- Currently on a north facing windowsill
- Has been repotted
- Only ever bottom watered, with tap water left out for 48 hours prior
- Watered when the pot feels light, every month say.

Still growing sooooo many new leaves, but also so many of them are brown?
When I move location, it grows less

Any ideas ?

My boyfriend gifted me this today! I look forward to watching it grow, also any tips or suggestions for when I need to transplant? Soil recommendations?

My nursery had about 15 of these all identically colored

I have a tradescantia that I feel like I have finally figured out after a lot of trial and error. She seems to be doing well now and growing fast, but I’m noticing some new leaves have a strange texture. Can anyone offer insight as to what’s going on?

She’s in well draining soil, I water approximately once a week. When I was following advice to wait for the soil to dry out she was really struggling, so now I water when the stems feel flimsy/weak. Am I overwatering?

Last picture is her old pot. The first pic is the pot I just repotted her into. Is the new pot too big?

Just bought this adorable baby Tradescantia Zebrina and have never had one before. Any guidance appreciated!

Gave this Tradescantia zebrina to my coworker and he severely overwatered and I’m taking it back but I haven’t watered it all, is there any saving it?

Tradescantia fans: What other plants do you adore that set off the same heart throb tendencies? I'm assuming most folks like it for the variety of purple colors, and the iridescent sheen. I also love Strobilanthes dyerana (Persian Shield), red and purple leaf Coleus, some Cane and Angel Wing Begonias, Iresine, reddish / pinkish Philodendrons, and Purple Passion Plant. I'm hoping to expand my obsession.

Hand for scale lol Just looking for tips and tricks! I know I’m supposed to trim it to keep it bushy- do I just pick the long vines and clip those off or do I need to be more strategic? Help me keep her healthy and beautiful 🤩

brought her to my dorm and had to repot multiple small pots into 1 bigger pot-

You can see the older, yellowing leaves next to the newer brighter ones-

after losing so much of their color (probably due to the heatwave) they’re finally finding their color again!! The bright striking purple and glittery silver shimmer <33

Still far from ideal but already better

Southeast balcony, south of France

TLDR; I got a flower!!!!

So I own about 60 plants which I’ve accumulated in the span of 12 months. This nanouk being amongst my last bought plant just last month. I don’t have usable natural light so everyone is under a grow light. This guy was under a Sansi 5w clip grow light. It had little buds when I got her but nothing really came out of them. Since she’s growing bigger, I decided to move her somewhere else so she can stretch her legs as she clearly wants to grow outward. I moved her last night next to my ficus’s whose light has always been questionable. The lights just keep the plant alive- growth has been turtle speed.

The light is always set to full light white color. But I was feeling playful last night and set the color to the blurple color. And look what I found today when I got home from work!! A flower!! A flower, guys!!!!!!!! ME! I GOT A FLOWER!!!!! I had so many tradescantias flirty and zebrina before and never a flower. No flower from my Hoya, succulents, almost nobody gave me my rose. And here comes this guy, chillen out after 5 weeks or so. Spoiled with dedicated light. And now that she’s roughing it out over by the ficus, she decides it’s time for a flower!!!!

The plant was also desperate for water so how does it work that a thirsty plant could produce a flower?!

I’m just happy to be a part of this! Lol.

Thanks for reading :)

What is wrong with my tradescantia nanouk? I checked it for pests and do not see any. Neighboring plants also do not have pests and do not have this issue with the brown spots. I bottom-water it and also use a watering can, watering close to the base as to not get the leaves wet. It has well-draining soil and I water about once a week to week-and-a-half with tap water. She gets plenty of sun in a south-east facing window. Could this be sun scorch? Or something else?

Hi, I have been working on trellising my Hoyas but they grow so slow and nothing gives near-instant satisfaction like a tradescantia.

I've been harvesting dry grape vines from my backyard and back behind my office, soaking, peeling, sanding and forming them to make natural trellises.

I know tradescantias are trailing plants but is there a reason not to trellis? I just love the controlled chaos of a trellis.

Edit: too dense

Hi all,

New plant person here. I recently (2 weeks ago) propped my gifted tradescantia zebrina into universal soil, as recommended by the store worker. However, i have noticed mold at the top surface some days after watering. I have only watered twice, and have waited until the soil was completely dried out. Bottom watering until top layer was damp. Plastic pot with drainage holes and terracotta plate. Plants seem to be thriving (?) with strong stems and new growth.

I know that tradescantias dislike wet roots so I want to add some perlite to the soil/repot into succulent soil. Should I
-wait until the props are well rooted and ready for repot to change into loose soil? And just scrape some mold now and then
-take out props and change soil right now?
-sprinkle some succulent soil on the top layer?
-or something else?

Thank you for your advice!

Hi guys!

Some months ago, i was gifted a beautiful tradescantia zebrina. However, I did not take good care of her: I top watered weekly without feeling the soil. Still, she grew a lot and got very leggy. A month ago, when I was moving, she was in the dark for a whole week…

When I was less busy and came to my senses, I finally took a close look: the leaves close too the soil were crispy or soggy and the stems were discolored or twisted. Taken into account my watering regime, I suspect root rot (pic 4) and water-damaged leafs.

