Once you receive the delivery, ensure to water the plant first and don't repot for at least a week for the plant to get adjusted to the new conditions. Wait until you see signs of new growth before you repot. Place the plant in a smaller sized room by a south facing window for a minimum 4-6 hours daily sun exposure.
Summary:
Botanical Name: Murraya koenigii
Other names: Curry leaves the tree, Curry plant, Curry tree, Sweet neem, Kadhi Patta, and Meethi neem
Exposure to Sunlight: Full sun to partly shaded
Soil Type: Well-draining soil
Favorable Climate: Tropical climate
Preferable Fertilizer: Nitrogen-rich fertilizer and/or iron sulfate
Toxicity Warning: Leaves/Fruits are edible, Seeds are poisonous
One of the most common reasons the Curry Leaf Plant dies for first-time owners is due to over-watering. Make sure to follow the below guidelines to understand how much to water during different seasons. Curry leaf plants love humidity. This is especially important in winter when the heater is running, which makes the indoor air quite dry. Use a diffuser / spray water over the leaves once a day. This is why it is important to keep the plant in a smaller sized room during the winter, as the effective humidity gets higher faster if the room is small.
Summer - Water once every three-six days. If you follow this, make sure you don't overwater as the intervals are small. Allow the plant to almost dry out between each watering - test the topsoil for moisture. Across the internet, you will see recommendations for heavy watering at longer intervals, but based on my experience, smaller quantity of water at shorter intervals worked the best.
Winter - Water once every 7 - 10 days. Allow them to almost completely dry out between watering and NEVER let it stand in water. We don't recommend watering much from December to the end of February and even then we are cautious about overwatering until they have put on some good new season growth.
Sunlight:
They should always been grown as a houseplant in the UK and will do best in bright, warm room away from any radiators or draughts. They are particularly sensitive to daylight length and can struggle a bit in our short dark winter days. To combat this make sure they are in as bright a spot as possible and cut right back on the watering in the winter. In the winter, they don't usually grow at all.
In Spring/Summer, ensure to leave the plant by a south facing window to get at least 6-8 hours of sunlight. Good amount of sunlight, healthy roots and consistent feed is the secret for healthy curry leaf plants.
Feed:
We fertilise in the growing season with organic compost. Every summer, we use a blender to mix all the used egg shells (Calcium), onion peels, used coffee powder, used tea leaves and orange/lime peels together and apply it to the plant. Ensure to take soil out from the top (at least 10cm deep) before you apply the blended mix and cover it up with top soil to ensure it doesn't attract any insects. Fertilize when soil is dry and ready for watering.
Epsom salt – Curry leaves love Epsom salt due to the Magnesium & Sulphur content in it. You will notice yellow leaves when there isn't enough Magnesium.
Buttermilk – Has multiple benefits. First of all, it is high in Nitrogen. It also increases the acidity of the soil. Curry leaf plant likes a PH value of 6.0 – 6.8 which is slightly acidic. In addition, buttermilk also has probiotic bacteria which is excellent for increasing the microbial activity in the soil, which in turn makes the soil more fertile and helps fight fungal infections. To make buttermilk, mix two tablespoons of sour yogurt (curd) and a tsp of asafoetida (optional) with a gallon of water and apply weekly.
Seaweed fertilizers (weekly or biweekly) Seaweed fertilizer is not applied for NPK like other plant food. In fact NPK is very low in seaweed fertilizers (0.1-0.1-1.5). But it has many other minerals, vitamins, and enzymes that are natural growth stimulants. Many of these are not found elsewhere. These nutrients fuel the plant cells’ growth, and this results in healthier, stronger, and more disease-resistant plants. Expect an increased uptake of nutrients from the soil, better resistance to frost and other stress conditions, increased resistance to pests, and best of all, increased yields. Occasionally rotate Seaweed/Epsom salt with any generic plant food to help replenish NPK. Also once a year (in spring), apply Blood meal to provide a dose of nitrogen for the season.
Alternatively, you can use Citrus feed, as a close family of citrus, the curry plant does very well with the same feed. Once a month, we squeeze a lime/lemon to the water before watering our plants. We usually take the plants out in summer to get used to the winds for strengthening the branches. if you decide to take the plant outside, only do so from June - September. Curry leaf plant seems to do ever so well in a poly tunnel, if you have one, you can move it there from Spring onwards.
