# Polka dot plant

*Hypoestes phyllostachya*

Uncommon · Tropical · Moderate · Safe

A tropical houseplant. Prefers bright indirect light. Wants a substrate that drains steadily. As a species it wants water about every 5 days. Not known to be toxic.

## Polka dot plant: how often should you water it?

That’s the interval our references converge on for this species indoors: roughly every 5 days between waterings, adjusted for your light and your season.

### Why we don’t give you a date.

We publish the interval this species usually wants. We don’t publish a date for your plant — nothing here measures it. The interval is a starting point you adjust from what you actually log.

Guidance is curated against general horticultural references including the RHS, the Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, and university extension services. Each field is either published or left empty — never estimated.

## Care cadences

- **Water** — Every ~5 days
- **Fertilize** — Every ~21 days
- **Mist** — Every ~4 days
- **Repot** — Every ~730 days

Not established for this species: clean leaves. We’d rather leave them empty than guess.

## What’s known about this species

### Light

- **Exposure:** Bright indirect
- **Tolerates direct sun:** No
- **Daily light target:** 8 mol/m²/day

### Environment

- **Ideal temperature:** 22 °C (min 18 °C, max 27 °C)
- **Humidity:** 50–70% RH

### Soil & pot

- **Drainage:** moderate
Pot with drainage and a peat-based mix; keep evenly moist. Pinch to prevent legginess. Often grown as a short-lived display plant; repot or replace annually.

### Toxicity

Safe · Pet-safe
Non-toxic to humans and pets per ASPCA.

### A short profile, on purpose

2 of the fields we publish aren’t established for this species in the references we trust. Empty means unknown — not zero, and not a guess.

[Suggest a correction](https://verdalia.app/en/species/suggest?slug=hypoestes-phyllostachya)

## The species’ year

- **Growing:** Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
- **Dormant:** Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec
- **Repot:** Apr, May, Jun
- **Feed:** Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep

A typical year for this species in a temperate northern home. It shifts with your light and your latitude — we don’t track your plant’s season, so treat this as rhythm, not schedule.

## Keep this species honest in your own log.

Verdalia holds the interval, your log moves it. Free to start.

[Start tracking](https://app.verdalia.app/register)

Verdalia publishes species guidance curated from horticultural references. It does not measure your plant — you log what you do, and the intervals adjust to what you log.

[Suggest a correction](https://verdalia.app/en/species/suggest?slug=hypoestes-phyllostachya)

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- [Русский](https://verdalia.app/ru/species/hypoestes-phyllostachya.md)
- [Species library](https://verdalia.app/en/species.md)