Episode 162: Codiaeum variegatum aka croton

Crotons can be tricky to grow: watch out for sudden leaf drop.

Transcript

Episode 162

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Jane: What's the difference between a futon and a crouton? One's a little sofa bed, the other's a little floater bread! Sorry, I made myself laugh! That's not very professional. I've got croutons on my mind today, not because this is a food podcast, but, for some reason, whenever I think of the plant croton, into my mind pops an image of a crouton, so I apologise for that! Today, we're talking about crotons, plus we'll be hearing from listener Carol and I'll be answering a question about setting buds. What on earth is that about? We'll find out shortly!

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Jane: It's been a busy old time on the Patreon front, with Sarah becoming a Crazy Plant Person, Alice, Meg, Colette and ML all becoming Ledge-ends and Julia, Stephanie, Natasha, Esther and Armando all becoming Superfans! Thanks to Laura for her donation on ko-fi.com If you want to make a one-off donation to the show, that's a great way to do it and every pound or dollar you send really does help keep the show going.

Great news about the Legends of the Leaf crowdfunder, which is powering on. I'm at 43%! It's very exciting! Every time I look at the page, somebody else has pledged their support which is amazing. I did get a question from Stephanie saying that she wanted to pledge for the book at Christmas time and would she still be able to? The answer, quite simply, is yes! I'm expecting the crowdfunder to take at least three months which would mean that I might reach my target by Christmas time, but even once I've reached that target you can still pledge for quite a long time afterwards, to pre-order the book ahead of publication. So, don't panic if you haven't pledged yet! There's still plenty of time. Don't know what I'm talking about? Legends of the Leaf is a book that I'm going to be writing about houseplants, profiling 25 iconic plants and explaining how they got to be in our homes and how they love to grow. It's going to be beautiful, it's going to be inspirational, it's going to be informative, so please do go and check that out. If you go to my website janeperrone.com there's a link straight from there.

Still getting feedback on the potting mix ingredients episodes. I got a DM on Twitter from Simon who suggested spent mushroom compost as a plant substrate. He says, "Typically this is used for outdoor cultivation but I've seen plenty of people who grow mushrooms throw their spent mushroom substrate into their houseplant pots, with occasional mushrooms popping up." It's a good point, Simon. Yes, there's absolutely no reason why you can't use spent mushroom compost. Just bear in mind that it is quite alkaline in nature, so if you've got any ericaceous or acid-loving plants, which includes things like most of the carnivorous plants, then this might be one that you want to avoid.

I had an email from Elaine who was asking about perlite and vermiculite and whether there was any truth to the rumours she'd seen that they are cancerous. It's a really interesting point. There was a problem with vermiculite being contaminated with asbestos in the US and I think that the mine involved was in Montana and I think it closed in about 1990. So, unless you're using some very old bags of vermiculite that you've found somewhere, it should be fine. It's very well regulated now and perlite and vermiculite are not listed as carcinogens by any of the major science organisations that I've come across. That said, and I did say this in the episode but I'll say it again, do be cautious when handling perlite and vermiculite because they're very dusty substances and some mixes can be more dusty than others. Do wear a decent dust mask and wet them in the bag before you start to use them so that you don't get huge clouds of dust which are really bad for your lungs and, let's face it, we all need our lungs to be on top form right now. As I've already said, they are non-renewable, so in an ideal world we are looking for more sustainable options to replace perlite and vermiculite but the hunt continues on that front.

I also got a comment from CJameson on a post I'd written about IKEA and their houseplants, suggesting that I lobby them to start offering Swedish Ivy aka Plectranthus - I can't say this, it took me about ten times when I mentioned this in the last episode! -- verticillatus! Swedish Ivy, it's easier to say! Try to get them to add it to their selection of plants, and why not? It's a really good suggestion CJameson. It's a tough plant and it's Swedish and, of course, IKEA is Swedish, so yes, great idea, I shall tweet IKEA and see what they say!

Thank you also to those of you who have left a review for On The Ledge. The hunt for the youngest listener continues. ThePlantsAreTakingOver says: "My seven-year-old daughter has really got into houseplants over lockdown and loves listening to your podcast! I love it too and we're both learning so much. From my daughter, 'Keep up the good work, Jane!'" Oh, that's so nice! Thank you so much, I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the show, mother and daughter together.

