Haworthia, also known as Zebra Plants, are widely available succulents and well-loved due to their colors and patterns. Though they are easy to grow and propagate, they are a little pickier when it comes to blooming. Some people never see their Haworthia bloom, leaving people to wonder if they even flower.
While Haworthia does flower, they do so in an unusual way. The flowers grow on a long, singular stem that usually sticks out much further than the plant. The flowers themselves are small and white.
To get your Haworthia to flower, you must provide several hours of indirect sunlight per day, only water once the top 2 inches (5 cm) of soil is dry, and maintain the temperature around your plant above 60°F (15°C).
When they grow, these flowers only last a few weeks, and they only bloom once a year, so ensuring your plant is healthy is key to getting these pretty flowers to bloom and grow.
Does Haworthia Flower?
Haworthias do flower. Usually, they flower in the summer or fall, depending on the species, and will appear at the end of a long stem. If you’ve seen an Aloe Vera bloom, the flowering stem they appear on is very similar. If happy and healthy, the Haworthia flowering stem will grow over 16 inches (40.5 cm) long.
Along the upper part of the stem will be small, white flowers. They are often described as looking like white stars with yellow centers.
Sometimes, the stem is so unique and long that it doesn’t even seem part of the Haworthia plant. It sometimes gets mistaken for another plant growing in the same pot or even a weed.
How Do You Get Haworthia to Bloom?
Haworthias are slow growers. It may take them several years until they can even bloom. Even after those few years, it may be difficult for your Haworthia to grow the stem and flowers if it is not given the proper care it needs to thrive.
The most important aspect is sunlight. Ensuring your Haworthia gets plenty of bright, indirect light is key to encouraging plant growth.
You also want to ensure your plant receives the correct amount of water. Like with many succulents, you want to ensure the top 2 inches (5 cm) of the soil are dry before rewatering your plant. This will help prevent any root rot.
Some people find this tends to be about every ten days in spring and summer and twenty days in fall and winter, but depending on your climate, this may be slightly different.
Haworthia also doesn’t need to be fertilized for the most part, especially if you get the proper soil or mix.
Finally, make sure your plants stay at ideal temperatures. Most succulents don’t like being in a breeze or an air temperature lower than 60°F (15°C). Otherwise, they may become shocked and have difficulty growing, especially regarding flowers.
Ensuring all of these conditions are met is key to having a Haworthia that regularly blooms.
How Long Does it Take Haworthia to Flower?
Most of the time, it takes anywhere between two and three years for a Haworthia to bloom. However, they can sometimes bloom a little earlier, and some never bloom. Most people find that getting a Haworthia to bloom is very rare, and many people never see their bloom.
What Does it Mean When a Haworthia Blooms?
When a Haworthia blooms, it means that your plant is very happy. These plants are not hard to grow. However, they are picky about their growing conditions when it comes to flowering. Not only does the plant have to grow a long stem for the flowers to grow on, but it also has to work and spend energy on the flowers.
Since this takes so much energy, if your plant feels it is safe to spend that much energy on a flower instead of further growth, it means it has ideal growing conditions.
Does Haworthia Die After Flowering?
Some succulents are known for their “Death Bloom.” This is where the plant flowers in a glorious fashion but dies shortly after. They are usually known as Monocarpic succulents. While these plants will produce many pups that you can continue to grow after the mother plant has died, it can still be startling if you don’t know what to expect.
Thankfully, Haworthia is not one of these Monocarpic plants. Though it is a struggle to get them to bloom sometimes, there isn’t any harm to the plant or risk of them dying if your Haworthia does decide to bloom.
How Often Do Zebra Plants Flower?
In ideal conditions, Zebra Plants can flower about once a year. The flowers can last up to six weeks. However, getting your plant to bloom every year is rare, and it isn’t likely to happen unless you take great care of your plant.
Should I Cut the Flower Off My Zebra Plant?
Whether you decide to cut the flowers and stem off of your Zebra Plant after it is done flowering is up to you. Some people prefer to leave them on and let the plants take a natural path. However, others start to trim the stem and cut off the flowers as soon as the flowers have died.
Cutting off the dying and dead stems helps the plant to know it is time to put its energy back into growth instead of trying to keep the stem and flowers alive as long as possible. So cutting them back suits many people who want to let their plant invest energy into growth.
However, as long as your plant has plenty of sun and water, there is no harm in letting the flowers die off naturally.
How Do Haworthia Flowers Pollinate?
Haworthias are not able to self-pollinate. This means that if you want your Haworthia to pollinate, you need two of these plants, both flowering. Having one flowering Haworthia is difficult enough, and having two can be near impossible.
But if you have two flowering Haworthia simultaneously, they can pollinate. As plants that are generally indoors, they cannot pollinate by insects or a breeze, so if you want pollination, you will have to do it yourself.
Thankfully, the flowers have both male and female parts, so as long as you have a flower to use on each plant, you are ready to hand-pollinate your plants.
In the wild, these plants pollinate by having small insects like gnats come in and pollinate by transferring the pollen from one plant to the other. Haworthias also release seed pods that can produce new growth nearby.
You may wonder, if pollination is so complex and rare, why is Haworthia so easy to get a hold of? They are available in most stores that sell plants and are relatively cheap plants.
This is because they may be difficult plants to pollinate, but they are easy enough to propagate via cuttings. This propagation is asexual, meaning you only need one plant. While it doesn’t allow for new hybrids or variations, it is an easy way to get plenty of new Haworthia.
Propagation of a Haworthia is considered pretty easy. You generally have to cut some leaves off, dip in rooting hormone if you want, let the wound heal into a callus, and plant it into some sort of cactus soil or mix.
While newer leaves of the Hawthoria are generally better, you can always try to propagate the plant with leaves that have fallen off of their own accord. You may soon enough have more Haworthia pups than you know what to do with.
Summary
Haworthia are succulents with rich green color and contrasting white ridges. They often grow in a rose pattern and are well-known and loved for their rich colors. However, many people don’t realize that these plants also flower.
Getting a Haworthia to flower requires proper care and growing conditions as these plants can grow in a wide range of habitats. Providing them with proper light, water, and temperature ranges ensures that your plant is healthy and may even bloom.
While these flowers are small and look a little alien on their long stems, they are a good sign that your plant is being treated well. Although they can bloom yearly after reaching maturity, they often don’t, and people have owned Haworthia their whole lives without ever seeing one bloom.