MusaRojo

Assuming the changes I’ve observed haven’t been random, my experience would suggest that as the soil ph moves toward neutral, more dark green will appear in the leaves. As the ph is gradually adjusted lower, more variegation will be produced. Take this with a grain of salt, as my Ae-Ae is the only one I have ever seen. The only thing all published sources I have ever found agree on is that sudden ph changes are not good.

At one time I was concerned that my plant was on its way to becoming solid green, however this is no longer a worry. My plant looks very different from the pictures I see on the web. It was about 40% solid white when I first received it, just like the pictures on the web. Now it varies between 30-75% blended variegation with the rest divided between solid white and dark green. Solid white is never more than 20% of the total. The blended variegation is 4 different shades of green, which would suggest that there are different ratios of albino to green cells in each area. I actually prefer this subtle type of variegation set off by patches of white and dark green, because most of the time I spend around the plant is in the evening when the leaves are backlit by indirect light from the West. I also have a sense that this is the best compromise between the plant’s needs and my desire for an uncommon plant.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and observations.

Postscript: tonight I noticed the most recent leaf has far more blended variegation than I initially realized. There is very little solid green on this leaf, which opened two days ago. The next leaf is already starting to grow and will have several areas of white at the distal end. The kaleidoscope of variegation is what makes this plant fascinating to me.

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