Thank you also to BakingMommaof3 and GerrysGarden and Smeesh for leaving five-star reviews for the show. You are all legendary!

Now, let me transport your ears to Surabaya in Indonesia, to meet this week's listener. Of course, unless you're already in Indonesia, in which case just stay where you are!

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Carol: Hello, my name's Carol! I'm an American but I live in Surabaya, Indonesia, which is probably one of the biggest cities that you've never heard of. I live with my husband and my four-year-old daughter and we moved here about two years ago. We've rented a house and we have, for this city, relative to other people, we have a good amount of outdoor space, although it's mostly a cement patio. I grow a lot of things out on the patio in that amazing tropical sun. I've always loved growing things since I was a kid but it's been an adventure adapting to a new climate and learning about a lot of the different types of plants that they have here that I wasn't used to. So that's been our journey.

Jane: Question one. You've been selected to travel to Mars as part of the first human colony on the Red Planet. There's only room for one houseplant from your collection on board. Which plant do you choose?

Carol: I think, for going to Mars, I would take the mango tree that I have growing in a pot. It has not produced fruit yet but I think if I were living on Mars, mangoes would be a great pick me up, assuming that our greenhouses, or whatever we had, were sufficient for it.

Jane: Question two. What is your favourite episode of On The Ledge?

Carol: My favourite episode is probably episode 63 about palms because, oddly, even though I live in paradise, with palm trees, I've killed a lot of them. I think maybe I've been repotting them a little bit too deep and they get stem rot and ants seem to like them. Anyway, that episode helped me with my palm trees.

Jane: Question three. Which Latin name do you say to impress people?

Carol: I use Latin names a lot in my head, to impress myself, but I think a lot of people that I know just would not be impressed by them, but one of my favourite plants that I had is Calathea ornata and I love that plant and I think for a lot of plants, I've been learning their Latin names because they have a local name in English but I don't know the English name since I only started growing it since I moved to Indonesia. So, I learned a Latin name instead of whatever name it had in English.

Jane: Question four. Crassulacean acid metabolism or guttation?

Carol: I'd have to say guttation. I would love to see that. It is so hot here and my plants dry out very quickly. It seems like a beautiful dream to me!

Jane: Question five. Would you rather spend £200 on a variegated Monstera, or £200 on 20 interesting cacti?

Carol: I think I couldn't bring myself to spend so much money on one plant, especially since they're so cheap where I live. I can go to the plant market and spend $20USD and bring home a trunk full of plants. So, I probably could buy 100 unique cacti for that price. Recently, I've been really into, and on my wish list is, a cacti like Epiphyllum and I always saw pictures of them as a foliage thing but then I realized, when I looked them up, I learned their local name and looked them up in Indonesia and they bloom so beautifully because they really have the sunlight here that allows them to do that. That's what I would want. I would want a yard full of those.

Jane: Thank you, Carol! If you want to be featured on Meet the Listener, drop an email to ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com and lots of you have been in touch for instructions on how to take part, so we've got a nice stack of listeners lined up. If you're from a place that we haven't featured yet or you've got some interesting tale to tell, then do get in touch because it's fantastic to hear from all you lovely listeners!

Now it's time to talk crotons. I've been trying for some time to convince an expert on this particular species to come on the show and talk about it but no-one has so far come forward, so I'm afraid you're stuck with me wibbling on!

This is a plant I've grown in the past and in the last few weeks, in preparation for this episode, I have bought another specimen. The trouble with the croton, aka Codiaeum variegatum, is that this plant has got a bit of a bad rap over the years and you can kind of see why. It is one of those plants that some people really struggle to grow - we'll discuss why that might be shortly - but first let's just take a look at the basics on this one.

It's a member of the Euphorbiaceae family, in other words the spurges, so if a leaf gets snapped off you will find that the plant exudes a milky sap which is toxic. The plant is often described as mildly toxic. Yes, you don't want your baby/toddler/dog/cat munching away at this one, so it depends on how much control you've got over your children/animals as to whether this is a suitable plant for you. This is plant that's native to places like Sri Lanka, Malaysia and southern India and it's a shrub that grows up to almost two metres tall in its native home and makes a kind of shrubby layer below trees or in scrubby land. When you're growing it in your house, you're more likely to see specimens that start off at a few centimetres tall and you might get a plant that does grow. In fact, I saw one the other day on Facebook Marketplace, a big croton for sale, that was at least two metres tall, so they can grow big! If you want to keep your plant small and you happen to be successful with it, you can prune it to keep it at a reasonable size.

