Growing milkweed

Euphorbia, numbering several thousand species, is today a common decorative culture that adorns the landscapes of gardens. But no less popular is the indoor euphorbia, which flower growers plant at home and thereby decorate the apartment interior.

Indoor euphorbia

About indoor milkweed

Unpretentious flowering indoor plant euphorbia often landscapes home premises, as it is grown in a variety of conditions. The largest types of indoor euphorbia do not require a lot of sunlight and are ready to live under different temperature conditions.

On the home windowsill, the euphorbia came from subtropical regions.Under natural conditions, this succulent is most often found among African and South American vegetation, in the Canary Islands and in Madagascar.

Succulent got its name “euphorbia” (euphorbia) in the homeland after a connoisseur of medicinal herbs from the Moorish island of Euphorb. He used the juice secreted by euphorbiaceae as a poison.

Among euphorbiaceae there are both perennial and perennial plants in the form of grassy species, shrubs, and even low trees.

Due to its toxicity, indoor species of milkweed are dangerous and it is often recommended to keep them at home in those rooms where children and animals do not live. The poisonous juice of the euphorbia family that gets on the skin can cause allergic reactions, and if it enters the human or animal body, it harms the body, leading to severe poisoning. Even experienced floriculturists transplant a milkweed indoor flower with extreme caution.

All types of milkweed, both home and garden, in their description of the composition contain a rubber component, essential oil, resin and the same glorified plant milky juice. In addition to these components, scientists found in various types of milkweed the presence of nitrogen-containing and polyphenolic compounds, in some there are amorphous gum and coumarins.

The poisonous properties of the plant, with due care, are used today to benefit as therapeutic agents.The root system, foliage and juice of milkweed often serves as home pharmaceuticals that have beneficial properties against a variety of inflammations to accelerate wound healing in order to increase immunity in the treatment of gastric disease.

Varieties of indoor succulents

Not all available milkweed hybrids are suitable for indoor cultivation. There are the most common euphorbiae that take root well at home, their diversity can be seen in the photo.

White-winged

White-flowered flowering species is the most popular in the list of indoor milk euphorbia for the house and according to signs brings prosperity to the house. Outwardly, it looks like a stalk with ribs up to 0.4-0.6 meters high, covered with yellow scales. Oval foliage with yellow veins grows on the top of this plant. This indoor succulent is famous for its frequent flowering.

Mile

This is a view of prickly milkweed some have nicknamed the crown of thorns for its appearance, which can be seen in the photo. The plant has small sizes, up to 3 centimeters in length, oblong leaves, it blooms with small bright flowers, often red. Flowering in milkweed a mile lasts from spring to autumn, he loves sunlight very much.

Ribbed

Ribbed succulent grows like a green palm-tree stem, at the top of which there is an oval foliage forms. In the process of plant growth, the leaves fall off, giving place to new ones.This is a species that can only be propagated by seed at home.

Smolonos

The tarry euphorbia looks like a branched shrub that grows up to a meter in height, with green-blue stems with verges tint of color. On the faces of it, spikes up to 5 millimeters in size are arranged in pairs. It blooms at the top of the stems with yellow inflorescences.

Tirukalli

This type of domestic milkweed is a bush of a cylindrical shape of green branches, growing to a thickness of 0.7 centimeters. Small leaves, up to 6-12 millimeters, fall off, leaving point traces on straight branches.

Triangular

Triangular succulent grows like a tree up to two to three meters in height in the form of trunks having three faces, which is why it got such a name. Its stems are painted with white stripes, the rib is equipped with red spikes with a brown tinge half a centimeter long.

Hare ears

This indoor euphorbia with an interesting name is correctly called voluptifolia. A rare species is a set of stems up to 0.2 meters long and up to 4-7 centimeters in diameter, covered with tubercles. Milkweed foliage grows on top of the head.

Basic principles of growing indoor succulent

Although domestic euphorbia is not very demanding on the growing conditions, some rules must be observed when caring for it:

• milkweeds do not resist sunlight, therefore they can be left for a long time on the windowsill in the south, south-east and south-west side, without worrying that the plant will dry out under sunlight,
• the humidity of the surrounding air does not so significantly affects the comfortable state of the plant, because of additional moisture and spray nodding is not required just rubbing the leaves from dust with a special brush,
• the succulent can grow at almost any temperature regime, however, the limit from 22 to 30 degrees will become most comfortable for it, you should not lower the indicator below 10 degrees ,
• when children or animals live in an apartment, the euphorbia is located in a place inaccessible to them.

These uncomplicated rules for growing and caring for room milk can be mastered even by unprofessional flower growers, because succulent often considers I as ornamental plants in the house, take care of them can and inexperienced growers.

Breeding Principles succulent cuttings

Different varieties of home milkweed breed differently. For some species, it will be preferable to propagate through cuttings.

