- Place the plant in a location that is at room temperature, has sufficient airflow, and receives bright but indirect light.
- Keep the soil just slightly damp. Use little water and let the soil dry up in between applications.
- Every few months, fertilize indoor plants with a balanced fertilizer.
- The plant is signaling to you that it needs a period of dormancy to rest when its leaves start to die back in late spring or early summer. Do not water or fertilize the plant at this time; instead, relocate it to a cooler, darker area away from direct sun. Depending on the cultivar and the environment, the dormant phase might extend anywhere from a few weeks and three months.
- Check your plant for new growth every week or so after the first few weeks of dormancy.
- The time of dormancy is over once new shoots start to develop. Relocate the plant to a more sunny spot and carry on with the suggested routine plant maintenance.
A shamrock plant after St. Patrick’s Day—have you ever kept one? Comment with your shamrock plant care advice!
How often should a shamrock plant be watered?
Planting shamrock bulbs in the fall or early spring results in the growth of shamrock plants. Shamrock plants are often bought when their foliage is growing, albeit occasionally when they are in bloom. There are numerous oxalis cultivars, but exotic species perform best indoors. Don’t expect to cultivate a wild wood sorrel indoors by digging it up from the outside, though.
Include a shamrock plant in your indoor collection for winter blossoms and perhaps good luck now that you know what it is and how to care for a flourishing Oxalis houseplant.
What is the lifespan of a shamrock plant?
You’re welcome to take your shamrock on a summer vacation outside in a shaded area. According to Michigan State University Extension, you can either leave it in its pot or plant it in front of a shaded border. Dig up the plant before it freezes and repot it so you can enjoy it as a houseplant all winter. Shamrock plants can remain outside all year in warm regions (USDA Hardiness Zone 8 and warmer).
How simple are shamrock plants to maintain?
The Shamrock Plant is a beloved gift plant for St. Patrick’s Day due to its resemblance to four leaf clovers.
These St. Patrick’s Day shamrocks could be seen as “lucky” because they are simple to grow. Shamrock care is simple because these perennial plants do well in typical indoor environments.
Did you know…
Because it belongs to the Wood Sorrell family, oxalis is not a real clover. This plant derives its reputation as being “lucky” from four leaf clovers due to similarities in appearance.
Shamrock plants are wonderful indoor plants. Shamrocks have an invasive character when grown outside. They can spread like wildfire due to their rapidly proliferating tuberous roots. However, you may grow this plant in a container and place it on your windowsill to get a close-up look at its lovely, clover-like leaves and tiny blooms.
What amount of sunlight does a shamrock plant need?
Shamrocks thrive in full sun, however they can also take some shade.
However, as they are dormant during the winter, shamrocks prefer to be kept on the dry side.
They should be grown in raised planting beds or under the eaves of the house in regions with wet winters.
My shamrock is fading; why?
Most of the time, when a shamrock plant looks to be withering, all it really needs is a rest period or an off-season. It is a perennial plant that grows from a bulb, so if it starts to wither at the end of one growth season, just trim off the affected areas and wait for the new growing season to begin.
Can shamrocks be grown indoors?
Shamrocks are a seasonal houseplant that are sold at florist shops, garden centers, and other stores for a brief period of time. While many seasonal plants are thrown away once they bloom, with the right care, shamrocks can last for many years as houseplants.
Shamrock and clover are two common names for plants that actually relate to a variety of distinct species of plants. Although practically any plant with three leaflets or trifoliate leaves can be referred to as a shamrock or clover, Trifolium and Oxalis plants are the most usually referred to as shamrocks. White clover, a popular lawn weed, and cover crops like red and common clover are among the plant species in the genus Trifolium. A plant species from the genus Oxalis is known as the common indoor shamrock. The shamrocks used as houseplants are not winter-hardy outdoors in Iowa, even though there are species of Oxalis endemic to the state (also known as sorrel).
