Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

11.8 in

In-row spacing

11.8 in

Between rows

15 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type

Houseplant · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Sunlight

Bright but filtered light; keep direct sun off it.

Watering

Keep the compost consistently moist, and never let it stand soaked.

Feeding

A diluted balanced feed monthly in spring and summer, and none after that.

Frost tolerant

No

Pruning

Pinch the tips often to keep it compact and bushy.

Through the year

• Mar–Dec Spring Growth
• Jan–Mar Spring Growth

Pests & problems

• Mealybugs Mealybug tucked into the leaf axils and running along the stems
• Spider mites Spider mites in dry, centrally heated rooms
• Root & crown rot Root rot from overwatering, or from leaving the pot standing in water
• Sudden wilting and collapse — the familiar "fainting" — from underwatering or low humidity

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea
  Hunts MealybugsSpider mites

  Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.

  Plant nearby CilantroCosmosDillSunflowerYarrow
• Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
  Hunts MealybugsSpider mites

  The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCilantroCosmosDillFennelYarrow
• Big-eyed bug Geocoris spp.
  Hunts Spider mites

  A stubby 3 mm bug with enormous wrap-around eyes, working the soil surface and the low foliage for aphids, mites, thrips and insect eggs. It is the main natural check on chinch bugs in a lawn and it is killed outright by insecticide.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCloverCosmosGoldenrodSweet alyssum
• Hoverfly Syrphidae
  Hunts Mealybugs

  Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.

  Plant nearby CalendulaChamomileFennelFrench marigoldPhaceliaSweet alyssum
• Minute pirate bug Orius spp.
  Hunts Spider mites

  A pinhead-sized true bug that is the best natural check on thrips, and happily spears aphids, mites, and insect eggs too. It needs pollen when prey is scarce, so keep something flowering nearby.

  Plant nearby CosmosFennelFrench marigoldSweet alyssum
• Predatory mites Phytoseiulus & Amblyseius
  Hunts Spider mites

  Fast orange mites that hunt spider mites egg-by-egg, and cousins that clear thrips and fungus-gnat larvae. Sold as a biological control for greenhouses; outdoors they follow humidity — mist and mulch, don’t dust with sulfur.

• Rove beetle Staphylinidae
  Hunts Spider mites

  Slim, quick beetles with short wing cases that hunt in soil and litter, taking root-fly eggs and larvae, fungus-gnat larvae, and mites. Mulch and undisturbed ground keep them resident year-round.

  Plant nearby MintThyme