Radermachera Sinica Bonsai - China Doll Houseplant Care Guide - Serpent Tree or Emerald Tree
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 พ.ค. 2021
- Grab Your Own China Doll plant here: geni.us/Radermachera
Today I’m going to explain how to care for your China Doll plant and some advice about pruning. As you can see this one has been trained loosely into a Bonsai shape which I think is very pleasing, it has quite a thick trunk which gives it an appearance of age and I think when the foliage grows out a little more this will look like quite an attractive little tree.
They are easy to look after but they do have very specific needs so be sure to hang around till the end because if you miss out on this one tip I’m going to explain to you it could spell disaster for your China Doll plant!
So I bought this plant recently from my local supermarket - or grocery store - and I must admit I knew nothing about them, I thought it looked quite attractive and if I’m totally honest what really swayed it for me I’m ashamed to say was that the pot looked quite attractive and it matched the decor in my office! So I sort of bought a pot with a free plant! But I’m glad I did because I’ve really enjoyed learning about this plant and I think it’s going to be a nice addition to my office.
So the full name is Radermachera Sinica or China Doll plant and is native to the subtropical mountain regions of southern China and Taiwan, in its natural habitat it can reach up to 30 metres tall and 1 metre across, if you’re in the US, in imperial measurement that’s.. really, really big!
Having said that I don’t think we will be having any jack and the beanstalk moments with our houseplants! They will be happy in our homes kept trimmed nicely.
SO let’s go over the usual care points and then we can talk about pruning.
Light - they light a bright indirect light so no hot sunny window sills where the sun comes indirectly, but if you have a window on the other side that is bright all day without getting the sun directly that will be perfect.
Watering - is pretty standard I think, water well but allow to dry out in the top inch of the soil before you water again, less in the winter if you live in cooler temps. As a tropic houseplant, it will suffer from root rot if the soil is left too wet for long periods so it’s important to have that period to allow the soil to dry a little.
Heat - is standard indoor temps between 70f or 21c, I think it will be fine in that range, plus or minus a few degrees will be fine, if anything make sure it doesn’t get too cold in the winter.
Now when it comes to repotting this is really important - These plants don’t like to be disturbed too much, so once you’ve found a spot that it seems to like don’t move it around too much as it will stress the plant and potentially weaken it which is when it can be susceptible to pests and potentially die, the same applies to repotting, this plant has no issues with restricted roots at all, it fact it will thrive with roots being restricted so don’t repot this unless it’s climbing out of the pot, this will be years, probably 5 to 10 unless you can see it’s drying out every other day and you can seem to keep the water level right then you might have to but otherwise don’t because this particular plant really doesn’t like change and a repot is as much change as you can get and it will show this by dropping all its leaves and looking like it’s just died! It may come back in time with some new leaves and branches but try to avoid this and your plant will thank you for it! Plus many people will assume they have killed it and throw it away in any case and so it will end up dead regardless! So no need to repot unless it’s all root ball and no soil left!
So now let’s cover pruning - so the China Doll plant is quite often grown as a bushier houseplant and the branches will spread out very wide and especially if it doesn’t get enough indirect sunlight the branches can get quite long and leggy, by that IO mean the intermodal distance gets longer - that’s just a posh way of saying the distance between the sets of leaves. So the longer the branch gets the longer the distance gets. If you cut back these longer branches the plant will develop a more compact and dense habit with smaller internodes and smaller leaves. If you have lots of space and you prefer your China Doll plant to just hang out anyway it likes big and bushy with long branches then don’t worry about any pruning and let it do its thing, but by pruning you are stimulating new growth and keeping the plant growing strongly so you can prune quite regularly if you want and the plant will be happy to send out new branches. You can prune any time of year springtime is best, try to avoid winter if it gets colder where you live as the plant will slow right down at this point so better to wait until it starts growing more strongly in the Spring.
I hope you have enjoyed the video, if you did please give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more houseplant goodness every week!
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I've had my China Doll plant for TWENTY THREE YEARS!!! No joke!! She is over 8 ft tall and I've split her into two plants. We've evacuated for fires twice and took "Plant" as I lovingly call her, with us. I think I've almsot killed her a few times thruout the years but she's always come back!
They are great!
What an amazing story! Thanks for sharing Justine and give my regards to plant! :-)
@@HouseplantHacks LOL!! I will! That made me laugh thank you!
Today's episode of Andy's china doll plant care gets Mr Mouse's seal of approval!
This made me laugh, I've just picked one up from B&Q & it was reduced as it was looking a bit sorry for itself, but I really liked the look of it & loved the pot! I thought if it doesn't pull through I still have a lovely pot 🙂 It also has a thick trunk and amazing roots - it was extremely dry so I've given it a drink and removed maybe 5 drooping leaves & I'm crossing my fingers 🙂🤞🤞🤞
Very informative video👍👍 love this video.
Thank you so much! :-)
Now I know what I did wrong with my china doll plant ( everything!😬) Thank you for your informative video😊👍🌿
You are welcome! We all learn as we go along, that's how we refine our skills. :-)
Don't want a sulky China doll lol! Great and informative video, thank you! Looking forward to watching your other content. Good job sir!:)
Thanks for watching Abby! :-)
plant said i am Groot
Lamp from the Pixar movies what are you doing here? I just trying to catch a glimpse of that lamp in Andy's office - I think I'm in love!💘
Hi thx for the video. I got one from Ikea I was thinking of repotting cause the soil mix looks awful very very dry brown looks like coco coir I’ve read different things, bottom water through drainage holes in pot or top water? Would she like the occasional misting ? Thx again for any helpful replies 🙏🏻🌴
Mine burst its small clay pot about that size. It was getting brown leave tip which I was informed was a consequence of accumulating too much in the pot over time. Mine was in a small pot for 2 years or so. I've repotted in a large self-watering, where the soil is consistently slightly damp and it is thriving. Thanks
You're welcome! Good luck with it.
GARCIAS, ✌️
If only I had seen this before I repotted my China doll! 😭 When I saw roots growing out of the drainage hole I thought I was being a good plant mom by repotting it and now it’s dying. I grew this one from a plant I (almost) killed previously and now I know what I did wrong.
We live and we learn! Hopefully it will pull through again! :-)
My China Doll Plant looks completely different. It has thin tree like stalks. It looks like a small tree. I guess mine is just a regular China Doll house plant and not a Bonsai. I didn't discover it did not like repotting until after I did and now it is stressed and dropping leaves., but it may be adjusting. No leaves dropped today.
I'm sure it will recover, they can sulk a little sometimes!
@@HouseplantHacks yes. It just needed a period of adjustment. It stopped dropping leaves and has even sprouted new leaves.
Looks like a ficus not china doll
Good guess but no, it’s a China Doll.