Nature and Gardening

Prince of orange is a hybrid philo, unique in a way that new leaves will start out a vibrant orange and as they grow older they transition to a reddish hue, to eventually a dark green. This is a self-heading philodendron, which means it does not vine and will eventually continue to grow from the central stem. Eventually it will take up a couple feet of space, but they do not grow real quickly.

They do require a bit of humidity. In fact, this photo of mine is a good example of how the leaves may unfurl if it is kept in a lower humidity area, which is in fact where this one is stationed! You can see it most prominently on the top dark green leaf where it is slughtly malformed. With lower humidity, the leaves don't unfurl quite as elegant, and tend to look a little crumpled. The newer leaves you see here in orange are coming out very nicely because the humidity has been higher the past couple months here.

They tend not to be as super picky with their soil needs. A good overall tropical blend will keep them happy (1/1/1 mix of perlite or orchid bark, peat moss or coco coir, and standard potting soil.) They will also be happy with a 50/50 mix of peat or potting soil/perlite or orchid bark. Drainage is important. I water mine when the first one or two inches on the top soil is dry.

As with all plants, it does like light, but this one can survive in lower light environments. Direct sunlight will burn thia guy's leaves, but low light environments will not allow it to thrive. I have mine in a west facing window and it seems to be happier there than when it was in a north or south facing window.

Philodendrons also tend to get something called extrafloral nectaries. At first this seems scary when you see them; they look like little lighter round spots on the leaves that make you wonder if it has pests, or is being overwatered, or being fertilized too often. Luckily, it's completely normal and quite common for philos.

Another interesting fact is that philos tend to natutally occur a sticky sap-like substance on their stems or leaves sometimes from nectaries. This is not too unlike an example of honeydew, which is also a sticky substance that mealybug pests leave behind, however if there's no other indication or a pest issue and the plant looks otherwise healthy, then most likely it is nothing to worry about!

That's all I have for the prince of orange, let me know if you have additional knowledge to share or if mine happens to be inaccurate. I'm always wanting to learn more!