How to Grow and Care for Firespike Plants

Firespike Plants Care

Here are the main care requirements for growing firespike plants:

• Plant in the spring in rich, slightly acidic or neutral soil.
• Likes well-draining soil; tolerates sandy substrate.
• Grows best in hot, humid weather.
• Keep soil moist.
• Plant in partial or full sun.
• Tolerates light frost; heavy frost will kill it.

Light

Firespikes love sunshine. Naturally found in tropical environments, these plants thrive in bright light.

Unlike most plants, firespikes will still bloom in the shade. However, more sunshine is best for more blooms and a healthier plant.

Soil

This plant isn’t fussy when it comes to soil pH levels. For optimum growth, however, firespikes like rich, well-draining soils. Sandy soils will also be tolerated. Compost-based soil is an excellent option for extra nutrients to keep your firespike healthy and blooming.

Water

Keeping your firespike well-watered is essential because these plants depend on plenty of moisture. Keep it consistent and water daily if you live in a dry area. If you forgot for a day or so and see the plant wilting, don’t panic. Firespikes are moderately drought tolerant. Firespikes are hardy, and most bounce back after watering.

Keeping a layer of mulch on the soil around your plant will help retain moisture and keep the soil from drying out too quickly.

Temperature and Humidity

Native to Mexico and Central America, these plants love hot weather and moderate to high humidity. Firespikes are very hardy when it comes to hot temperatures but not so much with cold temperatures.

It can survive in areas with a light frost, but heavy frost will kill it. In areas with a light frost, you will see blooms in late summer until the frost comes. For areas without frost, your firespike could bloom all year long.

Fertilizer

This plant is easy-going and doesn’t need any specific fertilizers. Although, you can give it a general, well-balanced, slow-release fertilizer. Fertilize once in the spring to encourage fresh, healthy growth and blooms. Fertilize up to three times yearly or monthly during the growing season with a weakened liquid fertilizer.

Types of Firespike Plants

The genus Odontonema is native to the New World, including 20 to 30 species distributed in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Firespikes are listed as “benign” when referring to their toxicity. Closely related species include:

• Odontonema callistachyum: Also called purple firespike, it’s native to Mexico and Central America, growing 6 to 8 feet tall with spikes of lavender-purple flowers appearing summer through late winter or year-round, depending on the climate.
• Odontonema brevipes: Shrub from Trinidad and Tobago, growing primarily in the wet tropics.
• Odontonema laxum: Found in Ecuador in subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
• Odontonema nitidum: Also called shrubby tooththread, it’s native to Cuba, Haiti, Leeward Is., Myanmar, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands.

Pruning

If your firespike blooms all year round, only occasionally prune side branches along the edges that can get long, unruly, or gangly looking. Prune it with size and shape in mind.

For firespike plants that produce seasonal flowers, perform a hard cutback on mature plants down to 12 to 18 inches tall with hand pruners in the spring. Do not use shears. Another hard cutback can be done in October, but do not prune after October, or it might affect the winter bloom.

Propagating Firespike Plants

This easy-to-care-for plant is also straightforward to propagate from cuttings, best done in the spring. Here’s how:

1. You’ll need pruners, a potting medium, and optionally, a clean pot, and rooting hormone.
2. Trim a 4- to 5-inch clipping off of a healthy, softwood branch ending with a few leaves.
3. Trim leaves off of the bottom half of the cutting.
4. Dip the cut end into the rooting hormone.
5. Plant with the cut side down in a container or in the ground where you want your new plant to grow.
6. Plant firespike 2 12 to 3 feet apart and 3 feet from the house, walkway, or driveway.

How to Grow Firespike Plants From Seed

Firespike plants produce few viable seeds. This species is mainly propagated by vegetative reproduction.

Potting and Repotting Firespike Plants

These shrubs can be grown in outdoor containers but get easily stressed during transplantation, so when finding a container, ensure it’s suitable for the plant’s lifespan.

When growing firespike in outdoor containers, it will require more frequent watering. Smaller firespike varieties can be grown indoors in 10- to 14-inch pots. A larger, deeper 24-inch container should suffice for bigger plants grown outdoors.

Overwintering

This shrub does best in USDA zone 10 and 11. In cooler zones, it will die. Bring it indoors during colder weather to overwinter the plant in cooler zones.

If inground in a zone where frost is rare but predicted, cover the firespike bushes to protect them. If the plant gets frostbite, the aboveground growth will die but will grow back in the spring when the soil warms.

Common Pests & Plant Diseases

This plant is resistant to most common pests or diseases, including nematodes. However, firespike is irresistible to deer.

Occasionally, firespike can get mealybug infestations. To rid the plant of mealybugs, dab 70% isopropyl alcohol using cotton swabs along the surfaces of the plant. Test a small section of the plant first to ensure it doesn’t harm the leaves.

How to Get Firespike Plants to Bloom

Bloom Months

Firespike blooms all year in subtropical and tropical environments. However, in cooler zones that can get frost, expect it to bloom from late summer to the first frost in winter. The exact months are dependent on the climate.

How Long Does Firespike Bloom?

Firespike blooms until frost arrives. For places with no wintery weather, the plant flowers year round.

What Do Firespike Flowers Look and Smell Like?

It produces numerous upright 9- to 12-inch panicles featuring inch-long, tubular, waxy, brilliant red or purple flowers, depending on the variety. The individual flowers are about an inch long and two-lipped. It has no detectable scent.

How to Encourage More Blooms

The best way to encourage more blooms is to ensure it gets full sun. Although firespike can grow in the shade, its blooms are more prolific with sun exposure. A weekly dose of liquid fertilizer will help with flower production.

Caring for Firespike After It Blooms

For areas that never experience frost, you can cut the flowering stems to the ground when they are done blooming. If you live in an area with icy conditions, prune firespike to the ground in the spring once the danger of frost is gone to encourage new, healthy growth from the plant’s base.

Deadheading Firespike Flowers

You can deadhead the flowers in the fall, but it’s not necessary.

Common Problems

Once established, firespike is an easy-to-care-for plant. It can tolerate a light frost but will die in a wintery weather zone.

Drooping

Firespike needs regular water, or else it will start drooping. Give it good watering to help bring it back to vibrancy.

Floppy, Scraggly Overgrowth

Although this plant can grow in the shade, it will get leggy and scraggly with lanky overgrowth. Put this plant in a full or partial sun location. When this shrub gets “floppy” around the edges, cut off side branches to keep it looking trim.

Breaking, Damaged Branches

Firespike is susceptible to wind damage since its branches are delicate. Put this plant in a location with wind protection to prevent limb breakage.