Where does the name croton come from? It's a bit confusing this. I'm going to explain this as clearly as I can. Croton is a common name for this plant, also known as Joseph's Coat or I've seen it listed as Rushfoil, but I've never actually heard anyone use that particular name, so I don't know if that's one of those very outdated names but I'll mention it just in case it's the common name where you live. Croton is actually a genus within the Euphorbia family that has up to 700 species in it and that's totally separate from the croton that we're talking about today, which has the Latin name Codiaeum variegatum, so it's a confusing one. The name croton that comes from the Greek word krotōs, meaning tick and that is used because the seeds of other members of the actual croton genus have got seeds that look like ticks. It's all very confusing so far, isn't it? But we'll plough on. Call this a croton, call it a Codiaeum, but just remember it's separate from the genus croton which is also part of the spurge or Euphorbiacaeae.

Now, these plants are hugely popular as houseplants and even more so in the last two centuries when, if you read any houseplant catalogues, you'll see loads of mentions for crotons and it's not really surprising because they are incredibly colourful and bright, the variegation on the leathery leaves is absolutely unbelievable. It depends which cultivar you've got, but it can be any combination of green, yellow, pink, orange, purple. They really are a riot of colour. The leaves are glabrous, that might be a new one on you, but it means hairless, basically, so they're not hairy leaves, they're just leathery, beautifully variegated leaves. Flower-wise, you're not likely to get flowers from your plant growing it indoors but if you do, it's not too impressive in florescence, full of small, whitish flowers - not really the reason why you'd grow this plant.

There's one other point of confusion about the Codiaeum variegatum. This is another mess, so I apologise as I plough my way through this! Don't confuse Codiaeum variegatum the croton with a very, very similar looking garden plant which is Aucuba japonica variegate, or the variegated Japanese laurel. Again, we have leathery leaves, this time they are splashed with yellow which looks just like the croton cultivar Gold Dust, but this is really an outdoor plant that is hardy in the UK and won't mind being frozen; very different from the croton which is definitely much more of a tropical plant.

How can you tell them apart? Well, the Aucuba japonica usually has serrated edges to the leaves which are a little bit different from the croton. That's the main way of telling. Also, if you keep one of these inside, it's probably going to get quite unhappy quite quickly unless you've got an unheated house, so that may be your other clue. I have seen people mixing the two up, so it is worth thinking carefully. Also, Aucuba japonica variegata can develop bright red glossy berries, so that's another thing to look out for because the croton's fruits are much, much smaller and tend to be reddish black as opposed to the bright red berries of the Aucuba.

To add a final level of complication of the whole thing, there is also a Codiaeum variegatum cultivar calledAucubaefolia, so that one looks like the Aucuba, which in turn looks like the croton and suddenly we are in a hall of spotty leaved mirrors, are we not!? But just make sure that you pick up the Codiaeum variegatum if you're growing it indoors.

Which brings us to another interesting point about this plant, if you're listening in Africa or India or, indeed, Florida, this may be very much an outdoor plant for you. If you've got those tropical climes, it will grow into a big nice hedge, or shrub, or even a small tree if you have conditions where it very rarely gets below 10C or 5C. Here in the UK and in the temperate world, this is definitely a plant that needs warmth inside and that's one of the reasons why it's not the most easy things to grow, because despite those thick leathery leaves it does actually like a nice lot of air humidity, this plant. If you don't provide it with that, that can be the cue for the plant to do a dramatic leaf drop which is always one of those things that drives us plant lovers crazy. This is a plant's way, often, of telling you that the air is too dry or the temperature is too low or maybe the compost is too dry. This plant likes to be well supplied with water throughout the summer months but beware, because if you give it too much water, then that can also be the start of root rot, which is obviously something you need to avoid.

