Panda Plant (Kalanchoe Tomentosa): Watering, Sunlight, Temperature, Flowers, Propagation

If you are looking to deck up your indoor garden, the Panda plant might just be your perfect bet. A beautiful plant for any indoor garden, Panda plant are best known for their beautiful, vibrant, and exotic vibe. As with many other indoor plants, the Panda plant does not require extensive maintenance.

So, if you are someone who does not have too much time, this is one plant that will never disappoint you. Thanks to its low maintenance requirements, the Panda plant (Kalanchoe Tomentosa) is also a top favorite among people who don’t have much experience with either indoor or outdoor plants.

Kids are often fond of panda plants because of their unique reddish spots along with the leaves. The Panda plant can, therefore, serve as an excellent artifact in your kids’ bedrooms. However, while it might be a good plant for kids, avoid placing it in a toddler’s bedroom because the leaves of the plant are moderately toxic. Due to the same reason, make sure the plant is not kept in proximity to your pets.

Growing the panda plant is extremely simple, and once you understand the watering, sunlight, and temperature requirements; there is absolutely no going back. Over the next few sections of this article, we will take a closer look at the guidelines you might need to ensure while growing this plant at home.

Watering

The watering requirements for the Panda plant are quite simple. As we previously mentioned, this succulent is ideal for people who are running short of time or are forgetful about watering their plants. The Panda plant survives well with occasional watering because its leaves can effectively store water for extensive periods.

This is yet another reason why the Panda plant thrives really well in dry environments. Ideally, you should water the plant once every 5 to 6 days, though it can stay without water for up to one week.

Also, do not completely neglect the Panda plant where it doesn’t get water for a month or so. This will affect its growth and cause the roots to dry out. In certain instances, the plant may not survive as well.

While watering the plant, make sure you water it from the tip until the soil surface isn’t absorbing water anymore. Alternatively, you can also add small amounts of water to the bottom tray.

If you choose the final technique, remove the extra water after allowing the soil to absorb it for 10 to 20 minutes. Again, when you are watering from the top, stop adding more water when you find the water pooling up in the pot or the tray.

You should also take another major precaution while watering the plant: do not allow the water to touch the plant’s leaves because even the tiniest drop can cause the leaves to rot. In case the leaf of the panda plant gets accidentally in touch with water, immediately get a tissue and soak up most of the water from the leaf.

Again, if you’re living in a climate where the indoor temperature tends to drop by significant amounts in the winter or fall months, avoid watering the Panda plant as frequently as you did during the summer months.

Sunlight

Panda plants are known to enjoy bright, direct sunlight. However, you can also add some partial shade once in a while, so that the leaves of your plant remain unaffected by the harsh sun rays.

Ideally, you can keep the plant along a sunny windowsill for a couple of hours in the morning. During the afternoons, you can move it to an area where it receives partial shade.

In case you are planning to place the plant outdoors during the summer months, consider doing it gradually to avoid the sudden and direct exposure to harsh sunlight. Since outdoor light has a higher possibility of scorching your plant’s leaves, this should be one of your biggest concerns while moving the plant.

If you’re living in a tropical region with plenty of sunshine, place the plant in a shady zone during the afternoons, even when you are placing it outside.

Temperature

As with several other succulents, the Panda Plant doesn’t have any specific requirements when it comes to the temperature. In most cases, it will thrive in temperatures of around 15 degrees Celsius to 23 degrees Celsius, though it can also withstand a slight increase or drop in these temperature levels.

In case you’re moving the plant outdoors during the warmer months, also make sure that you get it inside the moment you spot the first few instances of cold or frost. If you fail to do this, the plant will be affected by the super cold temperature and may even end up dying.

Follow the same precaution every time there’s excessive heat because high heat, as we already mentioned, is likely to impact the leaves of your panda plant.

Humidity

When it comes to humidity, most Panda plants prefer staying in zones with normal humidity levels. This is especially true if you live in an area with moderate to tropical climate. In case you live in an extremely dry environment, you may need to water your plant more frequently than usual.

However, although most of us are instinctively driven to spray water on the leaves of the plant, avoid doing this, as it is likely to damage the leaf and lead to rotting. If you think your current room is extremely dry, find any other humid corner of your home and place the plant there.

