Beaucarnea Recurvata Recurvata - Elephant's Foot

Beaucarnea Recurvata (Elephant's Foot)

Origin

The origin of the Beaucarnea recurvata is South America and the south of the US. The Beaucarnea comes from the asparagus family. In the areas of origin, the Beaucarnea can grow up to eight meters high. Because it is a slow grower, the Beaucarnea will grow less quickly in the home or office, but it can still be a strong houseplant. The Beaucarnea recurvata   does need space, if the leaves rub against a wall, brown tips will appear.

Watering

Water moderately in general, slightly more than in winter during the growing period from March to August. You can let the soil dry out slightly before watering again. However, do not leave the roots in the water, this will cause root rot.

Water is buffered in the thickening of the trunk. This is also the reason that it can go without water for several weeks during the winter.

Substrate

If the pot is provided (or you provide it yourself) with a substrate and a water meter, watering is easy! On arrival there is little water in it, fill the pot slowly with water (sometimes wait a while) and you will see that the meter rises by itself. All you have to do is keep an eye on this meter. If you go on holiday, you can fill the pot almost half full (you can see this by the meter that is way above its maximum) and you can safely go away for 3 weeks. In addition, it is also not a problem if the plants do not receive too much and too quickly water. The substrate absorbs the water, so if the water meter is at the bottom, the substrate is still moist, but there is no more water at the bottom of the pot. The plant then still has enough for 4 summer days.

Spraying

The Beaucarnea recurvata   feels at home in dry air. A single spray serves to remove dust from the leaves and is therefore recommended now and then.

Location

The Beaucarnea recurvata   likes to be in a light spot and needs at least 3-4 hours of sunlight per day. With a south-facing window, the Beaucarnea can be placed two to three meters away from the window. The plant right next to the window on the East and West. Preferably not on the north side, if the Beaucarnea is too dark, new leaves will be difficult to grow.

Minimum temperature

During the day 18 °C

10°C at night

Nutrition

The Beaucarnea recurvata   does not need much food. After purchase, the Beaucarnea can go without food for months. Feed only in spring or summer. Never give too much as this can lead to burning of the roots.

Repotting

A Beaucarnea recurvata does not often need to be transplanted into a larger pot. If you do want to repot the houseplant, do this in the spring. A larger pot will stimulate growth slightly, but the advantage is a larger buffer soil so that the water is spread more and there is less chance of root rot.

Leaf damage

The Beaucarnea recurvata will not easily suffer from discolouring leaves. What does happen is that the lower leaves will die, you can simply remove them by pulling them off. A new sheet will be created from above.

If the houseplant is too dark or gets too much water, it will not produce fresh leaves. So pay attention to this!

Pruning

If the Elephant's Foot becomes too big, you can choose to saw off the trunk again at the desired height. After pruning, the remaining trunk consumes very little water, but place it close to the window (as light as possible). It is best to seal the sawn trunk with wax, because of the risk of bacterial infections.

Toxic

Cats like to chew on the blades of Beaucarnea. The plant is not poisonous, but the leaves do not recover from such a snack attack.

Beaucarnea recurvata, a characteristic indoor tree with curly leaves