Content of the article:
Among florists, especially beginners, unpretentious houseplants that do not require constant attention, but can have a beautiful decorative appearance are very popular. One of these flowers is the money tree - taking care of it at home is as simple and simple as possible, but in return the bush will delight you with a lush green crown and active growth. What is this plant, and how to grow it, talk about it today and in detail.
The Botanical Characteristic of
The money tree is a family of Crassulaceae from the genus Crassoul and came to us from far away Africa. The hot climate in the homeland of the plant also determines the nature of the succulent: in conditions of high temperature and rare precipitation, it is forced to accumulate moisture in the shoots and leaves in order to provide itself with life-giving force between rains. And for this, both shoots and leaf plates are simply obliged to be thick and fleshy.
Money Tree has other names, among them: Crassoule, Crassula, Dollar or Monkey Tree.
A juvenile or money tree can have an extremely diverse shape. There are both tiny specimens with a height of several centimeters and real trees up to 4 m in height. Perennials represent the main group of Crassulas, but annual species also occur in nature. Most of the plants have juicy shoots and the same structure with leaf plates, painted in green with a blue, yellow or red shade and matte coating. In treelike specimens, the trunks are woody, but both groups are characterized by thickened powerful shoots, with the central trunk eventually becoming covered with grayish bark.
The shrub has a good ability to branch and over time grows a lush, rounded crown, but the root system is surprisingly small. Short roots are hidden under a layer of soil and often they simply do not withstand the total mass of the plant, and it collapses, especially if it is planted in too loose soil.
The money tree is called a plant because of the shape of the leaflets in some species - they look like round coins.
The puffy crown of the hoodie is very decorative in itself, but when bunches of white semi-umbrellas inflorescences bloom on it, the flowering money tree becomes the decoration of the house. 
It is a pity that such an unsurpassed spectacle is rarely seen, especially at home. And in nature, plants bloom only in the 11th year of life with the arrival of autumn or in the winter.
Popular types of
The Krassula genus is very numerous and includes up to 5 hundred succulents. There are among them both cultures growing in the form of a tree, and creeping plants, and even moisture-loving species, preferring to live in aquarium conditions. As an indoor flower most often grown tree Fatty - lush, well-branched, bush with thick bare shoots and fleshy flat leaves in the shape of an egg. The leaves may be covered with a matte coating or have a bluish sheen.
As a home flower culture, there are also varieties of money tree, the photos of which are presented in the description:
- Portulae Crassula. Differs in the shape and color of the leaves: they are bright green with a glossy shine, more like an ellipse, the middle of the plate is thicker than the edges. The shoots eventually become tree-like and thick, and the bark becomes wrinkled. The height of the bush itself can reach 2 m.
- Lymphoid crassula. The original plant without a trunk, consisting of a set of straight branches, on which is thick, in 4 rows, are small greenish-yellow leaves in the form of triangles. With age, the branches hang from the pot.
- Milky Crassula. Differs creeping shoots with ovoid green leaves with a sharp tip in a white dot along the edges.
- Crassoul Cooper. Shoots lodging, elongated green leaves completely covered with red dots.
- Crassula tetrahedral. Semishrub, thin shoots, leaves look like narrow thick needles.
Features of planting
In order for the bush to actively build up the above-ground part, you need to know how to plant a money tree, and also what kind of soil and pot it needs to pick up. The choice of the pot is due to the peculiarities of the root system and the plant itself. 
Light plastic containers for this flower will not work, since the mass of the aerial parts is several times greater than the "power" of the roots. The flowerpot must be sufficiently heavy and stable, otherwise under the weight of the crassula it will turn over or the flower will be torn out with its roots.
Preference should be given to wide plates - in deep "cauldrons" the root will also go deep, as a result of which the trunk will stretch and weaken.
Particular attention should be paid to the choice of soil, giving preference to a moisture-and air-permeable substrate with a rather “heavy” structure, because loose soil mixture will not be able to keep the adult specimen upright. The best option would be to buy a mixture for succulents or an equivalent ratio of such components:
- turf ground;
- leaf ground;
- sand.
To grow a large shrub, the fatty should be planted alone.
Every 2-3 years, the young plant should be transplanted by transferring it, changing the pot and ground. At the bottom of the tank must be laid drainage, and if the fatty during this time grew very long roots, they can be cut.
