Description and types of purslane, recommendations for cultivation, transplantation, fertilization and reproduction, harmful insects and cultivation problems. Portulacaria (Portulacaria) is a member of the Portulacaceae family, which has only five species of succulent plants (which tend to accumulate moisture in their shoots and leaf plates). There are also mentions that this genus contains a large number of different types of plants, which includes only one species: African Portulacaria (Portulacaria afra), which is called the "elephant bush". Since these huge animals with great pleasure eat not only fleshy and full of moisture leaves, but also smooth tree trunks. But when feeding, animals break off the twigs of the purslane, which easily take root in the ground. Therefore, even though the plant is attacked by these giants, the number is recovering due to the growing young representatives. The native habitat is South African regions with a hot climate. Life expectancy is quite high, has an average or low growth rate.
This plant grows in the form of a low shrub or small tree, which has a very unusual shape. Portulacaria is distinguished by very rare leaf plates, shoots from a bush with branches that lignify as they develop. The branches are unusually divided into nodes and internodes. The leaves are located opposite each other (opposite) and only a couple at each of the nodes, have a rounded or elliptical shape and a juicy appearance. The color of the leaf mass never changes depending on the seasons of the year. Basically, the leaf plates are pale green in color. However, the color scale of the leaves is very diverse, variegated representatives are also present, their leaves are distinguished by a mottling of a pinkish, whitish or yellow hue.
The trunk of the plant is brown in color, wrinkled in appearance, but smooth to the touch. The plant is very similar to a fat woman - a money tree. It rarely extends its branches to a height of more than 2 m.
During flowering, if all conditions have been met, flowers bloom, which resemble stars in disclosure. The color of the buds can also vary from pink, yellow to purple. But, nevertheless, this process is not often seen indoors.
The plant is quite easy to care for and can be suitable for growers with little experience in growing indoor flowers. Suitable for the formation of compositions in the style of the bonsai technique, as it can easily take the required shape. For him, you can choose flat pots or hanging baskets.
Types of portulacaria
African portulacaria (Portulacaria afra). The plant can naturally grow up to 3–3.5 m in height. However, when grown indoors, the height varies from half a meter to 70 cm. Over time, the trunk can turn from smooth - wrinkled to dark gray-brown, which is very beautiful when grown using the bonsai method. The crown of the plant branches quite well. But young shoots, which are only stretched out, cast reddish tones. The stems look very unusual, as if they were collected from separate pieces of cylindrical shoots.
The leaf blades have a light green tone, are rounded and measure 2-3 centimeters long with a centimeter wide. Flowers, if blooming, then cast in pinkish shades and are quite multiple. When fully opened, the bud measures 2–2.5 cm across. Inflorescences, which are collected from small flower stars, look like spikelets, located on long peduncles and are almost 7.5–8 cm long.
There are subspecies:
- Portulacaria African pestleaf (Portulacaria afra f. Variegate H. Jacobsen) - the size of the plant is slightly smaller. The leaf plates are light green, have a marginal border in the form of whitish stripes. If there is not enough illumination for this species, the pattern from the leaves will disappear. With sufficient illumination, the variegated portulacaria becomes compact in size, the color of the trunk is darker and the border strip casts a pink tint, but sometimes completely white leaves grow. The trunk is darker in color than the original plant species.
- Portulacaria African variegated cultivar (Portulacaria afra f. Variegate cv. Tricolor) - the plant is small in height. The size of the leaves is smaller, the color pattern is in the middle of the plate. When the illumination falls, the leaf plates become monotonous green, in case of sufficient light, the leaves become smaller and the border turns pink. The trunk has a reddish tint. Young leaves may appear completely white with a pinkish tone.
