Euphorbia flower Mila - how to care at home

Mila is a popular decorative and beautiful plant. Due to its attractive appearance, it is Mila that appears in greenhouses and flower gardens more often than others. You can hear another name for the culture - brilliant. The thorny branches of the milkweed gave their popular nickname - the crown of thorns.

What does the Euphorbia Mila look like, which family does it belong to?

Euphorbia of the Milius species is a succulent. In its homeland, under natural conditions, it reaches large sizes with abundant branching. The stem is gray, slightly silvery. At the top of each shoot, light green leaves about 3.5 cm long are formed. Each leaf plate has several stipules, which turn into sharp spines. The leaves fall off over time, but the thorns remain on the plant. For this reason, leaves are formed only at the top of the shoots.

Euphorbia Mila in bloom in different shades

Bracts are painted in bright colors - yellow, orange, red. These plates are 12 mm wide and rounded. The inflorescences form several groups of flowers, which are surrounded by bright bracts. The inflorescences are bizarre, they are woven together with thorns on long legs.

Common varieties

There are main varieties that have a varied color of inflorescences. Among them:

Sakura kiss - white flowers with pink splashes;
King yellow - monochromatic yellow inflorescences;
Moonlight - yellow flowers with an orange center;
Natali - pink inflorescences, occasionally there are dark stripes;
Sonora - characterized by bright pink bracts.

Healing properties

The plant sap is poisonous. This liquid contains rubber, quamarines, resins, malic acid and euphorbion.

Important! In small doses, such a composition has a beneficial effect on the human body.

Large milkweed needles

The juice is used to treat abrasions and wounds, as it has a healing and disinfecting effect. Before use, you need to carefully evaluate the likely benefits and harms of using this plant.

Briefly about the history of appearance

The Governor of Reunion Island brought the Mile to France back in 1821. The plant came to Europe from Madagascar and Africa. By its nature, it is a mountain flower.

Features of caring for a plant at home

Euphorbia can be grown as a stand-alone plant or in containers with other succulents. Some care rules will help you grow a beautiful and healthy flower. Taking care of a succulent plant is easy enough.

Temperature

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Euphorbia Mila is a thermophilic plant. In summer, the optimum temperature is +25 ℃. In winter, you need to make sure that the arrow of the thermometer does not drop below +15 ℃. Cold affects the bush negatively; hypothermia should not be allowed.

Lighting

Euphorbia requires intense lighting, which it will need all year round. In winter, you need to use an artificial light lamp. It is better to place a pot with a plant on the south windows.In summer, in the presence of open ground, a container with milkweed is dropped in the garden.

Watering

Watering should be dosed carefully. Humidification is carried out only in summer; in winter, watering is removed altogether. Despite its high resistance to drought, milkweed needs a moist soil for normal development.

Important! It is better to use soft water for irrigation. When the earth dries up, the plant immediately throws off the leaves, but this will not lead to death.

Spraying

The flower is sprayed frequently, in between waterings. Additionally, you can wash the plant, but this must be done very carefully.

Propagation of milkweed by cuttings

Humidity

Milkweed has no special conditions for moisture. The shrub tolerates drought normally, but even with high humidity it feels great.

Priming

There are no requirements for the soil. The mile takes root well in any soil. It is convenient and simple to use ready-made compositions for succulents.

Top dressing

Fertilizers are necessary for milkweed. Usually, ready-made compositions for succulents are used, they are quite enough. It is better to add fertilizer together with watering. So nutrients penetrate into the soil much faster. Top dressing is introduced in the summer. The shrub after such manipulations will begin to branch quickly and the gardener will receive a beautiful and lush plant.

When and how it blooms

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Euphorbia Mila blooms all year round, which distinguishes it from other species. The long flowering time allows you to admire the plant all year round, but it is important not to forget about leaving. Why isn't spurge blooming? Often the reason is a lack of light in the room.

