Philodendron Martianum is a perfect indoor foliage plant. You must go for it if you are looking for a green plant that needs less care and attention.
It needs less water, fertilizers, and normal humidity to grow. The best part is it is a pest-resistant plant. Root rot is the only disease that can kill your plant.
If you do not correct your watering method.
If you are interested in growing Martianum Philodendron then keep reading this guide. To find out what things you need for growing and caring for it.
What is Philodendron Martianum?
It is a foliage philodendron plant from Araceae Family. It needs good space to spread out. The rich green leaves and thick petiole make it a strong philodendron plant.
It is also known by other names:
- Philodendron Fat Boy
- Flask Philodendron
- Philodendron Fat Belly
10 to 11 Hardiness zones are perfect to grow in an outdoor garden.
Place it near the east-facing window and it will easily reach 3 feet in height. The color of its lathery green leaves depends on the amount of light it is receiving.
If in case your plant leaves turn light green or develop a light yellow center part.
This means your plant is not getting enough light. Move it close to the sunny window or shift it to a bright place.
To correct the thing fast you can expose your plant to morning sunlight for max 2 hours. Morning sun rays are cool and beneficial in low light problems.
How to Take Care of Philodendron Martianum?
Light Needs
This indoor philodendron plant is prone to sunburn in direct sunlight. This clears that you need to expose it to indoor bright light.
Place it near the sunny window, and make sure the direct sunrays are not falling on its leaves.
It needs 300 to 450 FC of indirect bright light, use a light meter to measure the amount of light.
In tropical jungles, philodendrons grow under the canopy of large dense trees. They enjoy indirect bright light filtered by the canopy.
You need to do the same and to do so install a sheer curtain on a sunny window. This way you can provide indirect and bright light to your growing Philodendron Martianum.
Green philodendrons like philodendron Atabapoense and philodendron bipinnatifidum including Martianum have a good layer of chlorophyll.
These plants can full fill their light needs from indirect light. And the highly intense sun rays are damaging to their leaves.
Potting Soil
General purpose potting mix is perfect to use for this plant. Other tropical plants like philodendron Florida Beauty are variegated plants.
They produce colorful leaves and their leaves are prone to fungal diseases. Therefore, they need a special type of ingredients in their potting mix.
But with Philodendron Martianum you don’t need to much worry about the potting soil.
No need to add fancy materials to the potting mix they are not necessary. Just buy any well-draining potting mix and grow this plant.
To increase the nutritional value of the soil you can add a few parts of compost if you have at home.
I am using pre-fertilized fast draining soil.
This potting mix has all the essential ingredients that Martianum needs to grow dense. It also reduces fertilizing expenses.
Watering Philodendron Martianum
All tropical plants including this philodendron are prone to root rot. It is a fungal disease that destroys plant roots.
The bacteria start eating the Martianum roots. As a result, it becomes weak and dies in a few days.
Extra cups of water in the potting soil is the cause of root rot.
This cleans that if you want your plant to grow without facing root rot. Then you need to learn the watering technique.
Before explaining the right watering technique. Let me clarify that only filtered water is good for watering this plant.
Filtered water does not contain unwanted substances like chlorine or fluorides. It is also easy for the plant roots to absorb the potting soil.
Before watering, check the soil.
Poke your finger in the soil and check the moisture. Water your plant only when the top 2 inches of the soil feels dry to the touch.
It is a must to follow this technique in the winter season to prevent overwatering damage.
Temperature
55 to 95 degrees F is the easy-to-care temperature range. You can easily maintain this range in summer and spring.
The problem starts in the winter season. I know with artificial heat you can keep the temperature in the suggested range.
But the direct flow of hot or cold air on this plant is deadly for its health. Hot air increases the respiration rate and this increase the use of water in the plant.
Hence your plant needs more water and this put extra stress on its immune system.
The regular flow of hot air makes the leaves dry and they turn brown and crispy. In short, the leaves die.
For winter protection move your plant to a warm room. Where the cold air cannot touch the plant and there are no heat vents in the room or they are turned OFF.
If your plant pot is on the floor place a thick mat under the pot and also cover the pot from all sides with a warm cloth.
Do not place it near the doorways or on the large window sills.
Humidity
45% air moisture is enough to keep this plant green and shining. The large leaves absorb a good amount of moisture from the air.
The good news is they can survive in moderate home humidity. But below 45% is not recommended. It is considered low humidity.
Brown leaf tips and yellow turning leaves are early warning signs of low humidity.
In this case, use a plant humidifier to increase the relative humidity.
Or
Follow the traditional methods like grouping plants or pebble trays.
Grouping Plants:
In this method, we collect all our plants in a single room. The water vapors released by all the plants make a nice humidity balloon in the room.
Here you need to make sure that all the plants have a good amount of moisture in their potting soil.
Do forget to water them on time.
Pebble Tray Method:
In this method, you use a pebble tray which is also called a humidity tray. It has small pebbles in it and all you need to do is fill it with tap water.
