One might wonder: Does a panda plant flowers? or what do Panda plant flowers look like or What color are they? To answer all panda plant flower related questions, keep on reading this article.
Does a panda plant flowers?
To answer the question first of all yes, they do. However, you could spot them flowering only when they are in their natural habitats.
However, that will also be very rare. As such, the people who wish to grow this as an indoor plant tend to grow this mainly due to the attractiveness in their foliage.
How often do a panda plant flowers?
Usually pandas plant flowers in early spring. Flowering of these plants completely depends on the light conditions they receive.
Kalanchoes in general are photoperiodic. That means, they produce flowers in response to the length of day.
If you wish to make your panda plant bloom, it is important that you provide six weeks of simulated winter lighting conditions so that they can set flower buds.
Colors of panda plant flowers
You could spot the panda plant producing their blooms in bright orange, pink, yellow, red and even in white. Their flowers could stay alive on the plants for several months.
To elaborate further on the kalanchoes in general, there could be some green plants where their flowers would last year-round.
Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is the most found and the most famous flowering variety of kalanchoe
How long do panda plant flowers last?
As aforesaid, the flowers of the panda plant would last for about six months. Their flowers would be small and thick.
How to make pandas plant flowers?
First you need to provide them the right level of sunlight for them to bloom. They are photoperiodic plants.
As mentioned above, that literally means they bloom in response to the length of day. You could spot them flowering in early spring.
To make them flower, it would require six weeks of simulated winter lighting and that will make the plant set flower buds.
Further you should reduce watering. Ideally you need to reduce watering by half of it or even less than that during these six weeks.
Simulate night – You may place your plant in complete darkness for 14 hours daily for six weeks. During the rest of the day, you could expose them to bright light for 10 hours per day.
To do this, you may place them in a closet and take it out for 10 hours. Alternatively, you could cover them for 14 hours and uncover them for 10 hours.
That will allow you to balance the sunlight exposure for these plants.
When it is a weeks’ time, you could spot the formation of flower buds and then you may continue providing them with regular lighting conditions. Simultaneously, you could water them as you do for the regular panda plants.
How to care for panda plant flowers?
It is vital that you provide bright and natural sunlight when caring for the panda plant flowers. It has to be ideally a medium or high light condition.
Having said that, refrain from exposing them for direct sunlight which could be too harsh on them.
You could grow them outdoors during summer as long as you do not expose the plants to afternoon harsh sunlight. If you provide more and more sunlight, it would tend to look better.
If the panda plants are lacking an adequate level of sunlight, those flower buds would not open. Further chances are that their foliage would get spindly as well.
In terms of watering them , you already know that these are the kinds of plants which have fleshy leaves and stems in which they could conserve water.
As such, be very mindful to avoid keeping them in soggy conditions.However ensure that you provide them with a pot which has sufficient drainage.
When you water them, water them thoroughly. After that give it some time so that the excess water could drain away. Once the soil is dry, you could commence watering them.
To elaborate on the frequency of watering, it could be ideally once every fortnight. Having said that, it could also vary on certain factors such as temperature, light conditions, the size of the pot etc. When it is flowering, you could fasten the watering.
When it comes to the right temperature levels, they would do well in room temperatures.
However, if you provide them with hotter temperatures, their flowers will open up somewhat faster. On the other hand, their flowering period would be shorter.
When it comes to fertilizing, you do not really have to be very concerned about that. However, it would be handy to top dress your plant with worm casting during every spring.
Alternatively, you may also use compost for this purpose as well. Instead of those, you could also use an organic houseplant fertilizer too. You could apply those either in spring or in summer.
Avoid over feeding since that could badly affect the flowering process and on the overall health of the plant as well.
Panda plant problems
In case you come across any disease, you need to immediately attend to them and treat them. Unless there could be severe damages, where you will not be able to revive the plant no matter what you do.
Leaves dropping off – How disappointing it would be for you to spot your panda plant losing their leaves. if you come across such conditions, it could be mainly due to over watering.
When you provide excess water that would cause the swelling of the plant leaves and for the dropping off of leaves at the end. To treat you need to adjust your watering pattern.
Plant turns pale in color – if your panda plant is running short of adequate sunlight, they would tend to take a pale color look.
This is the initial stage of turning your plant either green or yellow. To attend this, you need to shift the plants to a bright sunny spot and that would help them to recover.
Apart from sunlight shortage, over watering could also lead your plants to become pale in color. If you constantly keep watering them, that will also contribute to the pale color in the plant. So,to remedy this, you should cut back on watering them and let them dry.
Spots on the leaves – A condition called Oedema is the root cause of this. Again, over watering could result in this condition.
Further if you have exposed your panda plant for intense sunlight, that could also cause sunburns in the plant.
It could be unpleasant to watch since you cannot get rid of those marks from your plant no matter what you do. They will remain on the plant forever.
General care guide
Light – Provide them plenty of sunlight. When you are growing them indoors, place them near a bright sunny window.
The sunlight should be ideally indirect. Make sure you provide an adequate amount of sunlight. Unless, chances are that your plant could become leggy.
Soil – it is mandatory that you provide a well-draining soil mix for them. Best is to use a soil mix which is specifically designed for cactus and for succulents.
Further you could consider adding some sand or perlite as that would help to fasten the drainage of the potting medium.
Temperature – They would perform well in room temperature. Always keep the temperature above 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Water – Avoid over watering as that could be the worst mistake you could make when growing these plants.
Make sure that you always let the soil become dry before you water them again. Make sure the excess water drains through and does not leave the plant in soggy conditions.
Fertilizing – when your panda plant is blooming, you could feed them with a balanced organic fertilizer once every few weeks.
Pots – Grow them in clay pots since when you grow them in the clay pots, they would consist of a drainage tray which you could empty later. Do not repot them quite often.
Care in summer – Consider locating your plants outdoors during the summer season. However, you have to place them in a place where they do not expose for rainfall.
Maintenance – you need to take off the spent flowers so that the plant will look great and stay healthy. You could further consider spraying to get rid of dust.
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