For their enormous, green or purple foliage and 3-leaflet leaves, oxalis as shamrocks are planted. They are not commonly grown for their blooms, but when grown in ideal conditions and given proper care, they frequently yield delicate white, lavender, pink, or even yellow flowers. Some species have the intriguing trait of closing their leaves and/or flowers at night, only to reopen them the following morning.
Shamrocks have shallow root systems and grow from modified stems or tubers. They do best when kept “pot bound” and prefer slightly wet, well-drained soils. In areas with cool nighttime temperatures (about 60F) and high daytime temperatures, they like strong, indirect light (around 70F). During the growing season and after flowering, plants are frequently given a little fertilization with a diluted fertilizer solution once or twice a month.
Some Oxalis species need to relax or go dormant. The leaves of plants frequently turn yellow and die as they go into hibernation. High temperatures in the late summer or shorter days/colder nights in the fall may cause this. Plants should be kept dark, cool, and generally dry until new growth starts because dormancy usually lasts for 1-3 months. Plants can be sparingly watered as new growth appears and placed in bright, indirect light for optimal leaf development. Plants frequently develop blooms when they have enough of light.
Shamrocks come in a variety of species and cultivars and are popular around St. Patrick’s Day. Even an Oxalis species known as Lucky Shamrock has more 4-leaflet leaves than 3-leaflets. Good fortune!
Soil Requirements for oxalis
Ideal soil has good drainage and is somewhat acidic. (Sprinkling nearby with coffee grounds can assist to reduce the soil’s acidity.)
It will be advantageous to use a lot of compost or organic waste before planting the bulbs.
Sunlight needs for shamrock plants
If the plant receives a few hours of sunlight each day, it will grow the healthiest. A shaded afternoon is great. Some are growing in my sunny garden, while others are in the shade, and the ones in the shadow seem to do best.
Oxalis leaves may wilt slightly in the afternoon sun, but they soon bounce back as the day cools off.
Compared to plants with green leaves, those with the darker purple foliage thrive in environments with less sunshine.
Watering and fertilizer needs of oxalis
Oxalis like moist soil with good drainage, however it does not like to remain in a wet area. Avoid overwatering since too much moisture in the soil may cause bulbs to easily decay.
During the growing season, fertilize often with a typical plant food diluted to half strength.
How to propagate oxalis
By removing and dividing the clumps of bulbs under the soil, you can get extra plants for nothing. The majority of oxalis plants maintain a reasonably compact size and are unlikely to require frequent division in the garden.
Once you have a few plants growing, they will spread since the plants also self-seed. (This could be an issue if the garden beds have no edging and the most invasive species flourish there, spreading to your lawn.)
Cold hardiness for oxalis
In zones 6 and warmer, certain plant kinds can withstand cold temperatures. However, it depends on the kind. Many kinds are handled as annuals since they are frost-sensitive and won’t survive the winter.
Dig the bulbs up, nurture them as indoor plants for the winter, and then replant them in the spring to overwinter oxalis.
Growing oxalis indoors
Indoor oxalis plant maintenance is also simple. Just be cautious around water and give it plenty of sunlight.
This perennial can be cultivated indoors or outdoors, but it prefers a shaded location. If possible, grow oxalis indoors in a room with cold temperatures and bright light. (The optimal range is between 60 and 70 degrees.)
The darker the foliage is, the more light the plant receives, yet too much sunlight will “bleach out” the leaves. During the months when your indoor plants are growing, give them a regular feeding.
How come my shamrock plant is so leggy?
If you decide to buy corms instead, I will subsequently detail how to plant the corms. First, let me go over some fundamental care instructions and growing requirements.
LIGHT
You should provide these plants with some direct sunlight inside. You might want to give this plant at least half a day’s worth of sun, depending on where you live and how strong the light and sun are.
Do you have a leggy or scant Oxalis triangularis? If it is, there’s a good probability that it doesn’t get enough light.