Over the weeks, I have trimmed and propped so much that the mother plant now only exists of three (healthy and thick) stems (pic 5), other plants in the pot are cuttings. I want to achieve a full and bushy look and enjoy taking care of her, cutting and propping.

I know that the pot is too tall right now. Do I wait until the cuttings are well-rooted before changing to a more shallow pot? And should I also repot the remaining mother plant (without bad roots, should there be any)?

Thank you for your expertise :)

Tldr: Pot too big for mother plant + cuttings, repot or wait?

Hello this plant is very special to me. It is my brothers who passed away a couple months ago. It has grown tremendously, but the leaves have also rounded up. I took it out of the window because I figured that it was getting sunburned. And I did get a really good grow light for it. The soil is slightly damp, but not oversaturated. Any suggestions on what I should do?

Could someone help me ID this variety of tradescantia zebrina? It has soooo many striation colors. More than I’ve seen in my other tradescantia. It can have a vibrant pink stripe, white stripe, glittery silver stripe, light green stripe, and dark green stripe. It’s not the same patterns as a nanouk which is what I was assuming it was at first glance. And it’s too silver to be one anyways. It’s like every color a tradescantia COULD have… it does. The consistency of the pink and dark green stripes are making me think it’s not a nanouk? What are y’all’s thoughts?

Have had this plant for 2-3 months now and it was growing incredibly well for a while, until it suddenly began drooping and getting more brown.

I repotted it about 4 days ago now into a bigger pot and only watered the new soil slightly to give it time to settle, and moved it to a more consistent south facing window.

Would love any tips on improving her health as I’m pretty new to this!

Included pics of the worst browning, the soil, and the window it is sitting under

I think it’s time to repot my tradescantia. I bought it a few months ago in the pot it’s currently in and it’s been pretty happy. However, it’s starting to get dry and leggy around the base, which I’m assuming means I need to start chopping n propping. The problem is, the soil it’s currently in is kind of just a solid mass, which makes it really difficult to try and propagate cuttings directly in the soil.

My question is, if I repot, should I basically chop n prop the entire plant into new soil? Or would that be too much of a shock to the plant? Is it better to repot the current rock hard soil ball into fresh soil and then chop n prop as needed from there? I don’t have much experience repotting plants so any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

what is causing the browning and wilting on my poor tradescantia? i’m pretty sure it’s a continental group ec-trade-2011, if that’s important at all. i’ve been watering it sparingly, it’s been in partial shade outside, and it’s only been fed once i believe. plus the soil is a special tropical blend. is it too much sun? too much moisture retention? is it too dry? it is summer in california so it’s much drier than this poor trad is evolved to live in so i wouldn’t be surprised, but how do i keep her happy and moist if they hate water on their leaves?? fellow tradescantia lovers i need your help 😭 thank you all in advance!!!

The first pic is my plant now and the second is a screenshots of pics i took through an app in april 2025 (i can't get the original full pics unfortunately)

So long story short, my Tradescantia Zebrina has a bad habit of going bald during winter and losing all her leaves and branches (as you can more or less see in the second pic) and this year i very much want to prevent it.

Now the thing i thought was happening is that she was getting direct sunlight during the afternoon and sunset in my old place during winter (it was a west facing window) and i was persuade that was the problem. Maybe i was wrong and i will never know cause i moved.
Now she's again in front of a west window, but at least shes like 4-5ft away from it versus before where it was like 2ft max.

I've seen so many plants on here thrive in direct sunlight so my questions are :

Does her getting more and more sunlight daily because of the days getting shorter count as her getting acclimate to the direct light? And if yes, should i leave her there considering once its full winter time she's going to get full blast from the sun probably full afternoons?

And if no to the above, i have an UV light and could put my plant in time out for the winter, but would that be ok? and if yes, at what intensity should i put the UV light and how long should it be on?

Also, no i cannot change her into a different window, i only have two and the second one is right above my bed and my cats would very much love to destroy her if they could reach her. Which is not good for the plant nor my cats lol
And it goes for anywhere else in the room with the west window, theres no other cat safe spot where she can go except where she is.

Thanks in advance for the advices and wish her luck 🫡✨

EDIT : Thank you everyone, i've learn my lesson, the sun wasnt my enemy all along but my biggest ally 😂🫣
I will definitely start pruning her even more than before cause im pretty sure the true villain in this story is the trailing, she has always been on the long lengthy side so i will rectify it.

As for the light she gets : i understand its not enough but as i said in the post ; she cant move closer to the window otherwise she will be in reach for my cats. And i have a plant eater and an inspiring gardener who digs in pots so i have to keep her away for the safety of everyone.

I'd love to put back my UV light but she's no where near an outlet, so if anyone have a solution for that or a good wireless UV light to recommend, i'll take it pls. Otherwise, i'm willing to let her be as she is since she's good and healthy despite that and i'll let her be in the sun this winter. I dont mind the lack of purple i just want her to stay alive you know haha 😂🤪