Home conditions for cultivating portulacaria
- Lighting. Based on the fact that this is a resident of hot areas, then a brightly lit place is needed for the portulacaria. And it is desirable that the plant be illuminated for a long time by the direct rays of the sun. Therefore, it is necessary to install the pot on the windows of the southern exposure. True, on the sills of windows of the south-east and south-west direction, everything will be fine with the tree too. The plant strongly stretches its stems towards the luminary, therefore it is necessary to periodically rotate the portulacaria pot so that the crown of the tree forms evenly. But in winter, when daylight hours are significantly reduced, additional lighting with special phytolamps is needed. After the plant is taken out into the air, it is recommended to gradually accustom it to sunlight, since the leaf plates may burn, they will acquire red tints.
- Content temperature. The plant grows very well in living quarters, and room temperature indicators are suitable for the normal growth of portulacaria (approximately 20-23 degrees Celsius, but not higher than 27). The only thing that needs to be provided is that the thermometer does not drop below 10 degrees with the arrival of the autumn-winter season. This threatens to freeze the leaf plates, and they become lethargic. In the warm season, if possible, it is best to take the purslane from the rooms - a balcony, terrace or garden is very suitable for this. The plant is very fond of clean air, and reacts poorly to stagnant indoor air. Therefore, if it is not possible to move the pot to an open place, then frequent airing of the room is necessary.
- Air humidity when keeping purslane. Since it is a resident of the arid African territories, the plant calmly tolerates the dry air of living quarters. He can do just fine without additional air humidification. The only thing that can be set is shower procedures to clean the sheet mass from accumulated dust.
- Watering the plant. When the air temperature rises above 20 degrees, it is necessary that the top layer of the soil in the pot is dried by almost 1/3, and only in this case it can be moistened. At the end of autumn and at the end of winter, it is recommended to water the soil only once a month, and on December and January days, the plant is not moistened at all. Since purslane is a succulent, the period of dry days can be transferred without prejudice to its appearance. It is completely unacceptable to allow water to remain in the pot holder after the drain. The best signal for watering a plant is the sight of its leaf blades. If it is necessary to moisten the soil, then the leaves of the portulacaria become, as it were, wrinkled. As soon as the soil is sufficiently moistened, the plant will be saturated with water and its leaves will be smoothed out.
- Fertilizers of portulacaria. It is necessary to choose fertilizers with moderate values of nitrogen compounds for plant feeding. It can be fertilizers for succulents and cacti. They must be applied from mid-spring to mid-summer once every 14 days. At other times, the portulacaria is not disturbed by top dressing.
- Transplanting and soil selection. In order to transplant the portulacaria, it is necessary to choose a wide and stable container. You can also use hanging flowerpots. The plant needs to change the pot in the event that the entire earthen substrate will be mastered by the root system of the portulacaria. According to the recommendations, this time comes after two years after the change of soil and pot. But while the plant is young enough (it is a seedling), then it is worth changing the soil and container annually. It is necessary to place up to 1/3 of the total volume of small expanded clay in the pot; holes are made in the flowerpot for the drain of unabsorbed water.
For transplanting portulacaria, soils are selected that are low-nutrient, but have sufficient friability and have the properties of allowing air and moisture to pass through. Acidity readings should be neutral or low. Purchased soil for succulents and cacti may be suitable, which, for ease of use, is mixed with fine gravel or fine expanded clay (finely crushed brick is also suitable) and coarse-grained river sand (you can use any soil loosening agent - perlite, agroperlite) in a ratio of 3: 1: 1. Soil mixtures are also compiled based on the following ingredients:
- coarse sand (or any baking powder - vermiculite, perlite), garden soil, humus soil (or leaf), crushed charcoal, bone meal, lime or crushed egg shells (in a ratio of 3: 2: 2: 1);
- fertile loamy soil for plants growing indoors or soilless substrate, river sand (in proportions 1: 1: 1/3);
- sod land, garden land, coarse sand (all parts are equal).
To avoid waterlogging of the soil, a layer of fine expanded clay can be laid on the top of the soil, as well as on the bottom.
Breeding tips for African portulacaria
The plant can propagate by seed, cuttings or layering.
