Easy care and growing streptocarp at home
In beauty, the hybrid forms of streptocarpus are comparable to orchids in the subtlety and sophistication of inflorescences. Care and cultivation of streptocarpus will not cause difficulties even for a novice florist. Bright wrinkled lanceolate leaves up to 30 cm long frame a riot of floral bouquet. Flowers are single gramophone on a long arrow, but they come out of each leaf axils, bloom for a long time and soar over the pots, forcing you to admire yourself.
Photo of streptocarpus with proper care at home
At home, streptocarpus can be grown in the east or west window. In the back of the room, illumination with a special spectrum lamp and an ordinary fluorescent lamp will be required. In summer, shading will be required on the south window, on the north – there is not enough light. Direct sunlight will ruin the leaves and flowers. Like many ornamental indoor plants, streptocarpus in care and cultivation does not tolerate drafts and stagnation of water in a pot..
Air humidity of 60-70% will create comfortable conditions. A pallet with pebbles and moss will help. In winter, the flower will gain strength for flowering if it is kept at a temperature of 16-18 degrees, excluding feeding and reducing watering. A month and a half of rest is enough for the plant to recover. In addition, the flower needs determining factors:
- the right substrate;
- watering and fertilizing;
- transplant;
- breeding.
Container and soil composition for streptocarpus
A distinctive feature of good care for streptocarpus at home is the rapid growth of the bush. The cache-pot is required low, but wide. There must be drainage, the layer will be about 2 cm. The plant is transplanted at the end of winter and again after six months. The best way to transfer is to transfer to a large container..
The main condition is that the soil should not be compacted, remain light and breathable. Ordinary soil for seedlings needs to be diluted in half with sand or perlite, chopped moss, vermiculite
The plant can also be grown in peat. Peat-based soil should always be moist. When this substrate dries, a monolith is formed. Any soil for indoor plants, even purchased, must be sterilized.
Watering and humidification mode
Growing healthy streptocarpus and caring for them is associated with proper hydration of the plants. Watering through a drainage hole is considered normal. It is good to organize the moistening of the earth through the wick. In this case, the constant supply of capillary moisture makes the soil stably moist. When watering overhead, water must be poured along the walls of the pots, trying not to get on the leaves and flowers.
Water streptocarpus with soft warm water. If the plant has dropped its leaves due to the drying out of the earth, elasticity will be restored, but the drooping flowers will have to be cut, they are lost.
Mist spraying streptocarpus loves, but water droplets on the leaves can lead to unsightly spots. For humidity, it is appropriate to keep the flower pot on a pallet with a humidifier. A saucer of water installed near the plant will also help..
Power Requirements
A young, rapidly growing bush after reproduction requires nitrogen fertilization. But they should be reduced in percentage when buds appear. Now streptocarpus needs phosphorus and potassium. Of the ready-made compositions for indoor plants, the fertilizer “New Ideal” is used first, later fertilizers are suitable for beautifully flowering plants of the “Super flowering”, “Vialochka” series and the like. The plant is fertilized once a week, alternating between different compositions. During the rest period, feeding is not done.
It is better to halve the recommended fertilizer doses. If during this period the plant actively grows leaves, this is normal. A peduncle will appear from the axils of each leaf. Therefore, the lower leaves, in which the peduncle has already faded, must be removed, carefully cutting with a sharp knife. Watch a video on how to care for streptocarpus and grow a spectacular bush.
Pests and diseases of streptocarpus
Powdery mildew and gray rot can become diseases that affect the plant. If a section of a leaf has been powdered with white dust, it is Powdery Mildew. Under the bloom, sores will appear and the leaf will die. The disease spreads quickly and all house flowers are at risk. Therefore, you need to cut out the affected leaf and treat the plants with Topaz, this is a targeted fungicide.
No less formidable disease of streptocarpus is gray rot, which covers all parts of the plant with a gray fluffy bloom. Such a plant must be washed under a warm shower and treated with a fungicide. if new foci appear, repeat the treatment.
The conditions for fungal diseases are excessive watering, keeping in cold conditions, or vice versa, creating a greenhouse effect. Temperature and humidity need to be brought back to normal, and diseases will recede.
Of the insect pests, the spider mite is especially annoying to the streptocarpus. It starts up in dry air, spreads very quickly along the back of the leaf. Sucking out the juice, he envelops the leaf with cobwebs, in which numerous members of the colony swarm. As a result, the leaf is paler, turns yellow, dries out. To save a flower, it must be isolated and freed from flowers. Three times in 7-10 days, carry out the treatment with one of the insecticidal preparations. Spray the top layer of the earth too. At this time, it is necessary to strengthen control of the state of other plants. Omnivorous pest.
Exactly the same operations are carried out in the case of detection of thrips..
Reproduction of streptocarpus
An important condition for the spread of culture is its ability to reproduce. The flower in question reproduces:
- dividing the bush;
- seeds;
- leaf blade.
The easiest breeding method is to divide the bush during transplantation. The bushy flower expands due to the accretion of lateral formed bushes and is easily divided into parts. Due to division, the bush is rejuvenated.
It is possible to grow streptocarpus from seeds at home. Very small seeds, dredged for sale. The sowing is superficial, but since the shell needs to be destroyed, the top layer of the earth must be moist. You can get new copies with unexpected colors all year round. It takes 7 months from sowing to flowering. Seedlings need additional lighting in winter. More often streptocarpus is propagated by a leaf.
Here, the property of all Gesneriaceae is used to regenerate the roots as part of the leaf plate. For reproduction, a healthy ripe leaf and a razor for cutting fragments are taken, as in the photo. Plant a stalk in a soaked peat tablet and wait for the result. Young shoots formed around the leaf are seated in separate cups.
There is the “Toaster” method, when only the central vein is removed from a whole sheet and longitudinal stripes are arranged in a mini-greenhouse, for example, a box from under a roll. We compact and spray the planting, further we continue to create dampness in the box. There will be a lot of children who need to be seated.
Uncomplicated care, easy breeding of streptocarpus is available even for beginners.