Growing Conditions
The care of a money tree at home is initially to create flower conditions as close as possible to the natural habitat of the plant. These include:
- Lighting. So that the bush does not stretch, and its shoots do not fall, it is necessary to put the pot on the southeast window sill. There, a fat woman and light will be enough, and direct rays will not be able to damage him. It is better to avoid southern windows in the summer, because the foliage may fade and fall off from the excess of the sun, but in winter it is the most suitable place.
- Air temperature. For summer, it will be nice to put a flowerpot on the summer terrace - a money tree flower loves fresh air. With the arrival of winter, the plant should pick up a cool room with a temperature not higher than 15 degrees Celsius. When wintering in a warmer room, the bush will not disappear, but it will partially discard the leaves.
- Air humidity. As a tropical plant, the hodgepodge does not need high humidity and feels good with dry air. To remove dust, the leaves can either spray or wipe with a damp sponge.
Money Tree - a flower with a character that requires consistency. He is able to grow in almost any conditions, but does not tolerate rearrangements.
Watering and fertilizing mode
It is easy to grow a money tree at home, and caring for it, above all, consists in observing the irrigation regime. Like all succulents, the flower is very sensitive to the stagnation of water in the soil, so it is important not to allow overflow. The consequences of the missed moistening will be less pitiable: the leaves will become limp, the branches will sag, but after watering everything will rise together. But if you regularly fill the bush, it simply rot.
Depending on the season, the frequency of watering varies:
- in the spring a flower is enough abundant soil moisture once a week;
- in the summer, when it is hot, you will need more frequent watering - up to 2 times a week;
- should be watered no more than once every three weeks in winter, especially when the content of the fatty bones is cool.
Watering a money tree at home with cold water is impossible, otherwise it will drop foliage.
As for fertilizing, all the necessary nutrients to the flower are contained in the fertilizer for cacti( in liquid form).
Again, you do not need to overdo it: the maximum number of dressings gets for the summer( twice a month), they are cut in the spring and autumn twice, and in the winter they are completely canceled.
Fertilizer must be fertilized on wet ground( after watering), in half of the concentration indicated on the package.
How to form a fluffy crown?
The money tree itself branches well, but with the help of pruning you can make the bush even more branchy and rounded. It is necessary to begin with the "childhood", when a young plant reaches no more than 20 cm in height.
Using scissors or just fingernails, remove the uppermost leaves. Very soon new shoots will form on this place. In the future, this procedure is carried out on all the branches that grow straight and do not hurry to branch, giving the bush the desired shape.
Reproduction Methods
At home, the money tree is most often propagated by cuttings or leaves. They are rooted in water with further transplantation in a nutrient mixture or immediately in the ground.
, which is unique in its qualities, can be used by fans to experiment to propagate a jersey in a seedling way. For this, seeds are sown in a mixture of sand and earth in proportions of 1: 2 and kept under glass until germination in a bright place. Grown seedlings dive into small pots.
Flower as a doctor
The crassula’s magic power attracts wealth and success to the owner, everyone has heard, but in addition to this, the money tree also has healing properties. First of all, it cleans the air from harmful substances, acting as a filter. In addition, fatty juice:
- wipe joints sick with arthritis;
- gargle with sore throat or sore gums;
- make lotions for cuts, bruises or wounds.
The therapeutic use of the money tree is exclusively external. Juice or medicines prepared on the basis of leaves or shoots cannot be ingested, since they contain arsenic in dangerous concentration for humans.
Problem moments when growing Crassula
In general, the Faddyanka is a flower with good immunity and more rarely, but unpleasant situations with it still happen. Most of them are associated with improper care, and most often it is a leaf fall from a money tree. If you notice that every day fallen leaves lie on a window sill under a bush, the cause of leaf fall should be found in the following:
- a draft;
- watering with cold water;
- missed or scant watering;
- room temperature too high.
With an overabundance of moisture, the roots and stem of the plant rot.
Pest crassula can attack:
- Shchitovka. Signs of damage: brown growths on leaves and shoots, the latter fade as a result. Treatment: mechanical removal of pests previously moistened with an alcohol swab.
- Mealybug. Signs of damage: on the lower side and in the leaf axil there appear sugary secretions, turning into black fungi, and white oval insects. First, all the foliage falls, the trunk cracks, and then the flower dies. Treatment: treatment with soap and water at the initial stage, with a massive lesion - spraying Aktelik.
- Spider Mite. Signs of damage: white cobweb on the plant, dotted spots on the leaves of bites. Treatment: treatment with Fitoverm or soap.
In general, taking care of a money tree at home does not contain difficulties. If you have the desire and a little free time, you can grow a lush bush from a small leaf for a short time, and even if you are lucky you can even see its delicate flowering.
