Black Pagoda Lipstick Plant Care

Aeschynanthus longicaulis is the parent of one of the most popular hybrid plants, known as A. ‘Black Pagoda’. The black pagoda lipstick plant is a trailing houseplant having elegant patterned leaves with deep purple or red lines underneath its leaf surface. The plant is known for its lovely foliage and bright orange and yellow flowers.

Aeschynanthus ‘Black Pagoda’ Plant Care

The lipstick plant is prized for its shiny tropical foliage and flower buds that interestingly grow out of a dark maroon-colored tube, resembling a tube of lipstick.

The black pagoda plant is one of the preferable varieties of lipstick plants, famous for their variegated and mottled foliage more than the green and smaller flowers.

A black pagoda lipstick plant makes an excellent basket plant as the vine has pointed and waxy leaves, and its flowers peek out from a lipstick tube-like maroon bud.

Black pagoda lipstick plants demand a proper care and nourishment routine, which can help the scraggly plant grow into a more mature and attractive form.

The black pagoda lipstick plant, also sometimes referred to as the Zebra Basket Vine, is easy to care hanging planter which originates from the Asian countries Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.

This fantastic variety of plants are epiphytes, which naturally grow high upon other plants or objects to get physical support. This is why a black pagoda lipstick plant looks stunning hanging from its pot.

Its vines can grow up to a meter long, so if you have recently bought a black pagoda lipstick plant or own one, here are the favorable growing environmental conditions you must ensure to provide to your houseplant.

Lipstick Plants Indoor Care

Lipstick plants, or the Aeschynanthus spp., are prized for their glossy foliage and unique flowers. These plants thrive well indoors in a bright spot.

A lipstick plant blooms more properly when given adequate light and water and suffers from root rot if the plant is overwatered.

The lipstick plants need a general-purpose fertilizer in summer and spring to ensure that the plant blooms well.

How Do You Care for a Black Pagoda Lipstick Plant?

The black pagoda lipstick plant needs adequate water content in its soil, as this plant is used to high humidity levels and derives moisture from the roots.

This ornamental lipstick plant is an excellent addition to any room as it displays its beautiful foliage from hanging baskets, blends with other houseplants, or looks stunning when placed on a shelf.

The black pagoda lipstick plant can tolerate room temperature and moderate light conditions and does well if provided with suitable soil conditions and fertilizers for its premium growth and blooming.

Growing needs of the black pagoda lipstick plant

Water

• Water your black pagoda lipstick plant moderately.
• Allow the soil to drain properly and dry out between watering.
• Water the black pagoda every week in actively growing seasons.
• Taper the watering frequency in colder months.

Light

• The lipstick plant prefers bright indirect light to semi-shade.
• Black pagoda needs at least 3 to 4 hours of sunlight every day.
• Place your plant in front of a south-facing window.
• Too much direct sunlight will scorch its leaves.
• Too little sunlight will not allow the plant to bloom properly.

Soil conditions

• The black pagoda lipstick plant demands a well-draining and aerated soil.
• The soil must be chunky and light, retaining enough moisture for the plant but not holding too much.
• The black pagoda lipstick plant potting mix must allow excess water to drain from the pot.

Fertilizers

• Feed your black pagoda lipstick plant with a balanced houseplant fertilizer.
• Adding fertilizer once a month is enough for the plant.

Humidity

• The black pagoda lipstick plant is native to the tropical climatic zone.
• It thrives well indoors if the soil has an adequate amount of moisture.
• The lipstick plant doesn’t demand additional humidity.
• It absorbs the moisture from its roots and soil.

Temperature

• The black pagoda lipstick plant grows well at room temperature.
• It originates from temperate zones and can adapt to drought-like conditions.
• Sudden cold spells can cause discoloration of black pagoda leaves, which leads to leaf drop.

Black Pagoda Lipstick Plant: What Does It Look Like?

This epiphytic plant has mottled leathery foliage with trailing stems that appear green when young and grow stiff and brown as the plant matures.

The black pagoda lipstick plant has a variegated creamy white and dark green pattern on the top and solid green, purple, dark red, or maroon undersides. This plant produces cascading vines, making it an ideal houseplant to decorate windowsills, planters, tall containers, shelves, or hanging baskets.

The black pagoda is a medium-sized plant that grows up to 2 feet in height. The plant has earned the nickname “zebra basket vine” because its variegated leaves look like zebra stripes.

The flexible stems of this plant make it easier for this epiphyte to climb, trail, or overhang a surface. The black pagoda lipstick plant blends with surrounding houseplants, making it easier to accommodate this plant in compact spaces like office corners, patios, and small apartments.

These ornamental climber vines have an autotrophic mode of nutrition, and their native habitat is terrestrial, with a tropical climate zone as the preferred environment.

Black Pagoda Plant Flowers

Black pagoda lipstick plant flowers have green calyx, sometimes having a red tint. The flowers have five linear lobes or petals cut to the base. The outer surface of the petals or corolla is yellowish green, and its upper part or mouth has a tinge of orange or brown mottling.

