Euphorbia family. Homeland - subtropics of Africa, America, o Madagascar. This extensive family of succulent plants includes about 2,000 species. Many of its representatives are huge and therefore inaccessible for growing at home. The same from milkweeds that are grown like houseplants deservedly enjoy the love of their owners, primarily for longevity (most of them live and retain decorative attractiveness for many years), unpretentiousness and originality or the beauty of their appearance. All representatives of the euphorbia family on the cut or break of stems and leaves secrete poisonous milky juice, which, falling on the mucous membranes, can cause a rather severe burn.
Types of milkweed
Euphorbia pulcherrima- or poinsettia - was named Bethlehem Star in honor of the fact that it blooms colorfully on Catholic Christmas. It has bright green delicate large leaves, leaves located under inflorescences in some varieties are bright red, in others - pink or white, the flowers themselves are small and nondescript. This type of euphorbia needs a sunny place, but in the summer during the hottest hours it will need shading. Winter temperature minimum for poinsettia is 8 ° С. In summer, it is regularly sprayed. When transplanted, poinsettia is cut off by almost half the length of the branches. Usually poinsettia is kept as an annual plant, and after flowering it is thrown away, since this milkweed is very difficult to keep at home in winter. With the onset of the heating season, with too dry indoor air, it drops leaves and loses its decorative attractiveness. In addition, poinsettia tolerates drafts and sharp temperature changes very poorly. Read more about poinsettia in Pansy's Poinsettia article.
Euphorbia obesa is a succulent plant that has a spherical stem, like a cactus, which has weakly defined ribs, along the edge of which there is a strip of warty non-spiny growths.
Euphorbia leuconeura is one of the most common recent euphorbia. In nature, up to 1.5 m in height, has a pronounced ribbed trunk. The leaves in the lower part of the trunk gradually die off and remain on top of the head, from which this plant is often called "palm." The leaves are long, oval-ovate, dark green with distinct streaks. It blooms with small nondescript flowers. The fruit is a box, the seeds from which often "shoot" and scatter when ripe. Like all milkweeds, it does not tolerate waterlogging of the soil - the leaves turn yellow and fly around.
Euphorbia milii - also called the crown of thorns - is a small thorny shrub, with powerful grayish stems and bright green oblong leaves. The flowers are very small, the bracts are bright red and are often mistaken for true flowers. Bracts can be red, salmon, bright yellow, white-pink, yellow-pink. This euphorbia needs maximum sunlight in summer, crown formation by pruning and cool maintenance in winter at a temperature of about 13 ° C. Milkweed Mile is planted in more nutritious soil than other species (by adding compost or turf soil). Another name for this species is Euphorbia splendens.
Euphorbia trigona is a bushy plant with fleshy stems. In nature, a high spreading shrub forms curtains - many trunks. At home, it can grow up to 1.5 m in height. Pronounced ribs with small spines and oblong leaves at the tops of shoots. The root system of the triangular milkweed is small, and the plant is very tall, so stability requires either a deep pot with a high layer of drainage, or a garter to the support.
Euphorbia cereiformis is a succulent plant with erect fleshy, branching stems reaching about 1 m in height. On the ribs of the stem are brown or grayish spines. On the tops of the stems, small leaves are oblong, pointed at the end.
Euphorbia grandicornis is a succulent plant with erect fleshy, branching stems. In section, the stems are trihedral, have pronounced ribs that are not evenly cut. Along the edge of the rib in pairs at a right or slightly obtuse angle to each other are large spines of yellowish-brown or gray color. On this milkweed, leaflets appear on young shoots, but they quickly fall off. The flowers are small, yellow, collected in complex inflorescences.
Euphorbia polygona is a bushy plant with fleshy rounded ribbed stems. The ribs can be from 7 to 20, they are sharp and wavy, having dark warty outgrowths along the edge and single spikes almost even with a purple tint. The flowers are small, yellow, collected in complex inflorescences.
Euphorbia tirucalli euphorbia is a succulent very bushy plant, as if consisting of numerous fleshy sticks - stems, as thick as a pencil. It has neither leaves nor thorns. It blooms profusely with small yellow flowers.
Euphorbia tithymaloides, better known as Pedilanthus tithymaloides - differs from many euphorbia, read more Pedilanthus.
Milkweed care
Temperature
Euphorbia grows in summer at ordinary temperatures, although it is optimal for growth of 22-25 ° C. As a succulent easily tolerates higher temperatures. In winter, it is advisable to observe a rest period at a temperature of about 14 ° C, at least 10-12 ° C.
Lighting
Bright lighting in both winter and summer. Euphorbia love a lot of light, but it is necessary to teach them to the direct sun in spring and summer gradually so that burns do not remain. The best place for milkweed is the window sill of the south or southeast window. Make sure that there is enough lighting in winter, if necessary, organize lighting with fluorescent or LED lamps. Some species of milkweed grow quite large at home and no longer fit on the windowsill, in which case they need to be placed near the window, without shading or with additional light. All types of milkweed, similar to cacti with thick fleshy stems, are very photophilous, they need direct sun. And some, like euphorbia white-veined or triangular relative to shade, but grow better when they see the sun in the morning or evening.
