Philodendron Golden Dragon Variegated Care
ABOUT
Philodendron Golden Dragon Variegated is a Thai philodendron hybrid (with likely Bipennifolium parentage) featuring beautiful creamy white (sometimes yellow or even minty green) sectoral variegation on distinctive foliage that develops deeply pinnate lobes - thought to resemble a dragon's head (hence the name) as it matures.
FAMILY
Araceae
LIGHT REQUIREMENTS
"Bright indirect!" (jk jk) The google oracle tells me these guys like around 50-250 umol/m2/s. The ones in my plant tent are at about 150, as I personally find that they can be a bit prone to light bleaching on the higher end.
TEMP / HUMIDTY
They're pretty forgiving on temperature. 70-80º F (21 - 26.5° C) is probably ideal but they do alright (or at least can survive) anywhere from 45-95º F (7 -35º C.)
For humidity, again, pretty forgiving. I'd say ideally above 50% but my personal plant gets on perfectly well in my very dry upstate NY winters, though growth is a bit slower during that period.
WATERING
Once again, going to have to say they're pretty forgiving. If in soil, I'd water when the top 2" or so of the soil is dry.
GROW MEDIA
They'd do well in a nice chunky aroid mix, something with plenty of bark, coco husk and/or perlite or in semi-hydro. I grow all my props in chunky perlite and my personal plant is in LECA.
GROWTH RATE
As with most tropical plants, they'll do better (grow faster) grown in warm / humid conditions (winter growth is definitely much slower) but they're pretty steady on average. Not too fast, not too slow.
EASE OF PROPAGATION
I find them pretty easy to propagate where survival is concerned, especially if you've got an existing aerial root, however, the variegation can be tricky. These guys are a bit more prone to reversion / ghosting (going all white) than some others. I'd say maybe half (ish) of all props end up being listable.
TOXICITY
Mildly toxic - Like many Philodendron, Golden Dragon contain calcium oxalate crystals which may cause oral irritation, burning of the mouth, tongue, and lips if swallowed or chewed. (Unless you're our cat, in which case it's apparently delicious. Spicy. Yum!)
ADDITIONAL INFO
This is a climbing plant, so they definitely benefit from having a support, whether that be a moss or coir pole or even a plank.
If you have any questions, or some advice of your own to offer, please feel free to comment below.
Thanks so much for stopping by!