Have I scared you enough yet? I feel like I'm about to say the other thing that can make the leaves drop is looking at your plant in a funny way! For some stressed croton owners, that may feel all too true! That's probably why I haven't had a Codiaeum variegatum for quite a few years, because I just thought, "Life's too short, it really is!" But for your benefit, listeners, I have actually decided to bite the bullet and get one of these plants. Do you want to join me while we go and have a look at it? I haven't checked it for a couple of days, so who knows, it might be a bare stem by now but hopefully not. Okay, I'm going to head into the house and let's check out how my Codiaeum variegatum Petra is doing.

I've just had to delay my daughter switching on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in here for five minutes so I can do some recording, so I can't be too long, otherwise I shall invoke the wrath of a teenager, which is not a good idea, but here we are ready to look at Codiaeum variegatum Petra. It's here among my Sansevierias, a Rhaphidophora tetrasperma that's rapidly getting out of hand - Wolfie is in here as well, in case you hadn't realised - and a Hoya Kerrii. They're sitting on a low round coffee table that I got for free when somebody was chucking it out and it's rather handy for plants because it's got a sliding lid and you can store stuff inside it. Wolfie, hello, do you want to be in this recording, darling? Hello, darling! Yes, I know!

So let's have a look... Wolfie, I'm trying to record, love... I'm just going to move aside this rather lovely Birds Nest Sansevieria and have a look at how my Petra is doing. The good news is, so far, I'm daring to tug on a couple of leaves and there seems to be no damage. You can hear that the plant is standing on a good supply of expanded clay peg balls or Leca, so that's adding humidity to the area. I'm just going to lift it out and take it towards my growlight, so I can actually see how it's doing because it's a bit dark in here. No leaves are falling off, that's good, but I am a bit worried that there's a tiny bit of mould growing around the base of the stem. That's a worry. I think the compost is possibly a bit too dry for this time of year. I haven't watered this plant since I got it but it's very, very sensitive to too much water. That may just be a consequence of that. It's looking okay. I'm going to make sure that Leca below is only just damp, so that it doesn't allow the plant to get too much water.

The leaves on this plant are really lovely; green with pink venation down the midrib and the backs of the leaves are a darker red and it's a lovely little plant. So far, so good for this particular specimen. I'm a bit worried about that little bit of mouldiness, but the plant itself seems nice and firm. Let's have a look underneath. Nothing to report there. So far, so good with this plant. As I say, it's on that Leca to give it a bit of extra humidity, but I don't want it to end up being too wet, so I'm just going to make sure that Leca... That's fine, I'm going to put it back in there and just not look at it too much in the hope that it will just do its thing and be happy! I'll put a picture of it in the show notes and I'll report back as to how it's doing.

While I'm here, I'll also just say I've got a lovely Sansevieria metallica that I got off lovely listener, June, which is also doing really well. It was a bit battered but it's growing a new leaf and looking rather fine, so I'm happy with that. The Rhaphidophora tetrasperma, which I think came from a listener called Dave - thank you Dave! Was it you, Dave? I think it was - is doing really well. In fact, it's going a bit crazy right now! I think that's a cutting that needs taking on that one. It definitely needs a bit of a wash because I can see that the leaves have got rather dull from dust, so that's a job for the weekend. Right now, I need to go and finish my podcast, so that's what I'm going to do. I'm glad to see, so far, no leaf drop, no horrific scenes of leaves spread around the base of the pot, so let's hope that will continue. Right, okay, we'll leave Wolfie sitting on the sofa, tell my daughter she can watch Buffy and head back to the office. Join me? Wolfie, you want to come now, do you? Okay then.

There we go - in my excitement, I said the soil was too dry, but I actually meant too wet. I shall keep you posted on the mould. I hope it's just a bit of surface mould but, yes, tricky times. One has to be very alert with this plant because it is really tricky.

One of my favourite houseplant blogs, I think I've said this on the show before, is called Plants are the Strangest People and they have a wonderful difficulty scale for growing plants and guess what? This Codiaeum is number three on the list, behind the Rex Begonia at 9.6 and joint second are the Poinsettia and Gardenia jasminoides, which are jointly 9.5 and the Codiaeum variegatum comes in third or fourth, whichever way you look at it, at 8.2. I'm glad that they think it's a hard plant because I think it's pretty tricky too. It's one of those plants that you may get from the garden centre, or buy online, and it may look absolutely fine for quite a while and then you might repot, or something will change in the conditions, perhaps winter comes, and that's when the trouble starts.

