How to Grow and Care for Mickey Mouse Plants

Ochna serrulata

With its shiny inexperienced foliage, cheerful yellow blossoms, and putting fruit show, the Mickey Mouse plant (Ochna serrulata) is suited to cultivation in Zones 9 to 11.

Native to South Africa, this semi-evergreen shrub is also called hen’s eye bush, carnival ochna, and small-leaved aircraft.

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Why the whimsical identify?

Because the yellow flowers fade, they’re adopted by pink petal-like sepals and shiny black berries, resembling the traditional cartoon character’s yellow sneakers, black ears, and pink pants.

Learn on to learn to develop and take care of Mickey Mouse shrubs in your panorama.

O. serrulata places on an ornamental show from late spring to fall.

The shrubs have a free, irregular progress behavior. Elliptical inexperienced leaves alternate alongside branching stems dotted with respiratory pores known as lenticels, giving the bark a noticed look.

5-petaled, aromatic yellow flowers seem briefly in spring.

Because the petals fall, the inexperienced sepals enlarge and switch brilliant pink, encasing the younger inexperienced drupes that mature into shiny black berries by late summer time.

The Hawai‘i-Pacific Weed Danger Evaluation charges it as “Excessive Danger,” indicating important potential for ecological disruption.

Observe additionally that it’s poisonous to folks and pets if ingested.

Different, much less generally cultivated Ochna species embody O. natalitia, aka Mickey Mouse bush, and Natal or showy aircraft.

This species differs from O. serrulata, having bigger leaves that emerge pink within the spring and barely bigger yellow flowers.

Find out how to Develop

Mickey Mouse plant is comparatively simple to domesticate when its primary necessities are met. It thrives in heat, humid environments that mimic its native subtropical South African habitat.

Local weather

This shrub prospers in temperatures ranging between 59 and 97°F in the course of the rising season.

It may possibly tolerate temperatures as little as 28°F in winter however might expertise leaf drop or dieback.

In areas susceptible to frost, think about offering safety or cultivating Mickey Mouse plant in containers that may be moved indoors throughout colder months.

Gentle

Select a location with full solar to partial shade. Within the warmest areas, an understory placement with the dappled daylight penetrating the foliage of taller shrubs and bushes may help to keep away from leaf scorch.

Whereas Mickey Mouse plant can tolerate some shade, inadequate gentle might result in lowered flowering and fruiting.

Soil

The soil needs to be moisture-retentive, well-draining common loam. A barely acidic to impartial pH between 5.5 and 6.5 is good.

Water

Fertilizing

Mickey Mouse isn’t a heavy feeder, so keep away from overfertilizing, which might injury roots and stems.

In case your soil is poor, work in just a few handfuls of compost at planting time to enhance diet and drainage.

Every spring, you possibly can top-dress with compost or apply a slow-release granular fertilizer with a 5-10-5 (NPK) ratio to assist blooming and fruit growth.

Hold the product away from the bottom of the shrub to keep away from stem burn.

The place to Purchase

Mickey Mouse plant just isn’t generally out there by way of mainstream nurseries or giant on-line retailers.

You’ll most definitely discover it in specialty nurseries within the acceptable rising zones or from plant lovers.

Mickey Mouse Plant

You could find Mickey Mouse vegetation out there from 9EzTropical through Amazon in six-inch pots.

Upkeep

Prune after fruiting to form the specimen right into a compact, multi-branching shrub or single-trunked small tree.

Keep away from eradicating greater than one-third of the full quantity at anybody time to keep away from shock.

Propagation

You possibly can propagate these shrubs from seeds or through stem cuttings. The best option to get began is to transplant a nursery begin.

From Seed

Buy seeds or accumulate the fruits from an present Mickey Mouse plant after they flip black and crinkly.

You possibly can take away the seeds from the fruits or just scarify them by rubbing them with sandpaper or a nail file to take away among the robust outer coating.

1. Soak the seeds in a single day in tepid water.
2. Fill three-inch seed starter pots three-quarters full with moisture-retentive, well-draining potting soil.
3. Sow one or two seeds in every pot a few third of an inch deep.
4. Cowl them flippantly with soil.
5. Water the soil so it’s evenly moist however not waterlogged.
6. Set them in a location with brilliant, oblique daylight.
7. Preserve even moisture by watering earlier than the potting combine dries out.
8. When the seedlings have a number of units of true leaves, skinny them to at least one per pot.

The seedlings are prepared for transplant when they’re about 4 to 6 inches tall.

From Cuttings

To propagate from stem cuttings, look forward to a flush of latest foliar progress.

1. Lower a six-inch size of recent stem and tip progress just under a leaf node.
2. Take away the leaves from the underside three inches of stem.
3. Put together a six-inch pot three-quarters filled with moisture-retentive, well-draining potting medium.
4. Use a pencil or chopstick to make a three-inch-deep gap within the middle of the soil.
5. Dip the lower finish of the stem into rooting hormone powder.
6. Place the stem within the three-inch gap so the leafless half is under the soil.
7. Tamp the soil to carry it firmly in place and water in properly.
8. Place the container in brilliant, oblique daylight. Preserve even moisture with out oversaturation.

When the chopping produces new foliage it’s able to transplant.

Transplanting

When you’ve got a longtime seedling, chopping, or nursery begin, you possibly can transplant it to the panorama in spring. In heat, frost-free areas, late winter to early spring is good.

Start by watering shrub the day earlier than to assist ease transplant shock. Observe its depth within the authentic container.

Select a web site with loamy, well-draining soil, and amend it with compost if crucial to enhance texture and drainage.

Work the soil to a depth of eight to 12 inches till it’s crumbly and free from particles.

Make a gap twice as huge and the identical depth as the present container.

Unpot and place the basis ball within the ready gap on the similar depth as within the authentic container, barely above floor stage.

Backfill, tamp properly, and water in properly.

Preserve even moisture in the course of the institution interval, watering when the highest few inches of soil dry out.

Pests and Illness

Whereas Mickey Mouse plant just isn’t particularly susceptible to issues with pests or illness, you might encounter them in lower than perfect rising situations.

Scale, mealybugs, and thrips are sapsucking bugs that favor scorching, dry situations.

These bugs feed on plant juices and may trigger yellowing leaves, stunted progress, and total decline. They might additionally unfold illness.

Hold the soil persistently moist however not soggy to assist discourage infestations, and deal with outbreaks with natural neem oil.

M-I-C-Okay-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E

If you’re – ahem – of a sure age, like me, you’re sure to have seen one of many incarnations of the Mickey Mouse Membership TV present and know that the theme track spelled out the beloved rodent’s identify.

The brilliant pink sepals and black fruits of easy-care, semi-evergreen O. serrulata make a vibrant, whimsical welcome in out of doors dwelling areas within the traditional “Hey, there, hello there, ho there” Mickey Mouse model many gardeners fondly bear in mind.

Do you develop Mickey Mouse plant in your panorama? Please share your ideas within the feedback part under.

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