Euphorbia Milli Red (in polybag)

Common Names:    Crown of thorns, Euphorbia milli, Christ plant, Christ thorn

Euphorbia is a perennial plant and has a poisonous milky sap. Stray cattle cannot eat this. For this reason, this plant is commonly used in landscaping on outer borders as a hedge. These plants produce unisexual flowers. Its flowers last for several weeks and are available in bright pink, red, cream, white, yellow and many more mixed colours(as per variety). This variety will bloom Red flowers. During spring and summer, maximum blooming take place. Regular pruning of this plant will help it to make dense growth and more flowering. It can attain maximum height of 5 feet.

Watering & Sunlight: These plants like to grow in full sunlight and are drought-tolerant. Sandy soil with good drainage is must for better growth. Water is stored in its thick stems. If its leaves turn yellow and fell down, it means you are over-watering. But if only a few old leaves are falling down due to old age, it’s normal. Just ignore it. We should water it whenever soil has become fully dry. Drainage in pot is necessary by making sufficient holes in bottom. This plant can grow in diffused sunlight also, but blooming will reduce.

Soil:      We should prepare the potting mix in such way so that water should reach bottom of pot within 15-25 seconds. This is the basic quality of fast draining soil. Such soil also contributes to make the potting mix more aerated. To make the ideal potting mix for this plant, 30 % drainage media (river sand/ Leca/ Perlite/ Pumice or rice husk- use any one of them) in potting mix should be available. In rest of the potting mix, we should mix vermi-compost (20 %), coco peat (10 %) and garden soil (40%).

Planting and care:      Wear gloves while taking cuttings because the latex (milky sap) may cause skin irritation. Gloves will protect you from sharp thorns.

Ornamental use:  Gardeners use these plants commonly to make borders or hedge. Moreover, we can also grow this as a single plant or group of 2 or 3 plants in a single pot to give dense look.