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Camellia Setsugekka – 4 Caring Tips & Propagation Guidelines

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If you own a Camellia Setsugekka plant and are curious about the plant’s caring and propagation techniques, you’ve come to the right place. Stick with us, and we will teach you everything you need to know to grow this plant indoors.

Camellia Setsugekka
Camellia Setsugekka – via Etsy

Characteristics of a Camellia Setsugekka

A prerequisite to parenting any plant and catering to its needs is to learn about the plant itself and its defining qualities and needs. So, let’s first discuss the main characteristics of the Camellia Setsugekka plant.

Plant Description

The Camellia Setsugekka is found native to China and Japan, where it is common to find this plant growing at altitudes as high as 900 meters. For your indoor garden, the camellia Setsugekka will provide a magnificent display of thick foliage and gorgeous white blossoms.

Large, solitary blooms with wavy petals bloom on this beautiful plant. It is a long-lived, hardy shrub that may develop to be a small tree and create a lovely bush against a wall. This is the plant to choose if you want to enhance the beauty of your garden instantly.

Flowers

Sasanqua Camellias may blossom anywhere from midsummer to early winter, depending on the kind and where you are.

The blooms, which are typically solitary, aren’t nearly as huge and beautiful as the ones of Camellia japonica; however, they are produced in such abundance that a fully bloomed camellia sasanqua (setsugekka) becomes one of the jewels of the autumn garden.

These perfumed flowers are seldom over 7 to 8 centimeters long in their diameter and have twisted, curled petals with a center burst of vivid gold-yellow stamens.

The flowers come in a variety of hues, from white through pink to bright red. Each bloom only lasts a few days before dropping its petals, making it unsuitable for cutting.

Size

The Camellia Setsugekka is an evergreen shrub that can grow as high as 5 meters when it is properly cared for. The leaves of this plant will grow to a length ranging from 3 to 7 centimeters and a width ranging from 1.3 to 3 centimeters depending on the environmental conditions that the plant is kept in.

The plant’s flowers usually have a 5-to-7-centimeter diameter with around 7 to 8 white petals (although some petals do come in a shade of pink).

Pests

The most common pest threat to this comes from Thrips which are little, flying insects that live on a variety of crops and flourish in warm, dry environments. They reproduce swiftly because a female may deposit as many as 300 offspring within 5 to 6 weeks without even mating.

This juvenile larva, which feeds on fragile leaf and blossom tissue, inflicts the majority of the damage dealt with by these plants. This causes deformed development, malformed flower petals, and flower drop prematurely. Thrips may also spread a variety of dangerous microbial pathogens.

Camellia Setsugekka 2
Camellia Setsugekka – via Wikimedia

How to care for your Camellia Setsugekka – Top 4 tips

Now that we are well acquainted with the distinguishable characteristics of the Camellia Setsugekka plant, it is time to move our discussion to the top tips you need to be mindful of to properly care for this plant in your home garden.

Fertilizing needs

It is recommended that you make use of nitrogen-rich fertilizers on these trees every few years (or even annually). If you want to know whether your soil needs the assistance of fertilizers, use a small sample to assess its nutrient composition.

If you find that the soil is lacking in one or more essential nutrients, take that as a green signal to the use of fertilizers for this plant. All gardeners are aware of the miraculous benefits of using fertilizers to a plant’s growth.

However, as with anything, moderation is key. Excess use of fertilizers can cause excessive leaf growth on these plants, which usually comes at the expense of its flower growth and development.

Soil Requirements

Keeping this plant under the appropriate soil conditions is extremely important. Read this section carefully.

The camellia Setsugekka thrives when the soil is of slightly acidic or neutral pH. Your plant will not grow well if your soil is alkaline. Also, it is extremely important to make sure that your soil drains well, or your plant can suffer from stunted growth and may become prone to rotting.

The Camellia Setsugekka will do well in a variety of soil types. For your purposes, though, the use of standard potting soil will do just fine. If you want to create a good mix for your plant, portions of clay, loam and humus will add to the soil nurturing abilities.

Lighting Requirements

These plants typically grow best when kept under the direct sun or in a place where they receive partial shades. So, make sure you do not keep this plant under a complete shade, or its flowers’ growth will become stunted, and the plant will grow weak.

If you can not provide this plant with the appropriate amount of sunlight, make use of fluorescent lights to cover up for the gap.

Watering needs

Watering your Camellia plant deeply and regularly is of vital importance. Our recommendation would be to water this plant deeply on a 5-to-7-day basis.

But of course, the correct amount of watering will depend on the plant you have as well as the growing conditions you provide it with. So, make sure you always listen to what your plant is telling you.

How to propagate a Camellia Setsugekka inside your home garden

The procedure for this plant’s propagation is fairly straightforward. Although there are multiple ways of propagating this plant indoors, we will focus only on the stem cutting method of your camellia’s propagation. We have chosen this method for you since it provides the quickest results.

Here are the steps:

  • Start by preparing a potting mix with equal parts of standard potting soil, perlite, or sand.
  • The container you use should be at least 6 inches in depth to allow room for your plant’s roots to grow.
  • Use a clean blade to chop off a few inches of the stem of an existing camellia.
  • The best stem cutting would be the one that has recently shown new growth.
  • Pluck out all of the leaves towards the bottom of your cutting and dip your stem cutting into a rooting hormone from where it had been cut.
  • Push your cutting at least 3 inches into the soil mix you prepared
  • Finally, take care of your plant the way we have prescribed above and watch it grow

Summary

Overall, The Camellia Setsugekka is a beautiful flowering shrub that can instantly amplify your garden’s aesthetics. For best results, water this plant deeply while keeping it in a nutritious, well-draining soil mix with a slightly acidic pH.

The quickest way to propagate this plant is through the stem cutting method. Follow the steps outlined above and see the results for yourself.