Hekhtia Is Exotic Without Whims. Home Care. Photo

Table of contents:

Hekhtia Is Exotic Without Whims. Home Care. Photo
Hekhtia Is Exotic Without Whims. Home Care. Photo

Video: Hekhtia Is Exotic Without Whims. Home Care. Photo

Video: Hekhtia Is Exotic Without Whims. Home Care. Photo
Video: Exotic Pictures & Music 2024, March
Anonim

The appearance of bromeliads is usually easily recognized by the shape of the leaves, and by the nature of their arrangement in rosettes, and by flowering. Hechtia is completely different from their more common counterparts. Reminding either bizarre large-leaved cereals, then succulents, or sea inhabitants, and sometimes causing more bizarre associations, it instantly attracts attention. The amazing beauty of the lines of symmetrically located, intricately curving foliage is combined in hechtia with outlandish colors. And the main surprise in the form of unusual inflorescences allows hechtia to be ranked among the brightest indoor exotics.

Hechtia - a bromeliad houseplant similar to both cereals and succulents
Hechtia - a bromeliad houseplant similar to both cereals and succulents

Content:

  • Botanical features of hechtia
  • Types of hechtia for growing in rooms
  • Conditions for growing indoor hechtia
  • Hechtia care at home
  • Diseases, pests and problems in the cultivation of hechtia
  • Reproduction of hechtia

Botanical features of hechtia

Among the representatives of the Bromeliad family, the status of exotic is not uncommon. These are unique plants, among which you can find both terrestrial species and epiphytes, invariably surprising with fleshy and tough leaves collected in easily recognizable rosettes.

Even against the background of the brightest flowering bromeliads, the valuable, rare hechtia seems to be an exceptional plant. She has not just beautiful, but unique rosettes in their ornaments. And the flowering of hechtia, which can be fully admired even in ordinary living rooms, is capable of overshadowing both Vriezia and other competitors in terms of elegance of forms.

The hechtia got their name in honor of not a botanist at all, but a Prussian official Hermann Hecht. Despite its status as a relatively new and fashionable plant, hechtia have been known since the mid-nineteenth century. These are plants of the New World, especially common in California, Texas and Mexico. Hechtia are also found on rocky taluses, on slopes, in deserts, and in forests, and some species are coastal plants on rocky shores.

The leaves of hechtia are very long, hard, thickened-fleshy, covered with thorns and thorns. With a length of 60 cm and a width of only 1-5 cm, the leaves bend beautifully under their own weight. And the wavy edge and widely spaced spikes only enhance the exotic effect. On the surface, the edge is almost indistinguishable, but in fact the leaves are decorated with small hairs and cannot stand wet and contacts. The dense arrangement of the leaves allows the hechtia to create a unique, almost graphic pattern and symmetrical lines.

Leaves diverge radially from the center of the rosette, repeating the curve of adjacent leaves and creating one intricate pattern. Leaf rosettes seem graceful, outlandish and strict at the same time. They resemble jellyfish in the bending of leaves and cereals in density. Despite the fact that the rosettes on the hechtia seem too flat, this impression is deceiving: like all bromeliads, the rosettes of this plant also store water and allow the plant to withstand drought. In height, in large adult plants, they can stretch up to 30-40 cm.

There is a lot of controversy about which feature of hechtia - flowering or rosettes - is the most attractive. Even a non-blooming hechtia still seems to be an exotic decoration and only arouses admiration. But you can also admire the flowering of the plant.

Indoor hechtia bloom in late or mid-winter. From the center of the rosettes, medium-sized, most often white, very elegant flowers, collected in complex spikelets and panicles, rise. Sessile, only 5-7 cm long, pistillate flowers with free sepals are covered with broadly oval bracts with a pointed edge, the length of which is almost always equal to the flowers themselves. The inflorescences are also elegant with triangular covering leaves and widely spaced individual ears that form beautiful lines in the inflorescence. Peduncles are naked, in some species they are not leafy, in others - with far-apart leaves.

After flowering in hechtia in nature or in large collections, where it is possible to grow plants of different sexes, cylindrical capsules of fruits begin to ripen only up to 7-8 mm in length.

Rosette of hechtia leaves is a very effective decoration of this plant
Rosette of hechtia leaves is a very effective decoration of this plant

Types of hechtia for growing in rooms

The genus hechtia is very extensive, but we are talking only about wild plants that are found in the arid regions of North and South America. In indoor culture, only five of the most decorative species of this plant are used.

