Brahma Kamal or Brahma Kamalam plant is a flowering cactus, popularly known as Orchid Cactus and Queen of the night cactus, as it blooms during the night time only.
Growing them at home is every gardener’s dream.
Brahma kamal plant care?
For Brahma Kamal Plant care, it should be protected from direct sunlight, overwatering & repotted from time to time. It should be grown in potting soil that has a fast draining capacity.
In this guide, you will learn to grow and care for this plant in detail.
So, let’s dive right into the action.
Table of Content
- Brahma Kamal Plant Vastu
- Flowering Season of Brahma Kamalam
- Brahma Kamal Plant Care
- How to Grow Brahma Kamal
Brahma Kamal Plant & Vastu
According to Vastu Shastra Brahma Kamal Plants should be kept in the middle of the house/home known as Brahmasthan which helps in removing all the negative energies. As it is believed that both Lord Brahma and Vishnu reside in it.
Also, the benefits of keeping it inside your home make the surroundings happy and full of positive vibes.
This plant has a strong religious background attached to it, as it is believed to be the same plant that God Brahma is seen holding in his hand.
Brahma Kamal Flowering Season/Time
The flowering/blooming season of the Brahma kamal plant is Spring to early Summer.
The flowers only bloom during the night time emitting a strong fragrance, to attract pollinators which are bats and moths.
One flower only lasts for one night.
How many days does it take Brahma Kamal buds to flower? (Brahma Kamal Bud Stage)
It takes around 2-3 weeks for Brahma Kamal buds to flower, during its blooming period provides it with phosphate-rich fertilizer and helps the plant to produce flowers easily.
Brahma Kamal Plant Care
These are the important points while taking care of Brahma Kamal Plant:
1. Avoid Frequent Location Change
This is one of the most crucial Brahma Kamal Plant Care.
Once you see that it has started to show signs of budding, from this point onward till it stops flowering, its position should not be changed much.
Otherwise, it will result in the bud not blooming and you will have to wait for another season to experience its beautiful flower.
2. Watering
The Brahma Kamal plant is succulent, which means it stores water in its leaves. That’s why its leaves look so fluffy and soft.
As it stores water in its leaves it requires very less water compared to other plants.
For this, you should wait for the top layer of the soil to dry out before watering it, because if you overwater it.
Its leaves will start to turn yellowish and brownish in colour which is an early symptom of root rot.
So, every time before watering it, touch the soil to see if it has dried or not.
How to water Brahma Kamal Plant Properly?
Another Brahma Kamal plant care includes watering it properly.
For that, it should be watered directly over the soil and not over the plant, because if you water over its leaves it can promote fungal growth. (you should use a pointed watering can like this one for it)
This is a very basic succulent plant care that you must follow properly if you want to keep your plant in good shape.
3. Sunlight
Does Brahma Kamal need sunlight?
Yes, Brahma Kamalam requires a good amount of sunlight but it cannot tolerate direct sunlight.
It should be kept in a place where it can receive bright but indirect sunlight all day long.
If kept in direct sunlight, its water-storing leaves will start to get sunburnt in no time.
And you will see them turning pale in colour.
3. Potting Soil
The most important Brahma Kamal Plant Care is to provide it with a fast-draining growing medium.
Because if you don’t provide it with the right type of potting soil, all other things won’t matter.
As it is succulent it cannot grow in standing water, for this very reason, its potting soil mainly consists of sand & perlite.
Furthermore, the pot that you use for growing it, must have 3-4 drainage holes at any cost.
Without these holes, excessive water won’t be able to escape from the pot.
4. Fertilizing
It requires food to produce flowers.
So, before and during its blooming season which is from March – June you should feed it with good quality fertilizer which is high in phosphorus as it is required to produce flowers.
I will recommend this vermicompost for your plant.
Feed it in a gap of 25-30 days.
But once the flowering has stopped, you should also stop adding any more fertilizer.
Also, check – Best Fertilizer for flowering plants.
5. Repotting
If you find out that your plant has grown quite big considering its pot.
You will need to re-pot it in a big container.
To keep it healthy and blooming, re-pot it every 2 years.
How to re-pot Brahma Kamal Plant?
For repotting simply take the plant out of the current container without hurting its root ball.
Get a new container one size bigger than the current one and fill it with fresh potting mix and then insert the plant inside it.
Don’t water for 1-2 days which allows the plant to recover from the shock.
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How to Grow Brahma Kamal?
To grow Brahma Kamal, get leaf cuttings and insert them in well-draining soil, and keep them in a location with indirect sunlight and water only when the upper layer of the soil dries out.
Growing Brahma Kamal from leaf-cutting is a very simple and straightforward process.
On the other hand, it takes forever to grow it from seeds (around 5 years).
That’s why the cutting method is widely used by home gardeners to grow this majestic plant.
How to grow Brahma Kamalam Plant From Cutting
Getting a Cutting – Step 1
The first and foremost step is to get a leaf cutting from a healthy plant (you can get it from a nursery or a gardener friend).
The cutting needs to be at least 10-12 cm in length.
Once you get cut, keep it in a dark place away from sunlight and allow it to form a callus (white-coloured protective layer).
This protective layer will save the plant from getting infection once it is introduced inside the growing medium.
Once it is calloused over.
Now you can move forward.
Preparing Potting Soil – Step 2
Brahma Kamal plant is a cactus and thus it requires very fast-draining soil as a growing medium and won’t tolerate excess water to stay in the soil.
For this you can use this potting mix, or make one by yourself by using the following ingredients:
- Sand – 40%
- Coco Peat – 25% (get it from here)
- Perlite – 10% (get it here)
- Compost or Vermicompost – 25% ( best one )
Here we are mostly using sand which will provide ideal conditions for the plant.
Planting the cutting – Step 3
Fill the potting soil inside a 6-inch pot.
Now, simply take the cutting, and insert it 5-6 cm deep inside the potting mix so that it doesn’t fall over.
Make the soil moist by lightly watering it with the help of a pointed watering can (like this one).
Be very careful to water directly over the soil and not the cutting.
Keep the pot in a location where it can receive low – medium indirect sunlight till the time it grows big then it can be transferred to a brighter location.
Wrapping Up
I hope this guide will help you take care of your Brahma Kamal plant and grow it the right way.
It is a beautiful plant and experiencing its bloom is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which I am pretty sure you will get to witness.
Do comment down your thoughts below.
