Growing ZZ Plant

Houseplants
Zz Plant Growing

The ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) is a popular house plant that can be grown indoors all around the globe. It's gaining more and more prominence among gardeners who are always looking for new plants to cultivate and grow in their homes.

This plant is a great choice for homes and it can be used as an accent plant, especially in areas where it can spread freely and show all of its beauty.

The ZZ plant has all characteristics of a perfect houseplant. It's therefore not surprising that more and more people wish to grow it in their homes and learn more about how to care for it.

Some of the features that make Zamioculcas zamiifolia a perfect houseplant:

  • It handles low light easily and it can be grown even in low light conditions.
  • It has low water requirements so you don't have to worry much about watering.
  • It doesn't require much care. It can grow and thrive even when neglected.
  • It grows nicely under indoor conditions.

Plant Description

The ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) is a member of the aroid family. Some of the other well-known plants in this family include philodendron, spathiphyllum and aglaonema.

However, the ZZ Plant doesn't look much like its close relatives. Actually, it resembles a cycad - Zamia furfuracea or cardboard palm.

The base of the ZZ plant stalks are swollen and the stem hosts naturally shiny leaves, usually dark green in color. It always seems like it has leaf shine put on its leaves (which is a bad practice and should not be used).

Growing the ZZ Plant Indoors

This plant can easily be grown indoors. However, you need to remember that, like other indoor plants, the ZZ plant grows slowly. It is easy to propagate but after that you need to be careful and understand that the growth will be slow.

Most of the plants can be grown from leaf cuttings, similar to the way jade plants are grown.

Typically, the ZZ Plant is grown in pots ranging from 4 to 14 inches. Large plants reach about 3 feet in height, though there are certain plants as high as 4 foot. On average, the ZZ plant grows about 16 to 28 inches in height. Most of these plants will have a wide spread on it.

Zamioculcas tolerates the company of other plants, so it can safely be put next to sanseveira and aspidistra.

Like it's said above, it can handle low light very well and it can even grow under these conditions, albeit slowly. However, even though it can do well in low light levels, it's always best to be placed in brighter light so it will perform even better than in low light.

It's important to keep your ZZ plant away from direct sunlight, especially hot direct afternoon sun. It can make the plant burn. If you keep it near a window it's best to use some sort of filters on windows to keep it away from the brightest sun.

A Note on Watering

The ZZ Plant doesn't need much water to thrive. At the same time, it means that you should never overwater it. It should not sit in water and you should not let it be wet for a long time. It's better to keep this plant on the dry side. If you water it too much or if you let it sit in water it may result in yellowed leaves.

Additional Tips

One of the best things about the ZZ Plant is that it doesn't have much, if any, insect problems. The lack of pests keeps the plant strong and healthy for a long time.

The main downside to this plant is that it's very slow growing and the production is slow. However, this is just a minor thing and shouldn't take away from the overly excellent experience you will have with your ZZ Plant.

Photo credit: Rusty Clark

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