Transcript:
Today I’m going to be talking all about window, Horophia and how to care for them. Welcome back to mine, the leaves. If it is your first time here, welcome and don’t forget to subscribe these. Little Gems are some of my favorite plants at the tip of every leaf. They have a clear area or a window, which basically allows lots of light to penetrate into the leaf for photosynthesis in their native habitat of South Africa. They would actually be almost completely covered by sand and all you would see would be these little windows poking out, and that basically allows the plant to protect itself through the really really hot heat and sun, but still allows for maximization of light. The sun requirements for these guys are basically bright indirect lights. They really don’t like to have harsh direct sun on their leaves. So protect them from that. You can put them in. Say an east facing window where it’s going to get just some soft morning sun. They really like that they can also handle some soft evening sun, but nothing harsh nothing during that really hot hour of the day. If you’re giving your whole orthia too much sun too much direct light. You’re gonna notice that the leaves are going to start to take on sort of a brownish, reddish, purplish sort of color, and this is actually sun stress. Its its own natural defense mechanism against the really really hot hot sun. It’s sort of like when we tan if you will enjoy the colors that you’re getting from the sun’s dress, you can keep doing that. I like them to look like this. I personally don’t find the Sun’s dress. Look very attractive, but that’s personal preference. If you’re seeing that sun stress and you don’t like the look of it, definitely put it in a place where it is getting less direct sun. I actually keep mine in basically a north facing window and it does great and it blooms for me when they’re getting enough light. They’ll keep this nice compact rosette shape. But if they’re not getting enough light, then you will see them edulate, which is just a fancy word for stretching. Okay, water with a window horizon. You really want to make sure that you’re only watering when the soil has completely dried out? These plants are sensitive to root rot. So you want to make sure that you’re not over watering or allowing your plant to sit in water in any way? If you have your plant on a saucer, make sure that you’re emptying out your saucer after you’ve watered During the growing season, I end up watering my horophia about once every week, but I check and if it doesn’t seem quite dry, then I leave it for a little. While in the winter season, I cut back watering severely to only about once a month. They don’t seem picky at all. When it comes to tap versus rain water, which is great, they’re very easy going, and they also don’t seem to care. What kind of humidity you have in your home? Mine rain is anywhere from 60 to 20 and they’re fine either way. Let’s talk about soil because this plant really doesn’t like too much moisture. You really want a soil mixture that is super gritty and really fast draining. I recommend that you amend your potting soil. Even if you’re already using a succulent or cactus mix. Because oftentimes, they’re still not pretty enough, so make sure to amend your potting mix with things like perlite terpis bark chips, anything that’s going to make that soil grittier and fast draining the mix that I use is honestly probably about 30 soil to about 70 amendments and, of course, super important with these plants. Don’t forget to make sure that you have drainage holes at the bottom of your pot. Even if you’re keeping it in a cute little cash coat for look, make sure that you have a pot with drainage holes fertilizer. They really don’t need that much. Although I do recommend that you fertilize them twice a year once in the spring and once in the fall, these plants actually kind of have two growing seasons, the spring and fall, and then they kind of go dormant in the hot summer and in the really cold winter, so give them a boost. It’s spring and then again at fall and you’re done blooms. Yes, if you can believe it. These little plants do bloom. They’re not the showiest flowers, but they’re really fun to see it in the springtime. Basically, a really long flower spike shoots up, and then it has a bunch of these small flowers that open in secession. If you would like to propagate a window horizon, there are several different methods like through leaves and seeds, but I would honestly say that the easiest way to propagate is to simply divide your clump or by removing the pups. These two were initially in the same clump and I divided it and actually had several other plants that I gave away to friends and I can see here on these ones that it is coming in with new pups as well. If I wanted to, I could just remove those pups and pop those up and have even more plants. They are quite slow growers. They’re not going to turn into some big clump in your first year or anything like that they do. Take some time the good thing about that, though, is that if you’re living in a small apartment or you want small plants that don’t get huge too quickly. This is perfect! These are really easy plants to grow. They don’t need a lot of light or a lot of water and they are majoritively pest free. Yes, these are beautiful, but I think I’m still partial to the coopery. What is your favorite variety? Tell me in the comments below. If this video was helpful for you, please go ahead and plant your finger on that, like button and go ahead and subscribe and hit that notification Bell, so that you don’t miss a single video and join our mind leaves community on Instagram for even more plant content. My name is sam. This is my beliefs. Take care of your plants and yourself.