Fat family. The homeland is predominantly South Africa. Tolstyanka is an extensive genus of succulent plants, numbering, according to various sources, about 300-350 species. Among them are small plants (several centimeters high) and giant ones up to several meters, which are difficult to keep at home.
Types of fat women
- Oval fat Crassula ovata or Money Tree is one of the most common types of fat women, characterized by varietal diversity. It has most often a tree-like shape, sessile spineless leaves, mainly oval in shape, rounded at the end. Synonym Fat portulacea Crassula portulacea - or Money Tree. The original species has a trunk that reaches up to 1 m in height, dark green leaves with a reddish border along the edge. Leaves up to 5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. Forms aerial roots, which are first whitish, then brown. It flowers in small white or pink flowers. This plant can also be found under a different name - like the silver fat Ccrassula argentea. Numerous varieties, including low-consumption in care, but variegated need a lighter place. By the way, the money tree blooms with good care.
Crassula ovata ovata
Crassula ovata ovata
Oval fat girl Crassula ovata cv. 'Hobbit'
Crassula ovata 'Hummels Sunset' sweatshirt
Crassula ovata var. obliqua cv. Solana
Crassula ovata 'Undulata' - Silver carp Crassula arborescens is a tree-like plant growing up to 1.5 m in height. She has original leaves that are grey with a red border around the edge. Up to 8 cm long and about 5 cm wide, it blooms in adulthood in spring with small white flowers, which gradually turn pink, but rarely blooms at home. Sometimes forms aerial roots. It grows well on or near the western and eastern windows.
Silver carp Crassula arborescens
Crassula schmidtii
Crassula flowering - Plow-like Crassula lycopodioides is completely different from previous species. Its leaves are thin but fleshy, erect and have four rows of very small leaves. It grows quickly, and shoots fall directly outside the pot. Twigs easily break off and take root. It blooms with nondescript yellowish flowers. Another name is thick slimy crassula mucosa. A completely non-demanding plant tolerates slight shading. Often, the plow-like fat is used as a ground cover plant, because it has small roots, does not require a lot of moisture, grows well and is relatively shade-tolerant. It is planted in tubs or large pots to other indoor plants, preferably with similar containment conditions (to other succulents, for example, to sansevierias).
- Schmidt's fat girl Crassula schmidtii is a shrub-like plant, the leaves are linear-lanceolate, i.e. compared to other crassules, more elongated and pointed at the end. The upper side of the leaves is green with a slight silver pattern, the lower side is reddish. The flowers are carmine red in racemose inflorescences. Flowering is usually very abundant, in Europe this crassula is grown not as a perennial, but as an annual, with the end of flowering they are thrown out, because the bush becomes loose and low decongestant. But we can always resume it from the handle.
- Bituminous Crassula picturata is a herbaceous plant with rather thin, lying shoots. The leaves are obovate, pointed at the end, small, about 1.5 cm long. The color of the leaves is marble - silver-green with dark specks, reddish-purple below. In the sun, the leaves turn very red. The flowers are small, white, collected in multi-flowered corymbose inflorescences.
Bituminous Crassula picturata
Crassula lycopodioides
Ruddy fat Crassula rubicunda - Tetrahedral fat Crassula tetragona is a subshrub with thin shoots that often bend and creep on the soil. The leaves are thin, long, but fleshy. Forms many aerial roots. An unpretentious look, but, unfortunately, it is quickly overgrown and requires constant renewal with new cuttings.
- Thick rock Crassula rupestris - with creeping shoots reaching a length of up to 50 cm. The stems are thin with rounded fleshy leaves. The leaves have a reddish coating, and a reddish border along the edge. A characteristic feature is that the leaves on the stem sit in pairs and pairs fused at the base. Not a whimsical look. It blooms with inflorescences of small pinkish flowers.
Crassula perforata
Rock fat Crassula commutata
Nila fat girl Crassula nealeana
Caring for a sweatshirt
Different types of fat women are unpretentious - care is very simple for some - only watering, occasionally transplanting (oval fat woman), it is more difficult to take care of others: pick up a soil mixture, periodically loosen the soil, then shade from the sun, then shine. Consider how to care for a money tree and, using its example, for other types of fat women.
Temperature
The money tree grows at home all year round in the climate dictated by the weather and the heating season. In this regard, it is unpretentious. But it grows and develops better in the fresh air - in summer on the balcony, veranda, in the garden. Daily temperature fluctuations and fresh air temper the plants, the money tree grows a truly lush tree, with large leaves and good immunity.
How to look after a money tree
The content of thyme in winter assumes a period of rest at a temperature of 8-12 ° C, with a serious restriction of watering (very, very rare). Winter minimum + 7 ° С - these conditions are close to natural. At home, a fat woman is forced to put up with a high temperature, but if the illumination is low, the money tree sheds leaves and loses its decorative attractiveness (grinds). Therefore, in winter, you need to protect the crassula from the directed hot air of the batteries - so that the crown does not hang over the edge of the windowsill, and make sure that there is enough light.
Lighting
Money tree prefers bright intense lighting, with direct sunlight mainly before 11 and after 16 hours. Fat women love a lot of light and sun, both in winter and in summer. But from April to July, the sun is very active and the leaves can turn red, take on an almost brick shade. This is not dangerous, but for initially green-leaved varieties it is fraught with burns, for variegated varieties, especially with red spots - it's okay.
If the plant stood all winter deprived of a good sun, then in the spring they are accustomed to it gradually, first slightly shading, then removing the shading for a while. The north window is too dark for almost all crassules, the east, not shaded from the street, the southeast and even the north-west are suitable, in the south and west - you need to look at the circumstances, if necessary, shading (organza, veil, or mosquito net). On dark windows in winter, illumination with fluorescent or LED lamps will be required.
