Rare Plants - Care Instructions

Tissue Culture

Nurturing a rare plant from tissue culture is both rewarding and cost-effective. Your unique plant will thrive with the expert care and awareness about their needs.

*Wait until the tissue culture has at least 1 inch of roots before planting into soil. You do not need to plant these into soil immediately. We recommend continuing to grow them in the agar until the roots are long and the leaves are outgrowing the bottle or bag. Do NOT open the bottle or bag unless you're ready to plant. Once you let air in, there will be contamination. Monitor and plant immediately if you start seeing any contamination (the plant will be okay as long as you wash off all the contamination).*

*It's normal for some of the older, smaller leaves to be brown and die off. All plants do this as they push out new leaves.*

  1. Use a tweezer to gently take the tissue cultures out of the glass bottle.
  2. Rinse off the agar and remove any blackened roots or yellowing leaves.
  3. Disinfect the tissues cultures by placing them in a bowl of water mixed with a few drops of Neem oil & Castile soap.
  4. Prepare another bowl of distilled water and a few drops of rooting hormone. Soak the tissue cultures in this mixture for 5 minutes.
  5. Plant tissue cultures into a mixture of 50% perlite and 50% coco coir.
  6. Slightly moisten, but not soak, the mixture. Cover to preserve 90%+ humidity.
  7. Acclimate for 2-4 weeks with LED lighting for 12-18 hr/day.

Starter Plant

We grew our starter plants from our tissue cultures in a mixture of 50% perlite and 50% coco coir with 100% humidity inside the cups.

We highly recommend investing in a grow light and a humidifier if you have purchased one of these rare plants.

First 2-3 months

  1. Continue to grow your starter plant in covered cups until a few more new leaves have developed.
  2. Provide ~12 hrs of bright indirect light or grow light.
  3. Water only when the soil is thorough dry (~every 1-2 months). Water sparingly. When watering, add a little bit of water at a time. Monitor the soil from the bottom of the cup. Stop when you see half of the soil have changed to a darker color indicating that it's wet.

After 3 months (or plant has outgrown the cup)

  1. Gradually expose the plant to lower and lower humidity over a period of a month.
  2. Ideally, place a small humidity monitor inside the cup.
  3. First two weeks, remove the tap sealing the lid and maintain the humidity inside the cup at 90%.
  4. Second two weeks, remove the lid completely and maintain the humidify surrounding the plant at >75%.
  5. Transplant into a planter (4" or 6").
  6. Monitor the environment's humidity and keep it at >75%.

Cuttings & Mature Plants

Our cuttings and mature plants are rooted in sphagnum moss. Sphagnum moss encourages strong root development and presents less of a shock when transplanting into soil.

We highly recommend investing in a grow light and a humidifier if you have purchased one of these rare plants.

  1. Unpack your plant carefully and remove as much of the sphagnum moss as possible.
  2. Plant into a mixture of 50% perlite and 50% coco coir. A cutting should be planted into a ~4" pot with drainage. A mature plant should be planted into a ~6" pot with drainage.
  3. Water thoroughly, allowing excess water to drain out. Dispose of excess water.
  4. Monitor the environment's humidity and keep it at >75%.
  5. Provide ~12 hrs of bright indirect light or grow light.