Is the curry leaf plant easy to look after? How to pot, which soil, fertilizer and sun/shade and moisture, when prune?

The curry leaf tree originates from a sub tropical climate. That means the tree likes warm and humid conditions, which is ideal for a good leaf production. Those are the 2 most important factors for successfully growing a curry leaf tree.

Don’t worry! even if you don’t have green fingers, a greenhouse, shovel or even a garden: growing your own fresh curry leaves is easy and can even bring you a lot of joy! Here is everything you need to know to get started.

Temperature

In European climates, the plant should be kept indoors in winter, as the young tree will not survive frost in the winter. Established trees can survive mild frost. Place it on the most sunny windowsill (facing south) in order to get as much direct sunlight as possible. When the average outside temperature reaches 20 degrees Celsius, the plant can be kept outside. If kept in a pot outside, during very hot summer days, the roots may risk burning

Humidity

You can increase humidity by filling a plate with water, placing a saucer upside down in it and placing the plant on it. The pot should not be in contact with the water and the plate should always be filled with water. As the water evaporates, humidity increases around the plant.

Soil & fertilizer

This plant naturally grows in many parts of Asia, in different sub climates and soil conditions. You will find that many different potting mixes are being used with success. So there’s not really one specific kind of soil that we recommend, except from the fact that it should be a good quality well-drained potting mix. This allows moisture not only to reach the roots, but also evaporate and increase humidity around the plant.

Curry leaf trees need nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to grow. Use a fertilizer which has these 3 components. Studies show that (1) the growth of the leaves can be increased with fertilization. NPK fertilizer, or citrus fertilizer since it’s from the citrus family.

These plants flourish in the wild without additional fertilization. So it’s not necessary to fertilize, but research has shown that it does increase growth and leaf production. Fertilization should be done directly after pruning and during the growing season. When kept indoors in winter, don’t fertilize because the plant doesn’t really grow. If the curry leaves dropped in the winter season, don’t fertilize until leaves have grown back.

Like the curry leaf tree, the bael tree originates from a warm climate, and is not hardy in almost all parts of Europe. If you want to keep it the whole year round, it should serve as a house tree indoors when temperatures reach freezing point at night.

Only more mature trees can handle a few degrees below zero degrees Celsius.

It should receive plenty of sunlight. As soon as winter is over and there’s no more frost at night, the tree can be placed outside in a sunny spot.

This tree does very well in dry conditions and it even likes it, so it will not really need the use of a humidity tray when it’s inside the house in the winter.

Like curry leaf trees, the Jackfruit tree is a tropical tree, and is not hardy in almost all parts of Europe. It should serve as a house tree indoors when temperatures reach freezing point at night. Since it’s a tropical tree, it should receive plenty of sunlight. As soon as winter is over and there’s no more frost at night, the jackfruit tree can be placed outside in a sunny spot.

The tree loves humidity, so it will benefit from the use of a humidity tray.