Indoors
Inch plant
Tradescantia zebrina
- Cat: mildly toxic
- Dog: mildly toxic
- Light: bright, no harsh sun
About the plant
The inch plant comes from Mexico and Central America. Its leaves are striped purple and silver, purple underneath, and its shoots grow fast and trail from the pot. Cuttings root in water within days, so it is easy to propagate and give away.
Inch plant and pets
- Cat
- mildly toxic
- Dog
- mildly toxic
- Signs
- dermatitis after contact with the sap (redness, itching)
The ASPCA entry is for Tradescantia fluminensis; zebrina irritates the same way.
If a cat or a dog ate this plant and shows signs, contact a vet straight away.
Instead: safe for cats and dogs
Care
- Watering
- about every 4 days in summer (April to September), every 8 in winter
- Light
- bright, no harsh sun
- Air humidity
- normal
- Temperature
- 12–27 °C
- Feeding
- April to September, every 4 weeks
- Repotting
- every 1 years, in spring
- Cuttings in water
- roots usually after about 2 weeks; change the water every 7 days
- Grown
- in a pot, cutting in water
Trim the long shoots and put the cuttings in soil or water: they root within a week. Without light it loses its purple stripes.
This is a rough guide for a flat in Poland. In flowers every plant also has its own watering interval, which learns from how the soil was.