Nothing is more trendy right now than stylish white plants like the Albo Syngonium – but how do you keep these mysterious treasures from turning back into a common green?
True Albo Syngonium is a rare find. They have a pale color because of individual mutations, not because they were carefully bred.
This makes them something of a collector’s item and worth taking the time to research before you buy them.
The Albo Syngonium’s distinctive white leaves are not guaranteed, and you’ll have to take extra care to keep them looking their best.
However, here are a few things you should know to keep your white wonder’s delicate pallor.
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How Do You Maintain The Variegation Of Syngonium Albo
To maintain the plant’s color variation, you must ensure that the Syngonium Albo’s needs are met without the need for more heavily pigmented leaves.
Preventing your Albo from going back to its old self is all about lighting. Syngonium, in general, can handle light levels in the middle to low range.
On the other hand, a variegated plant needs more light to grow well. Unfortunately, there’s a problem with those white leaves.
They don’t have the chlorophyll they need to turn sunlight into energy. It won’t thrive if it doesn’t have enough bright light to compensate.
It’s also critical to watch for damage to the white leaves. They are generally weaker and more susceptible to sunburn, pests, and disease.
Water quality is also vital. If the white leaves are subjected to infrequent watering or low humidity, they will crisp up quickly.
I go into more detail about caring for variegated Syngoniums here, and much of it applies to Albos as well. Good lighting and clean water make all the difference.
How Do I Get More Variegation On Syngonium Albo?
Make Adequate Lighting Available
Syngonium is tolerant of light levels ranging from moderate to low. However, your Albo requires more light to survive.
The goal is to get a full day’s worth of bright but not direct light. This will allow the Syngonium Albo’s green parts to make enough sugars to keep all of its leaves, whether they are pale or bright green.
If your light levels are too low, the Syngonium Albo will respond by producing an increasing number of green leaves.
However, if you keep its growing environment well-lit, it will not need to. Instead, it will produce those beautiful variegated leaves because it will have plenty of energy to spare.
Bright light will also aid in the health of your pale and variegated leaves. They will be more optimistic, with more excellent contrast between white and green.
Remove Green Leaves
It may sound harsh, but as the Syngonium Albo produces new leaves, you must remove those primarily green.
Each time a green leaf is lost, the plant replaces it with new foliage. The Albo can have leaves that are almost entirely white or entirely green.
If the lighting is adequate, it will predominantly produce the white and multi-colored variegated leaves you desire.
Furthermore, green leaves are more rigid and better able to withstand harsh conditions like direct sunlight and high temperatures. They will outlast your variegated leaves, especially those primarily white ones.
Even a well-cared-for Syngonium Albo will eventually feature more green leaves than white. The cure is the same: cut them off!
Syngonium grows quickly. It won’t be long before you have enough pale new leaves to replace the ones you’ve lost.
Use Diluted Fertilizer
Every leaf that is lost due to pruning is a resource loss. So for your Syngonium Albo to keep growing beautiful new leaves with exciting patterns, you must replenish its lost nutrients.
The best way to do this in the spring and summer is to mix in a small amount of diluted balanced fertilizer with each watering. (Here is the one I prefer, which is available on Amazon) Syngonium will also produce more heavily variegated leaves if it receives better nutrition.
If you use too much nitrogen, your Syngonium will lose its leaves because the chemicals will burn the roots. This is why it’s essential to dilute all fertilizer with water.
The simplest method is to use a special liquid indoor houseplant fertilizer once a week when watering. This will give new growth a gentle, consistent boost.
Can Variegated Syngonium Revert?
It’s possible that Syngonium Albo is genetically altered. A mistake in its genetic code has crept in somewhere along the way, causing a decrease in the production of green pigment.
True Syngonium varieties don’t have this type of variation. Syngonium Albo seeds rarely carry the mutation.
Instead, the plants are cut or grown in tissue culture to ensure that the mutation is passed down from parent plant to child plant.
It’s one of the things that makes them a rare collectible for people who like plants in their homes.
Even though the Albo’s crisp white leaves are beheld, the mutation isn’t beneficial to the plant. Plants need a pigment called chlorophyll to get the energy they need from the sun. The leaves on these plants are almost white because they don’t have them.
Syngonium’s physiology sees the lack of pigment as a big problem, and it will try to fix it. When the plant’s leaves are ashen, they produce little to no energy, but they still use up the plant’s energy.
A lack of attention will cause those white leaves to fade away until the plant reverts to its parent plant’s color, with little to no white foliage.
Because of this, Albo varieties can change dramatically throughout their lifespans. Care and maintenance will help encourage those pale leaves, but don’t be discouraged if your Albo does revert.
Unfortunately, even the best indoor gardener can’t do much about it because it’s mostly a matter of biology and not very much in their hands.
How do you keep Albo Syngonium from reverting?
To prevent an Albo Syngonium from reverting:
- Provide ample bright, indirect sunlight
- Remove green leaves.
- Fertilize regularly.
- Propagate with Cuttings.