Inch plant

The inch plant comes from Mexico and Central America, where it runs across the ground and over rocks in shade and half shade, rooting at every node as it goes. That habit is the whole plant. It grows faster than almost anything else on a windowsill, it roots from a cutting in a week, and it goes bare in the middle within a year or two, at which point the sensible thing is not to nurse it but to start it again from its own tips. Treated as a plant you renew rather than a plant you keep, it is one of the most rewarding things you can grow.

Light

Bright indirect light with an hour or two of gentle direct sun brings out what people buy it for: the two silver bands along each leaf and the deep purple underside. In a dim room it does not die, it fades, and the whole plant drifts towards a dull uniform green while the stems stretch and the leaves space out.

Harsh midday sun through glass is still too much and bleaches the leaves. A spot right beside an east window is close to perfect.

Water

Water when the top 2 cm of compost is dry, which is about every five days in summer and every ten in winter. The stems are fleshy and hold a little water, but the leaves are thin and lose it quickly, and a plant that dries out completely sheds the leaves in the middle of every stem and does not put them back.

At the other extreme, compost that stays wet in a cool room rots the crown, and a rotted inch plant is not worth saving. Take cuttings from the healthy tips the moment you see black at the base.

Feeding and repotting

Feed at half strength monthly from spring to early autumn and stop in winter. Most growers never repot. The plant grows fast enough that by the time the roots fill the pot, the top has gone leggy anyway, and the honest answer is a fresh pot of cuttings rather than a bigger pot of the same plant.

Pinching and starting again

Pinch the growing tips out every few weeks in spring and summer. Each pinch makes the stem branch, and a plant that is pinched regularly stays dense for far longer than one left to run.

When it does go bare, and it will, take a dozen cuttings from the tips, throw the old plant away, and push the cuttings straight into a pot of fresh compost in a circle. They root where they touch and the pot is full within two months. There is no shame in this; it is how the plant grows in the wild.

Propagation

The fastest of any common houseplant, and the reason this plant is passed between neighbours more than any other. Cut a stem just below a node, pull the lowest leaves off, and stand it in a glass of water on the windowsill. Roots appear within about a week and the cutting can be potted within two. Pushed straight into damp compost it works nearly as well and skips the transition from water roots to soil roots.

Ailments

Long pale stems and lost colour are both light problems with the same answer. A bare middle is the plant’s habit and is fixed by pinching and by starting again. Crisp brown edges mean dry air or a pot that dried out. A black soft base is rot, and the response is to take cuttings immediately rather than to try to save it. The ledger below has the rest.