When placed in a humid zone, the plant does not require frequent watering. All you need to do is check the leaves for instances of rotting. If, however, the humidity level increases, there is a chance of the leaves of your plant deteriorating. So, in situations like these, it is best to move the plant back to a dry spot.

Soil

Just like humidity, temperature, and watering requirements, you also need to check the soil type while growing the panda plant. Ideally, your soil should be rich in water, air, mineral elements, and organic water.

To assess the soil composition consider squeezing it before finally releasing it. Once you do this, the soil will automatically disperse owing to gravitation.

In case it doesn’t and forms a dollop, you might need to check the concentration of the soil. We will suggest a simple recipe for your soil consistency which should have 60% of potting soil, 15% of perlite, and the remaining 25% of coarse sand.

Panda-Plant-Pot

Flowers

Sadly, the Panda plant barely blossoms when kept indoors. So, if you’re placing the plant on your windowsill or any other corner of your home, do not expect any flowers. In some cases, however, if you are extremely lucky, you might spot tiny white flowers at the tip of its branches. Regardless of that, avoid expecting indoor blooms and simply enjoy the velvety foliage of your plant.

In case you are placing the plant outdoors, you might spot a couple of flowers once the plant is fully mature. The flowers of the Panda plant are bell-shaped. Their texture is fury and their color steadily changes from yellowish to red. The bud of these flowers is usually along the edge and their panicles can be even longer, (at times 30 centimeters) with plenty of flowers.

Propagation

If you’re fond of your panda plant and are looking to add more of them to your home, you can easily do that by following a few steps. No, we aren’t talking about buying these plants from a shop.

Instead, we will discuss the guidelines you should ensure to propagate your own specimen at home. Propagating the Panda plant is fairly simple, and it is probably the most economically viable way to get multiple panda plants at a minimal cost.

If you are planning to propagate this plant at home, consider doing it in the spring or summer months. That is because the climate conditions during both these months are optimal enough for the plant to thrive.

To start the process, simply snap off a couple of leaves from your existing panda plant. Avoid taking too many leaves as it might affect your plant’s growth. Similarly, do not just snap off one single leaf as it may not be conducive when it comes to root growth. Once you have around two to three leaves, place it in a mixture of perlite or sandy potting soil.

Now, even before you place the leaf in a perlite mixture, make sure you allow it to dry for at least 5 to 7 days. Once the leaves are fully dry, gently place them in the soil and gradually water them. At this point, the plant requires frequent watering and you shouldn’t allow the leaves to get dry.

You should also consider moving your pot to an area that receives plenty of indirect sunlight. Start watering the leaves every time you find the soil surface to be dry.

After 3 to 6 weeks, your leaves will develop their first few roots. Within the next couple of days, you will find tiny, green leaves growing around it. This is the point when you have a new Panda Plant. At this stage, you need to move the plant to a pot that has succulent soil. Follow the same temperature, humidity, and care guidelines as we discussed over the course of this article.

Varieties

The Panda plant comes with multiple varieties and most of them have similar traits. The only noticeable difference that you’re likely to find is in the tiny characteristics of the plant. This can be the shape, the color, or the structure of the leaves.

While the Panda plant has multiple varieties, the Chocolate Soldier is probably the most popular one from the lot. This specie is best known for its solid and soft stem and slightly furry leaves. When you plant them outdoors, this species of the Panda Plant can assume a massive height of up to 32 inches. However, if you keep it indoors in a pot or a container, they only assume half the size.

Well, that’s exactly how simple it is to grow a panda plant at home. Just place it in a pretty little corner and water it semi-regularly. Once you follow these two basic guidelines, your plant is good to go for the next couple of months!

If you are planning to grow this plant indoors, consider teaming it up with a hanging pot. You can also place it near beds and mix it up with cacti or any other kind of succulent.

If you are planning to plant the Panda plant with wide planters, making the required arrangements for the succulents to grow favorably.

You can also place this plant outdoor on rocky walls or along with your rock garden. This looks better when compared to pots. If you live in an area with a moderate or temperate climate, you can even move this beautiful plant to your xeriscape.

References:

Wikipedia

Goodsucculents

Gardenia

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About Arindom Ghosh

A professional writer, editor, blogger, copywriter, and a member of the International Association of Professional Writers and Editors, New York. He has been part of many reputed domestic and global online magazines and publications. An avid reader and a nature lover by heart, when he is not working, he is probably exploring the secrets of life.