Easy Tips How to care Alocasia Zebrina

The Alocasia Zebrina is a lovely tropical flowering plant. Its enormous leaves, as well as its lovely zebra-like stalks, stand out. It’s not the simplest plant to look after, and it does shed leaves now and again. Fortunately, this is quite typical and causes no concern. If you give this plant proper care, it will only lose its old leaves to create room for huge new leaves.

Humidity and watering

The Alocasia Zebrina is a tropical plant, which means it needs a lot of water. Pests can get into it if it gets too dry. There is a simple way to keep this plant moist: mist it from time to time. Do this at least once a week in the morning. When you mist your Alocasia Zebrina, you also keep the leaves from becoming dirty. It makes your plant look better, and it’ll be happier with the extra humidity that it will get from the water.

When should I water it?

In general, this plant likes to live in a humid place, but that doesn’t mean it likes to be watered very often. It’s better to water this plant a little. So, it won’t need to be watered as often because it has thick stems that are full of moisture. If your plant has long stems, it will be easy to tell when it needs moisture. There is no more moisture in the plant’s stems when all of them start to droop a little bit. This stems that it needs to be watered again. Water your plant if only one stem starts to droop. A single drooping stem could be a sign that your plant is trying to grow a new leaf.

How do I water it?

A simple way to water this plant is to water it until water comes out of the drainage hole. When the water drips out of the drainage hole, the soil has taken in all the water it can. This means that the soil is dry. Draining the extra water is important to keep the roots from getting rotten. Because the Alocasia Zebrina doesn’t like to be in wet soil, root rot will happen quickly if you leave it there.

You may use the plastic pot it came in and set it inside the “permanent” pot if you don’t have a pot with a drainage hole. This is seen in the figure above. You may now remove out the nursery pot and place it in a sink to water your Alocasia Zebrina. You may now water your plant, drain the excess water, and re-pot it without any drainage holes.

If this isn’t an option for you, simply water it more often, but in little amounts. The idea is to keep the soil moist but not so wet that your Alocasia sits in water.

Check the weight of the pot by lifting it.

For many plants, you may just touch the soil and water it if it seems dry. This is not the case with this particular plant. This Alocasia is extremely water-sensitive. Apart from the drooping stems, the simplest method to tell whether it needs watering is to raise the pot and water it if it feels light. This might take some time to master. So, if your plant is drooping, don’t water it right away; instead, raise it up.

Sunlight

This plant need a lot of light to thrive. It’s in a room with a south-facing window, so it receives enough of light throughout the day. But don’t put it directly near to the window; it’ll burn its lovely, large leaves. If your plant develops somewhat yellow leaves, the sun is too much for it, and you should shift it to a little shadier location.

It’s not an issue if you don’t have a room with a south-facing window. In a west or east facing window, you may also place it adjacent to the window. Although these rooms will not receive as much sun, placing the plant directly next to the window will provide ample light throughout the day.

Rotate the plant’s position.

This plant is obsessed with sunshine, to the point that if you don’t give it enough of it, it will grow its stems longer and longer in search of the brightest spot. This indicates that the plant will grow in the direction of the sun. If you don’t pay attention to this, the plant will grow to one side rather than up if you don’t. To avoid this, rotate the plant 90 degrees (a quarter) after each watering. You don’t need to do anything if your plant isn’t striving for the sun; it’s happy where it is.

Soil

When it comes to nurturing plants, the soil you use is crucial. You must consider each plant’s individual requirements. This plant, as described before in this article, should be submerged rather than overwatered, as overwatering can destroy it.

Using exceptionally well-draining soil is one technique to ensure that the possibilities of overwatering are decreased. This will ensure that all surplus water is drained from the pot and just the minimum amount of water remains. This is ideal because this plant is quite sensitive to overwatering. It will only be able to absorb a small quantity of water, and its roots will be less likely to rot.

Fertilizer

During its growth season, which lasts from spring to early October, the Alocasia Zebrina grows quite swiftly. Fertilize the plant every two weeks at this time to give it the energy it needs to keep growing so swiftly. Ensure that the leftover fertilizer is flushed away every several months. This may be accomplished by fully watering the plant and allowing the water to drain through the bottom of the pot. This will maintain your plant in a livable place in the soil.

Size of the pot

In a small pot, the Alocasia Zebrina enjoys being root bound. So don’t rush into repotting this plant into a larger pot. It’s ecstatic to be in such a small pot. When you do need to relocate this plant to a larger pot, do it in small steps. To keep the Alocasia happy, move it to a little larger pot as soon as possible. When the roots begin to emerge from the bottom of the pot, you know your Zebrina is doing well.

Poisonous

When eaten, the Alocasia Zebrina is toxic, and the sap from its stem can irritate your skin. As a result, small children and dogs should be kept away from this plant. This manner, you can get the most out of this plant and it will look its best in the long term.

The Alocasia Zebrina’s size

Alocasia Zebrinas come in a wide range of sizes, from small bulbs to mature plants reaching heights of up to 3 feet. Other Alocasia plants can grow to be quite large, but the Alocasia Zebrina stays small enough to be an ideal houseplant.

Characteristics of Alocasia Zebrina

Every plant has its unique personality traits, such as the ability to produce blossoms. There are a few character traits on the Alocasia Zebrina that appear to be worse than they are. This section explains why your plant behaves the way it does and why you shouldn’t blame yourself for things your plant does on its own.

Falling leaves

When an Alocasia Zebrina is in full bloom, it will produce a large number of leaves in a short amount of time. This has no effect on the plant until a certain stage. Your plant will begin to lose the weakest leaves in a stunning manner once it has roughly 5 leaves. This is how it appears in the image below.

To protect the weakest leaves for new development, the plant shuts off the nutrition to them. The plant can only support 4-5 leaves at a time, and when new leaves emerge, the old and weak ones wither and die. There’s nothing wrong with this; it’s just how the plant works. Because there is no way to conserve the leaf, you should take it as a sign that fresh leaves are on their way.

Leaves that are sweating

You may have seen water drips on the leaves of your Alocasia Zebrina while caring for it. These emerge when your plant has been overwatered and is attempting to “sweat” the extra water out through microscopic pores on the leaves. There’s no need to be concerned; the plant is OK. However, it’s something to think about for the next time you’re watering.