The genus Fatsia is a monotypic genus from the Araliaceae family. Fatsia is native to Japan. In a room culture, a single species is grown – Japanese Fatsia (Fatsia japonica) – a small evergreen tree, usually with a straight trunk covered with light brown bark. Rounded, heart-shaped at the base, serrated leaves up to 30 cm in diameter along the edge are collected on the tops of the shoots. Petioles are swollen, at the base with falling ragged brownish pubescence. The flowers of room fatsia are small, white or yellowish-green. The fruits are dark blue.
Varieties of houseplant fatsia
Below you can see photos of Japanese Fatsia of various varieties, as well as its hydrides.
Fatsia variety “Variegata” – with leaves painted at the ends of the lobes in white or cream color.
Fatsia variety “Aureimarginalis” – with a yellow border around the edge of the sheet.
Fatsia “Moseri” – dense squat plants.
A hybrid between Fatsia and ivy – Fatshedera Lizei (x Fatshedera Lizei = Fatsia japonica x Hedera hibernica) – an evergreen, densely leafy shrub, in nature reaches a height of 5 m, much lower indoors (about 2 m). The leaves are three-five-lobed, dark green, leathery.
Fatsia indoor flower care at home
Houseplant Fatsia prefers coolness, fresh air and bright lighting, but is quite hardy and adapts to any conditions. Fatsia reaches a height of 1.5 m or more in two to three years. It develops well only with a free arrangement of plants. In winter, fatsia is kept at a temperature not lower than 6-10 ° C, varieties with variegated leaves – at a temperature of about 16 ° C.
When caring for Fatsia at home, special attention should be paid to watering. Water the plant from spring to autumn plentifully, in winter – moderately. Even a one-time overdrying of a clod of earth leads to the fact that the leaves of Fatsia fall down. You can straighten them to a horizontal position only with a garter on spacers. Waterlogging the soil leads to the fact that the leaves become soft and lethargic, turn yellow and fall off. With insufficient watering, the tips of the leaves dry out.
From too dry air, the leaves wrinkle, become brittle, turn yellow and fall off. They are periodically washed, often sprayed. In the spring, the ends of the shoots are pruned to increase branching.
Fatsias are usually transplanted once every two to three years in spring or early summer. The new pot should be much wider than the previous one. Due to basal offspring, Fatsia can form several young stems at once. The substrate is neutral or slightly acidic (pH 6-7), composed of turf and leaf soil, humus, peat and sand in equal parts. A mixture of leaf humus, turf and garden soil, peat and sand (2: 1: 1: 1: 0.5) is also suitable. A drainage layer (1.5-2 cm) is required at the bottom of the pot.
In good conditions, the plants are usually fully leafy, but if the trunk is bare, Fatsia can be rejuvenated with an air layer. To do this, in the spring, a shallow incision is made on the trunk, wrapped with wet moss soaked in a phytohormone or nutrient solution (1 g of complex mineral fertilizer per 1 liter of water), and covered with a film on top. The moss under the Fatsia plant is constantly kept moist. After a few months, roots appear at the site of the incision. Approximately two months after the formation of the roots, the top with the roots is cut off below the formation of the roots and planted in a separate pot.
Fatsia breeding
With good care, the Fatsia stem is covered with leaves almost to the base, and side shoots may appear near the root neck, which are used for cuttings. Cuttings easily root on any substrate. Old plants rejuvenate. The stump left after cutting the trunk of an old plant gives two or three young shoots. Sometimes two or three indoor ivy cuttings are grafted onto it in a split or behind the bark. The grafted cuttings take root and grow, falling down, beautifully framing the fatsia trunk, giving the plant a weeping shape.
Most often, the indoor flower Fatsia is harmed by spider mites, aphids, scale insects.