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Velvet leaves and large flowers-bellflowers Gloxinia are loved by many growers. And with the current abundance of varieties and hybrids, it is doubly insulting when, due to mistakes or lack of care at home, gloxinia blooms little and irregularly, and sometimes it just dies.
How to succeed in growing a house plant? How to care for gloxinia at home, so that the culture stably pleased florist and powerful foliage, and lush hats of bright colors?
Lighting conditions for growing and caring for Gloxinia
Like all members of the family, home gloxinia loves an abundance of light, but direct sunlight does not have the best effect on the condition of the plant. Quite dense pubescent castings can dry out, the flowers wither much ahead of time. Therefore, caring for the gloxinia, she chose a place for the season and climate zone.
For example, in spring the flower grows beautifully and picks up color on the southern window, but on summer days and at the peak of flowering here it will need shading. In the heat, it is optimal to place pots with gloxinia on the eastern or even western windows, where the maximum intensity of the sun appears only in the evening or morning hours.
We must not forget that the lack of light in the care of gloxinia threatens:
- by pulling interstices;
- loss of ornamental foliage;
- reduced quality of flowering or complete rejection of bud formation;
- paleness of foliage and drop-down flowers.
In order to make the plant comfortable in the conditions created, it is provided with a light day lasting 12-14 hours.
It is especially important to comply with this rule during the period when the tuber is only rooted, and leaves appear above the substrate surface. Special lamps for illumination will help in this.
The microclimate for the care and cultivation of gloxinia
Rooting of the tuber takes place at a temperature of 24-25 ° C.When gloxinia forms the first leaves, the temperature is reduced to 22 ° C during the day.
The night air may be 4–5 ° C cooler. If the room is hotter and the plant lacks light, which often happens when the buds are picked at the end of winter, even with proper care, gloxinia is drawn out, losing some of the decorativeness, flowers and leaves on long petioles become smaller.
The lower temperature limit for gloxinia is 18 ° C.In colder air, the plant slows down the growing season, and if you do not adjust the care of gloxinia at home in time, it can die. It is just as detrimental for a plant during the growing season and flowering a prolonged rise in temperature above 28 ° C.
In addition to the temperature in the room, gloxinia is important air humidity in the range of 60-80%.About the discomfort associated with excessive dry air, say lowered down, slightly tucked leaf plates.
How to care for gloxinia, if the room has heating and air humidity much lower than the recommended values? The pubescent leaves of the plant do not tolerate spraying, often used to humidify the air. Therefore, in this case it is better to put the pots with plants on wet clay, or use household humidifiers.
If it is necessary to irrigate the crown, make it better in the bathroom at night, so that the leaves dry out in a closed dark room, and gloxinia can get completely dry on the window.
Planting and caring for a gloxinia tuber
Depending on the storage conditions, the gloxinia tuber starts to grow from February to March. At this time, its important:
- get out of last year's substrate, clean from the remnants of old roots and soil;
- for half an hour hold the weak pink solution of potassium permanganate or process with any available systemic fungicide;Immerse
- for 12–24 hours in a solution of heteroauxin or another growth stimulator so that the growth point in the recess is not exposed to the drug.
Most often it is at the planting stage and the subsequent, as in the photo, care for the gloxinia at home, there is the greatest risk of losing tubers. This happens because of their decay. Therefore, in the pot they must make a drainage not less than 3-4 cm thick, and the tuber itself is sprinkled with soil no more than an inch.
A gloxinia pot is selected depending on the size of the tuber. A container with a diameter of 7–9 cm is suitable for the young specimen, and a long-flowering tuber is planted in a pot up to 15 cm wide.
A mixture of two parts of leafy ground, the same amount of peat and one share of washed sand can be recommended as a substrate. It is useful to sterilize the soil, as well as add to it a natural antiseptic, for example, a little crushed coal or sphagnum.
The planted tuber is covered with a film or package and placed in a warm place in a well-lit place. In such a shelter, the plant remains for several days, during which, apart from regular airing, no special care for gloxinia at home is required.
Irrigation mode for caring for gloxinia at home.
Watering for caring for gloxinia and growing it from a tuber is best done through a pan or along the very edge of the pot.
It is extremely dangerous if moisture gets on the core of the tuber, or on young, weak foliage. The sun can leave irreversible burns, and the cool air in combination with water leads to the appearance of foci of rot.
Water for irrigation must be separated and 2-3 ° C warmer than the air in the room. When moisture is absorbed into the soil, after half an hour, its remnants are removed from the pan under the pot.
The interval between irrigations is selected so that the clod of soil almost dries out in time. At the same time, during a cold spell or a long period of rains, it is possible to moisten the substrate while caring for gloxinia flower at home much less often.
Top dressing during the care of gloxinia
The rapid growth of foliage and lush flowering is impossible without additional support. Once every two weeks Gloxinia is fed alternately with organic and mineral fertilizers. It is best of all to carry out this procedure in the evening hours or in the afternoon, and also in cloudy weather, so that the sun does not damage the growth zone and foliage of the plant.
Before the appearance of buds, except for organic matter, the plant feels the need for nitrogen, stimulating the growth of green mass. But after the formation of buds, nitrogen entering the soil is restricted and transferred to phosphorus-potassium supplements. They enhance flowering, and trace elements help maintain a high decorative plants.
When the mass flowering is completed, in the framework of regular care of gloxinia in two weeks, it is fertilized twice with potassium-phosphorus agent. This measure will help the tuber to prepare for "hibernation."
Gloxinia care in the dormant period.
Gloxinia vegetation period ends in the middle of autumn.
When the above-ground part dies off, the tuber gradually goes into a state of "hibernation", ceasing to develop and consume moisture. At this time, it is important to first reduce and then completely stop watering.
For the entire period of rest, as in the photo, care for gloxinia at home is changing. First of all, the tuber is important to ensure safe storage. This is done in one of two ways: the
- pot is transferred to a cool room where the air is not warmer than 10–15 ° C, and is sometimes moistened to prevent the tubers from drying out;
- after dying off the foliage, the tubers are removed from the ground, cleaned and sprinkled with sand or sawdust is placed in the cold.
In the second case, the storage temperature of gloxinia tubers is 5–8 ° C, and the substrate in which they are located must be dry or barely wet, otherwise rot and mold will not be avoided. This storage method is convenient because the planting material does not take up much space, and caring for gloxinia is reduced to inspecting sleeping tubers.
