The most popular, widespread and easy-to-grow type of indoor fat women is the oval crassula, or Ovata, which is much better known as the money tree. The plant is credited with so many magical properties that the main thing – decorativeness and versatility, is almost forgotten. You can believe or not believe in the myths about the money tree, but you definitely don’t have to doubt that an oval crassula can be grown by anyone. The main thing is not to overdo it with watering. And choose a brightly lit, warm place. Otherwise, leaving is more than easy.
Crassula oval, or Ovata – simplicity and perfection of the classics
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The money tree in all its simplicity
Oval fat woman, egg fat woman, Crassula ovata, monkey tree or money tree (Crassula ovata) – the most common type of indoor succulents. Plants for many fans appear as a mythical “magnet” for financial well-being and prosperity, but the energetic and even more magical talents of plants are from the category of rumors and speculation. Crassula oval would never have become such a popular culture if not for its purely practical and decorative advantages over competitors.
The oval fat woman is an evergreen, long-lived succulent shrub with gradually lignified shoots. Its height depends on the method of formation and can either be limited to 20 cm or exceed 70 cm. Stems with an unusual light, grayish-brown bark, woody gradually. Young shoots are thick, fleshy, rounded, of the same color as the leaves. Ease of formation allows you to grow an oval Crassula in the form of a single-stemmed or multi-stemmed tree, bush or even in the form of a bonsai, which allows Crassula Ovate to remain in the list of fashionable and modern plants.
The oval-ovate opposite leaves of Crassula Ovata are easily recognizable by their fleshiness, thick petioles, their special texture and rich light color. If you take a closer look, you will notice that each pair of leaves is rotated 90 degrees in relation to the previous one. Wax-shiny and very decorative, with a reddish bloom around the edges, which appears depending on the light, the oval crassula leaves seem almost flawless and fresh. The presence of short aerial roots under the leaves adds a special charm to this type of Crassula.
The fragility, fragility of shoots and leaves of the oval bastard often turns into an unpleasant surprise. Careless handling, negligence, placement in a place where the plant is accidentally touched lead to permanent injuries, breaking off of leaves and shoots. Because of its fragility, the fat woman requires careful selection of a “calm” remote place where the risk of injury will be minimal.
In indoor conditions, the oval bastard blooms very rarely, at a respectable age and only under the condition of a cool winter. In autumn and winter, the small, star-shaped, light pink flowers in small inflorescences are strikingly touching.
Oval fat woman, or money tree (Crassula ovata)
Varietal variety of the fatty ovata
The money tree today offers a considerable selection of unusual varieties:
- original thick-stemmed bushes of the Oblikva series with pointed lanceolate striped leaves;
- small-leaved varieties of the “Compact” series;
- miniature reddening bushes of the “Minor” variety;
- bizarre leaves of the Hobbit variety accreted at the base;
- variegated variegated varieties (for example, “Tricolor”, “Sunset”).
Special varieties are becoming more and more popular. You should choose them according to your taste, because in nature they are similar to the base plant.
Oval fat woman (Crassula ovata), grade “Minor”. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com José Leocadio Rejas Ma
Oval fat woman (Crassula ovata), grade “Hobbit”. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com sakyurek
Oval fat woman (Crassula ovata), grade “Tricolor”. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com gardentags
Growing conditions for an oval room fat woman
The oval fat woman is a light-loving plant, the soft but bright mode of the eastern and western window sills is considered ideal for it. The interior suffers from a lack of light. Under direct sun, especially on the southern windows, it can turn yellow or surprise with the reddishness of the leaves, but in general the plant is quite stable. The more bizarre the variety, the more light-dependent and sun-fearing it is.
For the winter, to preserve the leaves, it is better to correct the lighting by moving the bastard to more illuminated places.
The wintering of fat women should ideally take place in a cool place, with slightly low temperatures (from 12 to 18 degrees), but at normal room temperatures, especially if the lighting has been adjusted, they will not be affected. Pulling or dropping leaves threaten fat women only in the heat, near the radiators, in the shade, and even then in the spring they quickly recover.
