Guiana Chestnut Profile: Plant Info & Complete Care Guide

Guiana Chestnut, scientific name Pachira Aquatica, also commonly referred to money tree, is native to Brazil & South America. Guiana Chestnut likes warm, high wet climate, poor resistance to cold. Guiana Chestnut likes fertile loose, breathable and water-retaining sandy loam. Guiana Chestnut plant has a beautiful shape and good shade tolerance, which makes it an excellent indoor pot plant.

Guiana Chestnut Plant Characteristics

Guiana Chestnut is evergreen small trees, height  20–30 feet (6 - 9 meters tall). If grown indoors, it will grows samller; Leaves are alternate, palmate compound, lobules 5-9, entire. 

Axils of solitary leaves are with pedicels; guiana chestnut has 2-3 bracts, inner glabrous, persistent at the fruit stage. The calyx is cup-shaped, filaments all white, stamens many, base connate into a tube, base above separated into multiple bundles, each bundle then separated into a majority of filaments, anther kidney shaped; The ovary is 5-loculed, ovules numerous in each compartment; The style is elongate, stigma 5-lobed; The fruit is green, chamber back split into 5 valves, long woolly mask. Seeds are large, subterranean, cuneate, glabrous, seed coat brittle, smooth; Cotyledons are fleshy, indented.

Botanical/Scientific Name	Pachira aquatica
Common Name	Guiana chestnut, Money tree, Malabar chestnut, Saba nut
Plant Type	Tree
Plant Size	20–30 feet tall, 20-30 feet wide (smaller indoors)
Bloom Time	Summer (doesn't flower indoors)
Flower Color	Yellow, white
Lighting Requiremnents	Full sun, partial shade; Bright indirect sunlight
Soil	Moist but well-drained rich soil
Temperature Care	65 – 75F (18 – 24C)
Toxicity	Non-toxic

Guiana Chestnut Distribution

Guiana Chestnut is native to Brazil & South America. It has been widely introduced and cultivated in south China and southwest China. 

Guiana Chestnut is one of the best trees for pots

Guiana Chestnut Growing Conditions

Guiana Chestnut likes high temperature, high wet climate, poor resistance to cold, and seedlings avoid frost. It likes fertile loose, breathable and water-retaining sandy loam, acidic soil, avoid alkaline soil or sticky heavy soil. It is resistant to moisture, also slightly drought resistant. The suitable temperature for growth is 18-24℃. Avoid cold and being in too wet environments. 

How to Care for Guiana Chestnut

Soil for Guiana Chestnut

Guiana Chestnut adaptation to the matrix is quite strong. Whether it is poor soil, or even mixed organic soil, the plant can grow well. You can user the soil mixed with garden soil mud, wood chips, mushroom mud, chicken excrement in the ratio of 8:2:1:1, then pile remix half a year can be used. Care should be taken to increase the ratio of big substrate, otherwise it is difficult to fix the plant. The basin soil is kept wet at ordinary times, and the basin soil should be dry in winter, otherwise the leaf tip is easy to scorch, and even cause the leaf to fall off.

Read More: How to Take Care of Guiana Chestnut Leaves Falling & Wilting

Transplant Potted Guiana Chestnut

Guiana Chestnut cutting seedlings can be transplanted when the root system grows to 3-5 cm, and when the height of seed seedlings to 20-25 cm it can be potted. To accelerate growth, planting the Guiana Chestnut in the site then plant on the pot. After potted, it needs to pour enough water immediately, avoid direct sunlight. Change the pot every 1-2 years, and change the pot of slightly larger size.

Guiana Chestnut Lighting Requirements

Guiana Chestnut light requirements are not strict, no matter in strong sunshine or weak light room can grow. However, full sunshine can make the stem nodes short, wide leaves, compact plant type, dark green leaves, full crown, stem base hyperplasia. Under the weak light for a long time, the Guiana Chestnut branches are thin, the petiole is drooping, the leaves are light green, the growth is thin and high, so that the plant reaches the height of braiding in advance and affects the modeling. Therefore, light melon chestnuts can not shade for a long time. In the maintenance management should be placed in the indoor sunshine. Keep the leaves facing the sun. Otherwise, the whole branch and leaf will be distorted due to leaf phototaxis.

Read More: Guiana Chestnut Leaves Slime & Drooping Causes & Care Solutions

Guiana Chestnut Watering

Watering is an important when caring Guiana Chestnut. Watering principle is rather wet do not dry. In different seasons and growing stages, watering frequency and amount is different. Water Guiana Chestnut more in summer under high temperature and water less in winter. Exuberant large and medium-sized plant requires more water, new propagated small-sized plant requires less. When overwatering Guiana Chestnut, it its easy make plant rot root, bringing about leaf droop, lose luster even fall off. At this time guiana chestnut plant should be immediately moved to the shade, reduce watering to a minimum, as long as the pot does not comletely dry.