I've got a very handy reference book called Conservatory and Indoor Plants by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, which I recommend getting if you're interested in finding out more about plants and their native environments. Interestingly, when they're talking about Codiaeum variegatum, they say that this plant gets down to liking a minimum of 0C. You may be thinking, "Why are you saying the plant needs to be warm in my house?" Well, bear in mind that this plant will be growing in the ground and get nice and big and robust in its native environment. It won't be a small potted plant, like you might have on your plant shelves. Those small potted plants just generally are more susceptible to variations in conditions than a big established plant with a really big root system going into the ground, so that's worth bearing in mind.

Try to keep this plant out of draughts and keep conditions nice and steady over the winter, moist air, warmth - a minimum of about 16C/61F. It'll be very, very comfortable in a 20C/68F type environment, but just make sure it's not getting roasted by your central heating. In all the usual ways for increasing humidity, it might be a pebble tray, it might be grouping with other plants, whatever you do you just need to make sure that plant stays nice and moist because a stressed croton becomes a spider mite magnet, an absolute spider mite magnet, so that's what you need to watch out for. Mealybugs can also hit. Those are the two main pests for this plant.

One of the wonderful things about this plant is how many gorgeous, gorgeous, cultivars of this plant there are. In fact, I have found an academic paper from 2011 which says there are more than 300 cultivars in the world of this plant, so that's mind-boggling really. The one that seems to be pre-eminent right now is the one I have; it's called Petra. The young leaves on this plant tend to have dark green between the veins and then the veins are highlighted with a beautiful gold colour. Older leaves, those veins seem to turn red, so you get this amazing combination of colours that's really quite stunning.

As I say, this plant has been around for a really long time, so you'll find that there are old cultivars which are called heirlooms now because they've just been around for so long. You've got Veitchii which is named after the famous Veitch nursery in Devon, which was around between 1808 and 1914. That's why, by the way, if you ever see a plant with Veitchii in its name it's probably got some connection to that British nursery.

Interestingly, I was reading in Catherine Horwood's book Potted History that you were greeted at the entrance to Veitch's by a uniformed doorman. Can you imagine that? If I ever get myself a time machine, that's what I'm going to be doing! I'm going to be visiting all these nurseries and getting the full doorman experience. Anyway, Veitch's at one point had 86 varieties of crotons on sale, so can you imagine that?

Another real heritage variety is called Souvenir de Thomas Rochford, which is another reference to a houseplant nursery called Rochfords. There's also Mrs Iceton, which is rather nice, and then there's the classic Gold Dust, which is the one that people confuse with the variegated laurel; green leaves, splattered with yellow, Jackson Pollock-style, and they're rather lovely too - a bit less gaudy than some of the other cultivars. If you're looking for other, more restrained, cultivars, there is a cultivar called Tamara, which I've only seen online and not in person, but that has got variegation that you Aroid fans will love. It's got different shades of green from dark to mint and then creamy areas on the leaf. It's really rather beautiful and if I was going to buy another croton then that is definitely the one I would go for. I think it looks lovely!

If you want to go to the other end of the scale, there's one called Mammy. I've seen it spelt 'Mammi' and 'Mammy'. I'm not sure whether it's been changed to remove any slavery connotations or not, but that would be interesting to know if anyone knows the answer to that. Anyway, this cultivar is super-colourful and the leaves are twisted and buckled in a cool-looking way and you've got every conceivable colour on the leaves, so that's one to look out for if you're an exuberant kind of croton owner.

The other one that I keep seeing popping up, certainly on UK nursery sites, is called Excellent. Apologies! I just have to say that like I'm in a Bill and Ted movie! Codiaeum Excellent is similar to Petra, actually. I can't see much of a difference between the two, other than, possibly, the leaves are a little wider and longer, but give that a try if you fancy channeling Bill and Ted any time! The other thing worth saying about these plants and the difficulty of growing them, is that amazing colour scheme is maintained by good exposure to light. So, if you've got a plant that has gone rather greener than it was when you bought it, it's probably because it's not getting enough light. So, if you've got an east or a west-facing window, that's a good place to put it.

In the winter, when light levels are lower, you could move it to a south-facing window, which is what I've done with mine because it's below a big bay window. It's not right on the windowsill, where it might get chilly, it's protected from draughts, but it is getting good levels of light through the winter. Probably in the summer, a south-facing windowsill will be too bright for this plant and you'd end up with it doing the old leaf drop trick, but draughts are what you do need to be careful of and also drops in temperature at night time. If you're somebody who switches the old heating off at night, it may not be the plant for you.

