Snow White Waffle Plant grows beautiful leaves with white flowers. You can grow it as a houseplant or as a ground cover.
It needs filtered light, moderate water, occasional fertilizing, and normal humidity to grow indoors. Partial shade is a must for outdoor growing Snow White waffles. Use neem oil spray to keep it pest-free and disease free.
Overwatering can kill this plant therefore, water it in limit.
Below is the complete information on its growing needs, propagation, and common problems.
What is Snow White Waffle Plant?
Snow white waffle plant has beautiful leaves with purple undersides. It is a succulent plant and needs less care and minimal attention.
Hemigraphis alternata is the botanical name of snow white waffle. Under the ideal growing conditions, it grows beautiful white bell-shaped flowers in the summer season.
The maximum height of this plant after all care and maintenance is near about 6 to 7 inches with 10 to 12 inches of spread.
This makes it an excellent groundcover plant. Moreover, it is a slow-growing plant and needs less fertilizer.
But you need to fertilize it in moderation to encourage blooming.
You will be surprised to know that it has excellent air purifying properties. Grow 2 to 3 snow white waffles in your home and enjoy fresh pure air.
India is its native place this means it can tolerate both warm and cold seasons.
How to Grow and Care for Snow White Waffle Plant?
Give it proper light and fertilize it in spring and summer for its best growth and health. Normal home humidity is sufficient to keep it thriving. Further growing needs are explained below.
Snow White Waffle Plant Light Needs
It needs bright filtered light to grow. If you want your plant to grow the most beautiful leaves. Then you must expose it to morning sunlight.
Place the plant pot on a sunny window so that it can enjoy morning sunshine for 1 to 2 hours.
Then bright indirect for rest of the day.
In total it needs 8 to 9 hours of bright light to stay healthy and vibrant.
In low light Snow white waffle grows dull with weak leaves. Moreover, low light is the cause of stretchy growth and fewer leaves than normal.
On the other hand, direct sunlight is not recommended for it. Because after 9 am Sun starts emitting highly intense light rays.
These light waves are too hot and intense for the leaf tissues of snow white waffle plants. The internal tissues of the plant lose moisture and get burned.
Hence you see redness on the leaves and sometimes the leaves tips turn crispy brown.
Watering Snow White Waffle Plant
Even if it is a succulent plant, it needs a little more water than normal succulents. To full fill its water needs you should keep the soil moist 365 days a year.
Remember that you need to water it in moderation, just to add some moisture to the soil. Overuse of water can lead to root rot and yellow leaves are the early sign of root fungus.
If your plant leaves are not yellow then you are doing good.
To prevent all watering issues, let the soil dry between watering applications.
The simple trick is to check the soil before watering. If it has moisture in the top layers then postpone the watering session.
But, if the top layers of soil are dry then you must give a good amount of water to your plant. In simple words keep watering it until you see the water from the drainage hole.
After watering let it drain extra water in the bottom tray. Do not forget to empty the saucer tray.
Best Water for Snow White Waffle Plants
Water that you use for drinking is best for watering your plant. Actually, tap water contains chlorine and fluoride.
They are harmful to the plant roots and are not necessary for their growth and health.
They stick to the plant roots and block the normal function of their roots. Snow white waffles cannot live for long with non-functional roots.
As the temperature rises your plant goes into a dehydration state and dies in 5 to 7 days.
Therefore, stay away from tap water and use filtered water or bottled water. Such water is easy for roots to absorb from the soil and transport to different parts of the plant.
If you like to use tap water, in this case, fill the bucket of water 24 hours before watering. Let the bucket sit for 24 hours so that the chlorine and fluoride can settle down.
Use the upper half of the water bucket only and do not use the bottom water.
Potting Soil
Soil that is fast-draining and light in weight is perfect for growing and caring for Snow White Waffle Plants.
All succulent formulas have these qualities and you can use any succulent soil. They are easily available and inexpensive.
To make soil at home you need to buy different ingredients and then mix them in a balanced ratio.
This is a costly idea and our mission is to help people to grow houseplants on a budget. You can use the same succulent soil to grow more plants like African Violets and Aloe Vera.
Do not use your garden soil if you are growing this plant indoors. The garden soil becomes compact and tight after drying.
This plant needs fluffy lightweight soil.
Garden soil is beneficial only when you decide to grow this plant in your outdoor garden as ground cover or on garden boundaries.
Choose a partially shady place because it cannot tolerate sunlight in the afternoon.
Ideal Temperature
The comfortable temperature range for this plant is 60 F to 80 degrees F. Try to keep your home temperature in this range and your plant will never face temperature shocks.
Below 60 degrees F is not suitable for its growth and health. You will observe drooping leaves and weakness in cold temperatures.
Whereas above 85 degrees F is too hot for it. A hot environment increases its respiration and transpiration rate.
It starts using more water to stay alive than normal. This increases the chances of dehydration and if you forgot to water it on time its leaves will turn crispy brown.
High temperature also affects its immune system and it became an easy target for insects.
To prevent temperature damage, place your plant in a warm room, especially in the winter season.