In many situations, I find that having merely indirect light indoors is insufficient. Still growing, but not as fully, is your plant.
Your plant will respond by responding with lusher growth and grow into a fuller plant if you move it to a sunny place, preferably with at least partial sun. For optimal effects, place this plant directly in front of a window.
Even indoors, these plants may tolerate full sun as long as you can maintain your watering schedule because bright light will cause the soil to dry out much more quickly.
Several words regarding moving your plant outside. Be cautious when putting any of your indoor plants outside, even though they do like some direct sunshine. A plant that has been indoors cannot be moved right outside into the sun.
This will cause your plants to burn. even those who enjoy a lot of sunlight. You must make careful to harden off your plants before moving them securely from indoors to the outside.
In order to prevent the leaves from burning, you must gradually adapt your plants to the brighter outdoor circumstances. Please read my blog post on how to securely harden off indoor plants and move them outdoors for additional information on how to do this.
WATERING
This plant like slightly damp conditions, but before providing additional water, let the top inch or so of soil (2.5–5 cm), depending on the size of your pot, dry out.
When watering, make sure to thoroughly immerse your Oxalis triangularis plant and let extra water drain through the drainage hole.
Use pots with drainage holes at all times because good drainage is crucial! Without drainage holes, root rot is encouraged, and we don’t want that.
Avoid allowing them completely dry out, especially not for an extended period of time, as this could cause a period of dormancy. There will be a dormancy phase regardless, but more on that in a moment.
Keeping them indoors continually wet, however, could cause the corms to rot, in which case your oxalis would be lost forever.
FERTILIZING
I like to fertilize dilutedly with each watering when a plant is actively growing. My preferred fertilizer, which I now use for essentially all of my indoor plants, is Dyna-Gro Grow.
Every time I water any of my plants, I add 1/4 teaspoon of Dyna-Gro Grow (which I buy from Amazon) per gallon of water.
Because it is urea-free and provides ALL of the macro and micronutrients that plants require, I adore using it. You can use this fertilizer for all of your indoor plants with amazing success if you choose just one. The results I’ve been able to get with this fertilizer have made me really satisfied.
TEMPERATURE
These plants do prefer slightly lower temps. Oxalis plants prefer a temperature range of 60 to 75 F. (16-24C).
The plant may shut down and begin to become dormant if the temperature exceeds 80F (27C) on a regular basis.
Once the weather is warm enough in the spring, I like to move my plant outside. My plant remains outdoors until late October or perhaps November. I then stop watering it and put it in a cool, dark spot. It will become dormant as a result.
It will enter hibernation during the coming weeks, and all the leaves will dry up. After a few weeks, it can start to grow again, so keep a watch on it. Place it in front of a window as soon as you see it begin to develop once more so that it can continue to expand.
Here is a photo of my plant after it emerged from dormancy:
Do not be concerned if, after around 4-6 weeks, you have not yet noticed any growth. Clean off the dead leaves, put it in front of a window with good light, start watering, and keep an eye out for new growth.
As night falls, why do shamrock leaves close?
a time-lapse of O. triangularis leaves falling off at dusk. The 1.5-hour recording is made at 750 times the speed of real time.
When ambient light is high (during the day), the leaves of O. triangularis open, and when ambient light is low, they close (at night). The leaflets fold at the level of the central vein during this motion. Changes in the turgor pressure in the cells at the leaf base are what propel this movement, not growth. It demonstrates photonasty.
How are you going to sustain Oxalis?
During the spring and summer, fertilize your Oxalis once a month with an all-purpose houseplant fertilizer.
The distinctive feature of oxalis is that it stores energy in bulbs beneath the soil! All of the leaves may wither if it gets too cold or if you neglect to water it for a long time, but this does not necessarily imply the plant is dead. When placed back in optimal conditions, this plant can regenerate, come back to life, and grow.