Read More: How to Care for Guiana Chestnut Root Rot or Leaf Yellowing

Fertilizer for Guiana Chestnut

Use decayed organic fertilizer as the basic fertilizer and mix it in the cultivation substrate. In addition, a top dressing can be applied with chemical fertilizer or chicken manure, cake fertilizer, etc. monthly in the growth period, to promote the stem base hypertrophy. Less nitrogen should be applied during peak growing season to prevent overgrowth. Less fertilizer should be applied in summer when it is hot, and no fertilizer should be applied in winter when it is cold.

Read More:

• How to Care for Guiana Chestnut Frostbite & Excessive Growth
• How to Take Care of the Guiana Chestnut Plant in Summer & Winter
• How to Care for Guiana Chestnut Frizzy & Growing too High

Guiana Chestnut Humidity Care

Guiana Chestnut has a high requirement for humidity. If the humidity is low, there will be deciduous leaves. In serious cases, the branches are bald, which will not only hinder the ornamental and easily cause the death of the Guiana Chestnut plant. Therefore, leaves and branches are often sprayed with water during the growing season to increase the necessary humidity.

Read More: How to Care for Guiana Chestnut Leaves Saggy or No Buds

Guiana Chestnut Temperature Care

Guiana Chestnut requires high temperature condition. It is best to keep between 18-24℃. The temperature for Guiana Chestnut in winter can not be less than 15℃. If the temperature is low, there will be deciduous phenomenon, serious when the branches are bald, not only hinder the ornamental, and easy to cause plant death. Therefore, the daily maintenance should pay attention to keep the temperature above 15℃, and in late autumn and winter, should pay attention to do a good job of cold and frost prevention management.

Read More: How to Care for Guiana Chestnut Frostbite & Excessive Growth

Potted Guiana Chestnut Placement

Potted plant placement location can not be changed suddenly. It reqiures a gradual adaptation process. If the plant suddenly transferred from the shade to the strong light, it will make the leaf burn, scorch edge, affect the appearance.

Read More:
Guiana Chestnut Care for Leaf Spots & Shoots Wilting
How to Care for Guiana Chestnut Leaf Tip Burnt & Trunk Root

How to Propagate Guiana Chestnut

Guiana Chestnut main propagation methods are sowing and cutting propagation. Also you can propagate the plant from division. For more ways, please read 3 Ways to Propagate Guiana Chestnut

Guiana Chestnut Propagation from Seeds

Because seed reproduction has the characteristics of neat emergence, straight root and smooth emergence, easy to braid and easy to grow out of round and lovely "radish head", sowing reproduction is a commonly used method of reproduction. Seeds should be picked and sown as they mature in autumn. When the outer skin of the fruit is yellow or dry, it can be harvested. After the fruit is collected, the shell is cracked and the seeds are planted in the river sand or garden mud. The sowing depth is 2-3 cm, and the temperature is controlled within the range of 20-30℃.3 to 5 days after sowing, germination, 20-30 days can be planted in the field or potted. 

Read More: How to Propagate Guiana Chestnut from Seed (Steps)

Guiana Chestnut Propagation from Cuttings

Compared with sowing seedlings, cutting seedlings have the defects of no expansion or only slight expansion of the stem head. Seedling dry is not beautiful, so this method is rarely used. Cuttage propagation in the south is generally from March to October for a higher survival rate. Choose robust, no pests and diseases of the plant top tip for cuttings, cuttings length of 10-12 cm, remove the lower leaves, large leaves cut half, at the same time to cut cuttings oblique, in order to expand the hair root area of cuttings. Then the "root sun" rooting agent 300 times of liquid and yellow mud mixed into mud, cut cuttings dipped in mud, until the mud dry into the seedling bed. In the temperature range of 20-25℃, about 12-15 days after implantation can be transplanted to the pot. After cuttings are finished, water should be poured in time, so that cuttings and soil are closely combined, otherwise the cuttings are easy to lose water and dry up, affecting the survival. For normal management, the soil should be kept moist or sprayed daily for 3-5 minutes. Cuttings should be timely covered after completion, with 90% shading net covering in summer, 60-70% shading net covering can be used in spring and autumn. The optimum temperature of cutting rooting is 20-25℃, and the temperature below 15℃ is not suitable for cutting propagation.

Read More: How to Propagate Guiana Chestnut from Cuttings (Steps)

Guiana Chestnut Benefits

Guiana Chestnut plant has beautiful shape and good shade tolerance. It is an excellent indoor pot plant.