Repotting does seem to be one of those points at which your plant may go from happy to miserable. Certainly take care when repotting to not put it in a really large pot and leave a big clump of cold soil for the plant to sit in because that will be a bad idea. I would also say it's a good idea, in this case, to leave repotting until spring is well under way, so that the plant will be in active growth and that should see off any problems in terms of too much of a shock.

Potting mix-wise, I think you'll be okay with a regular houseplant compost, to be honest. As I say, the plant doesn't like to dry out too much in the summer, so you don't want to go too airy because then it will just get fed up of the dry roots. I'm erring on the side of houseplant compost. We could fiddle around adding bits of bark and what not, but I think, on the whole with this plant, general houseplant compost will be okay. If you've got it sitting on a pebble tray, where there's a bit of water there and possibly you could insert a wick, a nylon piece of string, in the bottom of the pot so the plant can suck up more moisture when it needs to, that might be an easy form of self-watering that also makes sure that the plant doesn't dry out too much in the warmer months.

I'm aware we haven't really talked about fertiliser on this one. It's a hungry fellow in the growing season, so I would give this a good dose of whatever your favourite foliage houseplant food is maybe once a week during the growing season and, obviously, scale that back as the plant slows down during the winter. That's about all I've got to say on the croton front. I will leave you with a quote from Dr David Hessayon, which I think I've read out on the show before but it bears repeating and it's this: "Your reward for creating the right conditions will be a wonderful bush, which will have the clear sign of the expert, the lower stem of a croton fully clothed with leaves." So there you go, that's what we're all aiming for!

So, if you've got a croton that's a star player in your indoor jungle, then do send me a pic! I'd love to know the struggles and successes you're having with this plant and if you've got any more special tips for looking after it.

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Jane: Now, it's time for today's question which is short but sweet and it comes from Aaron. I'm sorry to hear that you're out of work in your creative role as a theatre artist, Aaron, but the silver lining of that is it's given you a lot more time to look after your houseplants, including a Thanksgiving cactus. Aaron notes that he's seen the beginnings of buds forming, he describes these as tiny deep-pink pinheads at the tips of the stem segments. Aaron's question is this, "In my online research, I've read about Schlumbergera buds setting but I've found no explanation as to what that means. What exactly does it mean for a Schlumbergera to have set buds?" This is great question. I love this kind of terminology, which is just used and thrown about by plant people, myself included, without any explanation. Interestingly, when I went on a search and read through my books, I couldn't really find a definition for this either.

My gut instinct, and every usage I've seen of this word, just tells me that 'set' just means the fact that it's growing buds. Just like we use the term 'set seed', you can 'set' buds. I guess it's used for forest cacti like this Thanksgiving cactus, the Schlumbergera, because this is one of those plants that does do a very good job of suddenly dropping its buds, i.e. the buds don't set and they end up on the floor and this plant puts a lot of energy into flowering. So, if there's any change in conditions which makes the plant think that life is not going right, for example, not enough water, some sharp draughts or chills, that's when it will drop those buds. So, try to keep a steady moisture supply, I love wick-watering with forest cacti, it really works well. You could also use a self-watering pot. That way, you've got that steady water supply sorted and I wouldn't move it around too much. There's a thing about, "Oh, don't touch it, don't turn it at all". I think it's fine to turn it around in the pot, that's not going to cause a major problem which I think is what Mark Preston, my forest cactus expert, said in his interviews a fair few episodes ago. Don't shift it from one window to another window where conditions might be different because the plant may decide that's not what it likes and drop some buds.

Also, I would say, finally, that some buds may drop just because, because sometimes, like an apple tree will drop some young fruit in June, what's called the June Drop, sometimes Schlumbergeras will produce more buds than they can deal with and the plant just thinks, "Hang on, we've gone a bit bud-crazy here!" and drops some buds and leaves loads left. So, don't panic too much if you do lose a few buds. If you get those conditions right, I should think your plant will be blooming before long, Aaron.

