Pets are not only cats and dogs, but also indoor flowers. They are no less pleased with their owners appearance. In order for the plant to bloom well and be healthy, it is necessary to provide it with good conditions. Surely each of you has seen at least once in your life a money tree. This is a very interesting plant, which attracts with a variety of forms and crown design options, relative ease of cultivation and decorativeness. Today we’ll talk about how to grow it at home, avoiding the mistakes of beginner growers.
Plant history
Money tree is not exotic at all. It will grow on any windowsill, often decorates the halls of hotels and office buildings, grows in school classes. Crassula is known to most gardeners. She is loved for decorative round leaves. By the way, precisely for their similarity with coins, the plant got its original name.
By the way, this is not his only nickname. He is called the bread tree and the tree of happiness, the guardian of family well-being. Florists reward the fat girl with such beautiful epithets. And of course, a plant endowed with such important functions should always be healthy and branched.
A guest from hot Africa
Today, looking at the usual money tree, it is already difficult to imagine that this is a typical inhabitant of hot countries. Especially when you consider that it willingly forgives the cool temperature, plentiful watering and drought. The latter feature is due to the fact that fleshy leaves store a large amount of moisture.
In nature, it willingly and continuously blooms, but at home it is almost impossible to see such a phenomenon. The fact is that for this the money tree must be quite old.
Varieties
To date, several hundred species have been studied. But only a few grow normally on the windows and develop. Why are there so many different forms? The fact is that a home money tree can be ampelous, groundcover, bush, can grow in the form of a tree. To correctly determine the type of your plant, you can use the following classification:
- Treelike - it can grow almost to the height of a person. You can form a crown as you like, which opens up opportunities for decorating the room. An adult plant, older than 10 years, can please you with white or pink flowers.
- Oval fat - grows in the form of a bush, grows up to a meter in height. Leaves are neat, thick, rounded.
- The inferior form is an ampel fatty.
- Shaped Fat. Four-sided, with processes and aerial roots, they easily turn into a new plant.
- The Cooper Crassula is a herbaceous plant whose thin shoots curl as they grow.
Breeding
Where to get planting material from which you can grow a home money tree? The fat woman propagates by seed, but this process is long and rather laborious. It’s much easier to buy a small twig. You will need a healthy shoot 5-8 cm long. It will take root well in almost any soil, but for optimal growth and development it is recommended to choose a soil for succulents.
If there is none on sale, then this does not matter. In order to make a suitable soil, you will need:
- turf and leaf land;
- large, well-washed sand.
How to plant a money tree
Having brought home the shoot, do not rush to plant it in the ground and even more so put it in water. Succulents root in a slightly different way. In nature, the young shoot stimulates natural drying to the formation of roots. Therefore, put the handle in an empty glass and clean it in a dark place. After two days, the plant can be planted in the ground.
At the bottom you need to lay out a good drainage layer. It can be broken bricks or expanded clay. As a fertilizer, wood ash, humus, universal mineral complexes are suitable. A little "dried" cuttings can be put rooting in a glass of water or immediately planted in the ground. In both cases, the result is excellent. Usually in one to two weeks small roots will appear. If germination took place in water, now you can safely transplant the plant into the ground.
Pot selection
Almost all varieties of this plant are large. So that they do not lose their decorativeness, grow well and develop, a fairly spacious pot is required. Unlike flowering plants, in which a small pot stimulates the formation of buds, the volume is not important here and will contribute to the formation of a good, spreading crown. A large capacity eliminates the need to transplant the plant again in the near future.
Watering and lighting
Money tree at home willingly grows on almost any window. But a plant develops better in a bright room. It reacts painfully to sunburn. Therefore, you must definitely shade it.
Since the fat woman (money tree) is a plant from the succulent family, it tolerates drought very well. Even if you go on vacation, the green pet will calmly survive several weeks without any watering. Meat leaves can accumulate a significant supply of water. But this is an emergency case, and for the full development of the plant, watering is necessary and very important.
It is imperative to take water that has been protected, and even better filtered. It is best to regularly add a little to the pot. In hot weather, the amount of watering should be increased. Loosen the soil before the next irrigation. Thanks to this, you will appreciate the throughput of the soil, as well as the need to introduce a new portion of moisture. In winter, the soil is moistened only as it dries.
Fertilizer application
Feeding is necessary and important if you want to grow a beautiful money tree. Home care must include fertilizer. New branches are usually formed from spring to autumn. It was at this time that he needed support. It is best to choose complex fertilizers for cacti. Scheme of use - once a month. In the cold season, plant requirements are significantly reduced. In this case, the frequency can be maintained, only reduce the dosage by half. Do not forget that an overdose also threatens the death of the plant.
Cropping and shaping the crown
Money tree - a plant that can grow in a chaotic bush. In this form, it is not without grace and charm, but still this is not quite what you need. Some craftsmen form an amazing bonsai garden based on this plant. Starting to form a crown is required quite early. To do this, you need to break off all the side shoots to form a strong trunk.
