Philodendron Birkin

$45.00

The Philodendron Birkin is a rare gorgeous houseplant with dark green leaves. The beautiful leaves are variegated with a light yellow too. You don’t find many plants like it.

Philodendron Birkin are easy to care for as long as you have some knowledge under your belt. Read instructions below for best results.

Comes in a 4.5 inch growers pot, ceramic pot not included.

Light

Philodendron Birkin plants thrive from bright indirect light. You want to give your plant the feeling it’s under a tropical canopy. You have to mimic its’ natural habitat.

Direct sunlight for too long can cause leaves to start falling off. The plant will dry up fast and wilt away. However, too much shade is just as dangerous for your Philodendron Birkin. It can cause too much space between the leaves and the stems will start to sag and lead to plant death as well.

If you choose to place your Philodendron Birkin in a window sill, place it in an east or west-facing window. It requires at least 12 hours of light during the day. But don’t leave it in light for 24 hours a day

Watering

Like most plants, you want moist soil so your Philodendron Birkin can soak up the hydration. But you also want to avoid over-watering your plant so you can avoid that dreaded wet feet. So, you want to wait until the soil is mostly (but not all) dry before you water it.

The best way to check the moisture is to place your finger into the soil. The soil that hits your knuckle and above should be dry before you water the plant. Try not to let the soil dry too much further below the soil or it won’t get the water it needs to thrive.

Another way to tell is whether you have soil stuck to your finger when you pull it out of the pot. If there’s soil on your finger still, it’s still moist enough and doesn’t need watering yet.

However, during winter, allow all the soil to dry before you water it.

Temperature

As houseplants, average home temperatures are fine. Lack of humidity in our homes can be a problem for other houseplants but not this one. It takes the dry air in our homes just fine.

Feeding / Fertilizing

Philodendron Birkin require soil that is well-draining, which means that a mixture of normal potting soil and fine bark works perfectly. You can also use sand or small stones in the base of the pot to help with drainage. And as far as fertilizer, this plant should be fed every two weeks with diluted liquid fertilizer.

I have a great one for sale in my shop HERE. Whatever you do, don’t over-fertilize (too much or too often) and don’t feed in the colder, darker months, because the plant is resting.

Propagation

The process of propagation for a Philodendron Birkin uses stem cuttings.

Using Water:

First, you have to get your stem cutting if you don’t already have one. Cut a piece of stem that’s three to six inches in length. The longer, the better. Cut beneath a leaf node or a set of leaves. Don’t use a normal pair of scissors to cut your cuttings, use pruning shears instead.
Pull the leaves off two leaf nodes that start from the bottom. You want these nodes bare.
Fill a clear mason jar or a similar container with water. Make sure there’s an inch of space beneath the rim of the jar. Set the jar out overnight. This gives the chlorine in the water time to dissipate.
The next day, place the stem cutting into the clear mason jar. The bare leaf nodes should sit in the water.
You need to change the water every other day to keep the water clean and free from bacteria. A little over a week, you’ll see roots start to sprout from the bottom of the stem cutting.
Once the roots are out, you want to move your stem cutting to where it can receive indirect bright light. That can be from the sun or grow lights.
After the roots have grown an inch, you can move your growing plant to a pot. Be careful with the roots, you don’t want to tear them up in the process.

Toxicity

Philodendron plants contain a high amount of calcium oxalate crystals. Calcium oxalate is toxic to both humans and animals.

Your cat could die from ingesting a large amount of a philodendron plant. Smaller amounts can still make your cat very, very ill.