The Shrimp Plant – Beloperone

Question: On a trip to Disney World we saw a landscape bed of “Golden Shrimp Plant”, can the plant be grown indoors and will it flower? Or should it be used outside on a patio or deck area? The display as Disney was as a landscape plant was lovely… but everything looks great there! Alicia, Rome NY

Answer: Growing plants indoors need not be confined merely to old stand-bys, but may include exciting variations, such as the beloperone, with its showy flower. Due to its habit of winter-long blooming, the golden yellow shrimp plant, as it is more commonly known, is an excellent house plant for winter use and equally pleasing for bedding purposes in the summer season.

Shrimp Plant – Quick Overview

BELOPERONE (be-loh-pe’-roh-nee) guttata is native to the American Tropics and less frequently cultivated than its interesting form deserves, it is sometimes used in landscape beds as a ground cover in the Southern States or as a house plant in other sections. Related to the Acanthus, though much more slender, the tubular 2-lipped flowers in long curving spikes are made showy by brick-red overlapping bracts which give the plant its common name, Shrimp-plant. Growing 18 in. tall the plant requires a rich, well-drained soil and delights in full sunshine and considerable warmth. It is propagated by cuttings or by seed, although it is difficult to raise from seed.

It produces a profusion of overlapping floral bracts, tipped with small white, purple-spotted flowers, each having two slender petals and long yellow stamens, amid bright green leaves. The chief effect is made by the long-lasting, unique bracts, which, when first formed, are of a greenish-yellow tone. As they grow to maturity the color changes to flesh-pink, then a dusky old rose, finally reaching a reddish-bronze, touched with glints of gold.

To some people the delicately tinted, curving, odd-shaped bracts suggest boiled shrimp, thereby explaining the common name for this pretty plant.

Winter Care

During winter the shrimp plant likes lots of sunlight. It will do well in sunny east, south or west windows. It should be given plenty of water when flowering, and good drainage is absolutely necessary. It likes a warm, moist temperature which should not be lower than 55 degrees.

With age the shrimp plant has a tendency to become gangling. This can be handled by pinching back the tops to induce branching, and with several pinchings very fine specimens may be had. An occasional application of commercial fertilizer helps it to bloom heavily and freely.

In summer your shrimp plant will enjoy a vacation in the garden and will continue to bloom. You may sink it, pot and all to the rim, in a sunny location. From time to time the pot should be turned around so roots will not go through the drainage hole and become embedded in the soil. Because of the restricted root system, the plant cannot be entirely forgotten but will need more frequent waterings than plants growing in the ground.

In the fall, take up the pot, cut the plant back and repot it. Or perhaps you will have a supply of new shrimp plants and will not care to carry the old one over. However, it will continue to bloom for several years.

New Plants

New plants are easily obtained by stem cuttings at almost any time of the year. The average cutting should be about five inches long, made with a slanting cut just below a leaf bud or node, and set in moist rooting; medium, (a 50-50 mixture of sand and peat moss is excellent) set in shade and kept moist until well rooted. When ready for re-setting, a plant can be set in a six-inch pot, which will be ample size for its full growth.

Summer-rooted plants, if tips of shoots are pinched out to promote bushiness and more flowers, make nice specimens for winter use. If you want plants for outdoor use the following summer, wait until fall and then a little bottom heat will help them root more quickly.

When making up a soil mixture for the permanent potting of the shrimp plant, the following is recommended: two parts loam, two parts sand, two parts leaf mold and one part of well-rotted and screened cow manure.

If you do take the plant inside that has been outdoors during the summer, it is well to inspect it closely for insects. To rid the plant of the pests, place the pot on its side and wash with a gentle spray ‘from the hose, making certain that underside, as well as top of leaves, is reached with the water. Then with a stiff brush and water, clean the outside and bottom of the pot. If insects are still visible, spray with a mild insecticide solution.

Plant lice seem to like the shrimp plant, but can be controlled by spraying with malathion or Neem Oil.

Almost invariably the best side of a plant is that which is toward the light, and this is noticeably true of the shrimp plant. For best result’s in keeping the’ plant uniform in ï shape in the window garden,.turn the pot completely around about once a week.

by J. Casey

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