I do hope that is helpful and if you've got any thoughts about setting buds that I haven't mentioned, do let me know. It's always great to have the input of my very, very clever listeners. If you've got a question for On The Ledge drop me a line ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com is the address and if you can include as much information as you can, that is absolutely lovely. You can also just use the contact form at janeperrone.com, as Aaron did!

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Jane: That's all for this week's show! I shall be back next Friday for more chlorophyll-based factual entertainment, if I can call it that!? Have a great week, take care of your plants but more than that, take care of yourselves. Bye!

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Jane: The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll by The Joy Drops, Chiefs by Jahzzar and Overthrownby Josh WoodWard. All tracks are licensed under Creative Commons. Visit the show notes at janeperrone.com for details.

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Crotons (Codiaeum variegatum) have a bit of a reputation for being tricky - in this episode I suggest some ways of keeping yours happy; plus I answer a question about a Thanksgiving cactus and we meet listener Carol.

Check the links and info below as you listen…

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Croton flowers. Photograph: mauro halpern on Flickr.

• Croton - Latin name Codiaeum variegatum - is also known as Joseph’s coat or rushfoil. (Croton comes from the Greek word krotōs meaning ‘tick’, although this references the seed shape of some species from the Croton genus, not the Codiaeum).

• This species is part of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) so it exudes a toxic milky sap when cut. Take care when growing around pets or children who like to munch.

• This species is native to Southern India, Sri Lanka and Mayalasia where it grows up to 2m tall as a shrub below the tree canopy.

• The common name croton is rather confusing as there’s also a whole genus of plants in the spurge family called Croton. Codiaeum variegatum is not part of that genius but is still commonly referred to as a croton.

• Codiaeum variegatum leaves come in a stunning array of colours and are glabrous ie hairless: they feel leathery to the touch.

• The flowers are rather full by comparison (see the picture below), and your plant is unlikely to flower indoors.

• Don’t get Codiaeum variegatum mixed up with Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’ which has similarly leathery leaves splashed in old, like the croton cultivar ‘Gold Dust’. The Aucuba has serrated leaf edges and bright red berries.

• This plant is a popular outdoor shrub in tropical and subtropical parts of the world, such as Florida in the US.

• This plant needs steady warmth when grown inside: ideally keep it around 16-21C (64-70F).

• A west or east facing windowsill is ideal for the growing season: it may be able to cope with a south facing windowsill in winter. If light levels are too low the plant may turn green.

• Feed regularly through the growing season with any foliage houseplant fertiliser: this is a fairly hungry plant.

• This plant likes humid air, so place on a pebble tray, group with other plants or use a humidifier. It hates cold draughts so don’t leave it behind a curtain at the window in winter.

• In the growing season, water generously so the potting mix does not dry out: try wick watering to keep moisture levels even.

Crotons growing outside in Florida. Photograph: Kimon Berlin on Flickr.

• The main pest issues are mealy bugs and spider mites: these tend to zero in on stressed plants.

• Crotons are far from easy for most people to keep alive: do go and check out blog Plants are the Strangest People for their croton difficulty rating (scroll down the right-hand column for this) and a post about C. variegatum.

• There are 300+ cultivars of croton! The one I have is called ‘Petra’ and is one of the most common. Heirloom cultivars such as ‘Veitchii’ and ‘Souvenir de Thomas Rochford’. Common cultivars include ‘Mrs Iceton‘, and ‘Gold Dust’ (the one people confuse with the variegated Japanese laurel). ‘Mammy’ or ‘Mammi’ is very colourful with twisted leaves, and ‘Excellent’ (cue Bill & Ted impression) looks like a wider-leaved version of ‘Petra’. The cultivar I’d love to own is ‘Tamara’ with its green and cream splashed leaves.

• The book I mention is Conservatory and Indoor Plants Vol 1 and 2 by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, published by Pan. I am not sure this is still in print but it is easily available secondhand.

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Question of the week

Arron wanted to know what it means for a plant to ‘set buds’ when it comes to a Schlumbergera (Thanksgiving cactus). This term isn’t really defined anywhere I can see - but I think it means make buds, in the same sense as ‘set seed’. Forest cacti will drop buds if conditions change, and they can drop some buds if they simply have too many. Keep conditions steady as the buds develop and your plant should flower well!

Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue!

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CREDITS

This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, Chiefs by Jahzzar and Overthrown by Josh Woodward.

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