Seedling through cuttings

Propagation of domestic milk by cuttings is done when the spring period begins. This method of reproduction is the cutting of cuttings-shoots on a stalk up to 12 centimeters long and their placement in water at room temperature or warmer, after which they are dried for several days. At the same time, the place of the cut is covered with a film, which means that the stalk is ready for planting in soil. The best for such a handle will be a peat-sand mixture. A succulent stalk planted in the soil after abundant watering is covered with a film to create a thermal effect and left so that the root system of the plant is fixed at a temperature of at least 20 degrees. The process of rooting domestic milkweed takes about 2 weeks.

Seedling through foliage

Propagation of milkweed through leafy cuttings involves plucking a sheet from which milk juice should drain. The leaf is held in the root, then moves to the mineral wool or sand with large grains of sand. The planted leaf is also abundantly spilled with water and covered with a film. The process of rooting leaf seedlings lasts at least a month. At the same time, one should not forget about the regular ventilation of the growing cuttings.

Principles of propagation of succulent seeds and division

Propagation of milkweed by means of cuttings is not suitable for all types of succulents. So, spherical milkweeds grow better if they multiply and grow from seeds. There are also species that multiply by dividing the bush.

Planting seedlings with seeds

To breed milkweed at home by planting seeds, you will need to prepare land mixed with sand, for which purpose this mixture is calcined in the oven and poured into a container for planting seeds. Milkweed seeds are sown in a well-spilled sandy-earth mixture, which is subsequently left in the illuminated and warm room for at least 2-4 months for seedlings to appear. As in the case of the propagation of domestic milkweed with foliage, the film periodically rises to give the germinating seeds air and water. Succulents are transplanted into permanent soil when he gave the first leaves.

Seedling by division

It is more expedient to plant domestic euphorbia by dividing the bush in early spring or at the very beginning of autumn. With this method of propagation, the bush together with the root is completely taken out of the pot, its root system is cleaned of dried and dead areas, the stem and roots are divided, preferably by hand, without using a knife or scissors.If it is not possible to divide the euphorbia without the help of tools, then the places of the cuts are subsequently burned with finely chopped coal.

The parts obtained from dividing the bush are placed in different flower pots with a pre-laid drainage layer. As a rule, plant adaptation with this method of propagation requires a longer period, sometimes a year or two.

Approaches to growing and caring

Planting and caring for domestic milk has a number of simple features to fulfill.

Place for the plant

The place where you can put the flower pot with milkweed depends on the weather outside. With the sun scorching outside the window, euphorbia is usually hidden in the shade. Although succulent can easily tolerate a hot climate, since it comes from warm countries, excess heat entering through a window pane can cause an undesirable burn of leaves and drying out of soil in a flower pot.

Often floriculturists for the summer period, their indoor euphorbia is planted in open ground or simply taken out in a pot to fresh air.

In winter, try to avoid the places where the flower pot is located, where the central heating battery is located nearby.

Amount of watering

Succulents, which include domestic euphorbia, can go without watering for a long time, because the scheme of saturation of the plant with water suggests that:

• in the summer, the plant is watered once in a weekly interval, the succulent in the spring and autumn season needs water no more than once in the past two weeks,
• euphorbia in winter does not require watering more often, weeks once a month .

It is possible to determine whether water should be watered for milkweed by the dryness of the upper soil layer. In case of exceeding the frequency and moderation of watering, putrefactive processes often occur that affect the root system of the plant. At the same time, indoor euphorbia does not belong to those home decorative flowers that require spraying.

Succulent planting

Indoor euphorbia is planted and transplanted when spring comes, before the growing season begins, at the same time, its transplantation is allowed no more than once every two years, for which a loose soil mixture filled with nutrient minerals is used. Usually, the reason for a plant transplant is an overgrowth of its root system.

As a soil soil, a mixture of different amounts of peat and land components, with the addition of sand and turf, is made. Some for planting milkweed prefer to buy ready-made soil mixtures.Before planting the succulent in a flower pot, a drainage layer is laid at the bottom of it.

Cutting and dressing the flower

For the comfort of home milk, you need to periodically trim the plant and produce it fertilizing it with the help of mineral flower complexes.

Pruning

Succulent flower try to cut in the spring and summer. Spring pruning of the flower is associated with the appearance of the plant and allows you to form the desired shape of the flower and give it further growth.

When carrying out the pruning procedure, remember the poisonousness of the milky juice of room milk, therefore, after finishing work, do not forget wash hands with soap.

Summer pruning is done to get rid of dried flower shoots and give strength to the young and strong, which should bloom for next season.

Feeding

Feeding Succulents with m ineral complexes in the process of caring for the flower is produced in the spring and autumn. Typically, flower growers use special fortified mixtures intended for feeding cacti.

The need for fertilizing can be judged when the leaves of the milkweed family turn yellow or they have fallen.

Plant nutrition is done once in a two-week interval, which is enough to give domestic milk milk strength for growth and development.