Often in homes you can see a plant called the money tree. But few people are puzzled by the organization of proper care for him. For example, many do not know how and what to feed him properly.
Most people will not be able to answer the question, what is the difference between a fat girl, a red grass, a tree of happiness. But they imagine a money tree. Meanwhile, there is no difference between all of the above - all these are the names of the same succulent.
Money Tree
This tree was nicknamed money because of its leaves - small, round, coin-like. According to Feng Shui, if it is grown in the right place (more precisely, on the south or southeast window), then the denser its foliage, the richer the owners of the house will be. Even in the popular game TheSims (or just Sims) it is. True, there, instead of coin-like leaflets, real banknotes grow on it.
Money tree in the Sims game
Interesting. There are a lot of beliefs associated with Crassula. For example, it is believed that it absorbs the negative energy of households, processing it into positive. Also, so that happiness and wealth come to the house, the tree is not advised to buy, it is recommended to grow it yourself. At the same time, the shoot for growing is certainly asked from friends or relatives.
There are several types of fatty. In homes, the most common is Crassula treelike. She feels well in the apartment, reaching a height of a meter or two. It’s not enough just to place the pot with it on the windowsill and sometimes remember to water it. The plant needs to be fertilized, so you need to know how to feed the fat girl at home.
In order for the money tree to feel at home well, fertilizers must be applied in a timely manner. The fat woman especially needs the following:
- Potassium. This macro element helps the leaves of the plant turn green. If there is too little potassium, then the foliage of the succulent will begin to gradually turn yellow and fall. But you need to be careful with it - an excess of this mineral can burn the roots.
- Phosphorus. He is the energy of the flower. Thanks to phosphorus, the money tree will actively produce shoots, its root system will develop. Without it, normal plant growth is impossible.
- Nitrogen. It is necessary for life to all green plants, but in moderation. Like potassium, it can kill the flora when the desired dose is exceeded. For crassuli, as well as for cacti, nitrogen is needed quite a bit.
Note! For money trees, you can use general fertilizers for succulents or cacti.
Example fertilizer for cacti and succulents
The macro elements necessary for a money tree are listed above. However, there is still a trace element recommended for addition to the fertilizer composition. It is not necessary for the existence of the plant, but it benefits him. This is calcium. Like a person, the formation of the correct skeleton in a fat woman without calcium will not occur. He is responsible for the proper water storage functions of the succulent.
There are many options for feeding the money tree. All fertilizers are divided into organic, that is, created by nature, and mineral, man-made artificially.
Organic
One of the best fertilizers for the fat woman is ash. It has little nitrogen, which the whole flora needs. But the components needed for this particular plant (calcium, phosphorus, potassium) are many. There are two ways to use ash:
- Prepare a solution. 200 grams of this substance is poured into a glass of water. This mixture is infused for a week, after which you can water the tree with finished fertilizer.
- Drip dry. This means, with your hands, the ashes are scattered on the ground at the roots of the plant, after which they add it a couple of centimeters deep into it.
Wood ash
Crassule bone and fish meal is also great. Moreover, in the second version there is more phosphorus. It is not difficult to do this top dressing: it is enough just to grind the bones of cattle (preferably cow) or fish. They are crushed into the soil of the plant. Interestingly, this procedure is carried out no more than three times a year - the bones will decompose gradually, fueling the money tree.
To maintain the required level of calcium, you can also use regular egg shells three times a year to feed the fat woman. It is also ground and the resulting flour is added to the ground. This method is suitable for saturating the soil with calcium during transplantation.
Mineral
For a money tree, fertilizer marked NPK 5-10-5 is suitable. The letters of the abbreviation in accordance with the international names of minerals mean the following:
- N is nitrogen;
- P is phosphorus;
- K is potassium.
5-10-5 - the concentration of these macronutrients in top dressing. For a fat woman, it will be necessary to breed not a full dose, but only a quarter of it. This fertilizer is good to use during flowering and active growth.
In autumn, when the flowering season ends, you can switch to mineral compositions with a concentration of NPK 1-1-1. In this case, only a quarter of the recommended norm is bred.
Note! On average, the optimal concentration of fertilizing will be the following: 1 gram of mineral salts per liter of clean, settled water.