Hechtia Guatemalan

Guatemalan Hechtia (Hechtia guatemalensis) is a large plant with a shortened stem. The rosette of leaves is dense and strikingly spreading. The massive effect is only enhanced by the narrow, linear shape of the leaves with a pointed edge. With a length of up to 80 cm in width, the leaves are limited to a maximum of 5 cm, but such sizes are almost never found in rooms.

At the bases, the leaves are solid, but most of them are decorated with large, rigid thorns with white scales below. The spines are very noticeable due to their rather sparse arrangement.

The most striking feature of this species is the reddish tint, which sometimes turns the rosettes into a bronze-brown wonder. Naked peduncles are crowned with a three-fold plumose panicle of inflorescence, rising to a meter height. The panicle branches are directed downward, they can grow up to 30 cm in length, the brushes are one-sided and rather graceful. This type of hechtia is characterized by small sessile flowers with free petals, graceful lanceolate bracts and very large, about 5 cm long, triangular covering leaves.

Hechtia guatemalensis
Hechtia guatemalensis

Hechtia texas

Hechtia texensis is a spectacular silvery and very prickly species with half-meter rosettes of very narrow and thin leaves, whose location in the rosette is somewhat reminiscent of dracaena. Thorny thorns emphasize the symmetry of this plant.

Hechtia silver

Hechtia silver (Hechtia argentea) is one of the most beautiful textural plants. Strongly shortened stem and rosettes with strict, symmetrically arranged, densely sessile leaves seem to be a living miracle. Thin leaves with a length of up to 60 cm will not exceed 2 cm in width, despite their fleshy texture, they droop and bend in arcs under their own weight, creating the effect of a cascade in the outlet. The wavy edge emphasizes the beauty of the lines, and the hooked spines, pale, large and hard, only enhance the grace of the green.

The naked peduncles of this species droop under the weight of the inflorescences. The complex ears are emphasized by the oval-pointed stem leaves located at a great distance. Separate spikelets are arranged alternately, widely spaced from each other, flaunting with sharp covering leaves, oval bracts and small flowers.

Hechtia tillandsievidnaya

Hechtia tillandsioides is an unusual, almost non-prickly species with a very bright green color of glossy leaves located in a spreading sloppy rosette. Peduncles are very tall, crowned with spikelets of inflorescences with pink small flowers. One of the most striking types of hechtia.

Hechtia texensis
Hechtia texensis
Silver Hechtia (Hechtia argentea)
Silver Hechtia (Hechtia argentea)
Hechtia tillandsioides
Hechtia tillandsioides

Hechtia Glomerate

Hechtia glomerata (Hechtia glomerata) is a very large species with leaves lying, rising up at the edges, forming a light green, symmetrical, very beautiful rosette.

Hechtia glomerata
Hechtia glomerata

Conditions for growing indoor hechtia

Hechtia is rarely grown in rooms, for fear of their capriciousness. But few plants can handle dry air and heat better than this bromeliad. Hechtia is able to adapt to different lighting conditions. In fact, the only difficult part of growing it is cold wintering.

Hechtia is mistakenly considered a touchy plant. Due to the size of the sockets, it is most often exhibited in splendid isolation. But in fact, hechtia looks much better in mixed plantings or in collections located in a group.

It can be used for terrariums and florariums, combining with any succulents. With the help of hechtia, you can arrange a corner of the winter garden or a special rock garden in the interior. It is best to combine hechtia with succulents and exotics, and not with classic indoor plants.

Lighting and placement

Hechtia are sun-loving exotics. The midday rays are too aggressive for them, but the morning or evening sun has a beneficial effect on the decorative effect of the leaves. The most lush flowering of hechtia is shown in diffused, soft lighting. If hechtia is kept outdoors in summer, then the plant is exposed in a sunny place.

The best place for hechtia in the living room is rightly considered the eastern window sill. This culture does not lose decorative foliage even in partial shade, and if the task is not to achieve flowering, then hechtia can be grown not only on the windowsill.

Temperature regime and ventilation

During the entire active growing season, hechtia prefer to grow in heat. An air temperature of +25 degrees is an ideal environment for growing leaves of this plant.

It is very important for hechtia to ensure proper maintenance during the rest period. During the winter, the plant should be kept cool, at a temperature of +8 to +12 degrees Celsius. Falls to +5 degrees should not be allowed for a long time, but they should not winter in the warmth of hechtia.

