Indoor Gardening and Houseplants: Crown of Thorns...What Can I do?, 0 by greenthumber

greenthumber wrote:
Hello! I have a really, really old Crown of Thorns. I aquired it from a household auction...this lady (who had died) had a few straggly plants left and in dire need of a good home and TLC. Among them was this little Euphorbia, that had barely a leaf on it. The soil in these plants was AWEFUL, gray, dry, powdery, with tons of crystals built up in and around the pot rims. Lucklity most were cacti/succulents and tolerated the neglect decently. Anyhow, I've done everything I can think of for this little guy. I know the lady must've had it for a long time, judging from the pot and soil, and now I've had it for about four years. It's doing okay...but it's grown so preciously little in a long amount of time...it practically just sits there! It loses it leaves sometimes but then it grows them back. Last fall I did notice it had put on about 1/4 inch of new growth on the stem tips, and that is the ONLY growth I've seen in 4 years! (I was so excited I almost did the happy dance!) It never flowers, of course. I see euphorbs at the local H Depot/Lowes store and they have BIG leaves and flowers....and there mine is, tiny little leaves and practically dormant, aside from new leaves to replace the old that turn yellow and drop off sometimes. All of my other plants THRIVE, grow, flower, reproduce, etc...so what am I doing wrong? And yes, I even tried a little fertilizer periodically, diluted as to not shock it. The other plants, by the way, are great! There were 3 or 4 cacti which are thriving, and the only casualty I had was a beautiful rope hoya that caught a horrible case of mealy bugs....and unfortunately the mealy bugs won out. :( I would loooove to try another (now that there are NO MORE buggies around....we live in a different house, even! LOL) Anyone have any cuttings, btw? So...any advice on how to make this little guy grow??? Not that I mind having it as sort of a neat little bonsai specimin (LOL) but a little growth and maybe some posies would be nice! :) I'll try and attach a picture, sorry in advnce if it's not the best quality or if it turns out sideways!

-gt-