The tree of happinessis a well-known houseplant with attractive fleshy leaves and a woody habit. Another name for it is crassula. It is quite easy to grow and therefore recommended to beginner lovers of plant breeding. See what the correctcare for the tree of happinessgrown at home looks like, what diseases and pests can threaten this plant and how to fight them, and learn about simple ways topropagating the tree of happinessat home. Here are the most importantsecrets of growing a happiness tree !
A tree of happiness - a crassula ovoid
Fig. pxhere.com
The tree of happiness , or Crassula ovata, comes from the dry and hot areas of South Africa. It is a succulent from the Crassulacaea family. In nature, it is a highly branched shrub, reaching up to 2 m in height. In apartments, it reaches sizes up to 1 m in height and can be formed freely. It grows very slowly. During the year, it only lengthens the shoots by a few centimeters. It has characteristic flat, fleshy and shiny leaves. Fleshy leaves and a thick woody trunk are used by the tree of happiness to store water, which it can accumulate very large amounts. Thanks to this, it can survive short periods of drought in its natural environment.
In the commercial offer, apart from the basic form, we can findtrees of happiness in 3 varieties : 'Gollum' (with tubular leaves), 'Minima' (miniature, growing up to 60 cm heights) and 'Undulatifolia' (with wavy leaves).
Tree of happiness - care
1. Cultivation position, temperature
The tree of happiness requires a lot of sunlightIt tolerates even direct sunlight. In the shade, its leaves lengthen, lose their oval shape and turn pale, the plant becomes ill and dies. The south window is the best place to grow a tree of happiness. During the day, the tree of happiness needs at least 4 hours of direct sunlight.
Tree of happiness in a pot
Fig. pxhere.com
The optimal temperature for a lucky treeis 20-22 ° C, but it also performs very well in temperatures a few degrees higher. At night, it tolerates a drop in temperature to 10 ° C. Such a temperature difference between day and night is even beneficial for the tree of happiness and stimulates its development because it resembles its natural conditions.
2. What land for a tree of happiness?
The substrate must be loose. A special mixture for cacti and succulents, additionally supplemented with coarse sand in a proportion of 3: 1. Good drainage is also necessary in the pot. At the bottom of the pot, a 2 cm layer of small stones is sprinkled over with a mixture of soil.
3. Watering the tree of happiness
Water the tree of happinessabundantly once, and then wait with the next watering until the soil in the pot becomes visibly dry and loose. Water the tree of happiness once a month and even less frequently in winter.The tree of happiness tolerates irregular watering wellIt is definitely better to dry it a little than to pour it over. A symptom of too much moisture in the substrate is the firmness rubbed off by the leaves. Too moist soil causes the roots and the base of the stem to rot. On the other hand, if the tree of happiness is watered too little and infrequently, it may shed leaves.
When watering the plant, avoid wetting its leaves, because thenfungal diseases of the tree of happinessdevelop easily, such as e.g. powdery mildew.
The tree of happiness can also bloom
Fig. Nutka13, forum.PoradnikOgrodniczy.pl
The tree of happiness tolerates dry air very welland does not require sprinkling the leaves (do not even sprinkle them). It is only worth making sure that during the heating season it is not too close to the radiator.
4. Fertilizing the tree of happiness
If we do notfertilize the trees of happiness , its leaves will lose their shine, they will start to shrink and turn yellow. Therefore, from spring to autumnfertilize the tree of happiness every 4 weekswith liquid fertilizer dissolved in water for irrigation. In winter, we stop fertilizing to prevent the development of fungal diseases.
5. Transplanting the tree of happiness
We replant the tree of happiness no more often than every 2-3 yearsWe do it only when we notice that the roots are coming out through the holes in the pot. We can replant the tree of happiness at any time of the year, although the best season is spring. When transplanting, slightly cut the roots (about 1-2 cm) to stimulate the root system to regenerate faster.
Tree of happiness - reproduction
At homewe can reproduce the tree of happiness in two ways . Both are easy and usually successful.
1. Propagation of the tree of happiness from shoot cuttings
It is very easy tothe tree of happiness is propagated from cuttingsFor this purpose, in spring and summer we cut off 5-6 cm fragments of young shoots. We remove the lower leaves from the cuttings. Put the finished seedlings back for 1-2 days in a quiet place so that the cut site is dry. This prevents the stalk from bending when placing the seedlings in the ground.
The seedlings of the tree of happinessare planted in containers with slightly moist peat covered with a 5-6 cm layer of sand.In order to prevent fungal infections and accelerate the development of the roots, it is worth immersing the end of the seedling in a rooting agent (eg Himal Roother B aqua) before planting. The seedlings of the tree of happiness take root most quickly at a temperature of 23-25 ° C.
Good to know!Sometimes it happens that small roots appear on the shoots of the tree of happiness, at the branching points. Then we can tear off the ends of the shoots already with the roots, which gives us almost 100% certainty that such a seedling will be accepted.
2. Propagation of the tree of happiness from leaves
We can just as easilypropagate the tree of happiness from single leavesWe choose he althy and firm leaves from the plant. We place them on a moist soil and perlite substrate or on a special mixture for cacti. During rooting, keep the substrate constantly slightly moist. After 2-8 weeks, young leaves and roots begin to develop at the edges of the leaves in contact with the ground, from which young plants develop.When they reach a few centimeters in height, they can be detached from the parent leaf and treated as separate plants.
Tree of happiness, crassula ovoid
Fig. Aneta78, forum.PoradnikOgrodniczy.pl
Tree of happiness - diseases and pests
The trees of happiness grown in apartmentsare very rarely attacked by pests of houseplants and hardly ever get sick. With proper care, they are completely trouble-free plants for the owner. Sometimessmall brown, convex discs may appear on the shoots of the tree of happiness, and the leaves are covered with sticky dischargeThese are cups, small insects whose body is hidden under a hard shield. By feeding on the plant, they suck the juices out of it, expelling the honeydew (honey dew), which becomes a nutrient medium for the fungi.We remove the cups from the shoots of the happiness treemechanically - gently scratch them with a brush, and then wash the plant with a cotton swab soaked in denatured alcohol or water with gray soap.To protect the tree of happiness against the re-invasion of these pests, we place insecticidal sticks in the substrate, e.g. BROS Shield Plus PR or other similar effects.
The most commondisease of the tree of happinessis powdery mildew . The leaves and young shoots show a white powdery coating under which corky wounds are formed. The leaves begin to fall, and the new, young leaves deform. As a consequence, the plant begins to die. The development of powdery mildew is favored by high humidity, too abundant fertilization and soaking the leaves during watering. We fight powdery mildew by spraying the tree of happiness with the biopreparation Biosept Active (0.5 ml / 1 l of water). If the disease has already spread to most of the plant, we use Topsin M 500 SC (1 ml / 1 l of water) as a spray.
MSc Eng. Agnieszka Lach