The plant is regularly nipped, approximately every 4-5 leaves. In this case, a trunk of sufficient length is formed. At this point, a branching forms, which in the future also needs to be pinched. All sections must be sprinkled with wood ash or activated carbon. After the central trunk is formed, it is necessary to cut them off every 3-4 leaves so that the crown is magnificent and beautiful. But what form will be - depends on your preferences.
When the need arises for transplantation
Each owner will notice this, carrying out daily care. Money tree stops growing, although it does not show a clear malaise. As a rule, the need for transplantation occurs 2-3 years after rooting. It depends on the size of the pot.
It is fairly easy to appreciate with the naked eye. If the roots entangled in a lump of earth, it means that they lack space. The transplant procedure itself is not difficult. To do this, prepare a new pot, lay out the drainage and pour fresh soil. Now it remains to carefully shake the plant out of their old pot and place in a new one. Fill the empty space with fresh soil mixture and pour over water.
Home doctor
Most succulents have useful properties. But if in relation to aloe this is a well-known fact, then practically nobody uses Crassula for medicinal purposes. What diseases can I use it for?
- Rubbing and lotions with the juice of this plant are excellent for various dermatological diseases. These include psoriasis, eczema, herpes and lichen.
- The infusion successfully treats the kidneys.
- Gastritis, ulcers and other gastrointestinal diseases are successfully treated with the help of a fat girl. For this you need to eat fresh leaves on an empty stomach.
- For healing and disinfection of wounds, an alcoholic infusion is used.
Do not forget that the treatment of any disease begins with a doctor's consultation. Discuss with him the possibility of individual intolerance.
Diseases and Pests
In the photo, we usually see a money tree lush, bright green, with a decorated crown. Of course, such a plant attracts the attention of gardeners. But often your own copy is far from perfect. It is worth noting that pests almost never pay attention to it, the fatty woman is quite resistant to viruses and fungi. That is, most often problems are associated with incorrect content. You need to analyze the growing conditions of your mascot and work on the bugs. Then the fat woman will quickly grow, and maybe will please with beautiful flowers.
Leaf fall
This is the main decoration of the plant. Without thick, swollen droplets, its stems lose their charm. Therefore, it is necessary to find out why the money tree falls. By the way, some flower growers claim that dried leaves can be used to decorate a flower pallet, as they resemble precious stones. But it is best to prevent their massive dumping. The reasons for this phenomenon are not so many.
- Most often this is a banal waterlogging of the soil. If this happened once, and the soil was given time to dry, then nothing bad would happen. Africa also has a rainy season. But regular filling the pot will lead to unpleasant consequences. The leaves will fade and crumble. If you do not pay attention to this symptom, rot will spread and the plant will die.
- The second reason is the exact opposite. Inadequate watering on hot days leads to the plant dropping leaves. This saves moisture.
- Watering with cold water.
Blush Leaves
Despite the fact that this plant comes from hot Africa, it grows only in the shade of large trees. And at home, direct sunlight should not fall on its ground part. Having forgotten the plant on the windowsill, you can see that the leaves have lost turgor. The next day they usually turn red, after which the leaves fall off. Money tree can recover, but it will take some time.
Leaves can fall if the plant is in the dark and there is a catastrophic lack of light. Therefore, it is important to adjust the lighting and watering mode. Experts recommend periodically turning the pot around its own axis. It is important that the fat woman grows well, and her crown is magnificent and beautiful.
Stains on the leaves
They are usually black or brown. This phenomenon introduces into a stupor a beginner grower. If the leaves turn black, this most often indicates a bacterial lesion. In this case, all diseased leaves must be removed immediately, and the plant treated with a drug designed to eliminate pathogenic microflora. Most often, this phenomenon occurs if the room has high humidity. In this case, it is recommended to establish a ventilation system and mulch the soil well.
Dry and round black spots are the result of sunburn. Correcting this situation is easy. It is enough to make shading from the sun. Affected leaves can be removed, in this case, growth points are activated, and the crown is even more magnificent.
Plant parasite disease
This is not to say that pests often attack the fat girl. Quite the contrary, if there are other flowers on the windowsill, they will quickly become their victims. However, the mealybug, spider mite and scutellum may well become fond of the money tree. In this case, your talisman will need protection. How to recognize signs of damage?
If the scabies is damaged, yellow or brown spots appear on the surface of the sheet, which rise slightly above the surface. Be sure to inspect the plant and remove adult scale insects. After that, you can treat the entire ground part with a soap solution. With a massive lesion of the Crassula, the stem and leaves are treated with a special complex insecticide.
Instead of a conclusion
If you do not have much experience in floriculture, but really want to plant plants at home, then start with a fat girl. Money tree is quite simple to grow, eagerly forgives many mistakes. Even if, as a result of excessive moisture, it dropped the leaves, it does not matter - it will be enough to change the soil and revise the irrigation schedule. Within a few months, the plant will release a new crown. It is possible that it will be even more magnificent than before.