Ti Plant
Cordyline fruticosa
Through the year 🗓️
☀️ Summer now
Water more often in the heat and shield from harsh midday sun, which bleaches the color.
🍂 Fall
Taper feeding to a stop and move it closer to the light as days shorten.
❄️ Winter
Rest it: water less, skip fertilizer, hold above 60 °F, and keep humidity up near heaters.
🌱 Spring
Repot or refresh the topsoil, resume monthly feeding, and prune leggy canes. They resprout from below the cut.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Bright indirect with a little gentle morning sun; the pink and red color washes out in dim corners
- Ideal PPFD
- 200–400 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 14–20 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Keep evenly moist, watering when the top inch dries until it drains. Use distilled or rainwater; it's notoriously fluoride-sensitive and tap water burns the leaf tips.
- Fertilizer
- Balanced feed at ½ strength, monthly in spring–summer.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Rich, well-draining mix with perlite; pH 5.5–6.5
- Humidity
- High (50–60%+); brown tips in dry air
- Temperature
- 65–85 °F; keep above 60 °F
- Mature size
- 3–6 ft tall indoors
- Repotting
- Every 2 yrs in spring or when roots circle
- Propagation
- Cane cuttings laid horizontally on moist mix, or stem-tip cuttings in water.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Yellowing lower leaves, soft canes, soggy soil that stays wet
- Underwatering signs
- Crispy brown tips and margins, drooping, leaf drop
- Common pests
- Spider mites, mealybugs, scale
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Ti Plant looks unhappy. Most houseplant trouble is watering or light, not disease — see all plant problems if you are not sure which plant is the culprit.
Brown, crispy tips
Likely cause
Fluoride and salts in tap water. Cordyline is one of the most sensitive houseplants there is.
What to do
Water only with filtered or rainwater, and flush the soil every few months.
Pink and red tones fading to green
Likely cause
Not enough light to sustain the pigment.
What to do
Bright indirect light with a little gentle morning sun brings the color back on new leaves.
Fine webbing under the leaves
Likely cause
Spider mites in dry air.
What to do
Rinse thoroughly, raise humidity, and treat weekly until clear.
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