Rules For Watering Indoor Plants, The ABC Of A Home Garden - 3

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

Water in the life of indoor plants

Large-leaved palms, monstera evaporate a lot of water from the large surface of their leaves and therefore need a constantly humid air atmosphere and sufficiently moist soils.

The dense, knobby stems of yucca, bokarnea, and pseudobulbs of some orchid species are reservoirs of water, and they are watered much less often than species with delicate, thin, pubescent and velvety leaves - when the substrate is almost dry.

How do you know if a plant is thirsty?

Outwardly, this is very clearly visible on the leaves, which begin to fade, because their tissues shrink, lose turgor (elasticity and normal internal "pressure" of juices). The angle of detachment of leaf petioles changes, the plant seems to droop. Begonias with decorative leaves clearly demonstrate this. If the earthen lump is dry, as an emergency measure, the pot with the plant is immersed in warm, settled water entirely and kept in it until air bubbles continue to appear on the surface. (This method of watering is practiced for orchids.) Then the plant is taken out of the water and the excess moisture is allowed to drain onto the pan, removing it in a timely manner. But it is impossible to allow the earthen coma to dry out in moisture-loving species, this will inevitably lead to their death. For example, even a single overdrying of a coma of tender maidenhair kills these graceful plants.

Knowledge of the moisture needs of flowering plants is necessary only then to make the right choice for a home garden. Will you be able to devote enough time to caring for delicate species to maintain their beauty and health? If not, then it would be more honest and calmer to dwell on the collection of succulents, hoyas, scindapsus, sanseviers. Among them you can find a wide variety of shapes and varieties, colors of leaves and flowers.

Novice flower lovers most often start in the house those species that are not difficult to care for. Over time, decorative deciduous and large-sized plants appear in the home garden, and there it is already close to flowering species.

In floriculture, these are generally accepted terms: ornamental-leaved plants are valued for the beauty of the leaves, their care is minimal, since their flowering is not the main decorative "task". Beautifully flowering species are valued for their beautiful flowers, and the main thing here is to achieve abundant flowering. To do this, you need to know a lot, because each genus, or even species of plants, has its own secrets. To better understand these subtleties, read more special literature. Nowadays, many magazines and books on ornamental gardening are being published, you just need to determine for yourself which range of plants and the level of complexity of the presentation of the material suits you best.

How to water properly?

Watering flower plants is one of the most difficult jobs in industrial floriculture, it is entrusted only to highly qualified gardeners who are taught this skill for a long time. First of all, they take into account which group of plants a particular species belongs to in terms of moisture demand.

The main thing when watering is not to wet the root collar, tuber or bulb, leaves, especially pubescent ones. The water should soak the entire earthen ball, but not stagnate in the pan

Therefore, winter watering of species that are moderately in need of moisture will be rare, but abundant. Frequent watering gradually moistens only the surface of the earthen coma, while the main nourishing roots suffer from dryness, and the plants can be badly damaged, or even die.

It is important to consider the properties of the substrate in which the flowers grow. Gravel-stony, poor substrate for succulents is difficult to waterlogged, since water quickly spills through the lump, and it is immediately removed from the pan. It is especially difficult to water the flowers that grow in peat, because it is easily overdried and waterlogged. Both are dangerous to plant life. The fact is that overdried peat absorbs moisture very poorly, and a dehydrated plant can die. All potted flowers are now industrially grown almost everywhere on peat substrates. It is safer for beginner growers to transplant new plants into an earthen mixture consisting of compost or humus, garden soil, peat, coarse river sand or perlite (for looseness) in a proportion suitable for certain groups of plants.

In the autumn-winter season, the need for moisture in plants decreases, since most of them are in a state of forced dormancy due to a lack of natural light. If we take out of the brackets delicate species such as ferns and begonias, which cannot tolerate dry land, and succulents that do not require watering for 2-3 weeks, then the rest of the flowers are watered only after the top layer of soil in a pot or tub has dried. At the same time, the surface of the ground becomes lighter (but it is difficult to notice on a peat substrate). It is safer to check the dryness of the soil in the pot by touching it with your fingers. You can tell how deep the earth has dried by piercing the earthy ball with a thin, smooth bamboo stick to the bottom. After holding it there for a minute or two, they take out the stick. If wet lumps of earth remain on its surface, watering can be postponed for now.