If the seeds were obtained or bought, then they must be planted immediately, since their germination is quickly lost (literally several months). Seed material is planted in moist peat with the addition of perlite or other baking powder. The soil mixture must be placed in a shallow container, planted, and sprayed. Then the container with the seedlings is covered with a plastic bag or a piece of glass to create the conditions for a mini-greenhouse, where there should be constant temperature indicators of heat and high humidity. Germination takes place at a temperature of 24-28 degrees. It is necessary to periodically open the container to ventilate and moisten the soil. It is necessary to put the container with seedlings in a place with diffused soft light. As soon as the seedlings appear and the plants get stronger, they can be planted in separate pots with a diameter of no more than 7 cm. The soil is taken as for adult specimens. Using this method, portulacaria rarely reproduces.
They begin to engage in cuttings from the middle to the end of spring. You can use the branches left after the next pruning of the mother plant. For cutting cuttings, it is necessary to choose sufficiently thick shoots, which measure 12-15 cm in length and have at least 4 pairs of leaves. It is recommended to cut obliquely. For successful rooting, the branches are dried for 10 days. Then the leaf plates, which are located at the bottom of the cutting, must be removed so that there is a distance of at least 7–8 cm from the lower end of the branch to the first leaves. As soon as wrinkles and whitish spots appear at the cut, this signals that root formation has begun. After that, in a plastic pot, which does not exceed 5 cm in diameter, a soil mixture based on peat and sand (or any other soil loosening agent) is poured. Then the substrate is moistened by pouring about a quarter of a glass of water into the pot, allowed to soak a little and dry. A deepening of at least 7, 5 cm is made in the ground and a prepared branch of purslane is planted.
Now it is necessary to put the pots with young plants in a place with good diffused illumination and it is important that the soil temperature is maintained within 20-25 degrees. The stalk releases roots and takes root within 2–3 weeks. After that, the matured plants are transplanted into pots with a diameter of 9 cm into the substrate in which adult portulacaria grow. If it so happened that before planting, the cut began to turn black, then this indicates decay of the cutting, it is necessary to cut the twig by half a centimeter, treat the tip with crushed activated carbon, which will disinfect and prevent subsequent decay. After a while, you can try to root the purslane again.
There is another method for propagating this tree - the use of air layers. It is necessary to choose the branch that is the longest and it is possible to bend it to the soil of another pot (or into the ground of your own). If it is decided to carry out rooting in another container, then it is necessary to prepare in advance a pot with a diameter of no more than 7 cm and fill it with a peat-sand mixture. The selected shoot is carefully folded down and attached to the ground with a piece of bent wire or a hairpin. When the roots appear on the branch that was used as a layering and clear signs of development are visible, then it is carefully separated from the maternal purslane. As soon as the new plant grows confidently, it will be possible to transplant (preferably in the spring months) into a larger pot with a substrate suitable for further growth.
Possible difficulties and harmful insects of the portulacaria
Although the plant is quite resistant to pest infestation, it can still be attacked by scale insects, spider mites, and mealybugs. All of them manifest themselves by the appearance of a sticky coating on the leaf plates, a change in the shape of the leaves and their yellowing. The mealybug is characterized by a cotton-like bloom on the stems and leaves. You can try to remove all these pests with a soapy solution. To do this, you can dissolve 100 grams in a bucket of water. laundry soap (or any dishwashing solution) and let it brew for several hours. Next, the liquid is filtered and with the help of a soft sponge or cotton pads, you can manually remove the pests from the purslane. If these measures do not help, then spraying with modern insecticide solutions is used. Just before spraying the portulacaria, it is necessary to cover the soil in the pot with a plastic bag.
If the illumination for the plant is not enough, and the soil moisture is abundant, then the portulacaria may be damaged by root rot - a signal may be complete or partial dropping of the leaf mass. With the arrival of winter, if the conditions for the plant have not been adjusted (sufficient illumination and reduced watering), then leaf fall is also possible. But in the spring months, the lost foliage will recover. If the branches of the purslane began not to stretch out aesthetically, then you should change the modes of illumination, (it is not enough), watering (excess) and fertilization (too much dressing).
How to form a bonsai from African portulacaria, see here: