Plant love of man: care

Its scientific name is Tradescantia zebrinaalthough it is popularly called man’s love, a name that is sometimes extended to the entire family tradescanthia, with approximately 70 species.

The Tradescantia zebrina distinguished by its showy leaves, with a green and silver stripe pattern and with a showy purple underside. They are succulent plants with origin in tropical America. Its bushes grow up to 40 cm high, with succulent creeping stems. Its flowers are small and delicate, although as beautiful as they are brief.

In the right environment, Tradescantia zebrina It can be grown both indoors and outdoors, although this does not mean that it tolerates all types of climate in any way. In general, the plant appreciates slightly warm environments, but does not tolerate frosts below -3 °C. Its ideal temperature is between 12 and 25ºC. For your location it is convenient to have the account:

• Outdoors it can be placed in the sun as long as it is not too intense, being able to burn its leaves if the insolation is excessive. In very hot climates or with especially strong summers, it will be convenient place it in partial shadesheltered from the hours of greatest incidence.
• Indoors it will be necessary to locate it in a well-lit area so that it can develop properly, being the best near windows. In the summer months or during the afternoon hours it will be better to filter the light with a curtain to avoid burns.

If the leaves lose their coloration, becoming pale and homogeneous, or they become more elongated and thin, it means that your love plant needs a little more light, so move it to a brighter area.

Irrigation is practically the only care with which the tradescantia it is relatively demanding. Very simple to take care of for everything else, it is enough to know when to water and when not to do it so that the plant grows healthy and without problems. Like many succulents, this plant does not tolerate waterlogging or excess humidity, so too frequent or abundant watering can cause root rot problems, which are difficult to recover from. In this sense and when in doubt, it is always better to stay short and start taking the point, watering if it seems that the plant is somewhat dry, from which it will recover quickly and without problems.

The rule in this sense is very easy: water when the soil has dried in its first centimeters. You can check this by dipping a finger into the soil or using a toothpick or a pencil: if the soil sticks to it, it is holding moisture. The specific frequency, logically, will depend on the weather and whether it is in the ground or in a pot, so you will have to learn to control it. That yes, in the cold months, it will almost always be enough with a fortnightly watering approximately.

The most important thing with your soil or substrate is that it has a drainage as best as possible, in order to avoid the dreaded flooding. In the garden, water and study where the water drains more effectively and without flooding to plant your tradescanthia, while in a pot it will suffice to prepare a container with drainage holes and use a light and well-drained mixture, with coconut fiber and earthworm humus, as well as perlite.

The growth capacity of tradescantia It is already exceptional in itself, so even without much fertilizer, it will grow with great vigor for the first few months. However, the nutrients in the soil are soon depleted, and potted plants are an especially big problem.

If you want your man love plant to continue to grow strong after the first year, add organic and ecological fertilizersuch as earthworm humus or compost to the ground, piling up a small amount at the base of the plant every 15 days or once a month during the warm months. Here you can learn about How to make homemade compost.

The spread of tradescantia It is as simple as it happens with a large number of succulents. Whether you choose the division method with roots As with cuttings, multiplication will be successful without major complications in a large number of cases.

To play it safe, the simplest thing is cut a cutting from a stem and put it in water until it takes root by itself, after which you can transplant it to a site with substrate, in soil or in a pot.

In this other article you can learn more about How to reproduce succulents to reproduce the man’s love plant.

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