Watering
Money tree is a succulent, and therefore it is watered moderately in spring and summer, with good drying of the soil - after drying the upper layer of the earth, wait another 3-4 days before watering. From the end of summer, with the onset of rainy cool days, it is necessary to water the fat woman less often. If the plant overwinters in normal home conditions (in a warm room), then watering can be increased. But if it remains cool (for example, on an insulated balcony), it is practically not watered. Thus, the frequency of irrigation depends on the temperature, but the soil should dry out quite quickly. If water flows into the tray after watering, be sure to drain it immediately.
If the soil in the pot of succulents is constantly damp, dries for more than 4-5 days, it means that the soil is incorrectly selected in structure (too dense, not porous) or too large a volume of the pot .
Fertilizer
From late spring to mid-summer, the fat woman is fed with special fertilizer for cacti and other succulents once a month. You can not feed fat women regularly, but facilitate care by adding fertilizer in sticks when transplanting. Agricola fertilizer for cacti (NPK 5:10:20) is good, just make no mistake with the dosage: a pot of about 10 cm needs only 3/4 of one stick, with a diameter of 12 cm - whole. It is better to break the sticks into 3 parts and stick them into a pot in different places.
Air humidity
Fat women are resistant to dry air, they do not need spraying, except for hygienic purposes, in order to wash off dust. Before giving the money tree a shower, cover the ground in the pot with a film from getting wet.
How to transplant a money tree
Tolstyanka is an unpretentious plant, the only requirement for soil is good uniform wettability after watering and quick drying. Money tree soil - sample recipes:
- 1 part of sod, 1 part of sheet or peat land, 1 part of coarse sand sifted from dust or 1 part of zeolite filler. Zeolite granules (cat filler Barsik, etc.) must be thoroughly washed from dust, this component gives the soil the desired structure, friability and moisture capacity.
- Another soil option: 1/4 of garden land (from beds where fresh manure was not introduced), 1/4 of peat, 1/2 of baking powder (sand, brick crumb, zeolite).
For adults and old (very large) fat women, sod soil makes up 2 parts, some of these old men are spreading tuberous plants. They are transplanted once every few years, since each transplant leads to inevitable injury to fragile fleshy leaves and stems, breakage of roots. Therefore, in large crassules, with a height of 50 cm or more, instead of transplanting, the upper layer of the earth is changed annually (removing salt plaque) to fresh soil.
Small-leaved species of fat women and a small money tree do not need to be planted in dense soil - as part of the soil mixture, replace the turf land with sheet (or peat), and the transplant is carried out annually. After transplantation, watering only after 2 days, very careful - little by little, so as not to cause rot of the roots. It is useful to add brick chips and pieces of birch coal to the soil at the rate of 1/10 of the total soil volume. Sand can be safely replaced with vermiculite. Drainage (from red brick, foam or cork) is required to the bottom of the plastic pot.
By the way, the root system of fat women is rather weak, superficial, the roots are thin, so plants do not need large containers for planting. But some specimens have a thick heavy trunk, if you plant a money tree in a small pot, there is a chance that the plant will fall and break. Therefore, such plants are still planted in large pots, but a drainage of river stones (not light expanded clay) or one heavy stone is placed on the bottom, then light drainage is covered, it can be a wine cork (pieces of any non-rotting material), up to the middle of the pot, or how much extra space there is. And then they plant a fat woman and fall asleep with an ordinary substrate.
Reproduction of a fat woman
The fat girl breeds easily both by seeds and vegetatively: by leaves and cuttings. Seeds of exotic species can be bought in the online seed store, where mixtures are often sold: "Crassula mix Crassula mix." It is better to sow fresh seeds. Soil option for sowing: 1) a mixture of washed sand, coconut substrate, vermiculite - in equal parts; 2) mixture of sand and universal store soil - in equal parts; 3) a mixture of sand, zeolite granules and garden land - in equal parts. The substrate needs to be disinfected. Do not sprinkle the sown seeds of the fat woman, but knock on the plate so that they mix with the soil. Moisten by spraying. Cover the plate with a film and put in a warm place (24-25 ° C). Ventilate regularly (twice a day for 30 minutes).
Seedlings usually appear within two weeks. When the seedlings grow up, you need to pick them into separate pots (the size of a yogurt cup). Soil: 1 part loose leaf earth, 1/2 part light turf and 1 part sand or zeolite (cat filler pellets). Remember that during seed propagation in crassula, as in other plants, parental signs are split, i.e. you may not get exactly the same plant as in the photo, it may lose its variegation, have not a fringed edge, but an even edge, etc.
Vegetative reproduction allows you to preserve all varietal and species characteristics. To get a new plant, one leaf or a small handle is enough. Both the leaves and cuttings of the money tree after cutting (breaking) are dried in the shade until the cut or break is dry - about 3-4 hours. Then the sheet or handle must be placed in moderately wet soil, but not planted or dug, but put (put) on the surface. We define the moisture content of the soil as follows: squeeze a spoonful of soil in a fist, at the required moisture content the lump will be blinded, it will not crumble when you open your palm, but if you touch it, it will crumble into small lumps. If you have a small cutting, you can immediately plant it in the ground - 1 part of loose leaf earth, 1/2 part of light turf and 1 part of sand, but better zeolite granules. Water very moderately, so much so that the earth only does not dry into dust.
By the way, some types of crassula themselves form aerial roots, which further facilitates rooting. Or you can stimulate the formation of air roots by placing the pot with the plant on a wide tray of water, that is, increase the humidity of the air.