I find that hybrid crown of thorns varieties tend to drop fewer leaves than the older, 'local' varieties. To reduce leaf drop, try to minimize the things that cause sudden yellowing and death of leaves. Things such as infestation of sucking insects; too much or too little water; and moving plants from a bright light to a low light location (or the reverse). Also, you can prune leggy stems to stimulate shorter bushier shape.
Hi Thank you for updating about Crown of thorns. I watched your past video too as I was looking for info. I have some Crown of thorns but those often fall leaves but blooming every year. Even there is no leaves on top of stem and just a few leaves buds come up. I want to keep leaves. could you give me any tips?
Thank you Calyx, I’m grateful for your expertise with Crown of Thorns/Euphorbia Milii, and for the generosity and clarity with which you share your expertise with Subscribers like myself. I’m happy with the coral-pink variety I got from Costco a short while ago, and I’m wondering if I could ask for your advice on how best to care for it. Living in Toronto, Canada, we’re subject to seasonal weather, quite unlike the blessing of a year-round growing season in Tropical Jamaica 🤩 Being the end of May, we are now well into Spring, when Nature burgeons with growth. My Crown of Thorns has as much leaf growth as it has flowers. My question, after watching your videos on opting between Plant Growth vs. Flowering, is which of the two I ought to choose at this time, ie, forcing plant growth by eliminating its flowers, or reducing its branches and leaves, in favour of more flowering? Once September rolls around, growth slows down, and even though my plant is within my condo, it too will slow down until spring next April. I’d appreciate your advice, please.
Thanks for your kind compliments and support. This is an interesting question for us to answer since, as you mentioned, Calyx operates in a totally different climate. Our best advice - do not remove the leaves at this time (early summer). Since it appears the plant has sufficient leaves to support flowering, apply a fertilizer that promotes flowering - one that is low in Nitrogen, medium in Phosphorus and high in Potassium (e.g., NPK 5 - 10 - 25). This should stimulate more flowers in mid to late summer before the plant starts to drop its leaves in response to seasonal changes. Hope this helps. Let us know how it turns out.
@@gardeningwithcalyx Thank you for your suggestions. I’ll follow them and let you know how the plant fares with the fertilizer you suggest. As things stand, now at the beginning of June, my plant is flowering beautifully. I’ve recently started clipping off the flowers as they begin to dullen, past their prime. This creates a lively appearance. Enjoy beautiful Jamaica 🇯🇲
Thank you for this video. Just about to repot my 9 year old crown of Thorns and noticed the scale on it and was not sure if I could use neem oil on it. Will be applying that first thing this morning.
I wish you success. My worst affected plant needed 4 applications of bioneem over a 6 week period, as well as frequent water blasts from the hose to be finally rid of the scale infestation.😮
Hi @moomoon, unfortunately, the label on the slow release fertilizer package only says 'bloom booster'. (Insufficient info is not uncommon when a product is repackaged into smaller sizes for retail.😢) But typically, the NPK ratio of a 'bloom boster' fertilizer has a potassium concentration about 5 times that of nitrogen. For example, the NPK ratio of the soluble 'blossom booster' formulation that I often use is 7-12-40. This can also be used on crown of thorns.
I find that hybrid crown of thorns varieties tend to drop fewer leaves than the older, 'local' varieties. To reduce leaf drop, try to minimize the things that cause sudden yellowing and death of leaves. Things such as infestation of sucking insects; too much or too little water; and moving plants from a bright light to a low light location (or the reverse).
Also, you can prune leggy stems to stimulate shorter bushier shape.
Hi Thank you for updating about Crown of thorns. I watched your past video too as I was looking for info. I have some Crown of thorns but those often fall leaves but blooming every year. Even there is no leaves on top of stem and just a few leaves buds come up. I want to keep leaves. could you give me any tips?
Thank you Calyx, I’m grateful for your expertise with Crown of Thorns/Euphorbia Milii, and for the generosity and clarity with which you share your expertise with Subscribers like myself.
I’m happy with the coral-pink variety I got from Costco a short while ago, and I’m wondering if I could ask for your advice on how best to care for it.
Living in Toronto, Canada, we’re subject to seasonal weather, quite unlike the blessing of a year-round growing season in Tropical Jamaica 🤩
Being the end of May, we are now well into Spring, when Nature burgeons with growth. My Crown of Thorns has as much leaf growth as it has flowers.
My question, after watching your videos on opting between Plant Growth vs. Flowering, is which of the two I ought to choose at this time, ie, forcing plant growth by eliminating its flowers, or reducing its branches and leaves, in favour of more flowering?
Once September rolls around, growth slows down, and even though my plant is within my condo, it too will slow down until spring next April.
I’d appreciate your advice, please.
Thanks for your kind compliments and support. This is an interesting question for us to answer since, as you mentioned, Calyx operates in a totally different climate. Our best advice - do not remove the leaves at this time (early summer). Since it appears the plant has sufficient leaves to support flowering, apply a fertilizer that promotes flowering - one that is low in Nitrogen, medium in Phosphorus and high in Potassium (e.g., NPK 5 - 10 - 25). This should stimulate more flowers in mid to late summer before the plant starts to drop its leaves in response to seasonal changes.
Hope this helps. Let us know how it turns out.
@@gardeningwithcalyx Thank you for your suggestions. I’ll follow them and let you know how the plant fares with the fertilizer you suggest.
As things stand, now at the beginning of June, my plant is flowering beautifully. I’ve recently started clipping off the flowers as they begin to dullen, past their prime. This creates a lively appearance.
Enjoy beautiful Jamaica 🇯🇲
Thank you for this video. Just about to repot my 9 year old crown of Thorns and noticed the scale on it and was not sure if I could use neem oil on it. Will be applying that first thing this morning.
I wish you success. My worst affected plant needed 4 applications of bioneem over a 6 week period, as well as frequent water blasts from the hose to be finally rid of the scale infestation.😮
Please what's the npk value of the fertilizer you used? Thanks.
Hi @moomoon, unfortunately, the label on the slow release fertilizer package only says 'bloom booster'. (Insufficient info is not uncommon when a product is repackaged into smaller sizes for retail.😢)
But typically, the NPK ratio of a 'bloom boster' fertilizer has a potassium concentration about 5 times that of nitrogen.
For example, the NPK ratio of the soluble 'blossom booster' formulation that I often use is
7-12-40. This can also be used on crown of thorns.
I wondered about this also. Thanks for answer