Saintpaulia, Features Of Growing In An Apartment, Watering And Feeding - 1

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Saintpaulia - African or Uzumbar violet (family Gesneriaceae) - one of the most charming and long-flowering indoor plants. Her homeland is tropical Africa, where about 18 species of it live. Most modern forms and varieties - white, pink, double or wavy - are derived from the violet-flowered Saintpaulia. It is a low herbaceous plant with a rosette of rounded, softly pubescent leaves and petioles.

Conditions of keeping Saintpaulia in the apartment

With good, correct content, Saintpaulia blooms for 6-10 months a year. It grows best in diffused light and temperatures of + 18-25 ° C. It loves humid air, but it cannot be sprayed, since brown spots appear on the leaves when water gets in, as well as direct sunlight, from which the leaf rots and disappears, infecting neighboring leaves. Air humidity is created by wet sand or expanded clay, on which there are violets in a common pallet. If they are kept separately, vessels with water or wet sphagnum, a coconut substrate are placed between the plants. Saintpaulias have a weak and shallow root system, therefore wide or low dishes of small volume are preferable, good drainage from broken shards, expanded clay and sand so that moisture does not stagnate in the pots in any way. The soil mixture needs light and nutritious: leafy,peat soil and sand (4: 1: 1).

For abundant and long-lasting flowering when planting young and handling or dividing adult plants, you can add a few crystals of long-acting AVA complex fertilizer to the bottom of the pot, but not under the roots. In this case, in the future, only nitrogen fertilization will be required, since AVA is a nitrogen-free fertilizer that provides the plant for 2-3 years with all the necessary macro- and microelements.

Watering is required with moderate, warm, settled water. We can safely say that proper watering is the main secret of a successful violet culture. Top dressing is done with a weak solution of liquid fertilizers, for example, Uniflor; young rosettes - Uniflor-growth: half a cap for 2 liters of warm water once a week or every 10 days. When buds appear in spring and early summer - Uniflor-bud in the same concentration once every 10-14 days for the entire flowering period. When feeding, the earthen lump should be pre-moistened. When the flowering ends (in the fall, at the beginning of winter), top dressing is canceled, watered very carefully, only a dried lump, avoiding waterlogging.

In winter, Saintpaulia requires a fairly high temperature + 18-20 ° C and good lighting. Styrofoam on the windowsill will be very useful to protect the window and the window sill from the cold. If, in the fall, when daylight hours are reduced, give additional lighting with a fluorescent lamp and maintain a temperature of about + 25 ° C, violets will actively bloom in winter. Like all plants blooming in winter, they need to be fed moderately, but regularly, once every two weeks with a weak solution of complete mineral fertilizer with an increased proportion of potassium (Uniflor-bud, 0.5 caps per 2 liters of warm water).

Reproduction of violets

Saintpaulia is a very delicate plant with fragile leaves, and it reproduces very easily. Large, well-developed and healthy leaves are cut at the base of the rosette at any time of the year, but better in spring and summer, when there is more light and heat. During the winter, due to insufficient illumination, many leaves are strongly elongated, hang over the edges of the pots, while the plants lose their decorative effect. These leaves need to be taken for cuttings, and the mother plant should be returned to a compact form. A leaf cut can be of any length, but it is better to limit yourself to a length of 7-8 cm. It is placed in settled water at room temperature in an opaque glass for rooting in a warm and bright place (water layer 2-2.5 cm.). After about 1.5 months, roots and a tiny rosette of a young violet are formed on the lower cut of the cutting. After 2-3 months from the beginning of cuttings, young plants are planted in separate small pots. At home, it is convenient to use plastic cups from yoghurts, having prepared them accordingly (it is easy to make holes for water drain with a hot nail, holding it with pliers). On these cups it is convenient to inscribe the name of the variety or mark the color and shape of the flowers.

Leafy cuttings can also be rooted in wet washed sand under a transparent cap or by tying a container with cuttings in a plastic bag to maintain constant humidity. This is a somewhat more troublesome option, since it requires regular airing (you need to untie the bag for 10-15 minutes every day before rooting).

The main difficulty of the Saintpaulia culture is their delicate nature, the thin vulnerable surface of the petioles and leaves. Pubescence - protection from contact of plant tissues with the rough environment. From time to time, shaggy leaves of Saintpaulia are cleaned of dust with a soft brush, it is not recommended to wash them, although in exceptional cases you have to gently rinse the leaves under the shower, then let them dry and only expose them to the light dry to avoid burns.