Cordilina Is A Brighter Alternative To Dracaena. Home Care. Photo

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

The closest competitor to indoor dracaena cordilina is a brighter alternative to the room classics. Conquering with a wealth of pink and purple hues on the leaves, cordilins are among the most colorful indoor giants among the false palms. Reliable, relatively undemanding, always modern, cordilines fit easily into any interior. To maintain compactness and beauty for many years, they require special care. But they still cannot be ranked as very difficult to grow crops.

Content:

• Description of the plant
• Types of indoor cordilines
• Growing conditions for indoor cordilina
• Caring for cordilina at home

Description of the plant

Among the plants that are often mistaken for genuine palms, cordilina is the most colorful. Many confuse it (both in terms of cultivation and in appearance) with dracaena, and sometimes with yuccas, but cordilina compares favorably with its competitors precisely in its palette. This plant from the Asparagaceae family has long been ranked among the Dracene and Agavovs, but today their classification seems to have been finally approved.

Despite the ability of even the indoor environment to grow up to 1 m, kordilina (Cordyline) - the plant is quite compact and very elegant. All cordilins are capable of growing by releasing stolons. Among the species there are spreading thin-stemmed forms growing in groups and slender upright-growing specimens with powerful shoots. The stems of cordilinum are poorly expressed, bare only with age.

For many years, cordilins do not exceed 50 cm. And the older they get, the more beautiful they look: patterns on the leaves do not appear immediately, young plants are rather inconspicuous. Pineal tubers are surprising in fleshy, large, white rhizomes. It is by the color of the roots and the presence of stolons that cordilins are distinguished from dracaena, although these plants are not easily confused if you pay attention to the different venation of the leaves.

Broad-lanceolate or xiphoid, slightly wavy, glossy, sessile cordilina leaves in length reach up to 50 cm or more. They are always decorated with a pattern - white, red, pink, cherry, purple and yellow stripes or spots. Against the background of all variants of the basic light, medium or dark green color, these patterns look very bright. Cordilina is famous primarily for its rich red and purple hues.

Types of indoor cordilines

In indoor conditions, shrub cordilina is most often grown (Cordyline fruticosa, still more popular under the old name - apical cordilina (Cordyline terminalis). A rich palette of varieties, unexpressed stems, compactness are its main advantages. Choosing a shrub cordilina, you should rely on your taste.

The best varieties include:

• dwarf "Liliput" (Liliput);
• decorated with yellow and red patterns "Bicolor" (Bicolor);
• flaunting a red border "Red Edge" (Red Edge);
• striped yellowish green cultivar with purple fringe "Kiwi» (Kiwi);
• dark red with brighter young leaves "Tango".

Grown in rooms and red cordilina (Cordyline rubra) - a compact form with unevenly dark red, leathery, widening in the middle, shortened broadly lanceolate leaves.

Less often in interiors you can find palm-like and more boring species:

• southern cordilina , or Australian (Cordyline australis) - a beautiful dracaena-like cordilina with very narrow and rigid straight lanceolate leaves collected in a panicle;
• straight cordilina (Cordyline stricta) - an elegant and very tall look with short-lanceolate light green leaves and very thin light trunks;
• Cordilina Banks (Cordyline banksii) - a palm-shaped species with a thin trunk and very long, drooping, pointed leaves on long petioles;
• unseparated cordilina (Cordyline indivisa) - a spectacular palm species with very high stems and matte, with a bright red central vein of leaves in very dense bunches.

Growing conditions for indoor cordilina

Cordilins belong to conditionally unpretentious plants. It is difficult to grow these beauties without diffused soft lighting and stable temperatures.

Lighting and placement

Cordilina does not like direct sun, but only in spring and summer, preferring bright places with soft lighting. In partial shade, colors fade and patterns are partially lost, strong shading is unacceptable.

For the winter, the cordilins are rearranged closer to the light source, ideally on the windowsills.

Temperature regime and ventilation

Most indoor cordilins are extremely heat-loving plants. For them, it is better not to allow the air temperature to drop even to 20 degrees in summer and 18 degrees in winter. Southern cordilina prefers wintering similar to garden masonry - at a temperature of 3 to 5 degrees, and a straight cordilina - about 12 degrees.

These false palms are not afraid of heat, especially if they can enjoy the fresh air. Airing without hypothermia is only good for them, but it is not worth taking plants into the garden. It is better to additionally protect the plants from any changes and sudden changes in temperature.

Caring for cordilina at home

For this false palm, not only watering is important, but also air humidity. The rate of growth and exposure of the trunks directly depends on the quality of care, so it is better to avoid misses.

Watering and air humidity

Cordilins do not tolerate complete drying out of the substrate. Dampness, especially with stagnant water in the pallets and the lower part of the substrate, will be just as destructive for them as for all indoor plants. But keeping the humidity constant is very important. Between waterings, the substrate is allowed to dry only slightly. For the winter, watering is adjusted depending on the temperature.

Air humidity is very important for cordilin, only subtropical species adapt quite well to living rooms. Most varietal cordilins grow normally and keep the leaf blades intact only at high humidity. Plants are not capricious to methods of increasing these indicators; any method that allows them to maintain the highest possible humidity is suitable for them. Cordilins can be sprayed frequently or humidifiers installed.

Top dressing and composition of fertilizers

Cordilins require frequent and fairly intensive feeding. For them, fertilizers are applied even in winter, with a frequency of once a month, halving the "summer" concentration of fertilizers. From spring to autumn, feeding is carried out every 2 weeks. For this plant, only special fertilizers are used for decorative deciduous plants.

Transplant, containers and substrate

It is better to transfer cordilins to new containers only when needed - filling the substrate with roots - and only in early spring, when the first signs of growth resumption appear. The transshipment is carried out while maintaining the level of deepening.

For cordilina, classic stable pots with large drainage holes and a height exceeding the width are suitable. Drainage is required. Any versatile substrate will do. Before planting, it is advisable to improve the soil with loosening additives and a small portion of charcoal. A slightly acidic reaction is preferable, but cordilins grow well in neutral soil.

Diseases, pests and problems in growing

Scabbards are often found on cordilins; in a neglected state, plants can also suffer from spider mites or mealybugs. Leaves signal about improper care:

• direct sun causes dry spots;
• leaves dry or turn brown in dry air;
• brown spots appear with regular drying out of the soil;
• waterlogging leads to rot;
• leaves fall in the shade;
• in the cold, the leaves curl and lose turgor.

Reproduction of cordilina

This amazing false palm can be propagated by separating the lateral shoots or by rooting the tops or stem cuttings with multiple growth points. Rooting of cuttings in Cordilina is not as simple as that of its relatives: shoots root only under a hood, in greenhouse conditions, in warm and constantly moist soil (lower heating and a temperature of 25 to 30 degrees are preferred).