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Syngonium is a beautiful, prolific growing plant. They can fit in a variety of different conditions and make perfect houseplants because they can grow in so many different environments. They can be perfectly happy in a dark bathroom or they can grow prolifically in a sunroom. It just depends on what you have going on and what’s going to work best for you. This plant will adapt to pretty much any conditions that you can throw at it. Syngonium is unique in the sense that you can have them growing vertically or you can have them growing out and bushy. They can be hanging plants, they can be trailing plants, they can be vining plants, or they can be climbing plants. Because they are so hearty and voracious, they can grow in so many different ways. They are a perfect addition to any home.
Origin
Like always, we want to talk about the origin of our plants so that way we can better care for them. Syngonium is grown in tropical rainforests in Mexico and South America. They grow prolifically up along trees and they vine out along the forest floor. They are very hardy plants and they can even be invasive depending on where they are growing.
In many cases, you’ll end up seeing them put outside in places like Florida and then they will take over an entire yard. It just depends. It’s very important if you do put them outside that you make sure that they’re contained in some way because they do grow prolifically. This is not great news if you are living in a yard in Florida, but it is fantastic news if you love house plants and you want to keep them contained in your home.
Water
As far as water goes for these plants in your home, they are very easy to care for. You just let them almost dry out. When they start to look a little sad, you go ahead and soak them well and let them absorb all of that water. You can also have a well-draining mix and then just kind of water them every day. As long as they’re not sitting in water for too long of a time, they’ll be perfectly fine for you.
They do grow well if you take them as cuttings and put them in water, it’s just substituting them from water to soil or soil to water. They tend to get a little cranky, with a lot of leaf loss. So just try to pick one media and then go from there.
Lighting
These plants are very, very flexible with light requirements as well. Syngonium does not need to be in a lot of light, especially if they are all green varieties. They can grow in pretty dark corners. No plant is ever a no-light plant. They do need some light, but these plants can grow in the darkest recesses of our homes and still be perfectly fine with their all-green foliage for a while.
If they have brighter colored foliage, if you have some type of pink Syngonium and neon Syngonium, even a Syngonium albo, these are Syngonium that are going to need a lot more light. They don’t need bright, direct light. They don’t need to have a southern-facing window shining light directly on them. However, if you can give them kind of shadows of that, they’ll be perfectly fine. You just pull a sheer curtain over that southern-facing window, it’ll be perfectly fine. They’ll be perfectly happy there.
If you put the variegated Syngonium in a lower-light situation, it’ll survive just fine. Unfortunately, they will start to lose some of that variegation though. They’ll produce more green so that they can absorb more food, which is light. So you just have to adapt their lighting situations to the type of Syngonium that you have and the type of Syngonium that you are wanting to have.
Temperatures
Syngonium is a very hardy plant as well because it can handle a variety of temperatures. Anywhere from 60 degrees to 90 degrees. They’ll be perfectly fine. They don’t mind having it be a little cold. They’re just not frost-hardy plants. They are very tolerant of most normal home temperatures that humans would withstand though.
Growing Medium
If you’re going to put these plants in a soil mix, they do prefer an epiphytic or an aroid mix. Something with bark, sphagnum moss, and perlite. Think it is very airy, and very chunky. They are hemi-epaphytic plants, which means that they use their roots to absorb nutrients from the air around them.
They need air to be able to enter their roots. Also, they don’t want to be in a situation where their roots are compacted and crushed down by a potting mix. They want to have that breathability. They’re used to being able to climb trees and absorb the nutrients from the air around them. Then they have a very airy mixture at the root base of these trees because the tree roots will be breaking all that up as well. So they’re used to having a lot of air around their roots, and they do not want to be in plain potting soil, compacted in a pot. They will rot that way, unfortunately. So you got to mix it up. You’ve got to add in some bark. You’ve got to add in some perlite. You just got to give it a little bit more aeration so that way they can grow through that and thrive.
Humidity
As far as humidity goes, the higher the better. These Syngonium love high humidity. It doesn’t matter what kind, or what variety of Syngonium. They love their high humidity. If you have 90% or higher humidity, make sure you have some type of air blowing around so that way you can prevent fungal and bacterial diseases. So just something to keep in mind. Higher the humidity, the better. They love their humidity, but you also have to make sure that they’re getting some air as well.
If you have very low humidity, you may notice some crisping tips on these plants. That’s perfectly fine, perfectly normal. You just have to up the humidity a little bit. Sometimes even 5% or 10% higher can remove those crispy tips. Nothing lower than 35% overall for these if you want to have growth and no crisping.
For the most part, there are some Syngonium varieties, like a green Syngonium, that are going to handle lower humidity a little bit better than something like a Syngonium Albo, which would prefer a little bit of a higher humidity because they have to deal with their variegation as well.
Fertilizer
Syngonium does not need a lot of fertilizer but is not sensitive to it either. Generally, a slow-release fertilizer works best in standard increments. If they do not have enough nutrients their foliage will start to get smaller, slow down, or come in deformed.
Growth Pattern
We do want to talk about how Syngonium loves to climb in nature. They’re climbing trees almost like ivy or like a Monstera would. They can climb all the way to the tippy top of trees, and they love that light that they can get up there. Another thing that Syngonium do is as they grow maturity-wise, and as they get to climb, they will add extra little lobes.
The average Syngonium that you see is going to have a little arrow shape and then they’ll have two little ears kind of sticking out the top two little lobes there. Fully mature Syngonium can have up to five of those lobes going on, and it is incredible to see. They look completely different. And it’s very fun to have these plants grow and mature in your care and see them change slowly over time. It’s very beautiful.
Some people prefer to have a less mature Syngonium, which is perfectly fine as long as you keep your plant trailing or kind of creeping over and sitting in a pot instead of a climbing situation. They’ll stay those tiny little arrow-shaped leaves and that’ll be perfectly fine for you as well. It’s not going to harm the plant in either way. It’s just what look you prefer for yourself.
Syngonium is very easy to care for with a variety of colors. The fun part is choosing how to grow them and what way you want them to fit into your home. Their requirements are minimal, especially for how quickly they can grow and playing with different lighting to get various results definitely make having a Syngonium in your home fun and interesting.