Place it under your plant pot. Keep in mind that the water level of the pebble tray stays below the bottom plate of a plant pot.
The evaporating water of the pebble tray directly allows the plant leaves to absorb it.
Fertilizing Fat Boy Philodendron
As you can see in the image this plant does not grow variegated leaves. It has all bright green leaves and thick stems.
So, you need to use a fertilizer that is specially designed for foliage plants.
These fertilizers are generally rich in nitrogen and organic substances.
Houseplants that grow only green leaves need a good amount of nitrogen. 20-10-10 will be the best ratio of NPK in Philodendron Martianum fertilizer.
Use liquid concentrated supplements only. They are not very expensive but act quickly on plant health.
Moreover, you can use the same type of supplements for all green foliage plants.
Dilute the nutrient liquid in clean water before fertilizing your plant.
Powdered and granule fertilizers are not useful for indoor houseplants. They are not easily available to the plant roots to absorb and transport.
Moreover, they are not a fast-acting form of nutrients.
Pruning
Regular pruning is necessary to keep it in desired shape and size. You can use sterilized shears or a sharp Knife for cutting your plant.
Identify the dry and damaged leaves then cut them without damaging other healthy leaves.
Do not cut the main stem even if it is infected. Use fungicides to treat various fungal diseases on stems.
Keep Philodendron Martianum leaves clean and dust free. To do so use a soft cotton ball and wipe the leaves. Here you can use little water to dampen the cotton.
Also, clean the plant pot and keep the surroundings hygienic.
Toxicity
All philodendrons are toxic to cats, dogs, horses, and humans. The ingestion of its parts results in its toxicity. Because the parts of the plants contain crystals of calcium oxalate.
It is a moderately toxic substance. Excessive drooling, skin irritation, itching on hands, vomiting, and sore throat are a few early toxic symptoms of this philodendron.
To prevent toxic effects wear garden gloves and grow them at some height.
So that your kids and pets cannot reach the plant.
Repotting
There is no hard and fast rule for repotting Martianum Philodendron. You should only repot it when you see roots poking out of the drainage hole.
Or
They are visible over the top surface of potting soil.
In repotting, simply take a wider and deep new pot and fill its half with fresh soil. Put your plant in it and fill the remaining portion of the pot.
Tap around the plant and add some water. Now that you are done with repotting you can place it back in its place.
Use terracotta or ceramic pots with 1 or more drainage holes.
While repotting check the plant roots and cut the damaged roots.
Philodendron Martianum Propagation
The best method of propagation is root division. It is the easiest technique to multiply this plant with less effort.
Below are the complete root division propagation steps:
- Water your plant 24 hours before propagation.
- Tilt the plant pot and take out your plant.
- Remove the soil from the roots without damaging them.
- You can wash them with clean water to clean them properly.
- Divide the roots into different sections and make sure each section has a stem and leaves.
- Plant each division in different pots and you are done with propagating P. Martianum
Troubleshooting
Pest Infestations
Aphids, Mealybugs, and Scales are the common pests of this philodendron plant. Use neem oil to prevent them.
Dusty and unhygienic plants are easy targets of these deadly pests.
To treat them use insecticidal soap and rinse your plant. Do not use a water jet as the sharp spray of water is damaging to leaves.
The chemicals in the pest-killing soap are a little harsh on plants.
After the treatment for a few days, you may see some weakness in your plant. But in 7 to 10 days, it will heal itself.
Brown Leaf Tips
Crispy brown tips indicate low humidity levels. Trim the brown parts and move your plant to high humid place.
Or
Use a humidifier to prevent further damage.
Excessive use of fertilizers also results in brown leaf tips. This condition is called fertilizer burning. The tips turn crispy brown.
You can measure the room humidity with a hygrometer. If it is above 45% then overfeeding is the cause.
Rinse the potting soil with tap water to remove excessive build-up of salts.
Erwinia Blight
This is a type of bacterial leaf disease that results in patches on the plant leaves. If your plant has patches and smells like decaying material.
Then Erwinia blight is responsible for it.
Keep the infected plant separate from other healthy plants. Cut the infected leaves and stems. If all the leaves and stems are infected.
Then use fungicides to treat your plant and cut the highly damaged leaves only.
Decaying Roots
If your plant smells like rotten eggs this clears that something is wrong with its roots. They are infected and decaying quickly.
Immediately repot your plant in a new pot by using fresh soil.
Before repotting cut the infected roots and apply cinnamon powder to the roots.
To prevent root rot, use a limited amount of water, and before watering check the moisture level of potting soil.
Conclusion
Philodendron Martianum is a good plant to start gardening at home. You can gain good gardening experience by caring for it.
It is only prone to root rot and we all know excessive use of water is the real cause.
Bright light is the most important thing that you need to take care of. For the general health of its leaves fertilize Martianum plant once in 15 to 20 days.
For more information on houseplants see our houseplant section.
