Why No ‘Pink’ Pink Princess?
Pink Variegation on a Philodendron Pink Princess
The Philodendron Pink Princess is a very popular plant. In it’s mostly, or all, green form, it’s relatively easy to find. But with lots of pink leaves or even lots of pink sections on leaves, it is substantially harder. But why?
Highly Variegated Tissue Culture Pink Princess
The Pink Princess is grown from tissue culture. It is a plant that holds its variegation in its DNA, meaning it cannot be made to express with more light of different levels of nutrients. Each plant holds the same potential to express and when and how much is in each plants DNA. Due to the desire for variegation and the belief that non tissue culture plants were superior, some people began asking if it’s possible to find non tissue culture Pink Princess but in the current market the answer is often no, unless from a home grower who knows the plant’s history.
“There is no reason why the plants won’t produce pink leaves at some point, but no guarantee and only the plants DNA knows when”
The tissue culture began being used commercially some years ago and the initial plants, whose cells were cultured from the mother plants, had nice strong variegation. Cuttings from these plants maintained the variegation as they grew making them indecipherable from the naturally grown plants. The stock is so mixed now, deciphering cuttings as an original plant or early tissue culture plants cant be seen and due to the small numbers of original plants, most are likely a cutting off the first, highly variegated, tissue cultured plants.
‘Not Yet Pink’ tissue culture Philodendron Pink Princess
The tissue culture on a very large number of Indoor plants, including the Philodendron Pink Princess, was brought about to boost the numbers and availability of popular plants. Simply taking cuttings was slow and produced small batches. Tissue culture offered a large number of plants very quickly that grew the same way and expressed nice amounts of pink, filling the market. As the plant became more available, the popularity and desire to own one grew meaning more had to be produced and this is when the problems began.
Patches that looks like a ‘Burn’
Plants stopped showing as much pink variegation early on, plants were having to be mature before the pink would express and plants were showing brown patches on their leaves that looked like burning. There could be multiple reasons why this occurred. With copies, to boost mother stock, nice tissue culture plants could have been used to create more tissue culture, almost like a photocopy of a photocopy. Could the quality possibly strain and the pink could slowly disappear? It could be that the mother stock plants were having cells taken for tissue culture when still healing. Could this then mean a lack of pink variegation and damaged leaves? Dull leaves and brown patches is the case with most TC Philodendron Pink Princess sold in Australia. So what does this mean for Philodendron Pink Princess?
Mature ‘Not Yet Pink’ suddenly expressing an all pink leaf
Fewer plants are showing pink variegation early on. Most plants are all green and are not expressing any pink until they are quite mature. There is no reason why the plants won’t produce pink leaves at some point, but no guarantee and only the plants DNA knows when. Some plants produce flecks of pink early on or begin to as they mature, but they are fewer than the ‘not yet pink’ plants. Very few plants are showing large amounts of variegation when they are small but they are, overall, expressing that pink continually. Although this makes the ‘Pink’ Pink Princess rarer, there is still hope. Many plants we have grown suddenly pop a large amount when they are mature and some pop all pink leaves. When available, Verdant Dwellings Philodendron Pink Princess are priced according to the variegation so you know what the plant currently looks like and who knows, a cheaper ‘not yet pink’ could suddenly bloom into the regal Princess she was born to be.
If you have questions about your specific plant, please feel free to contact us.
NOTE: This blog is written using industry knowledge and years of discussion. This discussion has occurred with Growers in both the Propagation and Wholesale Industry. It aims to help customers see that the markings occurring on their plants are not due to inappropriate care and to explain the lack of highly variegated plants on the market. This has been years of discussions and first-hand experience. It is not based on Scientific Articles and therefore should not be taken as such.
Happy Growing!