7 Ways To Care For Episcia Flowers, Tiny And Beautiful Hanging Ornamental Plants

Illustration of how to care for hanging ornamental plants, episcia flowers (Pexels/Nilanka Sampath)

JAKARTA – One type of hanging ornamental plants that flower beautifully is episcia. There are various varieties of flowers that belong to the Gesneriaceae family, including episcia cupriata, episcia silver skies, episcia pink panther, episcia flamingo, episcia emerald lace, episcia Cleopatra, and other varieties that have various combinations of leaf and flower colors.

Episcia, reported by Gardening Know How, Tuesday, November 30, is a genus of brightly colored plants whose natural habitat is in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America. The growth is very unique, because there are stolons or shoot extensions that grow horizontally and spread around the pot.

Can you imagine how to reproduce hanging ornamental plants, episcia flowers? Yes, propagation can be done vegetatively or known as geragih. How to care for episcia flowers is also quite easy. If you are interested in growing it at home, here's how to take care of it.

1. Put in the right place

Episcia will not thrive and be leafy if placed in a cool place and not exposed to the morning and evening sun. At low temperatures, episcia will most likely undergo decay. Ideally, hanging episcia plants are placed in a place with a temperature of 22-25 degrees Celsius.

2. Needs periodic rejuvenation

With increasing age, decorative episcia flower plants will turn yellow and fall off. This is normal and requires periodic rejuvenation. As with vegetative propagation.

3. Adjust the humidity around hanging ornamental plants

The character of the episcia leaves is hairy like a carpet. This affects how you water so the leaves don't absorb water and moisture. How to water it, use a spray and point it at the planting medium. Avoid spraying on plants as this can dampen the leaves and stems and lead to rot.

To keep the plant from getting too dry, keep the plant away from radiators or electronics that emit heat.

4. Try to expose it to the sun

Lack of exposure to sunlight makes episcia flowers not bloom. That is, place it in a window facing east or west so that it is exposed to sunlight.

5. Suitable planting media

Episcia flower plants like slightly acidic soil, precisely with a pH of 5.5. For the composition of the growing media, use a mixture of coarse sand or perlite, peat soil, humus, and a little charcoal and straw. Most importantly, use a pot with good drainage.

Episcia flower hanging plant illustration (iStock)

6. Regular watering

When flowering, it is enough to do watering every 2 days. Avoid water flooding the pot because the humidity will be excessive. However, the soil should not dry out.

7. Fertilization

This hanging plant, the episcia flower, although small in size still requires fertilizer. Give liquid fertilizer once a month which is sprinkled on the planting medium.

Episcia cannot tolerate strong winds, tobacco smoke, and gas. In addition to how to care for the above that needs to be done, clean the leaves with a toothbrush to keep them beautiful. It should also be noted that episcia plants have fragile trunks, so care must be taken when caring for these plants.