Money tree, Pachira, Châtaigner de Guyane

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Appeared at florists, horticulturists and garden centers quite recently in the 80s and 90s of the last century. This plant is often sold with 3 braided trunks!
Description, presentation, origin and ecosystem:
Pachira aquatica is a species particularly known to lovers of indoor plants and green plants, slender graphic while it is a plant a tree with a fragrant flower and edible fruits in South America. It is native to America. Its swollen and gnarled trunk can make us think of Beaucarnea with this ‘simili caudex’. The leaves are shiny and palmate and aesthetically close to Schefflera.
Pachira is a kind of tree that measures up to 18 meters in the wild, it is part of the malvaceae family under the Bombaceae family like the Baobab.
Tropical tree that has its feet in the water or almost, so it prefers the humid areas of Central America and South America (it is found in French Guiana).
Today very widespread throughout the world, this tropical plant is called by different names depending on the continents and countries. It is a very easy-going companion once placed in conditions adapted to its needs.
• Stems trunk branches: Caudex such as Beaucarnea, in fact the base of its trunk is swollen, like a bottle. Above the brown caudex, the bark remains smooth and green. One of the characteristics of Pachira is the unusual shape of its trunk, which is often braided when it is sold. However, it must continue to braid it because it naturally curls and intertwines.
• The green, shiny, leathery and almost glossy leaves are palmate. They measure up to 30 centimeters in diameter and bloom at the end of a thin and long stem. Each has between five and nine oval and elliptical leaflets.
• Flowering is rare or even impossible in our interiors and is frequent in Guyana in a garden or in its original ecosystem. The flowering is fragrant, melliferous and ephemeral.
• Fruits: capsule fruits, oblong, edible and fleshy. In cooking, the hazelnut of the Guyana chestnut tree is eaten raw, cooked or transformed into flour without being incredibly tasty.
Discovery story:
Discovered in 1964 by Taiwanese agricultural engineers in Mexico, they decided to import it to their island to raise it for food purposes. Its proliferation gave the idea of ​​raising it and braiding it in order to use it indoors.
The name "Pachira" comes from the Guyanese Creole 'Pakira' meaning the peccary that loves its fruits. Pachira Aquatica is full of meanings, it symbolizes good fortune and prosperity in many cultures.
Toxicity: None.
Cultivation and use:
• Indoors: Its cultivation is easy and it is difficult to lose Pachira! A temperature of 18 to 20°C being optimal, young subjects are rather cultivated in pots, they then hardly exceed 2 meters. Be careful, growth is quite fast.
Repotting every 2 years with good drainage is strongly recommended with clay balls.
• Bonsai culture
• Outdoors in summer in France and in the shade
• Caribbean, in Polynesia where the plant was imported in 1925
• Medicinal use: Treatment for diabetes, hypertension, headaches
• Food use: leaves and flowers are cooked and edible, roasted berries are used to replace cocoa or coffee in hot drinks.
Multiplication:
In hot and humid conditions it is possible in the Caribbean in Reunion, New Caledonia and Tahiti.
Heel cutting possible by cutting a stem of 10 to 15 cm and place it in a pot filled with water to promote rooting.
Section cutting in spring with a stem bearing buds (smothered cutting).
The division of the tufts is practiced in spring at the time of repotting.
Care, fertilization, watering:
A nitrogen fertilizer will bring a boost in the brightness of the leaves and in its development. Watering is frequent with non-calcareous water at room temperature. Misting with temperate and non-calcareous water helps to increase humidity and prevents mite attacks.
Vegetosphere tip:
A small pruning will allow to obtain a more beautiful appearance.
Diseases and pests:
• The oozing of sap or guttation on the leaves by small drops of sap.
• Resistant to diseases and not very sensitive to attacks by parasites.
• Whiteflies like Pachira.
• Red spider mites are fought with sprays of temperate water 2 to 3 times a week.
Species varieties:
P. aquatica;
P. macrocarpa;
P. grandiflora;

[@pollypaint6846]

Alors moi j'ai un gros problème avec le miens 😅 J'ai environ 60 plantes chez moi dont des alocasias qui se portent bien et pourtant, le Pachira qu'on m'a offert il y'a 3 ans ne fait que décliner.
J'ai tenté toutes les orientations possibles pour la lumière, différents taux d'hygrométrie, plus d'arrosage, moins d' arrosage, fertilisation diverses et rien y fait.
Il fait toujours des pousses mais a côté de ça, les autres feuilles jaunissent, sèchent et finissent par tomber.
Je ne peux même plus le tresser car il a perdu une de ses branches principales.
Je désespère et perdu pour perdu, je me demande si je ne vais pas le passer en culture hydroponique passive ...