The tree-like succulent euphorbia (or euphorbia) tirukalli is attractive for its unpretentiousness. In our country, it is cultivated as a houseplant. How to create favorable conditions for its cultivation at home will be discussed below.
Botanical description of the plant
The birthplace of euphorbia tirukalli is Africa. Its feature is the ability to fully develop even on depleted soils. Euphorbia tirukalli belongs to poisonous plants - its juice when exposed to exposed areas of human skin causes irritation, but is completely safe for cattle, which allows it to be grown for animal feed in the unfavorable arid regions of India and Africa.
Under natural habitats, plants reach a height of 9 m, with home cultivation without planned pruning - 6 m.
Did you know? According to Feng Shui, succulent plants need to be located next to the front door. They protect the house from bad energy.
The milkweed stalk is round, has a smooth structure. In young specimens it is painted in bright green color, in adults - in green-gray. Leaves of a linear type, similar in color to the stem, are formed only on young plants, on old ones they are absent. Stalks of milkweed participate in photosynthesis.Euphorbia tirucalli is a dioecious plant. Euphorbia enters the flowering phase in October, leaves it in March. Small tubular flowers without yellow-orange petals form umbrella inflorescences.
With home cultivation, flowering does not occur. After pollination, small spherical fruits are formed, reaching a diameter of 9 mm. Fruits are smooth three-lobed nuts of brown-gray color, which, after ripening, are divided into 3 single-seed.
The pericarp of each single seed nut is divided into 2 wings. Intraplants of the webbed type. The seed is a smooth nut covered with a membranous membrane, containing a dense endosperm inside, inside of which there is an embryo with flat cotyledons.
Root system | superficial, massive |
Stem | round upright |
Leaf shape | linear |
Leaf color | light green |
Flower shape | tubular |
Flower color | yellow orange |
Fruit shape | nutty |
Fruit color | brown gray |
Growing conditions
When growing tirucalli euphorbia at home, you need to consider that the plant was imported from hot countries. For the full development of milkweed, special microclimate conditions will be required.
Accommodation
Euphorbia tirucalli is a photophilous plant. It is best to place it in the southern part of the home, eliminating the possibility of a draft in advance. Succulents normally tolerate arid conditions, which allows you to take it to the street or to the balcony in the summer.
Important! When placed in the garden, it is necessary to provide the plant with reliable protection against rainfall. If the succulent is flooded with water, it will stop growing or die.
Temperature mode
In the summer, plants develop well at standard temperature conditions for any region. The temperature during this period can vary between +20 ... + 35 ° С. In winter, you need to provide milkweed temperature drop to + 15 ° C.
Air humidity
Succulent is not demanding on air humidity. Occasionally, you can spray or rinse under a warm shower, but these procedures are not necessary. Euphorbia euphorbia fully develops with medium and low humidity, varying within 30-50%.
Home Care
Euphorbia tirucalli is unpretentious in care, but in order to achieve good results when growing it at home, you need to follow a number of rules regarding soil quality and irrigation intensity.
Watering
Moisturizing the soil should be given special attention - with an excess of moisture, the risk of root rot increases. During the active growing season, watering is moderate, after the top layer of the soil dries to a depth of 2-3 cm. In winter, moisture is applied no more than once a month.
For optimal moisture distribution, you need to make several recesses in the form of circles around the main stem:
- the first at a distance of 5 cm from the stem;
- the second at a distance of 10 cm from the stem;
- the third is not reaching 5 cm to the edge of the pot.
100–200 ml of settled soft water free of heavy impurities is poured into these depressions. The optimum temperature of the liquid for irrigation is +18 ... + 20 ° С.
Top dressing
In the wild, tirukalli survives on the most scarce soils, but in the home environment it will need top dressing, since the feeding area is much smaller. Standard fertilizers for succulents and cacti are suitable. Make them according to the instructions specified by the manufacturer.
Suitable formulations for euphorbia tirucalli:
- fertimix;
- stimovit.
