Plants
Red flame ivy
Hemigraphis alternata
BeginnerFine in a closed jar
Crinkled leaves, silver above and wine-purple below. Creeps and roots as it goes.
What the simulation uses
- Light
- 2,500 to 12,000 lux
- The brightness it grows well in.
- Humidity
- 50 to 95 % RH
- Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.
- Temperature
- 16 to 28 °C
- Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.
- Dies at
- below 10 or above 33 °C
- Days beyond these temperatures kill it.
- Soil pH
- 6 to 7 pH
- Soil acidity it prefers.
- Grows up
- 0.7 cm/month
- How fast it gains height in good conditions.
- Spreads
- 1.75 cm/month
- How fast its edge creeps outwards.
- Copes with wet
- fair
- How well it stands soggy soil; poor means rot comes quickly.
- Copes with still air
- good
- Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.
- Copes with shade
- good
- How well it holds on in dim light.
- Copes with drying
- fair
- How well it survives the jar drying out.
- Water use
- 0.08 ml/cm²/day
- Water drawn up from its roots per cm² of leaves in room air; a sealed jar cuts this to a fraction and returns it down the glass.
- Leaf drop
- 3 %/month
- Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.
- Soft leaves
- yes
- Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.
- Full size
- 11.5 cm tall, 30 cm wide
- Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.
Care
- Day length
- 10 to 14 h
- Substrate
- Moist
What kills it
- drying out
Description
It creeps along the ground and puts down roots from the joints in its stems as it spreads. Easy to grow, it likes humid air and moderate light. Trim stray stems and replant them to fill gaps.
Also called purple waffle, red ivy.
Estimated, where sources were thin: rates and limits are horticultural estimates, not measured.