One of the most important aspects of growing hechtia is the love of fresh air. The plant needs frequent or constant ventilation. It is afraid of any stagnant environment and can move to fresh air during the warmer months.

Hechtia calmly tolerates dry air
Hechtia calmly tolerates dry air

Hechtia care at home

It is one of the easiest bromeliads to grow. Caring for hechtia comes down to rare fertilizing and watering, its cultivation is within the power of even inexperienced growers.

Watering and air humidity

In the phase of active growth, hechtia is watered abundantly. The plant does not like stagnant water, but it is not afraid of drought. Watering is carried out by the classical method - on the substrate, allowing the soil to dry out between these procedures. Usually, this plant is watered once every 7 days.

During the summer, you can refill the funnel inside the outlet. During the dormant period, the plant is watered carefully, in the classical way, and not in a funnel, allowing the soil to dry completely before the next watering. Hechtia grow well in self-watering pots.

For hechtia, it is important to use high-quality, settled, soft water and avoid too much temperature difference between the water for irrigation and the substrate.

Despite the status of a rare and capricious plant, hechtia is not at all demanding on air humidity. Indoor species are not forest species and naturally grow well in dry environments. Hechtia perfectly tolerates summer heat; it is not worth spraying the plant even when it seems as if the conditions are too hot and dry. Any wetting harms the invisible, but important edge on the leaves of the plant.

Hechtia does not like contact with leaves, so even cleaning from dust can become a problem for this plant. It is better not to sweep or wash the dirt, but blow it off the sockets.

Top dressing and composition of fertilizers

For hechtia, the period of active feeding is limited only by the time of active leaf growth. Plants are fed from May to October. For hechtia, 1 feeding every 3-4 weeks is enough. For a plant, fertilizers are applied only in liquid form. Young hechtia react well to weak foliar feeding.

When choosing fertilizers for hechtia, you can look for special mixtures for bromeliads or use universal complex fertilizers.

Pruning and forming hechtia

In this bromeliad, pruning is reduced to removing the peduncle after the inflorescence wilts. Cutting is carried out with a sharp knife, as low as the outlet allows.

Transplant and substrate for hechtia

Hechtia is not transplanted annually, but only as it grows. Usually the plant is reloaded once every 2 years, during the spring.

Hechtia, even in room culture, does not lose its preference for soil. This plant loves a nutritious soil with a light texture. For hechtia, the ideal soil is considered, consisting of sand, leaf and sod soil in a ratio of 1: 1: 2 with loosening additives to avoid compaction - perlite, gravel, expanded clay. You can grow the plant in special substrates for succulents, bromeliads, or simple peat-sandy soil.

Hechtia is quite demanding on containers. This is not an epiphyte that needs to pick up medium-sized flat containers. The powerful root system of hechtia is distinguished by both rapid growth and branching, so for this culture you can even choose large tubs or pots, focusing on the size of the root system. The larger the capacity, the more actively hechtia grows and the larger its sockets.

When transplanting hechtia, a high drainage layer must be laid on the bottom of the containers, which should occupy about a third of the height of the container. When transplanting, the plant must be handled carefully. Protection for the hands from hechtia thorns must be taken care of in advance.

Hechtia leaves can have a variety of colors
Hechtia leaves can have a variety of colors

Diseases, pests and problems in the cultivation of hechtia

Hechtia show an enviable resistance to pests and diseases. Only serious deviations from the recommended care and contamination of neighboring crops cause damage by mealybugs or scale insects. Even the plant is more resistant to rot than other bromeliads, giving a chance to correct the situation by correcting watering, first reacting with wilting, and only then with the death of tissues.

Reproduction of hechtia

This amazing bromeliad is easy enough to propagate. Like all bromeliads, hechtia forms lateral rosettes, which it is enough to separate during transplantation from the old mother plant. Daughter plants should not be planted until they grow to a third of the height of the mother outlet. It is better to separate the children not by hand, but with a sharp knife with charcoal cutting. Plants are planted only after the cuts are thoroughly dry, 2 days after cutting.

If desired, you can get this plant from seeds, however, they are very rarely found on sale. Sowing is carried out in the spring, in a mixture of the substrate with sand, superficially, only slightly covering it with soil. Hot temperatures, diffused lighting, light humidity and patience are four components, without which you cannot grow hechtia seedlings.

Recommended: