Kalanchoe is a beautiful flowering succulent plant and personally speaking.
I have been growing 3 different types of kalanchoe in my terrace garden in India.
These are: Florist Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana), Kalanchoe Pinnata (Pattharchata) and mother of thousands.
Out of which florist kalanchoe is among the most popular ones because of its red colored beautiful flowers.
How To Take Care Of Kalanchoe Plant In India?
For kalanchoe plant care in India, you need to provide it with fast draining soil with good porosity. Watering should be deep but also allow soil to dry out between watering and be kept in a location with bright indirect sunlight.
Today, in this post I will share the best care tips for kalanchoe in Indian climate, & things you need to do in order to keep it healthy.
Kalanchoe Plant Care in India – The Ultimate Guide
Choosing The Right Type Of Potting Soil
In order to take care of kalanchoe in India, the very first & crucial thing you need to do is to select the right type of potting soil for your plant.
As you know, these plants are succulent so they require potting soil with good drainage capacity and need to be porous so that there is proper flow of air.
Use a potting soil that is specifically made for succulents like this one.
Or, if you make your own potting soil at home.
Then, use the following ratio that I use for my own kalanchoes:
Keep It Away From Night Light Source
There are quite a few plants, which require staying under darkness to trigger blooming.
And Kalanchoe is one of them.
If you are wondering why your Kalanchoe is Not Flowering!!!
This could be the possible reason behind it.
Check whether your kalanchoe is placed in a location that receives light during night time, if you keep a night bulb turned on or if it receives light from street light.
The reason can be anything, what you have to make sure of is to replace it from that location and keep it in a place which remains devoid of light all night long.
This is very important for it to flower.
Watering Kalanchoe
Watering plants is one of the skills that you will learn with time and experience.
If you are beginner:
You must know that every plant has different types of water needs and altering those will start causing trouble with your plant.
So, how do you water kalanchoe and not cause any trouble?
Kalanchoe being a succulent, requires deep but infrequent watering.
It means, you should allow the soil to dry out between watering.
Because what happens is when you let the soil dry out, the soil is able to breathe properly.
On the other hand if you keep the soil always moist (in case of succulent) it will start suffocating as there will be no flow of air.
So, always make sure that you allow the soil to dry out, but water deeply so that water seeps out of the drainage holes.
Never overwater, as this will result in root rot. Succulents are very prone to root rot due to overwatering, so make sure you are not keeping the soil wet most of the time.
Sunlight Requirements
Every plant needs sunlight to make food and cannot survive without it.
But how much sunlight is good for your kalanchoe and keep it healthy?
Kalanchoe needs a good amount of sunlight, but in India the sunlight is usually very harsh and this plant with its cute fleshy leaves cannot tolerate direct sunlight (specially during summer season when the mercury rises above 40 degree celsius).
So, it’s always a good idea to keep your kalanchoe in a location that receives bright yet indirect sunlight.
Or, the best place will be where it can get direct morning sunlight but then remains under shade or some place where it receives only indirect sunlight.
In all, make sure your kalanchoe leaves are not turning yellow or brown suddenly, it could be possible because of sunburn.
As succulent plants store water in their leaves they get sunburnt easily.
How To Fertilize
Kalanchoe is not a heavy feeder so doesn’t require much food.
Although just before its flowering season, that is winter, you can give it a little amount of vermicompost or seaweed granules for more blooms.
It goes dormant during summer season so never add fertilizer during summer season as it will be a total waste because the plant won’t be able to take it.
Kalanchoe Flowering Season India
The Kalanchoe flowering season in India is from Mid January till March in our area (Rajasthan). During this time the winter season is at the brink of going away at our place. Generally speaking it will start developing buds when temperature starts to get a bit warmer.
In order to flower, kalanchoe needs to remain in darkness for 10-12 hours everyday, and this type of condition is met during winter when the night time is longer than daytime, hence longer periods of darkness.
Dead-Heading
For your kalanchoe to bloom again and stay healthy, once all its flowers have bloomed and crumbled.
Remove them with the help of a pruner, so that they don’t take away unnecessary nutrition from the plant.
It is called dead-heading.
Kalanchoe Care In Summer In India
During summer season, keep this plant in direct sunlight during morning time only as the afternoon sunlight will surely sunburn it.
You will need to water it more frequently during the summer season as the water will evaporate at a higher rate.
Keep checking the top soil for that matter, if it feels dry give it a nice watering
Keep it in a well lit location where it can receive bright indirect sunlight all day long.
Winter Care of Kalanchoe In India
In winters, there are three important things you need to do with your kalanchoe plant.
First one is to reduce the amount of watering. As water won’t evaporate that quickly.
And, the second thing is to give it at least 6-7 hours of direct sunlight so that it can flower.
The last but important thing is to keep it under shade during night, as frost can cause serious damage to it.
That’s pretty much it.
Wrapping Up
I hope this easy to follow guide on caring for kalanchoe plants in India has solved all your queries.
If somehow, I forgot to explain any point that you need help with.
Do make sure to comment down below & I will try to solve it ASAP.
how would we multiply the kalanchoe plants ?
Multiplying kalanchoe is a very easy and fun process. Cut a few healthy leaves from your plant place them in a dry area away from direct sun and allow them to dry and callous over (produce a white protective layer). Once they form callus, you can either fill a small jar with water and dip the bottom part of leaf inside it, keep changing the water or prepare a seedling mix and insert those leaf in it and keep the mix moist. Within a month you will see it develop root.