---
title: Polka dot plant in a terrarium | Glass Jar Garden
description: Polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya): Leaves splashed with pink or white. Fast and cheap, leggy in low light. Needs light 5,000 to 15,000 lux, humidity...
url: https://glassjar.garden/guide/plants/hypoestes-phyllostachya/
---

Plants

# Polka dot plant
Hypoestes phyllostachya

Beginner · Fine in a closed jar

Leaves splashed with pink or white. Fast and cheap, leggy in low light.

## What the simulation uses

- Light: 5,000 to 15,000 lux (The brightness it grows well in.)

- Humidity: 50 to 90 % RH (Air moisture it is happy in; below the lower end it dries out.)

- Temperature: 16 to 27 °C (Comfortable range; outside it growth slows.)

- Dies at: below 10 or above 35 °C (Days beyond these temperatures kill it.)

- Soil pH: 5.5 to 7 pH (Soil acidity it prefers.)

- Grows up: 3.5 cm/month (How fast it gains height in good conditions.)

- Spreads: 2 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: fair (Sealed jars have still air; poor means grey mould finds it.)

- Copes with shade: fair (How well it holds on in dim light.)

- Copes with drying: fair (How well it survives the jar drying out.)

- Water use: 0.1 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: 3.5 %/month (Share of its leaves it sheds each month as litter for the cleanup crew.)

- Soft leaves: no (Soft new growth that hungry isopods will nibble.)

- Full size: 45.5 cm tall, 26.5 cm wide (Its size when grown, before the lid stops it.)

## Care

- Day length: 10 to 14 h

- Substrate: Moist

## What kills it

- root rot in waterlogged soil
- temperatures below 10 C
- powdery mildew

## Description
As a quick filler it does the job well. Pinch off the tips regularly to keep it bushy. It is prone to root rot and a white powdery mould on the leaves, so avoid soggy soil and give it some light.

Also called freckle face.

Estimated, where sources were thin: growth rates; temp_lethal_c max; light_lux.

## Sources

- [plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/hypoestes-phyllostachya](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/hypoestes-phyllostachya/)
- [hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/polka-dot-plant-hypoestes-phyllostachya](https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/polka-dot-plant-hypoestes-phyllostachya/)

[Grow it in a jar](https://glassjar.garden/?guide=plants/hypoestes-phyllostachya)

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