I am trying to find out about the culture for a Money Plant I received as a gift several years ago. It has outgrown its small container & I don't know what soil conditions it needs before I transplant it to a begger container. I have included a photo.
4judy2grow
There is so much conflicting info on these that I gave up trying to help people with them on the other forum (GW).
I grow mine in good bright light (even a little direct light is good, as long as you gradually introduce it to the light so that it doesn't burn the leaves).
I only water mine when it's completely dry.
Here's where the conflicting information comes in.
Many vendors are identifying this plant as Pachira aquatica. P. aquatica needs SUN and WET conditions.
I believe this is actually the other Pachira (can't recall the name now, will have to look it up as there are a few that are synonymous) that requires good light and DRY conditions.
I've had mine about 4 years with no real problems.
It's planted in a very porous and fast draining soil-less mix, and I don't water it very often.
Naturally if you're growing it indoors it will receive less light than it would in it's native habitat, and therefore it needs less water.
I think most people are killing these by giving them too much water with too little light.
Many of the vendors are also telling us that this is a good low-light plant.
Not true, in my opinion. It will gradually deteriorate without enough light.
You can go ahead and repot, but I recommend only going about 1 size higher, since over-watering seems to make them meet their demise, and it's much easier to over-water in a pot that's too large.
I've found it best to water them from the bottom (place the pot in a saucer of water and let it soak up what it wants....empty the saucer after a couple of hours.) as it seems that excess water at the soil line rots the trunks.
Good luck with yours!
This is the only Pachira in Plant Files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56220/
I think this is the one I have. Mine isn't too large, but it is rootbound and needs to be repotted. I just use a general potting soil but I add extra perlite to my soil for all of my plants. Mine is on a covered deck and gets bright light but no direct sun light. It got moved to full sun last summer and the leaves got burned. I water once a week. So far so good. I've had this plant about 2 years and it hasn't grown much but it is rootbound.
Wow!!! Thanks so much. Between what you all had to say yourselves and the link one of you gave, I feel much more comfortable with caring and repotting my Money TREE plant. Thanks for setting me straight on the name. I hope someday I can be of as much help to other gardeners as you have been to me on this subjuct.
4judy2grow
I took a look at the link for this tree and I was stunned. I recently purchased a couple of these in a real small version thinking it was a cute gift for my mom. Then I came across a larger version and loved the way it looked so it came home with me too. I had no idea it would actually grow to the size some of those pictures in the link and also produce fruit/seeds later. That is awesome! I have the large one on my porch and it does get some direct sunlight in the early part of the day. It seems to like it cuz it's growing very fast. The smaller ones I have just potted into a chinese pot and keep it indoors. I think it might do better outside so I'm planning on periodically taking out or keeping it near a window with plenty of sun. Im glad I found this posting cuz I've learned something new about one of my plants. Thanks!
I kind of prefer them at the smaller stage, but after a summer outside it has tripled in size. My house is getting so full there's not much room for people, so last month I took cuttings. To my surprise they rooted quickly and now look like little bonsai trees. Very cute. Mine has been growing (during the cool season) inside against a North window with very little water. It grew some, but it went crazy outside in a shaded area on the patio with water on a near everyday basis. You can't let the sun hit the leaves for very long as they are suseptible to sunscald. Growing outside has produced very dense growth as well.
I own a few of these, growgirl, and I had never taken cuttings (it never crossed my mind!) but I'm glad to hear that they rooted easily!
Thanks for sharing that experience - I may try it now!
I'm finding there's little room for people in our house, too:) but I probably shouldn't kick them out just yet! LOL!!
How long does it take for them to get the nuts? I think I have 2 of these plants, with 3 per pot, about 6' tall and thought they were called umbrella trees is there something similar called that? thanks!
Schefflera is the houseplant most commonly called umbrella tree, but common names are not a very reliable way to ID things, many times one common name can be used to refer to multiple (often unrelated) plants. If you're not sure what you have, take a picture and start a thread for it here, I'm sure someone will know what you have. I've never seen multiple Scheffleras in a pot, they're usually potted up individually. I have seen money trees sold with multiple ones in a pot, so in the absence of a picture that would be my guess.
Thanks ecrane, I was confused, thought the money tree was a schefflera. That makes sense, they look just like Judy's pic.
