I Hope This Tree Doesnt Try to Grab Me Again

If yous think it'south fourth dimension to add together a fiddling extra life and greenery to your space, consider getting a coin tree plant. Not merely are practise they accept a statement-making appearance, only they're actually pretty easy to treat. Provide a money tree with the right corporeality of water, lite, and humidity, and it'due south sure to thrive. Here'south what you need to know nearly the popular houseplant, from the symbolism behind information technology to the nitty-gritty of keeping it alive and growing.

Starting time Things Commencement: Are Money Trees Lucky?

Money trees, aka pachira aquatica, are considered a symbol of luck and prosperity, just they haven't been for all that long. According to Bloomscape, this doesn't date back centuries, as y'all might expect, but rather to the 1980s. The braided money tree as we know it was actually first cultivated by a truck driver in Taiwan and apace became popular in Japan and East Asia. Information technology as well became associated with the Chinese practice of Feng Shui.

The braided trunks are idea to "trap fortune within its folds," Bloomscape explains, while the five leaves seen on each stalk are thought to stand for the five elements of earth, h2o, fire, wind, and metal. And if you lot just and then happen to find a money tree institute featuring a stem with seven leaves—a major rarity—it's considered to be even luckier.

Basic Money Tree Plant Care

Sunlight:

Co-ordinate to ProFlowers, money tree plants like a mix of direct and indirect sunlight. Every bit with most houseplants, also much direct dominicus tin can scorch the leaves. To reach the right balance with your money tree, turn or rotate information technology regularly for more even light distribution. Just make sure to not move it all over the place so as to not disturb it too much. Another matter of note? Money trees tin handle fluorescent lighting, so yous're safe to keep ane in your office as long as y'all take adequate care of information technology.

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Soil:

It'southward important that you maintain nutrient-rich potting soil with good drainage, according to the experts at Phenomenon-Gro. To achieve this, you lot'll desire to use a well-draining potting mix or add some sand and gravel for extra porousness.

Water:

The all-time style to keep a coin tree plant happy? Requite it a good watering every one to two weeks, allowing the soil to dry out in between, co-ordinate to The Sill. Of class, if your plant is getting more light, you lot'll also need to upward its h2o intake so that it doesn't become besides dried out. This is a plant that requires a lot of water just not all of the time.

Temperature and Humidity:

Money tree plants practise all-time in warmer environments, and so you'll want to keep them in an area that's between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. But, the good news is, coin trees are besides pretty flexible and forgiving. They tin can still handle temperatures that go 10 degrees below or to a higher place that ideal range. As far as humidity goes, money trees thrive with extra wet, so make sure you mist your plant regularly. Bloomscape suggests putting your money tree plant on a pebble tray to increase humidity in the winter.

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Braiding, Pruning, and More

While money tree plants don't take to be braided, virtually of the modernistic pachira aquaticas you'll find on the market are braided when you buy them. Braided money trees are actually multiple plants that take had their trunks woven together during growth while they're flexible. If you'd similar to braid your plant, effort as GardeningGuides.com suggests: Weave the trunks together gently and loosely tie a string around the top to keep information technology together. Equally the tree grows, yous can continue this procedure.

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Similar most houseplants, money copse also require regular pruning. First, yous'll desire to keep an eye out for whatever expressionless, damaged, or dying leaves and snip those. The all-time way to do this is to use clean, sharp scissors or pruning shears (and make sure you wipe them off betwixt cuts!) and clip them just past a node. Yous tin can also prune them to exist a specific shape if you prefer. Money tree plants are traditionally round on meridian, but you tin can also let your institute do its own affair and simply prune problematic parts to keep your plant thriving and encourage new growth. You can also prune your found to keep it minor if you'd similar, every bit coin tree plants can grow quite alpine (co-ordinate to Garden.org, they tin abound up to 60 feet in their natural habitat!).

Common Coin Tree Problems

Since money tree plants require a lot of water all at once, they tin be prone to root rot. Root rot, if you're unfamiliar, is when there's likewise much water in your found that causes the roots to disuse and die. When you're watering your plant, make certain you don't see extra h2o sitting in the saucer nether the drainage holes. If you do, clear it out to avert root rot. Your best bet is to use a pot that isn't as well big (the bigger the pot, the more room it has to concord h2o) and has excellent drainage. Place information technology on a saucer that y'all can easily remove, and dump out when it fills with water.

Money tree plants tin also concenter pests like aphids and mealybugs, merely not to worry—Epic Gardening suggests applying neem oil to the soil to repel any pests and removing aphids with water. All of these pests can crusade major damage to your found, so make certain you deal with them as shortly equally yous encounter them to avert loose, drooping, dying leaves.