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plumeriafl

'Red Sister' cordyline (Hawaiian Ti) not looking so red

plumeriafl
14 years ago

Anyone know what growing conditions help them color up more (more hot pink color)? I have these in part sun.

Comments (20)

  • birdsnblooms
    14 years ago

    Plumeria, are you certain your Cordyline is 'Red Sister?'
    They need humidity and light..of course, more sun means extra watering but the soil shouldn't stay muddy either. Toni

  • plumeriafl
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I believe it is. The plants I got these cuttings from were hot pink and purple...

  • tugbrethil
    14 years ago

    Maybe they need a little more shade: they are looking like Cordylines do here when they get a little too much sun. They also look a little like a micronutrient deficiency--possibly manganese--which will also suppress the red color.

    Hope that helps track it down,
    Kevin : )

  • puglvr1
    14 years ago

    I have several of these planted outside my house...for me the more shade they get the more pink and red they get. The more direct sun they receive the less color they have, they turn more green similar to your picture. HTH

    I always have the best color in winter especially the ones that are shaded by the house during the winter months.

  • Shuckapeafarms
    11 years ago

    I live in SW Florida and I have the same issues. I was told when I bought them that Hawaiian Ti, Cordyline, and Red Sister is all the same plant........just depends where you live in the country and what they refer to it as???? Only what the horiculturist told me....I'm not an authority on the subject however, I do notice the labeling on the plants at Home Depot, Lowes, nurseries and other retailers supporting that theory!
    When I purchased mine they were a brilliant ruby color and have now turned much lighter pink and green!
    I think it had more to do with the micro climates here in Florida than anything else!
    I can't grow a Foxtail Palm in my yard......it is beautiful throughout the spring, summer, and fall however, winter kills it every year! I have used blankets to cover them, misters, any and eveything I've heard about and no good! My Barret Palm on the other hand....thrives, gorgeous!! You can drive a half a mile and the Foxtails are thriving......MICRO CLIMATES!!! I've done the soil thing as well mixing Miracle Grow soil with composte, sand, cow manure, peat moss and all the rest of the witch mix to no avail!The same with grass seed in Florida....waste of time and money and it doesn't matter which variety you use! You rarely see hydroseeding either.......everything is sod batts! Up north, you can put a lawn in just throwing seed on the ground and doing nothing else! I spent a fortune on landscaping and some plants will thrive while others just won't! I use my northern skills with my rose bushes and they are worthy of awards! My Hibicus trees and bushes do fine, the cold snaps wack them but they are hardy enough to revive themselves. Crotons do the same as well as Vincia.......you can't kill that stuff with weed killer!! My impatients also come back as well even though they look totally dead. My fruit trees have no issues either.
    Another point I might raise is the "cold factor" of a plant. We are a 10b zone and I've never witnessed the 100 day cold factor they claim we have here! I just let mother nature do it's thing.......some people copper sulfate them for defoliation or whatever it is they do.....I don't and they survive just fine! My Tropical Beauty Peach Trees had an abundance of fruit their first year and have had increasing amounts ever since!Same with the Myers Lemon trees!!

  • tropicbreezent
    11 years ago

    Whether they're called Ti, or Red Sister, or whatever, they're all Cordylines, which is the scientific name. There are only around 15 species, more than half native to Australia. They were spread around by the Polynesians so strictly are an exotic in Hawaii. They called them Ti which is why that name is often used. Some places they're called Palm Lilies, Cabbage Trees and Cabbage Palms. They've been crossed and bred into thousands of varieties/cultivars, so that's why there's an almost endless number of names they come under.

    Coming from tropical and sub tropical climates they're not too keen on the cold. But hardiness depends on which cultivar you have, and its background. And visual differences between cultivars are sometimes not all that clear.

  • Shuckapeafarms
    11 years ago

    Ok, some conflicting information here! I don't think Hawaiian Ti, Red Sister, or Cordyline is refered to as "cabbage palms", they are an entirely different species of plant (actually a palm tree) you see growing all over florida and appear nothing like the Red Sister Plant!
    I also found that the more direct the sun (summer months) the greener the color of my Ti plants. In the cooler winter months they are a brilliant red.
    I fertilize mine several times a year as I do all of my plants with 10-10-10 fertilizer. It works very well with all my landscape plants, shrubs, roses and it even works great with my fruit trees. I also use my fruit tree pest control spray on my other plants and it does the job!
    Like any other industry I'm sure there;s lots of bubkus out there.........corporations will put just about anything on a product to sell it but does it have any validity, probably NOT!!

  • foreverlad
    11 years ago

    I think of Cordyline as reverse Bromeliads. The more shade a bromeliad gets, the less color it ends up with (generally speaking).

    I have 2 or 3 varieties of Cordyline in my yard here in Florida, each one under different lighting conditions.
    A purple leaf/pink edged plant is extremely colorful in 3/4 shade. A pink/green leaf is about half as vibrant with morning/evening sun, but occasionally suffers burnt leaf edges.

