What flowers to choose for your home?There is no single answer to this question. Some people prefer abundantly flowering plants and create a miniature fragrant garden in their apartment. Some people are keen on growing only cacti, considering them the most unpretentious. And some choose plant species based on their folk beliefs. Each flower has its own energy field, which affects people and their surroundings. For example, geranium is considered a peace-loving plant that eliminates all family discord. Cacti protect the house from robbers, and dracaena helps to successfully complete any business started. But the most popular plant that has an impact on a person's life is the fat woman or money tree (as it is popularly called). Based on the name, you can understand that this flower helps to improve the financial situation in the family. That is why many of us strive to grow it. In this article, we will talk about all the features of this plant and learn how to care for the money tree so that it remains healthy and beautiful for a long time.
Reproduction and planting
To make a house tree attractive to the housefinances, you need to grow it yourself, so the option of buying an adult plant is completely out of the question. Reproduction of the fat woman is not difficult: just break off a small branch with 2-3 leaves from an adult flower, wait until it takes root and plant it in suitable soil. If you want to speed up the process, you can buy a special mixture in the store - root. Dilute it in water according to the instructions and place the shoot there. As soon as the roots appear, consider that the reproduction is complete - the plant can be planted. Choose a low pot for it, preferably ceramic. The newly purchased container should be thoroughly washed with soapy water and rinsed well in order to avoid infection of the flower. Place drainage (expanded clay) at the bottom of the pot. It is necessary to regulate humidity. If the container for the flower has holes for drainage, a centimeter layer of drainage will be enough. If not, the layer should be thicker, about 3-5 centimeters. The money tree is undemanding to the soil. It can be planted in regular soil mixed with sand in a ratio of 4:1. Or buy universal soil in the store. It is necessary to add a few words about fertilizing the plant. This procedure is carried out from April to September, no more than once a month. For feeding, it is best to take universal mixtures or mixtures for cacti. Fertilizer is applied to moist soil, immediately after watering.
Care for the money tree
So, how to care for a money tree?How often should it be watered and how should it be replanted? There are some nuances that a novice gardener needs to know. Let's look at them in more detail. Since this indoor plant comes from Africa, it loves sunlight. Neither high temperatures nor dry air will harm it. However, when taking the plant outside during the hot season, try to place the pot in a place where there is no direct sunlight. Otherwise, the leaves will "burn": they will start to turn yellow and fall off. In spring and summer, the plant needs to be watered quite often - 2-3 times a week. Here, everything depends on the air temperature. Before watering the money tree, check the soil for moisture. To do this, take a wooden stick and pierce the ground. If there are wet marks on it, you should wait with watering. Otherwise, you will flood the plant, and it will die. In winter, watering is reduced to once every two weeks. The money tree loves to "bathe", especially in the hot season. Spray the leaves with settled water from a spray bottle. It is best to use rain or melt water for watering. The plant should be replanted no more than once a year, preferably in the spring. The new pot should be wider and slightly deeper than the previous one. Ideally, the width of the pot should match the width of the tree crown. It is not recommended to choose a pot that is too deep, since the root will stretch downwards, and the plant itself will rush upwards. This will give it an elongated and unsightly shape. Place a drainage layer in the pot, carefully pull the tree out of the old soil and, without cleaning the roots from the earthen lump, place it in a new pot. There is no need to compact the soil too much, just add fresh soil after a while. And once a month, be sure to “fluff” the soil using an old fork or knife.
Crown formation
To make your home tree look beautifulshape, it is necessary to periodically pinch its crown. How to do it? Wait until 3-4 pairs of leaves appear on the branch, and between the last pair a new branch begins to “hatch”. It is this branch that needs to be removed - plucked out with your fingers or tweezers. Time will pass, and you will see that in place of the removed shoot two or even three new ones have appeared. This means that your tree has begun to branch out. If only one new bud appears, repeat the above procedure. If one of the branches has fallen out of the general mass (stretched upward), it can be cut off and the cut site sprinkled with ash. Never pull the crown together with wire or rope! This will only damage the plant. And the shape will not improve: the branches will all begin to grow in one direction. The lower leaves growing directly on the trunk do not need to be torn off. They will fall off on their own over time.
Money Tree and Feng Shui
According to the teachings of Feng Shui, the money treeis capable of not only attracting finances to the house, but also radiating positive energy. In order to direct this energy in the right direction, it is necessary to choose the right place for the plant. The ideal option would be a window sill facing southeast. According to Feng Shui, this direction stimulates the appearance of positive energy in the house. By the way, to spur the process a little, tie a red ribbon on the tree trunk. This will help to achieve the desired result in a shorter time. There are also a few more tricks that “work” to attract money. Before planting, put a small coin in the pot, sprinkle a little earth, and then place the plant itself there. On New Year's Eve, decorate the money tree with coins of different denominations. You can also use chocolate money in shiny wrappers for decoration. They are tied with red and yellow ribbons and hung on the plant.
Does the money tree blossom?
The question about flowering is probably the most popularamong people who grow indoor plants. We are all used to seeing the money tree exclusively in green, but it can give its owners extraordinary flowers! The money tree produces many small white buds that look like delicate snowflakes. However, not every gardener can achieve such a result. What is the secret? Like all indoor plants of this type (succulents), the money tree chooses the autumn-winter period to produce buds. Flowers may appear no earlier than the plant reaches 5-6 years of age. In order to increase the chances of flowering, try to limit the tree from sudden changes in temperature. If the plant has stood outdoors all summer, do not bring it into the house at the first cold snap. Cold air will not cause any harm - the flower can be outside until the first frost. And having brought it into the room, find the coolest place - a corridor or veranda will do just fine. And only with the onset of severe frosts, the indoor tree can be brought into a warm room. These simple tips will help you achieve the flowering of the fat woman. However, you should not hope too much for a positive result. As mentioned above, the money tree blooms very, very rarely at home. But in greenhouses (next to other indoor plants) you can often find a fat woman strewn with delicate flowers, since ideal conditions for its development and growth have been created there. As you can see, caring for the money tree is not particularly difficult. I would also like to add - this flower grows quite quickly. In just a couple of years, a miniature tree with a tree-like trunk and many bright green fleshy leaves will flaunt on your windowsill, the number of which will certainly affect the well-being of the family budget. The main thing is to believe in miracles! We advise you to read: