Growing Laurel - Laurus Nobilis In The Room

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

Decorates housing, refreshes the air in it and drives out insects In recent decades, some of the subtropical plants that have long been grown as such, but were very rare on windows, have become widespread in indoor culture.

One of them is the noble laurel (Laurus nobilis L.). It is not only known for a long time as an agricultural spicy-aromatic crop, but for more than 2 thousand years - since the time of Ancient Rome - it has been grown as a houseplant.

His homeland is the Mediterranean, Transcaucasia, Crimea. It is a dioecious evergreen shrub, occasionally a tree up to 15 m tall with smooth brown bark. It is durable, lives for 300-400 years. It has many different forms, incl. differing in the size and shape of the leaves (they are different even within the same tree).

Leaves are alternate, short-petiolate, leathery, dense, oblong-lanceolate or ovate with wavy edges and pointed apex, 8-20 cm long. They stay on the tree for about 6 years, emit a special aroma; young leaves are poisonous.

Their taste is bitter, astringent due to the presence of a large amount of tannins. Flowers are small, invisible, whitish-yellow on short pedicels, collected in axillary umbellate inflorescences. They have a weak but pleasant aroma.

There is a form with double flowers. Laurel blooms from March to late May. Fruiting from 4-5 years. The fruit is a shiny dark blue, almost black, single-seeded drupe. Seeds in nature ripen in October-November. The weight of 1000 seeds is 400-500 g.

Laurel is very hardy, adapts well to new, even unfavorable growing conditions. Relatively thermophilic. Drought-resistant, does not tolerate excess moisture. It is undemanding to soil in nature, but prefers fresh, drained, especially clay and limestone.

Very decorative, well tolerates haircuts and shaping. By cutting it, you can give it the shape of a ball, a pyramid and any other shapes. Resistant in urban environments. Where it can be grown outdoors, it is used as tapeworms, curbs, bosquets.

Both the leaves and the wood contain 2 - 3% essential oil, which has a characteristic pleasant, long-lasting odor that is not tolerated by flies and mosquitoes. In medicine, it is used for spasms, colitis, as rubbing in to strengthen the nervous system. It is also used in canning, confectionery and alcoholic beverage production. And fatty oil is used in perfumery, soap making, veterinary medicine.

Bay essential oil can also be obtained at home. To do this, 30 g of finely chopped leaves are infused for two days in 200 g of hot, but not boiling sunflower oil (most conveniently in a thermos). Then the leaves are separated and squeezed, leaving a mixture of fatty and essential oils.

Dry leaves are the most common spice that goes with almost all first and second courses. It is a strong antioxidant (antioxidant) agent. In addition to essential oils, about 3% of them, the leaves also contain tannins and bitterness. Therefore, they induce appetite and aid in digestion.

Collect them from plants not younger than 3-4 years old from November to February. Dry in the shade. They are also used for medicinal purposes: with amenorrhea, colic, hysteria, they are a good diuretic, they are used for flatulence. In folk medicine, it is recommended as an anticancer agent for tumor localization. They are used in cosmetics.

Laurel in Ancient Greece was dedicated to Apollo, the god of science, art and beauty. Since then, the laurel wreath has been a symbol of victory and glory; it is still awarded to athletes, poets, artists and other winners who distinguished themselves in any competition. The word "laureate" also originated from its name.

Laurel grows well in indoor conditions. In room culture, it is especially good for decorating voluminous and cool light rooms: halls, halls, stairs, winter gardens; adapts well to indoor conditions. Forms a bush up to 1-1.4 m in height, the latter is regulated by pruning.

It grows better in a small container, so when transplanting a new pot should be no more than 2 cm larger than the old one. But at the same time, laurel requires rich, high-humus soils (black soil or humus), light in texture, i.e. with the obligatory addition of sand.

Loves regular and frequent feeding with organic matter, otherwise it slows down growth. In the summer they are fed every two weeks. Transplanted once a year in spring. Mature plants after three years. The most suitable soil mixture is 4 parts of fibrous-sod land, 2 - leaf, 2 - humus and 1 part of sand.

In hydroculture, it is grown in double pots or flowerpots with expanded clay, or in a mixture of the latter in half with sand, on a nutrient solution "Gericke" at pH = 5.8-6.0. In summer, the laurel can be displayed on the balcony (street). During the growing season, watering and spraying are frequent, in spring and autumn - moderate, in winter - watering is limited; waterlogging of the soil at this time is dangerous.

Sometimes 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda per liter of water should be added to the water for irrigation. It is drought-resistant, but with a lack of moisture, the leaves turn yellow and curl. Requires good lighting, tolerates shading, but dislikes. For uniform formation of the bush, the plant must be regularly turned in different directions towards the light.

In winter, laurel prefers rooms with moderate temperatures, but not lower than 0 ° C. Only with a gradual decrease in temperatures can it withstand short-term frosts at -10 … -12 ° C. If the indoor temperature cannot be kept below 18 ° C in winter, the plant must be sprayed frequently, especially if steam heating is available.

The laurel is not afraid of drafts. The formation of the crown begins in the second year, for this the upper part of the main shoot is cut at a height of 10-12 cm, this operation is carried out in May-June. From the buds located below, 2-3 replacing shoots will grow, which, in turn, are shortened when they reach 15-20 cm.

As a result, the height of the bush will increase by about 10 cm every year with significant tillering of the plant. A properly formed three-year-old indoor laurel should have approximately 200-300 leaves forming an extremely beautiful, lush and dense bright green crown.

Laurel rarely blooms in rooms. Propagated by seeds, layering, root shoots, cuttings. With seed reproduction, it becomes easier to get used to indoor conditions. Seeds are sown in the fall, immediately after collection, since they quickly lose their germination; to a depth of 4-5 cm. When two leaves appear, the seedlings are planted with a placement of 2x2 cm, and later in separate pots.

The cuttings are difficult to root. Better if they are with a "heel". They are cut in March-April-May, they should be ripe, but not lignified. The optimal cutting length is 6-8 cm. The lower two leaves are removed completely, and the rest are shortened by half.

Best of all, cuttings root in coarse sand at high humidity and temperatures of + 24 … 26 ° C. They are deepened by 1-1.5 cm when placing 10x10 cm. They take root no earlier than a month later. To increase the percentage of yield and accelerate rooting, it is advisable to treat the lower ends of the cuttings with growth substances (heteroauxin, root).

After rooting, the seedlings are planted in pots with a diameter of 7-9 cm. The root shoots are separated during transplantation. Pests for laurel in indoor conditions are: spider mites, mealybugs, aphids, leaf or greenhouse thrips, scale insects - brown destructive, polyphagous and others, bay leaf flies. From diseases - various leaf spots.

Few other indoor plants can, like laurel, decorate a house, refresh the air in it, and expel insects. And if it happens that in the kitchen suddenly there is no dry bay leaf, he will help out here too.