Important! When choosing a fertilizer, pay attention to the nitrogen content - the optimal indicator is not higher than 5%. With an increased content of this element in the soil, the stems are very elongated, become watery, and the risk of stem rot appears.
Top dressing is applied from March to October once every 2 weeks in liquid form instead of watering.
Pruning
Succulent is characterized by rapid growth, therefore, requires regular forming pruning. The procedure involves shortening the shoots to the desired height for the grower. Pruning is carried out in early March, before the first top dressing. All manipulations should be done with gloves, with a sharp knife.
At the end of the procedures, the sections are treated with crushed activated carbon. The remaining processes can be left for propagation of the succulent.
Transfer
The transplant is carried out in the spring, when the root shoots surround the entire earthen lump and are visible through the drainage holes, about once every 2-3 years. Also, the transplant must be carried out a month after the purchase of the plant, having arranged for it preliminary quarantine.
This approach will protect other representatives of the fauna growing in the apartment from the spread of fungus and parasites, as well as give the new plant the opportunity to adapt to the microclimate of the room.
To plant tirucalli euphorbia, you can take a standard soil for succulents and add 30-40% perlite mixed with vermiculite to it, or mix the following elements in equal parts:
- leaf-sod land;
- garden soil;
- coarse sand from the riverbank.
The soil is shed with a solution of ash - this will make it possible to disinfect it and enrich it with nitrogen, which will increase the survival of plants during the period of adaptation to a new soil. To prepare a working solution, 200 g of wood ash is taken per 5 l of water, and then the mixture is boiled for 5-10 minutes. The solution is poured into the ground hot.
The pot is selected medium size. The superficial root system will not be comfortable in a tall pot, which will lead to stunted growth. The capacity is selected longer by 5 cm in length and width. A 3 cm layer of expanded clay is laid on the bottom, then a sand cushion of about 2 cm is arranged and the plant is transferred with an earthen lump into a new pot.The voids are covered with nutrient soil, slightly compact the soil surface near the stem. Immediately make cover circles for watering and set the plant aside for 3-5 days in a shaded place where humidity is maintained at around 50%, and the average daily temperature is +18 ... + 20 ° С.
After this period, the plants are rearranged in a well-lit place and continue to care according to the above scheme.
Propagation by cuttings
For home cultivation, propagation by cuttings is used. To do this, when forming pruning in the spring, 10 cm long processes are harvested. Then they are drawn into a glass of warm water (water temperature + 25 ° C) and the cuttings are soaked for 30 minutes to rinse the milky juice. After water procedures, the processes wither for 2-3 days, after processing the sections with a root solution.
To germinate the cuttings in a pot of 5 × 7 cm in size, lay in layers:
- 1 cm expanded clay;
- 3 cm of coarse sand;
- 3 cm peat.
Cuttings are buried by 2 cm in the soil moistened from the spray gun and covered with a transparent plastic or glass container. Sprouts put on the eastern window sills. Rooting care 3-4 weeks. After this, the sprouts dive 2-3 instances into one oblong pot to form lush bushes.
Possible growing difficulties
With improper organization of care and microclimatic conditions, plants are infected:
- root rot - caused by moisture retention in the soil in combination with low temperature - the problem can be solved by urgent transplantation with the complete replacement of the earth coma, preliminary removal of the affected areas and treatment with charcoal;
- stem rot - caused by severe hypothermia - plants die in 3-4 days.
- mealybug - plant stems should be treated with 40% alcohol diluted 1: 1 with water, if there is no result, you can use the actar insecticide, which is bred according to the instructions for indoor plants;
- spider mite - the stalks are sprayed three times with a solution of green soap with an interval of 5-7 days.
Did you know? Milk juice of milkweed is the richest poison in composition. Despite this, it is actively used in the creation of cosmetics for whitening the skin, removing papillomas.
When growing euphorbia, tirukalli must be borne in mind that the plant came to us from hot countries. To achieve success in its cultivation, it is necessary to create comfortable conditions that are close to natural, and adhere to basic agricultural rules.