked.

The care work for red fittonia is relatively simple, mainly controlling its humidity and temperature.