Good question Tammy. I'd also like to know.

I have one small one, and am treating it just like my normal Euphorbia trigona's. I have noticed, that when I've put it in real strong sun, it tends to fade and look much like the normal plants.

From what I've seen so far, it seems to like the water just as much as the normal variety.

Hi Tammy
Ditto I am not sure but some plants can be treated with chemicals to produce colour changes in leaves flowers etc or they can occur naturally such Acacia leprosa Scarlet Blaze the red flowering wattle. I am not sure where the Red trigona comes from but I have taken out of the sun and it remains green.
Regards Dave Hall

Thanks Alcor and Dave for your answers. Valuable information about keeping it out of the sun as we would all have bought it because of the red colour.
The normal green one does not like our extreme heat in summer and burns them on a 40c day. But then i have not tried to raise a young one in direct sun.
Tammy

I don't quite get 40c down here in Brisbane, but mine seem to survive the direct allday sun as long as I keep the water up. But unfortuneately, the leaves don't stay on mine when in the full sun - they only stay on the ones I have in lower light levels.

Paul ,
I am going to go half way and place in morning sun as i want the leaves . Will post after summer with info.
Thanks again

Hi again Some information on these plants 6 months later. They all 3 are growing fairly well. I have had them in a bright warm spot but not direct sunlight . I notice 4 weeks ago that the red colour is disappearing and i am so disappointed and am wondering perhaps these plants had been fed something to give them colour, as 2 of the plants almost have no red at all left the other has lost most and is still reverting back to green. The cuttings i took of them 10 weeks ago are still red and are growing in a hot house .
If anyone has one growing and the red colour is still there after a long period i would be interested in what situation they are growing.
Thanks
Tammy

I have a trigona, just the usual green sort (and my leaves fell off too in full sun, tho the new growth I'm getting since spring has kept it's leaves so far..). Don't have much to add except I saw these plants in the nursery just yesterday - the lady said they've been there a few months in full sun the whole time, and the plants are all still red as berries...
Sorry I can't be more help! Lis :)

hi!
i have a trigona too! it's red and some of it has gold as well as brilliant red and green parts. it loves the afternoon sun. i've had it for two years and it remains to delight me.
towards winter, it drops its leaves. towards the end of spring it sprouts brilliant green leaves and when the sun comes out more and it gets hot, its leaves turns pink and then finally red. parts of the plant turns a bit red too but that depends whether i've fed it well.
i feed it rose fertiliser (not the liquid stuff, i use the osmocote grains) as soon as i see the leaves sprouting. i haven't repotted it yet.
it sits nicely against the wall facing west so it gets quite a few hours of afternoon sun.
if u have any more q's i'd like to try and answer them!

enjoy

miss eggy

Thanks Miss Eggy and Lis,
I am going to try and introduce sunlight slowly in the hope this may help.
The reason i had not tried before is because i put a normal green trigona in the morning sun after it had been living in the shade house for some time and it just fried and did not recover.
I don't have easy access with the red, prevention is better cure.
Thanks again
Kind regards
Tammy

Hi All -

I saw this plant in a nursery last week and thought it was pretty snifty :).. although it had a hefty price tag (well over $40)... Wondering if anyone has a plant large enough to take a cutting off - contact me via email and we can work out an exchange perhaps? I have several plants (small ~15cm but rooted) of the normal green (marbled) form if anyone is interested in a swap.

Cheers -
Cichlid.

My red trigona is going green at the top - is this normal?

Andy if ur plant has been in the shade and only getting bright light (that is, not getting direct sunlight) it is normal! It does happen even in summer.
if u want it to go red then introducing to sunlight would be required. u need to control the time spent in the sun.. like on the first day-half an hour spent in sun; the second day- 10-15 minutes extra, the next - another 10-15 mins extra and so on. i would strongly suggest u start in the morning sun as the morning sun are not as hot as the afternoon sun.

miss eggy :p

My brother in Melbourne has had a great specimen growing inside near a sky-light for a few years. It's still purply red and about 4 foot tall.
Hope my cutting grows as well!
Anyone else tried growing a red trigona inside?

hi Tammy
have just looked this one up on desert-tropicals.com
Euphorbia trigona (African Milk Tree). not frost tolerant, light shade, orig. Tropical West Africa. water - moderate in summer, dry in winter. grows to 6ft. had a cutting growing of this, but ducks liked it better. it was mottled, not red. have only seen green ones. they have some good specimens growing at Frasers Nursery in Canningvale, Perth. (not for sale unfortunately, but small ones) hope this is of some help Jan

Jan can send you a piece of mine in spring best time for rooting them. have some other things put aside for you .
Thanks for info ..
Tammy

Following your advice last year I purchased from the Canning Vale markets what I think may be a Euphorbia. I will post a pic. in the Gallery for identification.
Renato

thanks Tammy. got mine from Frasers Nursery in Canningvale.
they have a great display section if you get down to Perth., well worth the visit. i dribbled all the way round - twice.

I've heard alot of people who have the same problem with this plant, "I put it in the sun and it died!" I live in sun-drenched Tennessee, and have one sitting in the back yard getting at least eight hours of sun each day. It looks great, full-leafed, and deep green. See, there is a secret to getting this plant to like sun, start it small. If you take a well-rooted indoor plant and put it outside, it won't do well. It just can't make the transition easily. But, if you start a SMALL cutting and move it outside into a partly shaded area, and gradually move it into full sun, it will soon become a sun-worshiper. Remember, this plant comes from the African plains, so full sun is normal for it. It just takes some coaxing to get it to give up the comforts of central heat/air!

Hello All, New to GW, and this may not be at all relevant but will put it forward. I have what I think is Aeonium sp. very dark leaves, small amount of green towards centre. Morning sun, some shade later in day, a little winter morning sun but otherwise quite shady in winter. Was very disappointed to find it all green during winter, however as the sun became stronger and longer, it returned to the dark colour again, touch of green in centre. This may be what Aeonium do? Help!! I don't have a Euphorbia trigona to compare the reactions of both to my growing conditions.