Conditions for growing amber geranium at homeIf in the summer pelargonium is supposed to be carried out to the open air, it is better to harden the plants in the spring, gradually accustoming them to street content and more often bringing them to the balcony or terrace.
Hardened specimens can tolerate significant temperature drops. But if the thermometer drops below zero, damage to the tips of the shoots or more serious damage cannot be avoided.
As ampelous geraniums in nature are plants of mountainous regions, most often they are undemanding to the composition of the soil. It is better if:
- indoor pets are planted in a fertile substrate with the addition of a small amount of clay;
- at the bottom of the pot is made a powerful drainage layer.
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When caring for amber geranium, the culture is provided with regular but moderate watering. Excessive soil moistening under the lush drop-down crown of the plant threatens to disturb the aeration of the soil, rotting of the roots and the death of pelargonium.
Summer home care for amber geraniums
In the period of active growth, which lasts from March to the end of August, the ampelous variety of room geranium needs regular feeding.
With constant care, the amber geranium at home responds well to weekly application of complex fertilizer.
How to feed a geranium so that it blossoms long and abundantly throughout the season? If in the spring of pelargonium for better growth, it is possible to give products containing a significant amount of nitrogen, it is better to limit the geranium in this element from the second or third feeding. Otherwise, the florist the whole season will admire the large dense leaves, but the flowering will be either very weak, or the buds will not appear at all.
As they grow, when the roots become fully habitable, the volume of the pot allotted to them, the plants are transplanted.
Ampella geranium at any age without loss carries this procedure, the main thing is not to choose the next capacity much more than the previous container. Until the roots unfold to its full extent, pelargonium does not deserve the owner with bright hats of colors.
In the warm season, the care of amber geraniums consists of:
- from irrigation, carried out during the drying of the upper layer of the substrate;
- from supplements combined with soil moistening under the plant;
- from compulsory pruning and nipping shoots.
How to pinch the geranium so that the middle of the crown does not bare the plant, and the lower shoots form beautiful cascades? In the bush species in the spring, and especially in the fall, a sufficiently deep crown trim is performed. This allows you to give the bush a compact form and achieve lush flowering in the next season.
The attractiveness of ampelous geranium is not only in inflorescences, but also in long “flowing” downward shoots. Therefore, only pruned or dried stalks are pruned, and the rest are carefully pinned.
This approach causes:
- branching due to the awakening of dormant buds;
- the formation of a larger number of inflorescences on new stems.
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As a result, the top of the crown does not "grow bald", and flowering extends to the whole plant, which turns into a bright colored ball.
Taking care of amber geraniums in winter
For wintering of ampelous geraniums, it is required:
- is a cool place where the temperature stays in the range of 5–12 ° C;
- diffused, but quite bright lighting;
- rare watering, not affecting the foliage and shoots.
If the plants lack light, by spring a mass of weak, stalks with crushed pale leaves will form on them. And an excess of moisture during the care of ampelous geraniums in winter is a sure reason for the rotting of the root collar and peripheral roots.
In addition to observing the temperature and humidity conditions, providing light, and flat-leaved pelargonium need to remove old foliage. It is better to do this with scissors, so as not to damage the kidneys in the leaf axils.
Growing geraniums from
seeds You can propagate the ampelous geranium of the variety you like by using seeds or vegetatively, by cutting. The first method will require more labor, but it is indispensable when it comes to getting new hybrids or the absence of the desired cutting.
Growing geraniums from seeds can be carried out from December to the last days of April. However, in the winter time, it is impossible to do without the use of specialized seedling lighting:
- Seeds of 3-5 mm are buried in a mixture of peat, sand, garden soil and sphagnum.
- A container with a wet substrate is placed in a mini-teplichka or under the film, where a constant temperature, humidity of air and soil.
- In good light and at a temperature of 22–24 ° C, the seeds sprout in 7–10 days.
- After 3 weeks, pick up the grown plants.
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The procedure stimulates the growth of seedlings, and from that moment they begin to feed complex means for ornamental crops. And with the appearance of several true leaves, young ampelous geraniums are seated in their own pots.
Reproduction of ampelous geranium by grafting
You can get healthy, fully transmitting signs of mother plants of ampelous geraniums using cuttings. They are cut off from adult bushes at the end of the summer, when massive flowering is completed and pruning is carried out. If the green animals gave a good, strong growth in the winter, then spring cuttings can be easily rooted.
But it is important to remember that, in contrast to zonal pelargonium, ivy varieties do not behave well in water. They easily rot, so rooting cuttings required in the soil of peat, sand and a small amount of humus.
Seedlings 7–12 cm long with several leaves of their own:
- dried for 2-6 hours in air;
- is treated with shredded wood or activated carbon;
- planted at a short distance from each other along the edge of the container or pot.
Greenland conditions are not needed for rooting to young ampel geraniums. They give their own roots about three weeks after cutting from the mother bush.
After the formation of several leaves, pinching is performed to stimulate branching. With good care, the ampelous geranium at home blooms after the first wintering and then for many years pleases the owner with a green crown and lush hats of inflorescences.
Video about the wonderful ampel geraniums