Content of the article:
The Central and South American rainforest is replete with vivid non-ordinary tangled color
The rainforest of Central and South America abounds in vivid non-traditional tangles in the tricolor
.Such is the tricolor depicted in the photo of a maranta - a prayer plant, as this flower is called in the people.
She can argue with the brightness of colors with any flowering species. But the main advantage of arrowroot is not flowers, but variegated foliage. From the outside it has an asymmetrical colorful pattern, and from the back it is painted in an elegant purple tint.
Maranta tricolor - a plant from the rainforest
Like most tribesmen belonging to the family Marantovaya, Maranta leuconeura erythroneura is a spectacular decorative and deciduous plant, which lives in nature under the canopy of a tropical forest and throughout the year pleases those who like similar crops with the head of painted leaves.
But why is the three-colored maranth represented in the photo - a prayer plant? The point is in the unusual abilities of a culture that responds to changing external conditions by raising, as if in prayer, folded leaf plates.
Wild-growing maranta tricolor - the native inhabitant of a rather wet shady underbrush. And this feature of the leaves is very useful if the plant falls for a long time under the rays of the scorching southern sun, or the dry period comes.
With the leaves raised, moisture evaporates much less, and sunburns are not so bad. But finding themselves in comfortable conditions, the flower lowers the foliage, and everyone around you can admire a bright ornament combining all shades of green, white and yellow and crimson colors.
Conditions of keeping arrowroot tricolor
Attracted by the beauty of arrowroot tricolor, growers should remember that for the active growth and well-being of this decorative native of the tropics need special conditions. First of all, it concerns the location of the flower.
If the majority of indoor crops claim to be well lit areas of the window sill, it is better for the marante to take the corner away from direct sunlight, but in a thick shade where the leaves will lose their brightness and become grayish. In the summer of marante tricolor, as in the photo, there is enough natural light, but from the middle of autumn the grower is better to take care of additional lighting.
Maranta needs heat and moisture. Drying the soil in a pot, like staying in a cold room, is a serious risk for a plant that is used to something completely different in nature.
A combination of cold and excessive moisture of the substrate is especially dangerous. The coolness is perceived by arrowroot tricolor as the beginning of a dormant period, so the plant reduces the consumption of moisture and nutrients. With an excess of unused and poorly evaporated moisture in the soil, harmful microorganisms multiply and putrefactive processes develop on the roots.
Rainforest plants are not only good for moisture in the soil, but also cannot exist in the dry air of apartments. To provide a prayer plant or maranta tricolor, as in the photo, full comfort, you will have to take care:
- for the frequent irrigation of crops;
- on maintaining high humidity using all available means;
- to protect the flower from hot air from radiators or cold drafts.
Best of all culture feels like being in a home hothouse. But the creation of acceptable conditions for the maintenance of a bright native of the tropics does not end there.
Taking care of arrowroot tricolor at home
Due to the difficulty of fulfilling all the requirements of arrowheads, flower growers consider this crop to be capricious. But if you find an approach to the flower, it will respond with rapid growth, the constant appearance of all new tricolor foliage and even flowering.
Compared with the leaves of the prayer plant arrowroot, the three-color photo of its flowers does not cause a storm of admiration. Some flower growers do not even suspect that their pet forms spike-like sparse inflorescences towering above the rosette of leaves, with whitish or lilac small flowers.
In the care of arrowroot tricolor at home you must include:
- watering;
- feeding plants in spring and summer;
- spring transplants carried out at two-year intervals;
- hygienic foliar treatment from dust and removal of dead or damaged parts of the plant;
- maintaining humidity.
Watering should be regular and abundant, while it is helpful to use soft water at room temperature. Between irrigation the substrate should dry out a little. In the summer and with the heating in the winter, the soil is moistened more often. If the room is cool, the irrigation schedule is adjusted.
Maranta tricolor perfectly perceives top dressings with mineral compositions and organic matter. Such procedures to maintain the growth rate and ornamental foliage are carried out in the warm season with an interval of two weeks. At the same time take care of the cleanliness of the leaves, regularly wiping them with a damp cloth. This will give the plant brightness, help maintain the desired humidity and activates the breath of foliage.
If the flower is in dry air for a long time, the risk of contracting arrowroot tricolor mite significantly increases. The pest settles on the back side of the leaf plates and causes the pet to exhaustion.
As they grow, the arrowroot is transplanted. For a moisture-loving culture, wide plastic pots are chosen, of which the irrigation moisture no longer evaporates, and the surface rhizomes are comfortably accommodated. In order to avoid rotting of the root system, powerful drainage is made at the bottom of the container, and for planting tricolor arrowroot they take a nutrient weakly acidic mixture of equal portions of peat, humus and leaf earth. For acidification of the substrate, ground pine bark and charcoal are added to it.
During the transplant, arrowroot can be propagated by dividing the adult plant so that the outlets obtained have their own roots and a healthy growth point.
