Curculigo-molyneria - Gorgeous Leaves With Minimal Maintenance. Growing At Home. Kinds. Photo

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Curculigo-molyneria - Gorgeous Leaves With Minimal Maintenance. Growing At Home. Kinds. Photo
Curculigo-molyneria - Gorgeous Leaves With Minimal Maintenance. Growing At Home. Kinds. Photo

Video: Curculigo-molyneria - Gorgeous Leaves With Minimal Maintenance. Growing At Home. Kinds. Photo

Video: Curculigo-molyneria - Gorgeous Leaves With Minimal Maintenance. Growing At Home. Kinds. Photo
Video: Low Light Indoor Plants | Easy to Grow 2024, March
Anonim

One of the easiest green indoor plants to grow, curculigo, doesn't seem humble. Beautiful leaves in dense curtains outwardly resemble the lobes of palm leaves. Perfect in shape, bright, unusual, curculigo leaves conquer with the brightness of a green hue and their modern minimalism. This plant fits perfectly into interiors, setting unobtrusive, eye-pleasing accents in collections and solo parts. Curculigo is one of the most grateful and undemanding indoor plants. And although it has long been retrained for molinerii, it is one of the most recognizable.

Curculigo-molyneria - gorgeous leaves with minimal maintenance
Curculigo-molyneria - gorgeous leaves with minimal maintenance

Content:

  • Almost bulbous curculigo with palm leaves
  • Types of curculigo
  • Conditions for growing indoor curculigo
  • Caring for curculigo at home
  • Diseases, pests and problems in growing
  • Reproduction of curculigo

Almost bulbous curculigo with palm leaves

The classification of curculigo is often difficult. This plant was previously attributed to the Amaryllis family, and out of habit, it often continues to be recorded in the ranks of indoor bulbs today. Despite the fact that the only indoor kurkuligo long been reclassified to another genus - Molinero, and in another family - now kurkuligo are a family Gipoksievye (Hypoxidaceae) - on the shelves of the plant is found still under the old name.

Curculigo-molineria is sold and advertised as a simple herbaceous perennial with decorative leaves, almost without paying attention to the growth pattern and structural features of the plant, which provide both endurance and such a simple character.

This amazing plant came to us from India, where thickets of curculigo create impressive massifs and perfectly complement the look of the local exotic flora. This culture can be found in other countries of Southeast Asia, but associations with Indian flora have already become canonical.

Curculigo-molineria is often described as a modest houseplant, a small potted accent, but in fact it is far from a small crop that can be compared in size and role in the interior with three-lane indoor sansevieria.

Curculigo belongs to evergreen herbaceous perennials. The plant is often described as a perennial with a shortened or underground stem, but it does not actually form shoots and what looks like a stem is the top of the upright, growing, thickened rhizome from which the basal leaves grow.

Curculigo leaves are very easy to recognize for anyone who grew palms from seeds: they really look like undivided palm fronds - solid, tough, very beautiful, with longitudinal venation. Folded and strong, curculigo leaves, depending on the species, can grow from 1 m to 1.2 m in length. The leaf width can reach 15 cm. Their lanceolate shape seems to be exemplary: rather wide, with elongated ends, the leaves conquer not only with a beautiful folded-corrugated structure, but also with a very beautiful and bright shade of dark green color.

The leaves sit on short grooved petioles, they bend back beautifully, and more often than not in one direction, which enhances the effect of dense clumps and creates an interesting play of lines. Curculigo leaves are very fragile. They do not recover from injuries, so you need to handle the plant very carefully.

The flowering of curculigo-molineria is rarely called decorative, but you cannot call it at all unremarkable. Grayish-yellow, with a muted color, somewhat reminiscent of lilies, flowers with massive stamens are collected in medium-sized brushes and heads of inflorescences at the very base of the leaves. The flowers seem to be bashfully hiding under bracts, the same length as the flower itself, the decorative dense edge of which makes the whole plant very exotic. The comparison with lilies is not accidental: the flower consists of bent back, triangular-lanceolate sepals pointed at the edges.

The flowering period of curculigo usually spans the whole summer. Some plants bloom in May, others only in June, but flowering can last until September.

Molineria small-headed, or Curculigo turned down, Curculigo turned down (Molineria capitulata, synonym for Curculigo recurvata)
Molineria small-headed, or Curculigo turned down, Curculigo turned down (Molineria capitulata, synonym for Curculigo recurvata)

Types of curculigo

Molineria small-headed, or Curculigo turned down, Curculigo turned away (Molineria capitulata, synonym Curculigo recurvata) is still the only indoor species of curculigo, despite the fact that the plant was reclassified into the genus Molineria long ago.

Broadly lanceolate, with an elongated tip, rigid, folded, sessile on short petioles, unfolding in different directions in groups, growing up to 1 m in length, the leaves of this type of "former curculigo" look impressive in rooms. And even a nondescript flowering with a yellowish-pale tone of graceful bell-shaped flowers in the heads of inflorescences cannot distract from their beauty. The flowering of this plant lasts from May to September.

Conditions for growing indoor curculigo

Curculigo - Molyneria easily adapts to insufficient lighting, but makes somewhat unusual demands on the temperature of the content. Thanks to its love of coolness, the plant has earned a reputation as one of the best species for decorating halls and lobbies, public buildings and offices. But curculigo also feels comfortable in the rooms. He does not even need to create a special phase of rest.

