The Brightest Indoor Crotons. Home Care. Photo

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The Brightest Indoor Crotons. Home Care. Photo
The Brightest Indoor Crotons. Home Care. Photo

Video: The Brightest Indoor Crotons. Home Care. Photo

Video: The Brightest Indoor Crotons. Home Care. Photo
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Bright colors of shiny curly croton leaves make this unique giant stand out from the competition. Even in the company of the most striking flowering plants, it is always visible. Croton is the perfect color decoration for any office and modern home. And from the purchase of this plant, neither its poisonousness, nor the risk of croton transformation into a much less attractive "stick" without proper care measures is not deterred. Demanding to everything except lighting, Croton is an always relevant classic of indoor floriculture.

The brightest indoor crotons
The brightest indoor crotons

Content:

  • The most colorful varieties of Croton
  • Conditions for growing varietal crotons
  • Uncomplicated but thorough care
  • Reproduction of crotons

The most colorful varieties of Croton

No matter how hard encyclopedias and reference books try, the botanical name "codiaum" has not supplanted the more popular, simpler and so familiar to everyone name "croton". Colorful croton-codiaums are good everywhere, in any interior and office. They remain a bright color spot even in winter, when yellow-orange-red colors are so lacking.

Crotons in their youth seem compact, showing off only a rosette of large leaves, but the trunk quickly rises up to 2 meters without plant control. Constant renewal, dropping old leaves from below exposes the “leg”, but the beauty of the foliage remains.

Large, curly and very tough leaves, the shape of which is often compared to oak, are the main pride of Croton. They are strikingly variable, surprising with their contours and shades, and the presence of decorative forms with narrow, lobed, spiral-shaped, curly leaves. Only bright color veins and the presence of patterns, erosion, shades and specks remain unchanged - always within the framework of the autumn-fiery and sunny palette, and repainting with age in red tones. Rare clusters of inflorescences are hardly noticeable and negatively affect the leaves.

In room culture, only one type of croton is grown - the variegated codiaeum (Codiaeum variegatum). He has long since moved from flower showcases and greenhouses to the interiors of rooms. New varieties, in addition to outlandish bright colors, can also boast more and more resistance.

Today, the most popular are the following extravagant varieties of hybrid codiaums with dazzling colors:

Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Mammie' ('Mammy')
Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Mammie' ('Mammy')
Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Magnificent'
Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Magnificent'
Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Gold Dust'
Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Gold Dust'
  • Mrs. Iceton is an almost green variety that changes young yellow leaves to delicate pinks, raspberry, purple and red with dark streaks and streaks.
  • Pie Crust is a spectacular variety with wavy lanceolate leaves, at any age covered with large specks - from yellow on a bright green background to pink-fuchsia on dark red.
  • Mammie (Mammy) is a variety with intricately twisted leaves, famous for its scarlet and purple spots on a dark, almost black background, replacing the yellow fire of young leaves.
  • Thai String is one of the more narrow-leaved varieties, with long, grass-like leaves painted in a wide variety of purple shades.
  • Andreanum is a showy oval-leaved cultivar with almost yellow leaves highlighted with light gold edges and veins.
  • Evening Embers is a metallic variety with a bluish bloom on almost black leaves mottled with light green and red spots.
  • Magnificent is a watercolor variety with blurred tints of red, orange, pink, bronze and purple on a dark background, with variegated patterns of light yellow colors.
  • Gold Dust is a speckled croton in which rich grassy greens and lemon yellows blend into fine ripples to create an explosion of splashes of color.
  • Zanzibar is a grass-leaved cultivar with a highly graphic crown and a mixture of purple, red, gold and orange shades with a light vein in the middle.
  • Majesticum is a luxurious cultivar with thin drooping shoots and very narrow leaves with a golden central vein that changes from dark green to red.
  • Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt are similar varieties with lanceolate, elongated leaves with a basic medium-bright color, reddening to very dark wine shades with age and covered with gold, in the second variety - yellow-pink spots.
  • Ramshot is an unusual cultivar with sickle-curving, densely spotted leaves that change from yellow-green to pink-red as they age.
  • Irene Kingsley is a violet-leaved variety with very strict, large, spear-shaped, three-toothed leaves, a bright pink border and a central vein that seems to dissolve over time.
Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Zanzibar'
Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Zanzibar'
Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Eleanor Roosevelt'
Codiaeum variegated (Codiaeum variegatum), cultivar 'Eleanor Roosevelt'

Conditions for growing varietal crotons

Do not assume that codiaums will only find a place in winter gardens or bathrooms with their stable heat and moisture. You can also find a good place in the rooms for them, but it is better not to forget about the habits of the plant and their requirements.

