They are pretty easy plants, but there are some little things to know (based on my experience growing them in a heated Seattle GH):
- In the dog days of summer, hot without nighttime cooling off makes them drop leaves / go yellow / die off quickly. We get that naturally here where its rare to have 70 degree nights.
Nighttime temps in high 50s at night makes them happy(ish) in summer. They can tolerate days in 90s - 100 even, but not many in a row... If you get cooled off each night pretty well, they sort of tolerate things without dying.
You combat those hot days with humidity and air flow, keeping pots cool. You might use a cooler if your growing area is consistently above 65 at night.
I would think cooling is unnecessary in fall / winter - unless you are having Indian summer / hot fall in the high 80s. But again, not sure how hot you keep your nighttime temps in your house / windowsill.
- they get bacterial rot / fungal spots on leaves sorta easy. pest management and airflow are important - the leaves look nasty if you have stagnant air - root growth also does better with a breeze.
winter is awesome on them though.
watering - people focus on it too much, they like clean water I've heard, but Seattle water is really good. Aim for moist moss that isn't dripping. Root loss can become a problem with constantly wet and stale media.
Repotting yearly seems to be smart - though sometimes I don't get to it. Big plants can be difficult - you might want to divide rather than grow giant specimens as root loss goes bonkers in bigger pots with lots of moss & roots. I haven't figured out a good system to maintain a giant specimen.
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