Lighting and placement

This is one of the most shade-tolerant indoor plants (subject to slow adaptation to minimum illumination). It does not like direct midday rays, but in diffused lighting it will gladly settle both on the windowsill and in the interior, subject to the choice of semi-shady and partially shady locations.

Kurculigo feels great in rooms with east, west and north orientation. The stability of lighting throughout the year is important, therefore, most often the plant is moved to lighter places in winter to preserve the decorative effect of the leaves. This culture does not need supplemental lighting, being well reconciled with insufficient illumination even with a strong reduction in daylight hours.

One of the most unusual features of curculigo, which also makes this plant related to some palms, is its dislike for contact. Curculigo will not develop normally if the leaves touch walls or other plants. This is a lone culture that can be placed in the same place with other potters, but at some distance, excluding too close groups. The exceptional fragility of the leaves requires careful handling.

Temperature regime and ventilation

Curculigo loves consistently warm temperatures. For this plant, it is as if the conditions of living rooms were specially created, because it reveals the greatest growth rates and beauty at a temperature of about 23 degrees Celsius. During the active period of growth, it is undesirable for the air temperature to fall below 18 degrees Celsius. During the rest period, short-term falls of up to 13 degrees are permissible. But it is better to leave the temperature unchanged or at least not lower than 18 degrees.

Curculigo does not respond well to temperature fluctuations. Curculigo bushes are better protected from drafts, but you still need to ventilate the premises more often.

Flowering curculigo
Flowering curculigo

Caring for curculigo at home

Even beginner growers can grow curculigo-molineria. The plant does not require any procedures to increase moisture, nor complex care. All you need to remember is the susceptibility of the leaves to injury and the fear of the plant inaccurate and too generous watering.

Watering and air humidity

Watering for curculigo should be regular, but moderate enough. The plant develops quickly in summer, so watering should be more frequent, but also during the period of active growth, and during the rest period, accuracy in watering is better than generosity. Curculigo does not like waterlogging of the soil, it is not afraid of a short drought. It is best to water the plant, letting the substrate dry out almost halfway between these procedures.

Curculigo-molyneria will gladly respond to spraying, but it feels good in ordinary living rooms, even if the temperature exceeds its comfortable 23 degrees, when the heating system is working. In the summer, regular spraying will enhance the beauty of the leaves, especially when kept in good light, but you can do without these simple procedures.

Curculigo foliage should be regularly cleaned of dust by wiping or washing with warm water and a soft sponge. In this case, you must act extremely carefully, since any damage will lead to irreparable loss of the sheet. When wiping off dust, it is worth moving along the folds, along the length of the leaves, avoiding unnecessary repeated rubbing.

Pruning curculigo

The injured leaves of the plant do not recover, and the old foliage has to be cut off periodically. Cutting is carried out for the entire leaf as a whole, together with the handle, with sharp disinfected instruments.

Top dressing and composition of fertilizers

Fertilizers are needed for this plant only during active growth, from March to September. A standard frequency of fertilizing is suitable for a plant - 1 time in 15 days, but halved in comparison with the standard dose, or 1 feeding per month with a standard portion of fertilizers.

Any high-quality universal fertilizers are suitable for curculigo-molineria. If possible, plants can be fed with organic preparations, but complete mineral mixtures are fine. Despite the dominance of foliage in the list of decorative characteristics of the plant, fertilizers for decorative deciduous plants are not used for curculigo.

Transplant and substrate

Curculigo is transplanted once every two years or as the container is filled and the entire available substrate is used. Even at a young age, it is better to focus on the rate of growth rather than a specific schedule.

For curculigo, special containers are selected that allow increasing the width, but not too deep, corresponding to the type of rhizome. It is better to choose wide and shallow pots with high-quality drainage holes from among containers made of natural materials.

For this, plants select high-quality nutritious soil mixtures. A universal substrate for indoor plants of any manufacturer is quite suitable. You can independently prepare a substrate on the basis of sod soil, adding humus and leafy soil and sand to it (ratio 2: 1: 1: 0.5) or on the basis of leafy soil, adding humus, peat and sand (ratio 2: 1: 1: 1).

Drainage must be laid at the bottom of the containers. Curculigo prefers not large fractions, but fine, but well-draining water drainage, for example, from coarse sand or fine expanded clay. When transplanting, the plants try to contact the roots as little as possible and maintain the previous level of deepening.

Small-headed molineria, or Curculigo turned away in natural conditions
Small-headed molineria, or Curculigo turned away in natural conditions

Diseases, pests and problems in growing

It is one of the most disease and pest resistant plants. The only insect that loves the tough leaves of curculigo is the scale insect. You can get rid of them by simple mechanical washing. But it is better to combine the removal of insects from greenery with the use of insecticides.

Common growing problems:

  • the appearance of black spots with excessive moisture;
  • brown spots on leaves when exposed to direct sun.

Reproduction of curculigo

Curculigo is propagated mainly vegetatively. The easiest way is to divide large, overgrown bushes, separating half or a third of the bush into a new container. But the plant can be propagated by individual offspring. Daughter plants are separated (cut off) during transplanting, planting in a standard soil mixture for curculigo.

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