Written from the home-garden experience of Shami, who has grown plants for 8+ years in Malappuram, Kerala. All photos are our own.
I bought this plant in a small cup, and now almost 5 pots of it are growing in my vertical garden. It's slow, but it lasts a very long time, and it has been in my collection for many years. You can use it indoors, outdoors, in a vertical garden, or in a hanging pot. It's easy to grow, and it's low maintenance. I'm saying that from my own experience.
Why it's called "Curly Pink"
The leaves are curly, and when sunlight hits them, a pinkish shade comes onto the leaves, a little bit. That's where the name comes from. The plant is also known as devil's backbone, and its botanical name is Euphorbia tithymaloides (it used to be called Pedilanthus). It's in the spurge family, and it comes from the tropical and subtropical parts of the Americas, from Florida and Mexico through Central America to the Caribbean and northern South America.
The sap: please read this before you cut anything
When you cut the stems, a milky liquid (sap) comes out. If it touches your skin, it can irritate it. If it gets in your eye, it can cause serious irritation, and it can damage the eye. If it goes inside your body, it can cause loose motions and stomach pain. Touching the plant itself is fine, but the liquid from the stem is not good.
- Wear gloves when you prune or take cuttings, and keep your hands away from your face.
- If sap gets in your eye, rinse it with plenty of clean water and get medical help.
- If you have children or pets at home, keep the plant out of their reach. Hanging pots are a good way to do that.
Slow growth is the only fault I've found
This plant grows very slowly. That's the only drawback I've seen, but on the other side, it's very long lasting. Compared with other plants, it needs fertilizer, and I'd call that mandatory because of how slowly it grows.
Light
Indirect sunlight is better for this plant, meaning morning and evening sun. If the sunlight is too much, the leaves get burnt. If it's too little, you can't see the pink shade on the leaves. So place it where it gets bright sunlight, but not too much.
Potting mix
The mix I use is 50% soil, 40% lake sand and 10% cocopeat. You can also add a bit of perlite if you have it. The mix should be loose, with water flowing through it.
Watering
If it gets too much water, the leaves fall. The pot needs a drainage hole, and you should only water when the soil in the pot is dry. I water once or twice a week, and I check the soil every 4 days.
Cuttings are a special case: the cut stems don't heal fast, so don't water new cuttings daily.
If the plant is short of water, it gets tired and doesn't stand steadily. You'll notice it. Water it, and within about 10 minutes the plant looks healthy and steady again.
Feeding
I use cow dung powder once every 15 days, or vermicompost that I make at home. Because it's a succulent-type plant, I don't give raw fermented cow dung water. Rarely, I spray NPK 19:19:19 (dose as directed on the product label), but mostly it's the cow dung powder.
Don't feed at planting time. When you plant cuttings, there's sap in the cut stems, and if cow dung powder mixes with that sap, it may get an infection. So I only give the cow dung powder after 15 days.
Making new plants
I propagate it by stem cuttings, but this way the roots grow very slowly, and the growth afterwards is slow too. I also tried putting cuttings in a glass of water, hoping the roots would come, but all the stems died in the end.
What I do now is plant many cuttings in one pot, instead of 1 or 2. That way the plant becomes bushy a bit faster.
In the vertical garden
This is where mine does best. A vertical garden is a nice way to use a plant that grows slowly, because it holds its shape for years.