Lighting and placement

Crotons hardly notice the difference between natural and artificial lighting, grow well in bright rooms and do not welcome only two extremes - direct sunlight and strong shade. Different varieties of light-requiring (and the dependence of color on the intensity of light) are different, so when buying it is better to clarify what kind of lighting a particular plant is used to

There is nothing difficult in choosing a place. Crotons are placed where their decorativeness is revealed to add dividers and bright accents. In offices, lighting compensates for the distance from the window, in rooms it is worth focusing on conditions similar to those of western or eastern window sills.

Temperature and humidity for crotons

The heat-loving and moisture-loving Croton does not tolerate cold snaps, is afraid of drafts, especially with a strong temperature drop. The ideal is considered to be a summer temperature of about 20 degrees and a winter temperature of about 18, but in general it feels great in living rooms and offices with their stability. In the summer, when the night temperature does not drop below 16 degrees, crotons will happily move to the open air.

The rates of aging and deformation, the effectiveness of croton leaves directly depend on whether comfortable air humidity is maintained. Codiaums do not welcome dry air, and even more so the proximity of batteries and air conditioners. You can maintain at least average air humidity by any available means - spraying, installing pallets, humidifiers.

The effectiveness of croton leaves directly depends on whether comfortable air humidity is maintained
The effectiveness of croton leaves directly depends on whether comfortable air humidity is maintained

Uncomplicated but thorough care

For codiaums, constant soil moisture is a necessary condition. They will remain decorative and compact for many years only if gross errors are excluded and the substrate does not completely dry out. Watering is carried out abundantly, allowing a few centimeters to dry at the top of the substrate. In winter, watering is reduced.

Crotons signal the need for watering by sagging leaves. It is better to drain the water from the pallets after 5-10 minutes. And choose it correctly - soft, slightly lukewarm or identical temperature in the room.

Croton feeds are carried out all year long, with special fertilizers for decorative deciduous plants. From March to September, 1 top dressing in 3 weeks is enough, from October to the end of February - 1 top dressing every 1.5 months.

Leaves should be kept clean with regular wet cleaning. Crotons welcome the use of leaf polishes.

Croton pruning is not needed. Only when the desired size is outgrown and the trunk is excessively stretched, the tops are rerooted or pinched. Regular procedures are reduced to the removal of dying leaves and flower buds.

Problems in growing crotons

Despite the amazing density of leaves, in the absence of basic hygiene and constant overflow, Croton will not only suffer from rot, spotting, late blight and fusarium, but also become vulnerable to thrips, aphids, spider mites. It is very difficult to remove scale insects from its leaves. Any pests should be fought not only by correcting care and washing, but also by treating them with insecticides, and diseases with fungicides.

The plant always signals uncomfortable conditions and careless care with its leaves:

  • with insufficient watering, they droop;
  • when overflowing, they become covered with brown-black spots;
  • when the soil is depleted, they become smaller;
  • with poor lighting, they lose their colors;
  • in direct sun and in heat they become covered with white spots and dry out at the ends;
  • in the cold and in a draft, they do not grow and fall.
In the cold and in the draft, they do not grow and fall
In the cold and in the draft, they do not grow and fall

Transplant, containers and substrate

Crotons are transplanted when the roots appear in the drainage holes, in February or March, by the transshipment method, removing only free soil and the upper contaminated layer of the substrate.

Crotons are grown in standard pots with a depth slightly exceeding the diameter. Stable ceramic vessels with large drainage holes are preferred. 3-4 cm of drainage are laid at the bottom of the containers. Increase the pots during transplantation by no more than 4 cm.

Any loose universal substrate with neutral acidity and a high percentage of soddy soil is suitable for croton. To prevent problems in the soil, it is imperative to mix rippers, ideally perlite or small expanded clay.

Reproduction of crotons

Reproduction of codiaums requires experience and skills. If you want to root shoots and get a new plant, it is easier to apply the method of air layering - cut the bark on the stem in the internode with a "ring" and wrap it with wet moss, fixing it securely on the stem. Maintaining light moisture allows roots to develop over time. Only after they have grown up enough, the top is separated and planted as an independent plant.

Classic grafting with tops (length about 10-15 cm) is considered difficult, requiring strict control of conditions: temperature of 25 degrees and stable substrate moisture in greenhouses with bottom heating.

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