Types of flowers

The beautiful bright red bracts are often confused with the flowers themselves. The latter are not so attractive in appearance, they are much smaller and are colored yellow.

Flower shapes

Mili's flowers are inconspicuous, small in size. Decorativeness is achieved only through the bracts. Flowers are collected in inflorescences, which are located on a long peduncle.

Flowering period

Mila blooms all year round at best, but as a rule it does not produce flowers at all. In this case, it is worth revising the agrotechnical content of the succulent.

Pruning

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Crown formation and timely pruning of the plant is one of the main factors in plant care. The bush will be the right size and bloom constantly. On a small shrub, much more flowers are formed, because all the energy goes to the formation of buds, rather than to the growth of shoots. For this reason, you should not let the plant grow.

On a note! The best time to crop the Mile is in the spring.

There are rules for trimming:

formation is carried out only after flowering;
to begin with, only the tops are cut off;
then dry leaves and shoots are removed;
new shoots should be removed for good flowering.

The dangerous beauty of Milkweed

How euphorbia Mila reproduces

It is not difficult to propagate the euphorbia Milu. There are 3 options for plant propagation:

seeds;
cuttings;
dividing the bush.

Germinating seeds

This breeding method is rarely used. It is not so easy to propagate a plant with it. The resulting plants will not retain their varietal qualities. To begin with, planting material is collected. After that, the seeds are planted in moistened soil, and the plantings are covered with polyethylene or glass. When the first leaves appear, the shelter is removed, and the plants are planted in wider pots.

Rooting cuttings

A 12 cm long section is cut from a healthy shoot, on which there are 2 healthy leaves. The cut site must be lubricated with crushed coal and a growth stimulant. For several days, the cuttings are well dried and only after that they are placed in a container with prepared soil. The plantings are well watered and covered with polyethylene. Until rooting, the containers are kept in a bright, warm place.

Additional Information! Cutting is best done in spring, so that the plants have time to get stronger by the cold.

Dividing the bush

For reproduction by dividing the bush, you need to get the flower out of the pot, clean the root system from the soil. If there are rotten roots, they must be removed. The roots are cut into several pieces. This is done carefully, with sharp scissors or a knife. The resulting cuttings are dried and planted in moist soil.

Transfer

Transplantation of young plants is carried out approximately once a year, but you need to monitor the condition of the flower. Mature plants practically do not require transplanting. It is carried out as needed once every 3-5 years.

Possible growing problems and diseases

Despite its high resistance to many diseases, Mil's euphorbia can show problems in its appearance. Lack of light, moisture or dressing will certainly affect the decorative effect of the bush.

Shedding buds and leaves

This suggests that the houseplant receives few trace elements and needs to be fed. Also, falling foliage and buds may indicate the presence of pests.

Leaves turn pale

This suggests that the plant definitely lacks light. It is worth reconsidering the place where the milkweed is grown. If possible, the pot is moved to the south side of the house.

The tips of the leaves dry

In this case, the milkweed did not have enough watering. Even with good drought tolerance, the plant needs to be watered regularly for good development and a beautiful appearance.

The lower leaves fall

Lower leaves fall off is not always a problem. You need to look at the state of the remaining shoots, if there are no changes, then the plant updates itself.

Pests

The most popular pests of large-flowered milkweed are thrips, aphids and scale insects. If the plant is attacked by insects, its leaves will turn pale, yellow, or even fall off. In some cases, characteristic white traces can be seen on the foliage.

Note! Any pests are removed from the affected parts by mechanical means or spraying with special preparations is used. If the lesion is large, the treatment will need to be repeated.

The vibrant and unusual plant is the most famous of its kind. The flower does not need special care, but at the same time it has a high decorative effect. It is worth remembering that the white sap of the plant is poisonous, which is why the owner should definitely wash his hands after transplanting and pruning it. Euphorbia is a mile and caring for it at home has its own characteristics in view of the specifics of the plant.