Growing milkweed Mil at home
Euphorbia Milius is better known among flower growers under the name Milus euphorbia. This is one of the many species of euphorbia, which is loved by many for its attractive appearance, despite the fact that signs do not advise keeping thorny flowers at home.
Euphorbia Mil
About beautiful milkweed
This succulent is often called beautiful and shiny, but indoor succulent lovers often call it a crown of thorns. Some associate the latter name with the abundance of thorns on its stems in the plant.
In fact, Mile owes its name to Baron Milius, the former governor of the French island region of Réunion. It was he who, in 1821, introduced the French to one of the most beautiful varieties of milkweed.
The large-flowered euphorbia Mila is a Madagascar endemic.
In the natural environment of its growth in the mountainous areas of Africa and in the highlands of the island of Madagascar, the millet euphorbia forms impassable euphorbia thickets, therefore it often sits in tropical regions as a natural hedge. Today it is often grown as an ornamental horticultural crop and, due to its ability to grow to large sizes, is used for landscaping. Recently, the euphorbia Milius has become a frequent inhabitant of city apartments, having mastered window sills and reducing its size, but at the same time not losing its attractiveness.
Morphological description
The description of the milkweed Milius classifies the succulent as a branched shrub, reaching a height of up to 1.8 m.
Trunk
The stem of the plant reaches a diameter of 20 cm. Its color is gray, outwardly it looks like it is covered with a light bloom, slightly ribbed. On the trunk of Milkweed Mil, there are many hard spines of sufficient length. The upper part of the stem of the plant becomes foliage.
Foliage
The leaf blades of Milius milkweed have an elliptical shape, bright green in color, up to 3.5 centimeters long and up to 1.5 centimeters wide. Each has 2 stipules. As it grows, the grown milkweed leaves fall off, leaving behind the spines formed by stipules.
Inflorescence
The inflorescence petals of the plant are rounded, up to 1.2 centimeters wide. The inflorescence itself consists of two to four flowers, and each group has bracts. The bracts have different colors. Mille spurge may bloom with scarlet, orange or yellow flowers.
In the stem and foliage of glossy milkweed, there is a milky sap, which is a white liquid with a thick consistency. This juice contains poison, therefore, if handled carelessly, it can harm the skin, causing irritation and burns of the skin.
Flowering features
All external beauty of Milkweed Mil is concentrated in its flowering. This type of succulent plant blooms throughout the calendar year.At the same time, completely nondescript-looking yellow flowers of a tiny size act as flowers. The real beauty and visual appeal of Milkweed is given by multi-colored bracts. Here they can be bright orange, red and no less bright than the flowers themselves, yellow.
Due to the surrounding of the flower with such bracts, the inflorescence looks quite large outwardly.
One Mille spurge plant can be dotted with many flowers, which are scattered over all branches emanating from the stem, which makes the succulent look quite voluminous.
When growing and caring for Milkweed Milk at home, an important role is given to the temperature regime, which affects the flowering process of the plant. So, you can provoke Mil's euphorbia to lush flowering if you lower the temperature to 15 ° C and provide the indoor flower with additional bright light.
Mille spurge may not produce flowers if it produces many shoots and actively buds. In this case, the plant does not have enough strength to grow flowers, they all go to the growth and development of branches and buds.
Initial landing
Mille spurge purchased from a flower shop should be transplanted into suitable soil. However, you should not rush to transplant it. To adapt a houseplant to new growing conditions, it is not recommended to transplant a succulent earlier than 10 days after purchase. It should be placed in a well-lit place without direct sunlight.
As a soil for the initial home planting of Milkweed, a mixture is suitable, including:
- coarse sand,
- charcoal,
- leaf humus.
All components are mixed in equal proportions.
A drainage layer is laid out at the bottom of the flower pot, where the spurge will be transplanted. The plant installed in the container is sprinkled with soil mixture from all sides. Considering that Milius does not grow too intensively, it is recommended to transplant it no earlier than 2 years later, returning to this process with the same interval afterwards. Only when the root system of the plant begins to overflow the pot can a transplant be scheduled before the two-year interval.
Creation of comfortable conditions
Indoor spurge Milius growers refer to unpretentious succulents - long-livers. If only a number of basic conditions are observed, caring for an ornamental plant at home will ensure euphorbia bloom all year round.
Moisturizing
Watering Milkweed has several specific features:
- in winter, the succulent does not need frequent watering, 2-3 times throughout the winter will be enough,
- during the period of active growth, from spring to autumn, the earth should be constantly moist,
- you need to water with water of warm temperature, not lower than room temperature.
When Milkweed dries up, you should not immediately destroy it as dead. Intensive watering helps to restore the home flower in a short time, during which Milya is sealed off and begins to develop further.
Succulent Mila loves water treatments in the form of a warm shower and sprays and does not like dirt on its leaves at all.
Light and temperature
The most optimal temperature regime will be 18 ° C. When caring for Milkweed, it must be remembered that lowering the degree scale below 10 ° C will be fatal to the flower.
Light for Milkweed Mil is of no small importance, therefore the south side of the room will be the best place to place a flowerpot. When the warm season comes, many growers take their indoor flower out into the fresh air or transplant it into the open ground for the summer period.
Seedling and pruning
At home, hybrid euphorbia can be propagated by cuttings. Mille spurge is rarely grown by seeds. You can do this right away when spring comes.
Planting by cuttings
This is the most favorable breeding method for the Mila variety. This is done by cutting off the top of the cutting and placing it in soil made by mixing sand and peat components. Before planting the cut stalk, it is dipped in water for a while so that milky juice flows out of the cut. For a planted cutting, a greenhouse is created by covering it with a film on top. It is better to root the trimmed stalk if the seedling is located in a warm place: on the stove or on the battery.
Seed reproduction
Despite the good germination of Milkweed seeds, this method of propagation is rarely used, since it often leads to a loss of the varietal qualities of the plant. Another obstacle to seed reproduction is difficult collection.
Pruning
Pruning is done to form the crown of the flower. It is necessary to cut it in a horizontal direction, pinching the tops, then all the lateral buds. When the plant grows to the correct height, the entire crown is regularly trimmed.