A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Wandering Jew

A friend brought these over on Saturday and I haven't had time to give them any attention until today. I was wondering if someone could fill me in on them. She said there are three diff types here.

One thing I know about each of those is that they will become leggy after a while if you don't pinch them back which is one way you can make your pot full. Pinch and stick in the dirt.

Well I looked & looked & looked.

The bigger more solid purple plant is Either a Purple Heart or Purple Queen wandering jew. I am still looking for the proper names of the other 2..

But the good news is: They are easy to grow. Any potting mix you have will work with them.
If you wish to make your own mix then may I recommend making a tropical potting soil, as follows:
2 parts composted bark, 2 parts pine bark & 1 part rice hulls....Add this mix to perlite, peat moss & calcined clay.
This soil is well suited to tropical plants such as the wandering jew.

They like bright indirect light and they grow well in temperatures between 60-80 *F.

and Bestofour gave you some very good advice on cutting back your wandering jew plants.---when you do cut them back, do so above a leaf node (where the leaf is attached to the stem). and as she says, replant the cutting. or if you want to you could do the following. Pull off leaves so there is about 2 inches of free stem & put the cutting into water until it roots then replant the cutting.

It will take awhile for the stems to bush out again so be patient.

Good luck !!

I think these are pretty easy house plants to grow. People are always trying to give me a root but I don't have hanging basket house plants. If you ever go into an office building look around and you'll probably see that someone has some type of jew hanging at a windwow.

I don't know about doing this in WV but my daughter lives in GA where it's so hot in the summer it just sucks the air right out of your lungs and she has the Purple Heart planted by her front door steps. It comes back every year.

So just pinch back above a node and stick it in the dirt?

The purple heart.. my mother has them in a basket on her front porch. They die out into the fall and winter but every spring and summer they come flying back with blooms. lol. I am really hoping to get these other two going and doing well.

I would stick what I pinch off in a glass of water and get a little root before putting it in the dirt.

In two months (since the original post).. they have gotten a little lengthy:




I don't think they're really getting the sun they need to grow right.. does anyone know if whether or not they can be hung out on the front porch all day or just hung in the house in a window? We've got the lower 70s coming this week and I was just wondering about where to put 'em to grow!

Also.. with trimming it back to make the plant look fuller I took this pic:



My thumb is at a node.. do I cut above the node (into my hand) or below the node (closer to the pot)?