Houseplant · Asparagaceae
Ti Plant
Cordyline fruticosa
Get the light bright and the water clean, and the ti plant hands back pink, red, and burgundy leaves that stay colorful all year.
Bright indirect
50–95°F · 10–35°C
USDA 10–12
3–15 ft · 0.9–4.6 m
Overview
So what is the ti plant? It's a tender evergreen with strappy leaves that come in pink, red, purple, and green, and it keeps that color right through the year indoors. It comes from the tropical Pacific and Southeast Asia, where it's long been treasured as a good luck plant, so there's a nice bit of history behind that pretty foliage.
Here's the thing about that color: it's all down to light. Park it somewhere with bright indirect light and the pinks and reds stay deep and rich. Let the light get too low, though, and the leaves quietly slide back toward plain green, which is basically the plant's way of asking for a brighter window.
What does it want in return? Really just two things: clean water and some humidity. Ordinary tap water has fluoride in it that browns the leaf tips, so distilled water or rainwater is the easy fix. Sort out the water and the light and you've got a laid back, long lived houseplant on your hands.
Care
The short version: bright indirect light, humid air, and clean water that's free of fluoride. Keep the soil evenly moist while it's growing, back off in winter, and feed it a few times a year so the leaf color stays bold.
Light
Give it bright indirect light and the color stays lovely and deep. It'll get by in partial or even full shade, but the pinks and reds start draining toward green there. Just keep it out of harsh afternoon sun, or you'll end up with scorched leaves.
Water
From spring through fall, keep the soil evenly moist and let the top dry out a touch between waterings, then ease off once winter rolls in. The water itself matters most, though: tap water's fluoride and salts are what brown the tips, so go with distilled water or rainwater.
Soil
Pot it up in a well drained, peaty mix, either a fertile peaty loam or a peat based potting soil. It's happy at a pH of 5.5 to 7.0, and as long as the water drains freely, the roots won't sit soggy.
Temperature
This is a warmth lover, happiest between 50°F to 95°F (10°C to 35°C). It really can't handle a chill, so keep it away from cold drafts and those icy winter windows.
Humidity
It likes high humidity, more than most homes have going naturally. A humidifier or a pebble tray under the pot does the trick, since dry air is a big reason those tips go brown.
Feeding
Feed it a balanced houseplant fertilizer through the spring to fall growing stretch. Just a few feedings across the year are plenty, and they help it hold onto that rich leaf color.
Pruning
If a cane's getting leggy, cut it back and you'll get fuller, bushier growth lower down. And don't fret about the tired lower leaves, because the plant drops those on its own as it ages, though you can tidy them off yourself.
Repotting
Plan on repotting every 2 to 3 years, or sooner if it's gone rootbound, and spring's the best time. The giveaways? Roots circling or poking out the drainage holes, water shooting straight through, and growth that's stalled out.
Size & spacing
Given the room, a ti plant can hit 3 to 15 feet (90 cm to 4.6 m) tall with a spread of 3 to 8 feet (90 to 240 cm), but in a pot indoors it stays a lot smaller. Still, give it a bit of space to show off those arching leaves.
Troubleshooting
Good news: ti plant problems almost always turn up in the leaves first, so they're easy to catch. Whether it's browning tips, fading color, or a pest that's snuck in, spotting it early usually makes the fix a quick one. Find the match below and take it from there.
Sticky, speckled, or buggy leaves
Sticky leaves and fine speckling? That usually means sap sucking pests like aphids, scale, mealybugs, or spider mites have shown up. Flip the leaves over and look for scale bumps, cottony mealybugs, fine webbing, or clusters of aphids, then wipe or rinse the foliage and treat it with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. A bit more airflow keeps them from coming back.
Fix:
- Wipe down or rinse foliage
- Treat with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil
- Improve air circulation
Leaf tips going brown and crispy
Seeing brown, crispy tips? Ti plants are just fussy about fluoride and salts in tap water, which build up in the leaves and burn the tips, and dry air only makes it worse. Swap to distilled water or rainwater, flush the pot every so often to rinse the salts out, and bump up the humidity around it.
Fix:
- Water with distilled water or rainwater instead of fluoridated tap water
- Flush the pot periodically to leach out accumulated salts
- Raise humidity with a humidifier or pebble tray
- Trim damaged tips for appearance
Colors fading to plain green
When a ti plant's stuck somewhere too dim, the pink, red, and purple just fade out and the leaves go back to plain green. It's almost always too little light. Shift it to a brighter, indirect spot and the color usually comes back, but don't overdo it with harsh afternoon sun, because that scorches the leaves.
Fix:
- Move to a spot with bright indirect light
- Avoid harsh direct afternoon sun, which can scorch leaves
Toxicity
Quick heads up: this one's not a plant to leave where pets can get at it. Every part of it holds saponins, so a cat or dog that chews a leaf can throw up, sometimes with a little blood, drool, and go dull and off its food. People are basically fine since nobody's eating it, but the cut sap can irritate skin, so pop on gloves before you prune.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds · People
Cats Moderate
If a cat chews the leaves, expect some vomiting, maybe with a bit of blood, and plenty of drool. Keep an eye out too for a flat mood, no interest in food, and pupils that stay wide.
Dogs Moderate
Dogs get hit by the same saponins, so they'll vomit, sometimes with a streak of blood, and you'll see drooling, a poor appetite, and a dull, down mood.
Horses Moderate
Horses are on the at risk list too, and munching the green parts leaves them with an upset stomach and general discomfort.
Rabbits Caution
Saponins are exactly the kind of toxin that upsets little grazers, so treat the leaves as off limits and don't let a rabbit nibble them.
Livestock Caution
Cattle, goats, and sheep aren't likely to run into a potted ti plant, but the saponins in the leaves make it an unsafe browse if one ever does.
Birds Caution
There's no clear all clear for pet birds here, so it's safer to keep a nosy bird away from the leaves than to chance it.
People Caution
The ti plant isn't something you'd eat, and handling the cut sap can leave some folks with an itchy rash. Wear gloves when you prune it, and don't let small children chew on the leaves.
Sap can cause contact dermatitis; wear gloves when handling or cutting the plant.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
There are dozens of named ti plants out there, mostly told apart by leaf color and size. Here are the three you'll bump into most as houseplants.
'Baby Doll'
It's a compact, low grower with small pink and green strappy leaves, which is exactly why it works so well as a houseplant.
'Kiwi'
You'll spot it by the green leaves streaked with yellow and rimmed with a band of red and pink.
'Red Sister'
It's all about the color here, pushing out fresh growth in bold pink to burgundy.
How to propagate
Want more ti plants? They're really easy to make, either from a cane cutting or by splitting one you've already got.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Spring to summer during active growth · Roots typically appear within a few weeks on moist media
The easiest way? Cane sections, which are those same ti logs you'll see for sale in shops. Snip your cuttings in spring or summer while it's growing, lay them on moist gravel or moist media, and in a few weeks you'll see roots and shoots pushing out.
DivisionEasy
Spring, at repotting · Several weeks to establish in fresh soil
You can also just split it when you're repotting in spring. Gently pull the rooted clumps or offsets apart, pot each one up on its own, and give them several weeks to settle into fresh soil.
Myths
Since the ti plant is just a colorful leafy houseplant, it's got to be safe around cats and dogs.
Nice leaves don't tell you a thing about whether a plant's safe. The ASPCA lists the ti plant as toxic to cats and dogs, and the saponins it carries can bring on vomiting, sometimes with blood, plus drooling, a poor appetite, and a low, gloomy mood. Keep it out of reach of pets.