Chinese Evergreen Care: Light, Watering, Leaf Problems, and Propagation

A Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema) grows well in low to bright, indirect light, in a loose, well draining indoor potting mix in a pot with a drainage hole. Water when the top inch or two of mix is dry, keep it in a warm room between about 65 and 80°F, and never let it sit below about 60°F or in a cold draft. Dark green types handle dim rooms best, while red, pink, and heavily speckled types need brighter light to keep their color. Yellow lower leaves usually mean the mix stays wet too long, and brown, curled patches usually mean cold. The ASPCA lists Chinese evergreen as toxic to dogs and cats, so keep it where pets cannot chew the leaves.

Why Chinese evergreen is an easy houseplant

Chinese evergreens come from the warm, shaded floor of tropical forests in Southeast Asia, so they are built for the steady warmth and modest light of most homes and offices. They grow slowly, stay compact for years, and rarely need pruning. Their broad, patterned leaves come in silver, green, red, and pink combinations, which is why they are one of the most popular foliage plants sold. They also cope with average indoor humidity better than many tropical plants. The two things they dislike are cold and soggy roots, and nearly every problem traces back to one of those.

Light

Most Chinese evergreens do well a few feet back from an east or west window, beside a bright north window, or in an interior room that gets steady daylight. Plain dark green and silver types are the most tolerant of low light and will hold their color in a dim corner, though they grow very slowly there and need less water. Red, pink, and brightly variegated types want more light. In a dark spot their color fades toward green and new leaves come in smaller.

Keep all types out of hot, direct afternoon sun, which can bleach or scorch the leaves. A plant leaning hard toward a window, or putting out long, weak stems with small leaves, is asking for more light. In a room with no useful window, a grow light on a timer for 10 to 12 hours a day keeps the plant growing and colorful.

Watering

Water thoroughly until water runs out of the drainage hole, then let the top inch or two of mix dry before watering again. In a bright, warm room that often works out to about once a week. In low light, or during the short, dim days of the year, it may be every 10 to 14 days. Empty the saucer after watering so the pot never sits in water. Check with a finger or a moisture meter rather than watering on a fixed schedule, because light, pot size, and room temperature all change how fast the mix dries.

Chinese evergreens like the mix lightly moist below the surface but not wet. If you are unsure, wait a day or two. A plant that is slightly dry recovers within hours of a drink, while a plant kept soggy can lose roots in a week or two.

Temperature and humidity

Warmth matters more for Chinese evergreen than for most houseplants. Keep it between about 65 and 80°F. Below about 60°F growth stops, and a night or two near 50°F, or leaves pressed against cold window glass, can leave dark, water soaked, or brown patches that never recover. Keep the plant away from drafty doors, single pane windows, and air conditioning vents, and be careful when carrying a new plant home on a cold day.

Average room humidity is usually fine. In very dry, heated rooms the leaf tips may brown. Grouping plants together or running a room humidifier nearby helps. Our guide to sizing a humidifier for houseplants explains how to choose one for the room.

Yellow, brown, or curling leaves

• Too much water. The most common cause of yellow leaves, often several at once from the bottom of the plant, with soggy mix or soft stems. Let the mix dry more between waterings and make sure the pot drains. If stems are mushy at the soil line, check the roots using our guide to root rot in houseplants.
• Old leaves aging out. One lower leaf yellowing now and then while new leaves open at the top is normal. Cut it off at the stem with clean scissors.
• Cold damage. Dark, greasy looking, or brown patches that show up a few days after a chilly night or a cold draft.
• Brown tips. Usually dry air, mix that dried out completely, or salt and mineral buildup from fertilizer or hard tap water. Flush the pot with plenty of plain water every few months and trim brown tips along the leaf shape.
• Curling leaves. Often thirst, cold, or too much direct sun.
• Faded color. Red and pink types losing color usually need more light.

Our guide to yellow leaves on houseplants walks through how to tell these causes apart.

Soil, pots, and repotting

Use a general indoor potting mix, and add a few handfuls of perlite or fine orchid bark if the mix holds water for a long time. Always use a pot with a drainage hole. Chinese evergreens grow slowly and like to be a little snug, so they usually need repotting only every two to three years, when roots fill the pot, circle the bottom, or poke out of the drainage hole. Move up just one pot size, about 1 to 2 inches wider, and plant at the same depth as before. Repot while the plant is actively growing. Our guide on when to repot houseplants explains timing in more detail.

Feeding

Feed every four to six weeks while the plant is putting out new leaves, using a balanced liquid houseplant fertilizer diluted to half strength. Skip feeding when growth slows during the short days of the year and for a month after repotting. Too much fertilizer shows up as brown leaf tips and a white crust on the mix or pot rim.

Dividing and propagating

Chinese evergreens grow as clumps of stems, which makes them easy to divide. When you repot, slide the plant out, gently pull or cut the root ball apart so each piece has a few stems with healthy roots, and pot each division in fresh mix at the same depth. Water well and keep the new pots out of direct sun for a week or two while they settle in.

You can also root a stem cutting. Cut a healthy stem a few inches long with several leaves, remove the lowest leaf, and stand the cut end in a glass of water or a small pot of moist mix in bright, indirect light. Roots usually appear in four to eight weeks in a warm room. Our guide to propagating houseplants from cuttings covers water and soil rooting step by step.

Flowers and pests

Mature plants sometimes send up a small, pale flower that looks like a hooded spathe around a short spike. It does no harm, but many growers cut it off at the base so the plant puts its energy into leaves.

Check the undersides of leaves and the leaf joints now and then for mealybugs, which look like bits of white cotton, and for spider mites, which leave fine speckling and webbing in dry rooms. Wipe mealybugs off with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, and rinse the leaves in the shower for mites. Our guide to spider mites on houseplants explains how to stop them coming back.

Pet and child safety

The ASPCA lists Chinese evergreen as toxic to dogs and cats. The leaves and stems contain calcium oxalate crystals, and chewing them can cause mouth irritation, drooling, pawing at the mouth, and vomiting. Place the plant where pets cannot reach it. If a pet chews a plant, call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435. If a child eats part of a houseplant, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.

Bottom line

Give Chinese evergreen steady warmth, low to bright indirect light, a well draining mix in a pot with a drainage hole, and water when the top inch or two is dry. Look to watering first when lower leaves turn yellow, look to cold first when brown patches appear, and give red and pink types a brighter spot to keep their color.

Related reading

• Pothos care: light, watering, and leggy vines
• Philodendron care: light, watering, and yellow leaves
• ZZ plant care: light, watering, and repotting
• Low-mess houseplants with no drips and low pollen

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