The Best Way to Care For an Arrowhead Plant Indoors
The Arrowhead Plant is a wonderful vining or trailing houseplant with several common names; Goosefoot, Arrowhead Vine, (due to its ability to climb), Arrowhead Philodendron, (because it is a relative of the Philodendron), and Nephthytis, (which is not an entirely correct name for it. The Nephthytis is a very similar looking plant, however, it is of African genus and origins).
Native to the tropical jungles of Latin America, the Syngonium Podophyllum is naturally wide spread from Mexico to Bolivia. It is currently naturalized in areas such as Hawaii, Florida, Texas and the West Indies.
It is considered an invasive species in many of these areas, as its roots spread wide and fast!
In tropical jungles, the Arrowhead Plant climbs over trunks of trees, going from under-canopy shade, all the way up, to the sunny top.
As it climbs from shade to full light, the spade-like shape of its leaves changes in both shape and colour. In the bottom part of the plant, where the sun rays are filtered by the trees canopy, the leaves have darker colours and stronger contrasts. As they go higher towards the sun, and the plant continues to mature, the leaves slowly change from spade-like to three, and even five finger shaped. The colours go from dark to lighter as they slowly bleach in the sunlight.
This is helpful to understand how the Arrowhead Plant evolves as it matures and with different light exposures.
You don’t need to worry about growing a giant bean stock in your home! Even though the Arrowhead Plant is a fast grower, it won’t grow as aggressively in your home as it does in the jungle!
You can choose to prune it when it grows too big in order to maintain a smaller and lush upward plant, or you can let it trail from a book shelf, or, you can even train it as a vining plant on a trellis!
There are different varieties on the market you can choose from; plain green, variegated green and stark white or lime green and pink.
Whatever you choose, here’s how you can care for the Arrowhead Plant indoors!
arrowhead plant light
As you’ve already read in the previous section, the Arrowhead Plant adapts pretty well to different light conditions; from moderate to bright, indirect.
However, based on my experience with this plant, and the fact that you are not growing a tall, jungle plant with a scrawny top, I recommend you place it in bright, indirect light.
Make sure that your plant does not receive any direct sunlight, or its leaves will fade.
If you have a variegated Arrowhead Plant, its variegation will be brighter and more contrasting with less bright light.
In this picture my young Arrowhead Plant is hanging by an East facing window.
ARROWHEAD PLANT temperature & humidity
A plant that is native to the tropical jungle will naturally enjoy warm and humid conditions.
However, the Arrowhead Plant is quite adaptable to the average home temperature and humidity, as long as it is not exposed to any cold drafts.
If you live in a dry home, I recommend increasing the humidity around your plant.
There are a few strategies you can adopt to increase the humidity levels around your houseplants. You can choose one, or combine a few of them together.
- Using a plant humidifier. There are several products available on the market. I really like this ultrasonic cool mist one from Amazon.
- Misting your plant daily. I mist all those plants that thrive in high humidity, such as Marantas, Monsteras, Alocasias, Stromanthes, Calatheas, Fiddle Leaf Figs, Strelitzias, Ferns, Pileas, Peace Lilies and my Norfolfk Pine.
- Grouping your plants by species. Grouping plants together will help them raise the surrounding air humidity levels.
- Using a tray filled with pebbles and water. Filling a saucer with small pebbles and adding water so that it barely reaches the top surface of the pebbles, helps maintaining higher levels of humidity around the plant. However, it is important that the bottom of the pot is not submerged in water with the roots stagnating in it. This will cause root rot in the long term.
Full and lush Arrowhead Plant sitting by a North facing window.
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ARROWHEAD PLANT watering & fertilizing
This is one of the very few plants I can actually water on schedule.
I do that because I know that she gets thirsty weekly!
How do I know? Because like the Peace Lily, the Arrowhead Plant is very good at letting you know when it’s time to water it; it goes all droopy and sad looking!
But it won’t take it long to perk back up after watering it thoroughly.
The rule of thumb to water this plant is to let it dry out half way through between waterings.
The more light it is exposed to, the more water it will need.
The less light, the less water. Do not over-water this plant as it is prone to root rot!
Fertilize once a month from Spring to Fall with a liquid plant food. Avoid fertilizing during winter.
This Arrowhead Plant is tilting its leaves towards the light.
It needs to be pruned and repotted, which is something that needs to be done in Spring.
ARROWHEAD PLANT repotting
The Syngonium grows extensive roots quite fast and it doesn’t particularly enjoy being root bound, unlike other plants.
It is important to repot it every Spring, even when a bigger pot is not necessary. Replacing the nutrients depleted soil with some fresh soil is always a good practice, even if you have to repot your plant in the same pot. Click here to learn more about Repotting Houseplants.
As mentioned before, the Arrowhead Plant is susceptible to root rot. For this reason it is critical to plant it inside a pot with drainage holes and with good porosity. I recommend terracotta pots for the majority of indoor plants as its porosity is ideal to absorb excess moisture in the soil.
If your plant does need a bigger pot, make sure to only go up one size, (i.e. if your plant is currently in a 4″ pot, plant it in a 6″ pot, not 8″ – pots sizes typically go up by 2″). A big pot will contain too much soil, which will retain too much moisture, placing your plant at risk of root rot.
Use a well draining soil, which in this case is a mix of tropical soil and perlite. (Add one part perlite to four parts soil to increase soil drainage).
ARROWHEAD PLANT PRUNING & propagating
Pruning an Arrowhead Plant is both nice and necessary.
The plant will reach a point in its growth when it will get leggy.
Pruning it will allow you to both maintain your plant beautiful and to propagate it.
Pruning and propagating need to be performed in Spring or during the Summer months. The only reason to do it outside these seasons is when your plant is affected by pests and diseases.
Pruning indoor plants is actually very beneficial to them. For every leaf and stem you cut, there will be new growth.
Plants divert the energy they are spending on decaying parts into growing new parts! Click here to read my Blog on Pruning Indoor Plants!
So prune those yellow leaves, chop off those leggy stems!
Your Arrowhead Plant will grow new leaves and will get bushier and lusher!
You can use those cuttings to propagate your Arrowhead Plant!
In-fact, Arrowhead Plants can be propagated by cutting or division.
- By cutting; cut the stem between the aerial roots and place them in water to further develop roots for a few weeks. Once the roots have developed and are at least 2″ long, you can plant them in soil, using the same tips I gave you in the Repotting Section of this Blog.
- By division; you can either manually pull apart the roots of your plant, or, if too tangled, cut them off with a knife and re-pot them directly in soil.
Tiny aerial roots circled in red. You can cut the stems between aerial roots and place them in water to further root before planting.
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