The process of feeding a fat woman
Not every fertilizer contains calcium in the composition. It is not vital for most plants, therefore it is rarely added to top dressing. You should carefully study its components. Well, if this trace element is among them. If not, then its introduction should be puzzled separately.
It is not enough to know how to fertilize a home money tree. You also need to know how to do it right, at what time, and what nuances of this procedure exist. In particular, Crassula should be fed with fertilizers according to the following rules:
- This succulent has no pronounced seasonality. It’s difficult for him to bloom in the house, for the winter he does not drop leaves. Therefore, an inexperienced grower, most likely, will not change the regime of keeping and feeding a fat woman. And in vain - the rest season she has, and it is necessary to fertilize her at this time not like in the summer.
Flowering of the Crassula, which rarely happens at home.
- Never fertilize on dry soil. Thus, it is possible to achieve not an improvement in the well-being of the flower, but its death - top dressing will burn the roots. Before applying fertilizer, whatever it is, you should always water the succulent.
- It is not necessary to use cold or not settled water for irrigation or breeding of top dressing. Plants, including Crassula, like pure moisture at room temperature or a little warmer.
Almost all plants have periods of active growth, when the flora releases new branches, leaves, blooms. They are replaced by periods of rest called horticulturists. In these seasons, plants rest, accumulate strength.
In fat women, like in most flowers, the growth season begins in the spring and lasts in the summer. Money tree is generally a blooming flora, but it is extremely difficult to achieve its flowering at home and few succeed. In the fall, the succulent leaves to "sleep", he sleeps all winter, waking up with spring warming.
In each of the periods, the requirements for fertilizers for Crassula are different.
Important! There is one important rule - you can’t feed the plant more often than every thirty days. This will kill the roots and, accordingly, the tree too.
Those who grow a fat woman at home need to know how to fertilize it during the period of active growth. For this flora, this time is from March to August inclusive. You will need all the same macroelements important for Crassula: nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, calcium. Their concentration should be stronger than during the hibernation season.
Most often, an NPK ratio of 5-10-5 is recommended. It works well and 2-3-2. The main thing is that there should be more phosphorus - it is thanks to it that the root of the flora grows, followed by everything else. Use a full dose of a mineral preparation is not worth it, only a quarter.
Granular fertilizer with NPK 5-10-5
Fertilize the money tree in spring and summer once a month. Moreover, organics can be alternated with minerals as follows:
- Some advise to use alternately either ash or purchased fertilizer.
- Others recommend using ash in early spring and late summer, and minerals for the rest of the warm season.
Many plants during the dormant period are advised to completely stop feeding. Crassula in the apartment needs her in the winter. It is only important to know what and how to fertilize the money tree at this time.
Since in the cold season, the fat girl, like most other flora does not grow, rests, there is no need for enhanced feeding. But there is a minimum level of minerals that the money tree needs in the winter. To make up for the deficiency, a fertilizer with a concentration of NPK 1-1-1 should be used. In this case, only a quarter of a single dose will also be required.
It is important to consider that the frequency of top dressing is also reduced. It is enough to conduct it once every two months.
In winter, you can use simple sugar instead of purchased mineral fertilizers. It will decompose in the soil into glucose and fructose, the first to the taste of the flora. Fertilizing it with sugar is especially recommended at the end of wintering, when the tree needs a lot of energy. They feed it with sugar like this: a tablespoon of granulated sugar is diluted in half a liter of water and the plant is watered with the resulting solution under the root.
Sugar Solution Preparation
Among lovers of home flowers, there is another opinion. If you follow it, then in the period from mid-August to the beginning of wintering, the concentration of fertilizing should be halved. That is, to make not a quarter of the dose, one eighth. Fertilizers are removed completely for hibernation if there is no urgent need for the opposite (for example, if a money tree is sick). The feeding regimen is resumed from mid-February, also with a reduced portion of minerals.
In general, there is nothing difficult in growing such a tree as a fat woman. Feeding it is quite simple, the most important thing is to properly meet the deadlines and monitor the desired concentration of fertilizing. It is important to remember that even the most expensive fertilizer will not save you from the consequences of poor care.
