Content of the article:
Pointed gray-green leaves and garlands of tiny "kids" on jagged edges. This image is most often born in the imagination at the mention of Kalanchoe. Even without knowing the full name, people represent the Kalanchoe Degremona - the most common type of room culture in our country.
Description Kalanchoe Degremona
This kind of Kalanchoe in nature is found on the island of Madagascar and in the Cape region. In the stony dry semi-desert wild plants can reach impressive sizes. The powerful erect stem of the Kalanchoe in favorable conditions grows up to 2–4 meters in height, and as the lower leaves grow, the stem gradually becomes woody.
Kalanchoe Degremona leaves are well recognized. They are fleshy, triangular, serrated. When food is abundant, leaves sometimes reach a length of 20 cm. In addition to gray or dark green, they can be variegated, with brown, purple or purple spots and stripes. On the jagged edge, rosettes of new plants are formed, which gradually develop, forming a stem, a pair of true leaves and aerial roots. As a result, getting into the ground, miniature bushes very quickly take root and begin to grow.
In nature, this species of Kalanchoe blooms regularly, laying buds during the period of shortening daylight hours. And pink-violet or brownish flowers that open in winter are collected in a large inflorescence located on an elongated erect peduncle.
Fame Kalanchoe Degremona received for record endurance and the ability to reproduce, as well as for the long-established healing properties of the juice and pulp of the plant.
Medicinal properties of Kalanchoe Degremona
The most famous product of therapeutic purpose is the juice obtained from the juicy, fleshy leaves of Kalanchoe.
The juice of this plant and pulp from crushed leaves is used as an anti-inflammatory, hemostatic and wound-healing agent. These healing properties of Kalanchoe Degremona manifests with all sorts of skin diseases, abrasions and difficult healing wounds. If you plant Kalanchoe on the garden of a summer cottage, and in the winter it is transplanted into a pot, it will be a great opportunity to use its healing properties all year round.
Fresh juice is a recognized natural remedy for sinusitis, acute and chronic rhinitis. In this case, Kalanchoe exhibits antimicrobial, soothing and disinfecting properties.
Official medicine fully supports and even develops the people's experience. It has been proven that Kalanchoe Degremona is used in the treatment of purulent inflammatory processes, when recovering from surgical interventions, in dentistry and gynecology. The juice from fresh green leaves inhibits the activity of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus.
Biochemists today are researching the antiviral abilities of a plant, for example, against the influenza virus. The possibility of using the therapeutic properties of Kalanchoe Degremona as a drug to maintain and strengthen the immune system and the general body resistance is being studied.
Care Kalanchoe: photos and descriptions of the basic techniques
Grow at home Kalanchoe Degremona is not difficult even for a novice grower. The plant belonging to the succulents is not for nothing considered to be a symbol of the unique ability to reproduce and survive. It is not demanding to the soil or the size of the pot, drought-resistant and can grow with a lack of light. But all these restrictions do not pass for Kalanchoe without a trace and affect its appearance.
With a lack of light, shoots are pulled out, the leaves, as well as with excessive poverty of the soil and sparse watering, become thinner, faded and sluggish.
What conditions and care does a plant need, how to water the calanchoe to maintain its health and growth? Like many succulents, Kalanchoe Degremona does not need a large pot and fertile soil. For planting it is better to take ready soil for succulents or cacti. It is rather light, friable and, what is important for this culture, does not trap a lot of moisture that can lead to rotting of the roots.
If there is no finished soil, you can mix in equal parts sod ground, sand, rotted humus and crushed gravel or brick crumb. A drainage layer is required at the bottom of the pot. It is by creating habitual, as in the photo, for Kalanchoe Degremona conditions of existence, you can get the best results and even admire large buds from elongated flowers.
Succulents, including Kalanchoe, are sensitive to temperature and light fluctuations.
In nature, in places where these plants are found, in summer the temperature can reach 30 ° C.At night, the air is cooled to 17–20 ° C.In room conditions, it is especially important to prevent the temperature from falling below 15 ° C and its long-term excess of 27 ° C.In winter, Kalanchoe Degremona finds an illuminated place far from heating devices and possible drafts, while reducing watering so that the roots do not suffer from stagnant moisture.
In summer, the bushes feel great on the balcony, veranda or in the garden. At this time, Kalanchoe, on the contrary, needs more water, and with its lack of withering, the leaves sag and become noticeably thinner. In order not to be mistaken with watering, before watering Kalanchoe, it is better to check the soil moisture. If it is completely dried out for one or two centimeters, then the water will benefit the plant.
Kalanchoe loves and tolerates bright lighting, in addition to the scorching direct rays of the sun, from which the bushes have to shade.
To stimulate flowering, as in the photo, care for Kalanchoe includes such a procedure as artificially limiting the length of daylight. If the bush is located on the bright window sill only from 8 to 10 hours a day, bud buds are laid on the tops of the shoots. Before flowering, Kalanchoe can be fed several times using a mixture for flower crops or succulents, as well as to ensure proper watering and care.
After flowering, there is a period when the plant is restored within a month, and then gives an increase in leaves and shoots.
At this time, not only dried dried flower stalks are removed, but also pruning of overgrown and bare shoots, the tops of which can be used at home for breeding Kalanchoe.
How to propagate Kalanchoe at home?
Very unpretentious, perennial Kalanchoe Degremona is famous for its many ways and ease of reproduction. You can get a new bush with the help of stem cuttings and leaves, cuttings and numerous children, literally lulling the edges of the leaves of adult plants. Before home propagation of Kalanchoe using cuttings, from a plant:
- cut off the tip of a healthy shoot with a sharp knife or blade;
- manually, gently separate the lateral shoot in the leaf axil with your fingers.
If such a process has aerial roots, it will only facilitate rooting. Then, the lower leaves are removed from the cutting and left for a day to dry the cut point. The finished process is placed in wet sand or substrate to a depth of 3–5 cm, and it is not necessary to use a temporary container. Kalanchoe Degremona is taking root perfectly, and cuttings can be immediately planted in a permanent pot intended for them. The soil around the plant is compacted, and after 7–10 days at a temperature of 20–25 ° C.
Care for Kalanchoe from the moment of planting consists only in timely watering.
It's no more difficult to get a plant from a tiny babe. Often, when falling, such sockets take root themselves and form a friendly “undergrowth” under the adult Kalanchoe. Therefore, they can immediately be planted in permanent pots. And when the young growth in height reaches 15–20 cm, the Kalanchoe Degremona pinch the top of the head, thus causing branching and the formation of a compact, convenient for growing bush.