Do not apply any fertilizer to the curry leaf plant in Fall. Fertilizers force the plant to put out new leafy growth, which is very sensitive to cool air. Fertilizing the curry leaf plant late in the year will do the plant more damage than good. Reduce fertilizing to once every 4 weeks in the winter months when growth slows down. Stop fertilizing if the growth stops. Let it hibernate!
Repotting:
As mentioned earlier, DO NOT REPOT in the first week post delivery, especially if you've purchased younger plants than six months old. It is crucial to avoid too many shocks to the plant in a short time.
Repot during Spring/ Summer (April- early September) in a deep container using
1) Fine garden soil / sand mix (30%),
2) Rich compost mixed with grit and perlite (20%),
3) Coir/ coco peat (20%) (fibre from the outer husk of the coconut)
4) Farm manure (20%)
5) Chicken manure (10%).
If you don't have access to any products above, you can buy our homemade potting mix from the shop. Coco peat is a must as it helps with the root growth so much. Aim for a pH between 6.0-6.8 and ensure to test it if you are not sure. Curry Leaf plant seems to love slightly acidic soil. Enrich the soil with plenty of organic matter before planting. We also leave an earthworm to help with aerating the roots. Based on our experience, Terracotta/Clay pots are the best for Curry Leaf Plants. Clay pot is recommended instead of plastic as it is more breathable and better prevention from root rot. If you use a saucer, ensure to never let it stand in water for over 24 hours. Water abundantly straight after repotting and go back to the watering schedule shortly afterwards.
Every Spring, we prune and repot all our plants. This helps the plant to prepare for the new summer growth season. The more often you prune, the better as the plant will produce more and more side shoots with plenty more leaves. Never cut the curry leaves by hand, keep in mind that new branches can only form when broken with a knife. Spring is the perfect time to transplant the curry leaf plant into a larger pot or to change the soil. For the first 3 to 4 years, the plant needs to be re-potted into a bigger container each year to give the plant space to grow more roots. After that, the plant can be re-potted every other year.
Over time, the nutrients from the soil are washed out or used up by the plant. It is essential to replenish nutrients with fresh soil to grow a healthy plant. For a mature plant, if it’s not being re-potted to a new container, replace the top 30% to 50% soil with our mix mentioned earlier.
Pruning:
Just like re-potting, the major pruning of the Curry Leaf Plant should be done in the spring. Though not recommended, it can be done at the same time the plant is re-potted.
Start by removing old, yellow leaves. Remove stems that have lost the leaves. Make a clean diagonal cut with a sharp pruner, at least 1/3 from the top of the plant. This may seem harsh, but it is necessary to contain the plant’s size and make the plant bushier. If the mature plant has developed thick branches, they can be cut back by 1/2 to 1/3 of the length. Within 2 to 3 weeks, the plant will shoot out multiple branches just below the cut. More branches mean more leaves later in the season!
Hard Pruning after 24 months - Ensure the root stock is sufficiently thick before you perform this. Don't hesitate to message me if you are not sure. We believe this pruning is the most important pruning to turn it from a plant to tree mode. Need to prune at least 1/2 of the plant, ensure the rootstock have plenty of nodes to shoot out branches. Unlike any previous pruning, the growth will be a lot quicker and bushier this time with the healthy roots and rootstock. Contrary to intuition, more pruning at the right intervals results in better growth and better branching.
Remove flower buds from the plant: In 2-3 years, the curry leaf plant will start producing pretty little flowers at the tip of the branch. If let it grown on the plant, these flowers will produce seeds later in the season. While the flowers mature and turn into fruits, the plant diverts most of the energy in nourishing these flowers. This significantly slows down the growth of the plant. So, unless you have a specific reason to grow the curry leaf seeds, promptly remove the flower buds from the plant.
Soil aeration – Potted curry leaf plant needs regular aeration. When you water the pot, over a couple of months the soil gets compacted and hard. Plants like loose soil. Also, compacting prevents oxygen from reaching the roots. So aeration enables even distribution of water as well as enables oxygen to reach the roots. This is where earthworm is very useful. We also use a skewer to poke holes in the soil a couple of inches away around the base of the plants once a month.
If you notice any deficiencies:
Magnesium & Sulphar - Use Epsom Salt solution once a week until you see progress
Calcium - Grounded egg shells. If not powder form, it will take ages for the plant to break it down.
Iron - Leave old/new nails in a up filled with water, dilute the rusty water and feed it to the plants.
All other trace elements/minerals can be absorbed from seaweed, buttermilk, organic compost, blood meal, etc.