Crassula or Crassula, a plant with fleshy leaves and a tree trunk, is very popular with gardeners. She is quite unpretentious and at the same time looks attractive. It is believed that this succulent brings prosperity to the house, especially if a coin is buried in a pot and a red thread is hung on a branch. The most popular species is Crassula ovata (Ovata), or ovoid, so named because of the shape of the leaves. Most often on the windowsills in our country you can see its varieties Hobbit and Crosby's Compact, differing from each other primarily in the shape and size of the leaves.
The question of how to feed the money tree, sooner or later arises for all owners of this plant. Money tree, it’s also fatty and red-necked, can grow in the house for many years, without requiring special attention. But so that this succulent does not lose its attractive appearance, keeps its fleshy leaves beautiful, and in the future - and delights the hosts with flowering, it needs to be fed. How to feed a money tree at home? This will be discussed in the article.
What substances are necessary for a fat woman
What is the best way to feed a money tree? Like most houseplants, Crassula, in order to feel good and to please the owners with its appearance, you need calcium, potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. Subject to the balance of these elements, it will grow well, and its leaves will be juicy and healthy. What should it be? And how does a deficiency or excess of these substances affect a flower?
With an imbalance of the necessary elements with the plant, the following occurs:
Potassium. The lack leads to the appearance of yellow spots on the leaves. Its excess adversely affects the root system and may cause damage to it.
Calcium. Responsible for the state of the "skeleton" of the plant. Regulates water balance. With a lack, problems arise with growth and branching. The plant may look drained. Calcium-based fertilizers are required for the fat woman. When deciding how to feed a money tree for growth, you should keep this in mind.
Phosphorus. Responsible for the growth of green mass of plants. The leaves of the Crassula will be attractive, shiny and green, if this element is enough in the soil. Otherwise, the shoots of the fat woman will be weak and a little numerical, and the leaves will be small. With excess, chlorosis can develop - white spots will appear on the leaves.
Nitrogen. This element is involved in the synthesis of chlorophyll. With its lack, the lower part of the leaves turns yellow. However, when studying the question of how to feed a money tree, note: usually succulents need nitrogen in small quantities. Its excess is no less dangerous, as it can lead to the death of a flower. The stems and leaves will grow, and the peel will not keep pace with them and will begin to crack, which in the future leads to its decay. Many small but soft leaves may appear. The stems will grow more intensively in width than in length. A bright, saturated green color of the leaves can also speak of an excess of nitrogen. When deciding how to feed a fat woman (money tree), you should keep this in mind.
Ready fertilizers
Experienced growers recommend using ready-made complex fertilizers. When buying, you should pay attention to the ratio of the main required elements of the red. So, three parts of nitrogen should have six parts of phosphorus and eight parts of potassium. How to feed a fat woman (money tree) to compensate for its need for calcium? This will be described below.
Choosing how to feed a money tree, be sure to remember that an excess of nitrogen is fatal for succulents. Therefore, fertilizers intended, for example, for flowering plants, are not suitable for them. It is necessary to choose options specifically for cacti and succulents, lithops.
You can use ready-made fertilizers of the Effekton, Lignohumat, Kemira, Gumi + (Gumisol), Gilea, Pokon and others brands. Often, in addition to the substances listed above, they also contain other macro- and microelements - iron, sulfur, zinc, magnesium, manganese, copper, boron and others, the lack of which also harms the plant. You should try these options if, in spite of the balance of potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, and calcium you have ensured, the plant still doesn't look perfect. Detailed breeding instructions are provided on the packaging and must be strictly observed.
Feeding mode
Fertilize the soil in which krasul grows, be sure to in the warm season. The optimal mode is once every 30 days. In winter, this should not be done, or you need to reduce the number of fertilizers by at least half. Even if your plant does not have a pronounced dormant period, it will not grow intensively in the cold months and, accordingly, it assimilates nutrients worse. This can lead to their accumulation in the soil. At best, they will remain unclaimed, and at worst, they will harm the plant.
When figuring out how to feed a money tree, be sure to pay attention to the following rules:
Feeding Crassula is better in the evening.
Fertilizers are diluted with settled (thawed, rain) water.
It is advisable to make top dressing immediately after watering so as not to harm the roots of the plant.
Immediately after planting, while the flower is not rooted, fertilizer should not be applied. They begin to use them after two months.