Do not place it near the heating vents. Artificial hot air is also damaging to all houseplants including snow white waffle and other succulents.
Humidity
The general home humidity is sufficient for its vibrant looks. Low humidity directly affects its leaves and their color.
Keep it above 45% and your plant will never face such problems.
Before placing your plant in any part of your home. You should use a hygrometer to measure the humidity of that particular place.
In case of low air moisture, you can change its place or you can follow the below tips to increase the relative humidity.
Spraying Water:
You can use the spray bottle to mist some water on its leaves on low-humid days. This will give nice comfort to plant leaves.
But it also has one drawback and that is it increases the chances of bacterial infection.
Bacterial leaf spots and rusting leaves are the result of warm weather and misting excessive amounts of water on plant leaves.
Do not use more than 3 sprays to cover the entire plant.
Plant Humidifier:
Now, this is the best and easiest solution to low humidity. If you have a normal humidifier, you can use it to increase the room humidity.
But if you don’t have it or never feel it’s need then the best idea is to buy a plant humidifier. It is way less expensive than normal home humidifiers.
Consume less energy, portable, and is easy to use.
Fertilizing Snow White Waffle
Spring and summer are active growing seasons. Fertilize it at this time of the year and see your plant growing beautiful leaves.
Any houseplant fertilizer is good to use no need to buy costly nutrient supplements. They will not make any difference in its structure and leaf size.
Before giving it nutrients always read the instructions in the nutrient bottle. Some formulas are highly concentrated and need good dilution.
Mostly general houseplant fertilizers come in less concentrated forms.
Use filtered water only to dilute the concentration and then fertilize your plant.
To prevent overfertilization, stop feeding it during the winter season and rainy seasons. There should be a difference of 30 days in each feeding session.
Pruning
Pruning is not necessary because it is a short-height plant. If you grow it as a ground cover you will never need to trim it.
Pruning is required when you grow it as a houseplant in plant pots or in hanging baskets.
You should cut its dry parts and yellow leaves. Bottom leaves naturally turn yellow once they get fully matured.
This is the normal life cycle of leaves.
You should remove them before they naturally fall off. This way you can help your plant to save some energy.
It will spend this saved energy to produce more healthy leaves.
For pruning snow white waffle plants use sterilized tools. Use rubbing alcohol to disinfect them. Sterilization is a must to reduce the chances of infection.
Repotting
The good news is you don’t need to repot snow white waffle. It is a small height plant with a small root ball.
It can happily grow in one pot for its entire life.
This is the reason I always suggest buying the most beautiful plant pot for snow-white waffles. Because it is going to stay in the same pot for years.
To maintain its good health, you should regularly change the potting soil. Refresh the potting soil once in 2 years.
Because over time the growing medium loses its fertility. Compost or other natural supplements will not work.
Change the soil and give new life to your plant.
Toxicity
As per the ASPCA report, Snow white waffle plant is not toxic to humans and pets. But ingestion of the plant parts can cause upset stomach and vomiting.
Many plants of this family have medicinal properties and are used in Ayurveda medicines.
You can freely grow this plant indoors or in your outdoor garden.
Snow White Waffle Plant Propagation
Stem cutting is the successful method of snow white waffle plant propagation. Follow the below steps:
- Choose a healthy and soft stem with healthy leaves.
- Cut 3 to 5 inches long stem of the plant and remove the bottom leaves.
- 1 or 2 leaves at the top part are enough for propagation.
- Take a glass of water and put the stem in it with the cut edge downward.
- Make sure the water level cannot touch the leaves.
- Place the glass in bright light and warm location.
- Keep the water fresh and clear.
- Once the cutting grows 1-inch-long roots you should transfer it to the potting soil.
- Give regular care and you will have one healthier snow white waffle plant.
Trouble Shooting
Pests
Pests are common on snow white waffles. Flies and scales are its enemies. The good news is you can save your plant by misting neem oil it.
Neem oil is the best organic method to prevent pest infestation. But if the condition is serious, you should use insect-killing soap and wash your plant with it.
Rinse your plant outside and let it drain extra water. Spray neem oil after 2 hours of the treatment.
This will help it to heal fast.
To prevent pest attacks you must use neem spray once in 20 days on all your indoor plants. It is highly recommended by the University of Agriculture.
The next prevention method is keeping the plant and its nearby things clean and dust free.
Brown Leaves
Brown crispy leaves are the result of dehydration. Less water in potting soil and low humidity both trigger brown crispy leaves.
Immediately give a good amount of water to your plant and also increase the grow room humidity.
For instant relief after watering, you can put it in the bathroom for 15 to 18 hours maximum. The bathroom is a highly humid place in a home.
To prevent brown leaves always water your plant on time or use self-watering planters. These pots are also called auto watering pots.
Conclusion
Snow White Waffle or the Hemigraphis alternata is easy to grow houseplant for homeowners. You can grow it anywhere as long as there is a sufficient amount of indirect bright light.
Fertilize it occasionally to encourage it to grow a number of white flowers in the blooming season.
Generally, it is a pest-resistant plant but for double protection use neem spray once a month.