For the summer, the oval fat woman can be transferred to the balcony, to the garden, or left in the room. It cannot be called the most sensitive to drafts, but it is better to protect the plant from cold airing. But the plant does not like air conditioners and heating batteries.
Read also our article Why do the leaves fall from the money tree?
Oval jellyfish care at home
Minimal watering and poor feeding do not cause difficulties. This crassula will retain its decorative effect even when irrigation is missed, and if you often go on business trips. And it is precisely because of this that the money tree is an indisputable favorite among bushy and tree-like succulents.
Watering and air humidity
For an oval fat woman, it is enough to remember one rule – she does not like waterlogging so much that it is better to underfill the plant when watering than to overflow. It is a typical succulent plant capable of surviving almost any drought. Between watering for oval crassula, it is necessary to thoroughly dry the substrate (in the upper and partially middle layer), and drain the water from the pallets immediately. For the winter, the plant is transferred to minimum watering, reducing their frequency and abundance by approximately half.
It is important to water the fat woman with soft water; when watering with hard or poorly settled water, white specks of salt deposits appear on the leaves, which will have to be washed regularly.
Crassulae feel great in dry air, do not tolerate too humid environment. The leaves of the plant should be regularly wiped to remove dust (carefully, by hand, trying not to injure easily break off shoots and leaves).
It is better to underfill an oval fat woman when watering than to pour
Top dressing and composition of fertilizers
For an oval fat woman, it is worth using special fertilizers for succulents and cacti. In an extreme case, universal fertilizers are also suitable, but at a reduced concentration of two to three times. Fat women are usually fed only during the period of active growth, from mid-spring to autumn, every 3-4 weeks or more, but proportionally reducing the dose of fertilizers. So that the plant does not lose leaves, feeding can be continued in autumn or winter, limiting the frequency to 1 time in 1,5 months.
Trimming and shaping the oval bastard
This type of fat woman can be trimmed at your discretion. When stretching, overgrowing, simple shortening and pruning of long shoots allows the crown to thicken. To grow bonsai, they combine limiting root growth, pruning and cutting excess shoots while minimizing the volume of containers. The oval fat woman easily forgives mistakes and grows quickly, this is one of the best species for teaching the art of bonsai.
Read more about pruning crassula in the article How to form a money tree correctly.
Transplant, containers and substrate
A special substrate for succulents is ideal for the oval jellyfish, but you can plant this plant in any other high-quality, loose substrate if you add additional loosening components (perlite, vermiculite, etc.)
Containers for fat women should be low, wide enough, consistent with a compact rhizome. Large drainage holes are required. It is worth paying attention to the materials: a large mass of stems and leaves, fragility of the plant requires the choice of either heavy containers, ceramics, or the use of heavy drainage.
Plants require careful handling when transplanting. Large oval fat women are best transplanted with an assistant. The less trauma the roots get, the better. A high drainage layer must be placed on the bottom of the pots.
Diseases, pests and growing problems
This disease-resistant plant is most often lost due to rot, which affects roots and shoots during overflow. Neglected plants that suffer from a lack of basic care can attract mealybugs and thrips, but nevertheless, oval bastard pests are very rarely affected by pests.
Stretching, discoloration, excessive fragility, deformation always indicate insufficient lighting.
The oval fat woman takes root surprisingly easily
Reproduction of the oval fat woman
This type of fat woman takes root surprisingly easily. Even accidentally fallen leaves often begin to sprout right in the pot, let alone leafy, aerial roots, apical and stem cuttings. It is possible to root the shoots or leaves of the oval bastard in water, sand, ordinary substrate. The main thing is to dry the sections and use disinfected soil.
It is not necessary to cover the cuttings with a cap, the lightest soil moisture or regular water changes are enough. The cuttings of the bastard take root very quickly, in 2-4 weeks. And you can graft a money tree literally at any time of the year.
You can grow oval crassula and from seeds, but vegetative propagation is much easier. And the result will not have to wait for many years.