If the plant has been replanted in a new, nutritious soil, grows well and branches, several months can be done without fertilizing.
You can not feed a sick flower, for example, affected by root rot, until its recovery. There will be no use for fertilizers.
Calcium supplements
To avoid a lack of calcium, when caring for the rosula, you can use an accessible tool for everyone - eggshell. It should be thoroughly washed, peeled off the inner film, and dried. Then the shell is ground into a fine powder. To prepare calcium top dressing, you should take a powder of ten shells and pour it with a liter of boiling water. She insists for two weeks. Keep the container in a dark place. After that, you can use the irrigation fluid, periodically replacing it with ordinary water.
Florists are also advised to pour calcium powder into pots with rassules instead of drainage. The thickness of the layer should be up to three centimeters. This will not only enrich the soil, but also help to avoid stagnation of water, and provide good ventilation.
Phosphorus Feeding
With the lack of this element, as mentioned above, leaves grow poorly. They become smaller, change color, brown spots may appear on them. If you know for sure that your plant suffers from a lack of phosphorus, you can use phosphorite flour or superphosphate. But, as a rule, with regular application of complex fertilizers such problems do not arise.
The better to feed the money tree for flowering
Crassula blooms far from all hosts. To stimulate flowering, it is allowed to feed a fat woman twice a month, but only once a year - in March, after a period of rest. You can use complex fertilizer for cacti and succulents. But it should be understood that top dressing is only an additional method of stimulating flowering, and without conditions suitable for the plant, it will not work. It is necessary to provide the rest of the crassula so that it can restore strength. To do this, from autumn to the end of winter, the plant should be kept in a cool (preferably with a temperature of + 5 ... + 15 degrees) room, with moderate lighting. Watering it at this time needs less than usual. An adult plant can be watered even once a month. The fat woman does not grow during dormancy, does not form new shoots and does not need a large amount of moisture.
To achieve flowering, it is recommended that you also cut the money tree. It is better to wish this in spring or early summer. In addition, after transplanting into a new, nutrient-rich soil, the plant will almost certainly bloom. Often there is no flowering due to the lack of bright diffused light that the fat woman loves so much.
It should be understood that without meeting all conditions of flowering, it will be difficult, if not impossible, and even a detailed, detailed answer to the question of how to feed a money tree in spring so that it blooms will be useless.
Do it yourself
When deciding how to feed a money tree flower, you can turn to the recipes of experienced gardeners. So, they advise using such tools:
Succinic acid. Dilute one gram of powder in five liters of water. You can water the plant, or you can spray its leaves. Those who have tried this recipe talk about the revitalization of growth, the formation of new shoots and leaves. It is possible to apply such top dressing for cacti and succulents no more than once every two years.
A decoction of onion peels. To prepare a handful of husks, pour 1.5 liters of boiling water and boil for about five minutes. Cool, use instead of water for irrigation once every two months. The broth is rich in trace elements.
Ash. A tablespoon is bred in a liter of water and watered plants. You can just sprinkle the soil with it. This is a good potash fertilizer.
Sugar. Once a week, you can feed the flower with a sweet solution - a teaspoon in a glass of water (or one glucose tablet). Use this method no more than 2-3 times, otherwise you can harm the plant.
Yeast. Well stimulate growth. Ten grams of fresh or dry yeast is diluted in a liter of water. You can add a tablespoon of sugar. Insist two hours. The solution is added to water in a ratio of 1: 5. Use preferably no more than once a season.
Water
You can water the fat woman with water in which the cereals were washed. It has many useful trace elements.
It is also good to use water that has been rinsed with meat or fish. Only at first it needs to be filtered. Use it immediately, it is not stored.
If you are holding fish, you can water the crassula with water from the aquarium. It is an excellent growth promoter.
It is advisable to use all of these funds no more than once every four weeks, and only in the spring-summer period.
Finally
Money tree is an attractive and not capricious plant. Its content does not require special material costs. Crassula care is available even for a beginner grower. But if you know some of the subtleties of caring for this flower, it will grow well, bloom beautifully and will remain in your house for many years.
When deciding how and how to feed a money tree, you need to keep in mind that it is better to slightly underfeed than to overfeed. Such, at least, are the recommendations of experienced gardeners. Excess fertilizer for this plant can be fatal. When planting the rosula in a special nutrient soil for succulents and using complex fertilizers in accordance with the recommendations, there should be no problems with the imbalance of nutrients.