If you’re looking for a versatile and easy-to-grow plant for your home or garden, you may have heard of the Wandering Jew plant. With its vibrant purple and green foliage, this plant can add a pop of color to any space. But before you decide to add it to your collection, you may be wondering: is Wandering Jew an indoor or outdoor plant?
The answer is that it can thrive in both environments, but there are some important factors to consider. Wandering jews or inch plants are known for their vivid foliage and bright flowers. Most noob gardeners pick them as ornamental plants to decorate the household or gardens.
Though they are not that fussy to deal with, sometimes you may be confused about whether they will grow better indoors or outdoors. Let me tell you, this is a valid concern because wandering jews are quite sensitive to certain climatic and surrounding conditions.
Here I’ll be discussing where you can grow wandering jew and which things are to be considered while growing them in different locations. So, let’s get into this without further ado.
Some facts about wandering jew plant
Wandering jews are trailing beauties under the group ‘Tradescantia’. Though there are multiple varieties, the major requirements for growing this plant are almost the same. So, before knowing what’s the better place to grow wandering jew let’s check these out.
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Basic Requirements
Light– Bright, indirect sunlight
Temperature– 10°C to 26°C
Humidity– 70%
Soil– Moist but not soggy
Preferable weather conditions– Warm summers and mild winters.
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Light
Wanderings jews are adapted to bright indirect sunlight. Though they can tolerate heating at 30°C and some moderate light from the sun, prolonged sun exposure can lead to leaf burn.
On the other hand, in low lights, they tend to lose the beautiful bright colors and you might notice fading leaves in wandering jew.
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Temperature
Wandering jews can tolerate chilly weather up to 4°C. But as they are not frost resistant, it’s better not to put them in such extreme cold stress for longer. Such conditions can even kill the plants.
However, wandering jews love some warmth and the preferable temperature is considered to be 15°C to 26°C. On scorching sunny days, they’ll surely need some protection.
In one word, wandering jews can survive in the heat but not in much cold weather.
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Humidity
It’s observed that wandering jews thrive for higher humidity in the surroundings. 70% air humidity is considered to be ideal for growing them.
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Soil
Wandering jews prefer moist soil, but can’t tolerate waterlogged conditions. Normally loamy soils are great in such a case.
It’s wise not to water the soil more than once a week on normal days. Overwatered soil can gradually kill your plants.
To know more about watering in wandering jew you can check my article (how_often_should_I_water_my_wandering_jew.com)
Well, there are no hard and fast rules that will determine whether you should place your wandering jew indoor or outdoor. All you need to do is to create an environment almost similar to how they enjoy normally. Conditions will vary from indoor to outdoor. So, let’s check what criteria are needed to be checked while growing wandering jews as an inside or outside plant.
Is Wandering Jew An Indoor Plant?
Wandering Jews are great to be grown as house plants during winter. While growing them as an indoor plant, you need to take care of certain criteria. Though these plants are known to be super easy dealers, it’s better to be going with proper maintenance.
Normally, wandering jews, being indoor plants, are grown in containers. So, it’s good to pick a pot that will be easy to handle and move according to your needs. It’s recommended to grow them in earthen or plastic pots rather than ceramic ones.
Watering in wandering jews will vary indoor and outdoor conditions. In containers they need more water than the garden ones. Specifically saying, earthen potted ones will need more water than those colorful plastic jars.
Also, drainage management is also a bit tricky in pot-planted wandering jews. Often the drainage holes get stuck with the leached-out soils. So, regular monitoring is important.
Another issue to be considered in growing wandering jews is the location. During sunny days they may like some warmth near the window. However, they will be a better grower in a partially shaded portion of your room. To maintain such conditions, you can use some curtains to filter the heat from the sun.
Also, don’t forget to keep checking the humidity of the room.
Pot-planted wandering jews may respond better to pinching off to maintain the structure of the plant. This can be practiced during summer and spring.
All these can help you to grow the wandering jews better in indoor conditions. Now let’s check what you can do for the outdoor ones.
Is Wandering Jew An Outdoor Plant?
It is observed that wandering jews have a better survival potential in USDA plant hardiness zones 9 through 11. Normally such regions have cool summers and moderate winters.
So, if you are planning to grow wandering jew as an outdoor plant, such climatic requirements are needed to be considered.
Though you can’t manipulate the climate, some wise management practices will never fail. Indoor plants are easy to move away from the scorching sun or heavy rains. But in the case of the outside grown ones you need to place some external protection.
In such a case, you can either place your wandering jews under the shade of some large trees or plants with a big canopy or place some plastic or poly sheet over them to protect them during some seasons of the year.
Overexposed and garden planted wandering Jews often struggle with dry brown leaves. You need to get rid of these as much as possible by cutting back. Anyway, wandering jews can turn brown due to some other reasons also. To know more details about this condition you can just take a look at my article (wandering_jew_brown_leaves)
Outdoors these plants can spread all over. That’s why, proper and in-time pruning should be done according to your plant’s growth. However, you can always grow wandering jews from cuttings. So, don’t throw them away. As they are easy to propagate, you can easily grow them in other parts of your garden.
FAQ’s
Question- My outdoor wandering jews are getting sunlight only in the afternoon. Is it okay?
Answer- Wandering jews don’t need too much direct sunlight. As during the afternoon the rays are not that hard to hit your beauties, you can leave them as they are. However, if you notice that your wandering jews are losing their color, you can install some LED garden lights near them. (My recommendation)
Question- Can wandering jews tolerate morning sunlight?
Answer– Yes, they can. It’s mild and necessary for their growth.
Question- My purple wandering jew is losing its color and turning green. What to do?
Answer- This can be because of lack of light. If your plants are placed indoors, move them close to sunlight as soon as possible. In the case of garden growers, you can use some external light sources as mentioned before.
Question- How to get rid of excessive wandering jew vines from the landscape?
Answer- You have to dig up all the roots and remaining parts from the soil. As wandering jews are pretty fast growers, any leftovers will keep growing new plants.
Question- My wandering jews are getting tangled more often. What can I do?
Answer- It’s their habit to tangle. If you don’t like this, regular pruning and pinching off can help you. Apply such practices during the fastest-growing seasons, preferably during summer and falls.
The bottom line
Wherever you grow, indoors or outdoors, wandering jew plants need proper care and maintenance. Here I have tried to highlight certain things to consider before placing your plants as houseplants or garden growers. These are not that hard to follow.
As mentioned before, with proper environmental requirements, you can keep going with your wandering jews according to your concern. If new problems arise, come back to my writings for better help. Let me know any of your queries in the comment section. Would love to hear from you.
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