Photo #1: Bryophyllum tubiflorum from Karin

In August 2005 I got a wonderful Bryophyllum tubiflorum (Kalanchoe tubiflora; Bryophyllum delagoense or delagoensis) from Karin! Thanks again Karin ;-)

Karin got it from her sister, who lived in India and is now back in Europe.

That, and her valuable hints about soil, fertilization and watering triggered my interest in the genus Bryophyllum once again. The disappointing experience with bad soil the past 3 years was not really enjoyable, but now I guess I found a soil-fertilization-watering combination, which will work for me.

Karin uses regular cactii soil (available in every market garden or do-it-yourself store) and fertilizes once a week with cactii/succulent fertilizer. She waters on demand - usually twice a week if the soil gets dry enough in between.

I've cut some tops of plants which were looking not that good anymore (no plantlets, big leaves) and put it into the new soil (regular cactii soil) - I've let the cutting rest a few days to allow drying of the cut surface to avoid rot. The new plants aswell as the plantlets soon rooted very well and started to grow with a speed I've never seen before. Despite the fact that the soil is fresh, I started to fertilize after 2 weeks.

B. tubiflorum: 10-AUG-2005 vs. 05-SEPT-2005 It grew about 10cm (4inch)

Furthermore I started to use plastic pots again. A few years ago my experience was not that fine, since I watered too much. Therefore I used clay pots ever since to allow faster evaporation of water. But Karin told me that clay pots cool due water evaporation and the roots don't like that, hence I decided to give those plastic pots one more chance. I guess this time the plastic pots will work out, since my feeling for watering got better over time.

Smaller plastic pots are OK - e.g. the B. tubiflorum pot in photo #1 has just a diameter of about 10cm (4 inch) and the height of the plant is about 80cm (30 inch). The pot size seems to be absolutely OK for the plant - make sure the plant can't topple over.

Photo #2 (21-AUG-2005): Top left to bottom right: Bryophyllum crenatodaigremontianum, Bryophyllum daigremontianum, Bryophyllum crenatodaigremontianum, Bryophyllum delagoense (Bryophyllum tubiflorum)

Same plants as above, but 2 weeks later (04-SEPT-2005)

Same plants as above, but 10 days later (14-SEPT-2005)