Philodendron verrucosum is probably one of my favourite plants in terms of aesthetics. When the new leaves emerge they practically glow, and backs of the leaves are pink and beautiful.
In terms of care, they’re not really a beginner plant, but they’re not too tricky to care for either. Ignore them at your peril (your girl loves to DROOP) and keep an eye for spider mites and you’ll be ok.
Light
Not low light – medium light is ok so long as the light is hitting for most of the day.
I’m currently regrowing mine back because I cut all the leaves off to get rid of thrips. She’s living in my south-facing window and those leaves are coming in fast.
TECHNICALLY that’s pretty high light but…it’s the North of England. YMMV.
If you want to keep a verrucosum, go ahead (assuming it has decent light) BUT you might want to move it if you live somewhere with cold winters. Cold verrucosum = pests pretty quickly.
Verrucosum can be grown BIG if given the right conditions and light is the main one. If a large plants is one of your goals you’ll also need a moss pole it can grow its aerial roots into, warmth and decent humidity. Speaking of which…
Humidity
50%+ is fine. Verrucosum don’t have suuuper delicate leaves, but they’re not thick either. A firm medium in terms of leaf hardiness.
The plant has been in tissue culture for a while now and the plants are getting more and more resilient.
If you’re after fast growth and aerial roots you might need to up the humidity. Aerial roots are NOT this plant’s strong suit.
Watering
Frequency
When it comes to watering, treat this like a peace lily. They like to stay pretty moist and will droop if they’re left too long. However, if they do droop, it’s no big deal and they’ll recover ok.
EXCEPT
A droopy plant is a stressed plant, and whilst pests give peace lilies a wide berth (I assume they can’t be bothered with the drama) spider mites and verrucosum are BFFs.
I highly recommend you keep your verrucosum in a spot you’re going to walk past often – you don’t want to forget it for too long and discover your beaituful plant has been adorned with webbing.
Quality
My verrucosum gets watered with tap water and I’ve never seen any damage on the leaves that would suggest she isn’t ok with that.
Temperature
Again, think peace lily – they like to stay nice and warm but they can get droopy if it’s hot. If you have high humidity then higher heat (you know, within reason) won’t be much of an issue BUT if you have dry air then you might want to move your verrucosum to a cooler spot.
Mine stays in our (pretty hot) living room all summer without an issue, but the UK can be incredibly humid (we call it muggy) in summer so she doesn’t wilt.
Growth pattern
Definitely falls into the category of ‘a climber that does NOT want to climb.’
If you’re good at keeping moss poles consistently moist then that is 100% the way to go. Mines on a Kratiste pole and she has shown little interest in it.
Except medium-long internodal spacing and a somewhat haphazard growth pattern if you’re not optimising conditions for sizing up the leaves (i.e. perfect conditions and a moss pole). I like it though!
Pleasantly fast growing.
Pests
Spider mites and thrips are it’s favourite. Remain vigilant. I tend to cut it back when I see pests, because it grows back pretty quickly.
Propagation
No.
I’m joking, but also…these fellas do NOT want to root. I’ve tried water and a prop box and I didn’t see any movement at all.
If anyone has any suggestions I’m all ears!
I currently have a chunk propagating and it’s grown a LEAF but no roots. The leaf is, of course, struggling.
Like…babe, what did you think would happen?
I picked a load of the moss off and…it’s not even trying to root.
Pricing
The adults can be quite pricy but you can get tissue culture babies for around a fiver (at least, you can in the UK).
The babies dry out fatally quickly when they’re young but my technique of keeping them on the coffee table so I don’t forget they exist works well, and after a couple of months they’ll be a little less needy.
Soil type
As P. verrucosum is a climber then you’re looking for something chunky that won’t hold a tonne of moisture for a long time.
I do any old houseplant potting soil with some extra perlite. It adds aerate but still holds some moisture. It’s probably not ideal BUT I’m a chronic underwaterer.
If you’re more likely to overwater your plant, go for a houseplant potting mix with some orchid bark. Perhaps 2 parts soil to 1 part bark? It really depends on how often you’re watering. If you find the soil is drying out too quickly, add more soil, if it stays too wet, add more bark.
I like to have my plants dry out approx every couple of weeks. They won’t all play ball, of course, but I don’t really want to be watering more frequently than that (I make an exception in the height of summer because that’s when they’re growing faster and I feel like they’re holding up their end of the bargain).
Repotting
P. verrucosum are troopers when it comes to repotting. I bought mine as a baby and had to repot frequently and it wasn’t fussed.
THAT BEING SAID
I don’t tend to mess around with roots or anything. It’s a quick out of one pot, into another, and then back into the same spot and pretend nothing has happened.
Fertilising
In honour of all those ‘high maintenance things I do to stay low maintenance’ YouTube videos, I’ve started fertilising every time I water. All my plants. No complaints so far.
HOWEVER
Let it be known that I went YEARS without ever feeding my plants. You would be surprised at little difference it makes compared to giving them a tonne of light and watering them consistently.
I also don’t think fertiliser brand matters too much. Use a houseplant fertiliser that’s easy for you get hold of, or cheap, or that you like the label of.
I hope you found this article helpful! If you have any questions then feel free to leave a comment either here, on my newsletter or my Instagram.