The flowers have yellow stamens with red or orange tubular petals. The inner surface of the petals also has dark red or brown markings.

The black pagoda lipstick plant blooms in spring and summer, and the flowers are typically 2 inches in size.

Black Pagoda Plant Care

1.     Water

Black pagoda lipstick plant demands moderate moisture content. You must water the plant whenever the top surface of the soil feels dry to the touch.

There must be proper drainage holes at the bottom of the plant pot so that when you water the black pagoda lipstick plant, the excess water leaves the pot from the hole at its base.

It is ideal for tapering the watering frequency of the black pagoda plant when the weather conditions are extremely cold and the light intensity that the plant receives is reduced.

Spring to summer is the actively growing blooming season for the black pagoda lipstick plant, which is why your houseplant will demand watering at least once a week during this period. It is better to water the black pagoda with filtered or distilled water. Rainwater is the most nourishing and ideal water for plant growth.

2.     Light

The vine requires at least 4 hours of sunlight daily to bloom and thrive. Black pagoda lipstick plant flourishes in medium to bright light, so make sure that you are placing the plant in a brightly lit room where it would receive indirect light.

Direct morning light is soft and not very harsh on this plant, which is why your black pagoda lipstick plant can endure some direct sunlight in the morning. The plant thrives in front of a south-facing window.

The clear indication that your black pagoda lipstick plant isn’t receiving adequate lighting is when it starts developing short leaves and fails to bloom properly.

On the flip side, if the houseplant is receiving too much sunlight than it can bear, the intense light will scorch its leaves.

3.     Soil Conditions and Fertilizers

The black pagoda lipstick plant desires well-aerated and well-draining soil. The soil must not be heavy. Instead, it should be loose and chunky. The potting mix designed commonly for houseplants has good drainage qualities, as they prevent the development of fungal diseases due to overwatering, such as root rot.

A potting mix containing organic matter such as perlite and vermiculite can help improve the aeration and draining of black pagoda lipstick plant soil.

The hanging baskets houseplant requires fertilizers during its actively growing months. A general-purpose balanced monthly fertilizer is enough for the black pagoda lipstick plant.

If you are using a dilute fish emulsion fertilizer, it is better to feed this fertilizer every week when you water your black pagoda lipstick plant.

4.     Humidity Levels

Black pagoda lipstick plants prefer high humidity levels. Still, they are also relatively tolerant of dry conditions, so it is easy to grow them indoors, where the plant owners do not have to worry about providing adequate humidity levels.

The black pagoda is a medium-sized lipstick plant that can absorb the required moisture from the roots, so misting its leaves or providing additional humidity is not essential.

Even though the black pagoda is native to the tropical climate, its small size allows them to absorb enough moisture from its roots and soil to maintain the healthy appearance of its leaves.

However, placing your plant away from heating or air conditioning vents is recommended as such places have dehydrated air, which can affect your plant’s health.

5.     Temperature Requirements

Black pagoda lipstick plants are native to temperate regions and thrive and bloom appropriately at room temperatures between 75° to 85°F.

This plant is an excellent ornamental houseplant because it can survive in warmer temperatures. However, if the temperatures drop below 60°F, the colder spell will cause discoloration in the black pagoda leaves.

A sudden leaf drop may follow the severe discoloration of leaves. So if the location in which the black pagoda lipstick plant is kept gets extremely cold in winter, then move your plant to a suitable location where it will be exposed to the warmer temperature.

How Do You Care for a Black Pagoda Lipstick Plant: Pests And Diseases

The black pagoda lipstick plants are susceptible to sucking insects like mealybugs, spider mites, and aphids.

If you notice sap-sucking pests on your black pagoda lipstick plant, you should treat them with appropriate insecticidal soaps or neem oil to prevent the infestation from consuming the whole plant.

It would be best if you wiped off the pests from the black pagoda and insects from all the leaves so that it doesn’t spread the pest infestation to other houseplants.

The lipstick plant also contracts root rot, powdery mildew, and the most extensive fungal infection caused by Botrytis blight.

The above conditions are avoided by controlling the moisture contents of the black pagoda lipstick plant soil, frequently inspecting the plant leaves, and treating them with fungicide whenever required.

What Is Wrong With My Lipstick Plant?

Your lipstick plant may suffer from foliage curling, frost damage, sunburn, fertilizer burn, leaf drop, or severe nutrient deficiencies if you fail to provide adequate growth requirements.

You can use a sharp pair of pruners to remove the dead leaves, bare branches, and deadhead blooms to ensure healthier and bushier growth on your black pagoda lipstick plant.

A black pagoda is an excellent choice to decorate your indoor spaces with beautiful foliage houseplants. It looks impressive on its own but also compliments surrounding plants, and the fact that it is so easy to take care of is a sign that you must get your hands on this stunning lipstick plant.