Watering
Moderate in spring and summer, the soil should have time to dry well for the next watering, but not dry out completely. In winter, with a decrease in temperature, watering is very rare, the soil should be dry for the next watering. Euphorbia is easier to tolerate overdrying than overflow. But leaf milkweeds (poinsettia, white-veined milkweed), due to the larger evaporating surface of the leaf mass, need more abundant watering than, for example, mast milkweed, and other milkweed that do not have leaves. Water for irrigation is used soft, room temperature .
Fertilizer
During the period of growth and flowering, milkweed is fed with special fertilizer for cacti or succulents, feeding every two weeks. For flowering species of milkweed, you can use fertilizers for ornamental-flowering plants (ferthica-lux), but feeding milkweed with fertilizers for ordinary indoor flowers, the dose is taken 2 times less than recommended. You can not feed milkweed, especially with thick spherical stems with nitrogenous fertilizers, from excess nitrogen, the skin can crack. But fertilizers for orchids or bromeliads are suitable.
Air humidity
Milkweeds are resistant to dry air, they do not need spraying, except for hygienic purposes.
Flight connections
The soil is the 1 part of the garden (greenhouse) land, the 1 part of the sheet or peat land, the 1 part of the sand and the 1 part of the brick crumb, several pieces of birch coal. Brick crumbs can be replaced with vermiculite. Large milkweeds, such as white-veined milkweed, poinsettia, should be added to the soil mixture 1 part of a well-rotted compost. Young plants are transplanted annually or after a year, old in two to three years. The soil should be well drained, instantly pass water when watered and quickly dry out. Drain must be poured on the bottom of the pot.
Reproduction
Cuttings, for this they are dried in the air, and sections on the mother plant are sprinkled with crushed coal. Seeds. Seeds are sown in a mixture of universal peat soil (for example, Terra vita) and coarse sand sifted from dust, taken in equal quantities, in wide plates. Seeds in euphorbia are round, not dust-like, like in many cacti, but about 2 mm in diameter, about such a layer of sand should be sown, or deepened into a substrate by about 2 mm. Then thoroughly moisten the substrate from the spray bottle and cover with glass. Ventilate regularly, avoiding excessive dampness, but do not allow the soil to dry out. Some of the most unpretentious milkweeds, such as white-veined, actually reproduce by self-seeding - ripe fruits are shot by seeds that germinate in almost any soil.
Problems of growing milkweed
If we describe the requirements of milkweeds for the conditions of detention in a nutshell, then we can say this: they need good lighting, coolness in winter and moderation in watering. Actually, if these conditions are violated, all troubles happen. First of all, milkweeds are succulents, with the exception of poinsettia (caring for it as an ordinary domestic plant), which means that they are able to store water in their fleshy stems. Excessive hydration leads to rooting and plant death. The soil of euphorbia can dry out completely, and is in a completely dry state for 2-3 days in summer (one day is enough in the heat), and in winter a week or more.
Another problem is related to the incorrectly selected substrate, it is bad if it is too heavy, slowly passes water, or vice versa, too loose, contains little land, and a lot of loosening, slowly wetting components. In some milkweeds, from contact with constantly damp earth, in the area of the root neck and slightly higher, a sampling forms - when the stem turns brown, as if covered with bark. Testing can also appear during watering in cold weather. To avoid this, the root neck of milkweed is sprinkled not with earth, but with small gravel, which dries quickly and does not allow water to contact the stem.
And another problem of milkweeds, like other succulents, is poor lighting in winter in the absence of cold wintering. Ideally, for many milkweeds, the optimal winter rest temperature is + 5-8 ° C, while they do not need either additional light or watering. But it is rare when these conditions are met, at best, if it is possible to organize 12-15 ° C, there will be no growth at such a temperature. But if the temperature is higher, plants can grow so that there are no curved and ugly stems, you need to make sure that there is enough light.
Errors and tips briefly:
- Excessive watering is the most common mistake. Signs: yellowing and falling of leaves, softening of the stem. Solution: reduce watering, check drainage, transplant if necessary.
- Lack of light - elongated shoots, pale leaves, lack of flowering. It is corrected by rearranging the plant closer to the window or installing a phytolamp.
- Lack of a dormant period - without cool wintering, euphorbia weakens, grows worse and does not bloom.
- Too heavy soil - traps moisture and provokes rot. Preference should be given to light, breathable mixtures.
- Abrupt change of conditions - drafts and temperature changes cause leaf fall, especially in poinsettia.
Tip: Euphorbia feel better in a cramped pot and do not like frequent transplants. Leaf species are useful to spray occasionally to wash off dust.
Precautions
Milky juice of euphorbia is poisonous: it causes irritation when it comes into contact with the skin, and severe inflammation when it enters the eyes. All manipulations (pruning, transplantation, cuttings) are carried out with gloves, after work the hands are thoroughly washed. It is not recommended to put pots with milkweed where children or pets can reach them. If juice gets on the skin, the place is washed with water and soap, and if it gets into the eyes, they urgently consult a doctor.