The brood leaf, which comes from Africa, belongs to the thick-leaf family and therefore to the succulents. As the name “brood leaf” perhaps suggests, the “brood” forms in the form of small daughter plants on the leaves of the plant.
How do you properly care for a brood leaf?
In order to optimally care for a brood leaf, it needs a bright, sunny location, slightly calcareous, loose and permeable soil and moderate watering without waterlogging. Fertilize in summer, overwinter in a cool and dry place at around 10 °C.
Planting the brood leaf
The location for your brood leaf should be bright, if possible also sunny. However, the blazing midday sun should be avoided. If it is outside, protect your brood leaf from wind and rain. Dry heating air, on the other hand, does not harm the brood leaf.
It is best to plant your brood leaf in a water and air permeable clay pot, at least two centimeters larger than the root ball of your plant. The soil should be well-drained and loose. A slight lime content is not a problem. Special cactus or succulent soil is well suited. You can also mix regular potting soil with sand.
Water and fertilize the brood leaf
You should only fertilize your brood leaf during the growth phase and it does not need water in large quantities. Root rot can easily occur when waterlogging occurs, so good water drainage is important.
Diseases and pests of brood leaves
The brood leaf is relatively robust and, if cared for well, is rarely attacked by pests or diseases. If the humidity is too high, it reacts quickly with mildew. You can easily recognize this by stunted growth, gray or whitish spots or curled leaves. If the brood leaf is overwintered too warm or overfertilized, the flowers will not appear and long, thin shoots will form.
The brood leaf in winter
The brood leaf is not hardy. Accordingly, it should only be left outside in summer, but it is also very suitable as a houseplant. In winter it needs a cool rest at around 10 °C, otherwise it forms horny shoots. Water it very little so that the root ball does not dry out completely and stop fertilizing until spring.
The most important things in brief:
- Location: bright, if possible sunny
- Soil: loose, permeable, slightly calcareous
- easy care
- robust
- Avoid waterlogging
- water moderately to little
- fertilize only in summer
- Pruning promotes bushy growth
- Wintering at around 10 °C
Tip
In a bright location, your brood leaf will grow bushy with beautiful leaf color.
