Hello Hivers, today I bring you another summary of characteristics and cultivation of a very popular plant in collections around the world, Portulacaria afra. This species is widely cultivated for ornamental purposes due to its high resistance and beautiful appearance of stems and leaves. The semi-woody stems with visible internodes and accompanied by small green leaves provide an appearance very similar to a small tree. This species is frequently used for the art of bonsai due to its plasticity for this practice due to its rapid growth and high branching power.
One of my plants in the collection even without maintenance pruning:
This species is very easy to maintain as long as the following cultivation requirements are taken into account :
- Grow in a very bright place where it receives 6-8 hours of sun during the day. It does not support cultivation in the shade.
- Water once a week if high temperatures prevail. The turgidity of the leaves will tell us when we should water.
- Use a substrate that allows rapid drainage of irrigation water to avoid rot.
- Mainly affected by mealybugs, mites, insect larvae, mollusks and fungi.
- It grows perfectly in climates where temperatures between 24⁰C-30⁰C predominate.
- Carry out periodic pruning to encourage branching and gradual fattening of the central stem.
I hope this summary is useful to you. If you like this content, do not hesitate to support me with a heart and follow me.