December 2019 - 31

hot tropics
W
ho among us has never owned
a pothos plant? I believe
you won't find too many that
haven't had one in their home
l
at some point, whether as a child, or currently
as an adult. Pothos are part of a wide variety
of tropical vines commonly produced for
our industry. All in the family Araceae are
scindapsus, epipremnum and philodendron.
They encompass a wide variety of leaf
sizes, shapes and colors. You can
find them used in baskets, pots,
and the spiller parts of combos.
The holiday season wouldn't be
complete without 'Hawaiian'
pothos or marble queen spilling
out of your poinsettia bowls!
SCINDAPSUS AND
EPIPREMNUM
There are not a lot of
distinguishable differences between
scindapsus or epipremnum. The most
specific difference is that scindapsus produce
one ovule in each ovary and eprimenum will
have multiple. Our industry has been using
these two genera interchangeably. Some
of the most commonly known varieties are
'Hawaiian' pothos, 'Pearls and Jade', 'Jade',
'Marble Queen' and Neon as well as 'Pictus',
'Pictus Silvery Ann' and 'Pictus Silver Splash'.
Depending on your needs, you have variations
of color from green to white to yellow. Until
I moved to Florida, I had no idea that an
outdoor-grown pothos can quickly grow into a
large vine with leaves up to 2 feet in length!
Scindapsus/epipremnum in general prefer
a little bit of shade, but 'Hawaiian' pothos can
tolerate full sun. The coloration of the plants
will be much better with 30 to 50% shade.
All these varieties are fairly easy to grow with
minimal issues.
The most common issues these plants will face
will be Phytophthora root rot, bacterial wilt and
Rhizoctonia. Phytophthora can be identified by
the loss of roots as well as the leaves turning from
brown to black. When the issue is Phytophthora,
the veins and the stems do not turn black if there
is an infection. For bacterial wilt, you guessed it,
the leaves will typically wilt. The stems and veins
will turn black. If you place an infected cut stem
into water, you will typically see the bacteria
ooze from the stem into the water. When your
issue is Rhizoctonia, you will typically see dark
and necrotic spots on the leaves for aerial and
for root infections the plants will usually turn
dark brown and die. These issues can be relatively
easily controlled with proper sanitation and a
preventative spray rotation.
Pot Size
Plants Per Pot
4-inch pot
6-inch pot
8-inch basket
10-inch basket
8 plants
15 plants
25 plants
35 plants
PHILODENDRON
There are many types of philodendron in the
market. For today, we are going to focus on the
vining types. Some of the main vining types are
philodendron 'Brasil', 'Cordatum', and 'Cordatum
Lemon Lime'. These, similar to the above, have
a variety of colors to their leaves with green
and yellow. Although they are relatively simple
to produce, they can have similar problems to
the scindapsus/epipremnum. The main things
to watch out for are bacteria leaf spot, Pythium
root and stem rot, and Southern Blight.
All of these wonderful vines are found to be
tasty to aphids, mealybugs, snails and slugs.
Occasionally you can also find thrips as well.
Maintain an active scouting program to keep
these issues under control.
Grow Time
8-10 weeks
16-18 weeks
26-28 weeks
30-32 weeks
PLANTING GUIDELINES
The production of these vary based upon the
pot size that they are being produced in. The
table above gives some guidelines for plants
per pot as well as average grow times. These
crop times need to be adjusted based upon
your local environments.
As you can find these plants in every box
store, garden center and often grocery stores,
there clearly is a large demand for these plants.
They definitely should be considered as part of
your overall mix of production.
Andrew Britten is product development manager
with ForemostCo Inc. He can be reached at
andrewb@foremostco.com
GREENHOUSE PRODUCT NEWS 31
December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2019
