Complete Care Guide: Silver Sword Philodendron

In this article, you'll find…

Plant Info

Care Guide

      Lighting

      Watering

      Humidity

      Soil Needs

Types

Propagating

Common Issues

Plant Info

The Philodendron Silver Sword is a wonderful little plant that is an extremely fast grower. The baby leaves have a pretty standard "leaf" shape -- but as the plant matures, especially if you give it some support, you'll see the leaf shape change, ending with two lobes and a long spear-shaped leaf blade, which is what hastanum means! 

Take a look at this care guide as an infographic!

Care Guide

The leaves -- especially juvenile leaves -- have a wonderful silvery sheen to them that catches the eye easily, leaving this philodendron a great choice for a statement plant in a bright section of a room, so long as you give it some support to crawl up! Remember, in the wild, these philodendrons climb up trees looking for more light, and mature as they climb!

Lighting

Like most houseplants, Silver Swords need bright, indirect light! Unlike some, though, you don't need to worry about super high lighting -- a medium-bright spot in a room will do it fine!

Make sure to check out our general article on lighting! 

Watering

Like most philodendrons, your Silver Sword needs to dry out 1/3 of the way, approximately, between waterings -- oxygen is important!

Make sure to check out our general article on watering!

Humidity

While, as with all houseplants, higher humidity will always be appreciated, your Silver Sword will do perfectly fine in household humidity.

Make sure to check out our general article on humidity – including a couple common myths!

Soil Needs

The Philodendron Silver Sword is (sometimes described as semi- or hemi-) epiphytic -- meaning that it very often spends at least part of its life entirely in the trees, taking root in the crooks of trees. Because of this, their root systems aren't generally very large, but they do need to have a lot of oxygen around their roots -- so they need a well-draining mix (to give them that oxygen), but with things to grab on to.

Suggestion: Start with 2 parts peat-based potting mix or coco coir, mix in 1 part perlite, and 1-2 parts orchid bark.

Don't know why you're adding these things? Check out our article on potting mixes!

Types

There aren't really any different types of Philodendron Silver Sword! 

....Yet!

Propagating

Want more baby plants? You can easily propagate with stem cuttings, the exact same way as you do with most vining houseplants!

Simply cut off a section of stem with a few leaves, just above a node (where the leaves meet the stem), take off the lowest leaf or two (making sure to leave at least one leaf on it, but ideally a few), and then stick it in water or a moist substrate, making sure that at least one node stays moist. Put it in a bright spot for a few weeks, and you'll see roots forming!

Check out our articles on water propagation, soil propagation, or air layering for more details on common propagation methods!

Common Issues

As with most houseplants, the most common problems are 

All houseplants are susceptible to pests, including mealybugs, spider mites, and more. This plant isn't known to be particularly susceptible to any specific pest!