Table of contents:
- What kind of calceolaria is grown in rooms?
- Care and growing conditions for calceolaria
- How to enjoy calceolaria bloom every year?
- Reproduction of calceolaria from seeds
- 5 secrets of lush bloom "shoe"
Video: How To Enjoy Calceolaria Bloom Every Year? Growing From Seeds. Home Care. Photo
2024 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 00:23
When I first saw the spectacular flowers covering the green fleshy leaves of calceolaria with a variegated cap, I was fascinated. Therefore, when in the near future I got to the flower shop, I returned home with the cherished pot in hand. I did not immediately understand the intricacies of caring for calceolaria. She bloomed luxuriously, but then she became capricious. Later I learned that this plant is grown in indoor culture as an annual. And if you want, you can enjoy its bloom every year.
Content:
- What kind of calceolaria is grown in rooms?
- Care and growing conditions for calceolaria
- How to enjoy calceolaria bloom every year?
- Reproduction of calceolaria from seeds
- 5 secrets of lush bloom "shoe"
What kind of calceolaria is grown in rooms?
Calceolaria as an indoor flower has been grown not so long ago. Its homeland is considered the warm tropical forests of South America. About 300 species of this plant grow in nature. Among them are shrubs, dwarf shrubs and herbaceous varieties.
At home, only a few miniature species have taken root:
- Mexican calceolaria (Calceolaria mexicana);
- calceolaria purpurea (Calceolaria purpurea);
- Calceolaria wrinkled, or integrifolia (Calceolaria rugosa);
- calceolaria tender (Calceolaria tenella);
- calceolaria crenatiflora (Calceolaria crenatiflora);
- hybrid calceolaria (Calceolaria x herbeohybrida).
As a houseplant today, it is the hybrid calceolaria that is most often grown. It grows up to 35-40 cm. Above the light green leaves, flower stalks rise, on which buds of an outlandish color bloom.
Flowers can be solid colors if the room is too warm. If the optimum temperature for the plant (+ 15 … + 18 ° С) is observed, the spot remains. There are also stripes on the petals, very small contrasting spots, a thin border along the edge of the petals. The palette is varied: from white to rich gold, burgundy or pale pink.
Under natural conditions, these plants are perennials. It's a shame, but on our windowsills, calceolaria, as a rule, live and bloom profusely for only a year. Left for the next season, they just sit peacefully in a pot, releasing a few weak inflorescences or quietly die.
This would have happened with my specimen if I had not gotten to know in time how to leave calceolaria on my windowsill for a long time.
Care and growing conditions for calceolaria
The plant belongs to the capricious species that immediately respond to changes in temperature, soil composition, violation of the irrigation schedule. It should be added to this that at the end of spring I was tortured to breed aphids, which did not want to part with the leaves of calceolaria. But the period of its flowering covered all the inconveniences and troubles associated with leaving.
I was lucky to get a calceolaria bush with already formed buds, they gradually opened, delighting with their appearance for a little more than a month. I carefully cut off the fading fragments with scissors.
Temperature
Calceolaria buds form well at temperatures up to +18 degrees. If the room is warmer, then the plant will most likely drop the already collected buds and will not bloom. In the heat, pests are also activated, and the leaves begin to dry out at the edges.
The love of such cool temperatures is the main challenge when growing calceolaria in rooms. However, she is afraid of drafts. I had to put it in a cool dead-end corridor, having previously slightly shaded the window.
Humidity and watering
The southern beauty is sensitive to the observance of the humidity level, joyfully accepts a fine spray of water from a spray bottle. But! It is necessary to humidify the air around the calceolaria without water getting on the leaves, which can provoke their rotting.
I quickly got tired of spraying moisture, and I just put a few small containers of water near the pot. And then she moved the pot with the plant to a pallet with pebbles and moistened it regularly. It turned out to be more convenient and time-saving.
You need to water the flower regularly, with well-settled soft water. Excess water from the pan is immediately removed so as not to provoke root rot. Calceolaria does not like the drying out of the soil, it should be watered immediately, as soon as the top layer of the substrate dries out.
During active growth and flowering (about once every two weeks) I use complex preparations for indoor plants, such as Fertika, Slox-eco.
Lighting
Despite its southern origin, the plant is afraid of direct sunlight and gets burned on delicate leaves. For calceolaria, the eastern or southeastern side of the windows is preferable and the creation of diffused light.
But the duration of daylight hours is desirable at least 12 hours, so the plant in winter will have to provide additional lighting with phytolamps.
How to enjoy calceolaria bloom every year?
Leaving indoor calceolaria after flowering and waiting for it to recur next year is a thankless task. I tried to keep my very first, deep yellow calceolaria. I cut off the green part shortly after flowering and put the pot in a cool shed, away from the light. Occasionally dropped in and watered little by little.
After 3 months, the plant woke up, even threw out several buds, but the flowering was weak, the color saturation disappeared, and the flowers themselves were significantly crushed. I realized that there would be no point in such overexposure, and I no longer left calceolaria for the new season.
But I loved this plant so much that, without buying a new flowering bush every year, I still admire its flowers. Do you know how? I grow calceolaria from seeds every year. In the spring, my windowsills are still filled with seedlings.
Reproduction of calceolaria from seeds
My favorite is the Deinty Mix Calceolaria seeds. She is not so capricious, seeds with different color of flowers and blooms 7-8 months after sowing. By the way, it also blooms longer than others, almost 2.5 months.
I sow in mid-March, along with tomatoes. In this case, calceolaria blooms in autumn. Recently I learned that you can sow them in the fall, for spring flowering. I haven't tried it myself yet. I suspect that in this case, backlighting will be needed in the evenings.
I sow the seeds in peat, without sprinkling them with earth, only moisten them. In order not to dive once again - one granule at a time in separate cups with soil. The seeds of calceolaria themselves are very small, resemble dust, so they are sold in a protective shell that gives the plant an initial supply of nutrients and increases the percentage of germination.
I cover with glass or a transparent bag, periodically ventilate and moisten the crops. The optimum temperature for germination of calceolaria seeds is + 18 ° C.
Seedlings are born in about 2 weeks, sometimes - after three. For planting in a permanent place at the age of 1.5 months, I make up a mixture of leafy and sod land, peat with a small addition of coarse river sand. Calceolaria lives well in a soil mixture for geraniums. It is imperative to lay a drainage layer, since the flower does not tolerate high humidity and stagnant water.
After transplantation, I treat Calceolaria with Epin to enhance immunity and better adapt to the new place. To form a bush and remove excess green mass, I pinch once, leaving 3 pairs of leaves.
An interesting option turned out with the planting of several bushes in a long balcony pot. The flowering was abundant, and, moreover, different shades were caught.
5 secrets of lush bloom "shoe"
My experience of growing calceolaria has exceeded 4 years. I plan to continue sowing it in the spring, as well as experimenting with the autumn planting. For myself, I deduced several rules.
- For a flower that is gaining buds, it is necessary to maintain a temperature no higher than +18 degrees;
- Water well on schedule in moderation;
- Hide from drafts and direct sunlight;
- 1 time in 2 weeks to treat with insecticides from aphids;
- Do not leave the flower for the second year, but sow with seeds again.
So far, I manage to enjoy the rich multicolored calceolaria every year, which I sincerely wish you.
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