How to Get a Cordatum Plant to Multiply

Request help from a professional horticulturist or closely look at a high-quality color illustration or photograph of the sexual organs in Philodendron cordatum. Read the accompanying text so you can correctly identify the spadix and stigmas in the bloom of the plant.

Observe your plants and wait for the blooms to open. Look out for sticky liquid on the wet stigmas on the spadix of a plant. This is a female cordatum and she is ready to accept pollen from a male plant.

Pour a few ounces of sterile water into a dish and dip your brush into the water. Remove excess water by pushing the bristles of the brush against the side of the dish.

Very gently brush the bristles against the spadix of the male plant. Pollen from this plant will adhere to the moist bristles. Move the brush quickly and carefully to the second plant. Keep the brush as still as possible, so as not to lose too much pollen.

Locate the wet stigmas on the second plant. Transfer the pollen to this plant by very gently touching the stigma with the tips of the paint brush. Coat the stigma with as much pollen as possible, as this will ensure that enough pollen remains on the sticky stigma, for the reproductive process to begin.

Return to the male plant to harvest more pollen, if you are not sure if you transferred sufficient amounts on the first round.

Examine your cordatum plant and look for signs that your hand pollination as successful. Female plants which have been successfully pollinated will begin to develop berries, which contain seeds. Do not be in a hurry to propagate your cordatum though, as the development time from pollination to seed maturity can take up to 12 months.