    The only problem with these "reverse Bromeliads" is that getting the best color out of them often means not getting as much growth.

    If you live in a temperate/semi-temperate zone, full sun helps push growth, but stunts color and requires watering nearly every day with great soil. Provide a lot of shade and you get the colors, but the growth rate and pupping is reduced significantly... at least in my experience.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Shuckapeafarms, common names are neither right nor wrong, they just are. That is why using the correct botanical epithet (Cordyline fruticosa 'Red Sister') is important to ensure two people are discussing a same plant. The best example is the word daisy. You can probably think of at least 5 kinds of plants called daisy.

    Any significant amount of sun turns my plant a boring olive green, with sunburned spots. Doesn't jive with pics out there of bright red plants in full sun in the ground in warmer places. Maybe since those plants are outside all of the time, they're just used to it. I'm not very patient with that kind of thing, but could not ease my plant into sun without sunburn. Maybe those plants are not "Red Sister," IDK...

    Plumeria, if you're still around, do you still have this plant?

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    11 years ago

    "Red Sister" is probably the most common variety of Hawaiian Ti Plant (cordyline fruticosa) but there are hundreds of other varieties. Some other varieties often seen are "Tricolor", "Exotica", "Maria", "Maroon Magic" and "Kiwi".

    I'm not sure that the one in the photo is "Red Sister".

    See link below to the International Cordyline Society's photos.

    Carol in Jacksonville

    Here is a link that might be useful: International Cordyline Society

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Oh wow, great info and link. I had no idea there were so many. Thank you!! I have bookmarked that.

  • ckruse1970
    10 years ago

    I started a "red" and a green Ti plant. Each are about 12 inches tall but look exactly alike. I'm wondering when my "red" ti will actually look red. Each log came in a package from Hawaii and had colored wax on each end so it seems unlikely its a mix up. Each are in a pot grown indoors and get partial sunlight.

    Anyone who's grown a red Ti know when I should expect color?
    I live in SF where its rarely "hot" but its warm enough for them to grow and look healthy apparently.

  • four (9B near 9A)
    8 years ago

    Most leaves of mine, which is three feet tall and has three trunks,
    recently changed to the brown color seen in second photo at top.
    Experience has shown me that these leaves will remain as they are
    for a vey long time; they are not going to wither nor drop.

    Which (if either) would be better for plant's health :
    1) to remove these brown leaves ?
    2) to keep the ugly things ?

  • PRO
    Creative Mind
    7 years ago

    You may keep them unless they are spotted from mites or leaf spot diseases. If your Cordyline is growing at an indistinguishable rate it will take longer for the plant to suck all the nutrients out of the browned leaves before dropping them naturally. Probably by now ( 9 months after your post) you can trim them off if they are the lower older leaves. Just know if you change anything about their culture they might bounce back to a deep maroon/brown green if they are lower leaves. A shocked cordyline will neglect to nurish 2/3 of lower leaves turning them an unattractive color but possibly without dropping them. If they are papery like papyrus then they are long dead and removing them is fine. Heck removing lower cordy leaves is always fine I'd just add a bit of nutrient solution to the next water bath and give them brighter shade for a few days. Remember low humidity will brown leaf edges working its way into the center. None of this applies if they are new leaves. I hope to see an update on how the color is now. I'm suspicious that the first post is actually 'kiwi' or 'pete's rainbow". Let me know if I didn't make sense or miscommunicated.

    My miss Andrea needs a humidifier and to be cool but my red sister doesn't and likes warmth. Hope that helps. I'm z7a in Nashville and all my Cordylines are indoor specimens that enjoy co-potting with tropical epiphytic vines for humidity and awkward small talk.

  • four (9B near 9A)
    7 years ago

    > Posted by Creative Mind : " I hope to see an update on how the color is now."

    This updates me also, because it is rarely that I see the plant.
    What I saw today was abundant fresh-looking leaves on top;
    below which some of the leaves have some of the brown coloring.

    Now as I write this I recall having cut off some stems, so,
    I do not know whether these particular green+brown leaves pre-existed.

    Plant is in shade. In ground.


  • stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
    7 years ago

    Mine was labeled Red Sister and looks nothing like the Red Sister of the ICS.

    I think unless what you have has a VERY unique look to it..no chance you can ID if it came with no ID.

    Home Depot in California sells a red-burgundy Ti and a pink flush ti..and along with the lime striped light colored Ti,that's about as accurate as I can be.


    Also - Sunlight can change the whole look of a ti. I have one that was reddish and green like that very first photo when I thought Ti's did best in shade. When I moved it to where it got lots of sun..it became a neon pink flushed plant.

  • Ivan Fierro
    last year

    so whats the reason then? people go off topic so much. How can we make these have color?

  • stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
    last year

    More sunlight. Outdoors. It would take a sunroom to color them up "indoors".

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    last year

    Yes, a red plant can fade to green w/o enough light.