Plant roots need constant access to oxygen, without which they are unable to assimilate food from the soil

Another important factor in the well-being of your plants is associated with watering. It is very important to regularly loosen the topsoil in pots, which is extremely compacted from watering, especially during periods of active plant growth. This is done carefully, without injuring the roots, with a wooden sharply sharpened peg or an old ballpoint pen without a rod. In large containers or tubs, pierce an earthen ball as much as possible, taking care not to damage the roots of the plants.

The air temperature in the room in winter is quite high, which provokes plant growth and causes strong evaporation of moisture, and therefore the need for additional watering.

It is not easy to regulate the level of heat, it is even more difficult to maintain a constant set temperature, which is needed by different groups of plants (the temperature regime must be discussed separately and in detail). While it is worth noting that placing flowers near the window glass itself and airing are the main ways to maintain a relatively low temperature for the successful wintering of many species.

Not a single plant should come under a stream of cold air from the vents and be in a draft. You can adapt a dense cardboard shelter to the window in its shape, which reliably insulates the flowers for the duration of the airing (make a kind of pipe through which cold air will pass into the room above the plants standing on the windowsill).

Many growers allow watering in a pallet. This method is justified only for marsh plants, like Cyperus, which prefers to live "knee-deep" in water. For other species, the constant presence of water in the sump means waterlogging of the soil and a lack of oxygen in it, and hence the oxygen starvation of the plant. Often you can see the following picture: a Saintpaulia bush with very moist soil and drooping, recumbent, painfully soft leaves with translucent petioles. This is precisely the case of wilting due to oxygen starvation and damage to the root collar of a delicate plant from excessive watering.

A special method of watering is needed for bromeliads: pineapple, echmea, gusmania and other representatives of this family. Despite the stiffness of the leaves with prickly edges and a large rosette, they have an epiphytic nature. In tropical rainforests, they attach with weak roots to cracks in the bark of trees and absorb moisture and nutrition through the leaves. When watering with settled, unfinished water, do not forget to pour some water into the leaf outlet. In winter they are watered very poorly, in spring and summer - more often. At home, you can grow a collection of bromeliads in scraps of old tree trunks, which will give the indoor garden an unusual flavor.

If after watering the water has seeped into the sump, then it must be removed within 10-15 minutes after watering. The same rule applies to keeping flowers in pots, where irrigation water regularly accumulates, leading to decay of the roots. For a more comfortable state of flower plants, a layer of drainage is poured on the bottom of the pots (as well as on the bottom of the pot in which the plant is planted), which first absorbs excess moisture, and then gives it to the plant as needed. It is best to use fine or medium-sized expanded clay granules for this purpose. If the planter is too large for a particular plant, then an inverted flat container can be placed on the bottom, on top of which drainage is poured.

A layer of expanded clay, poured onto a pallet with flowers in pots, and filled with water to half the thickness of its layer, provides the best air humidity. The spongy structure of this material is able to retain for a long time and gradually evaporate moisture into the air surrounding the flowers, which is required for their successful maintenance. In this case, you can do without spraying the plants. Naturally, the more flowers there are in the room, the more humid the air in it: watering and evaporation of moisture from the leaves makes the atmosphere of the rooms healthier and more comfortable for both plants and their owners.

It is useful to know that normal room air has a relative humidity in the range of 20-40% when the central heating is operating. At the same time, it is well known that a moisture content of 60–75% is more suitable for humans and plants. Too dry air dries the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx, which leads to a decrease in the body's defenses. It is now possible to humidify the air in rooms with the help of decorative indoor fountains, special industrial humidifiers; evaporator vessels of various designs can also be suspended from batteries. They can be very good-looking: stylishly made of ceramics, they serve as an interior decoration, while improving the air environment of the house. The easiest way is to put vessels with water near the batteries, with which you will water your plants in a day. Why in a day? Because during this time, tap water is freed from aggressive gases, warms up and becomes harmless to plants.

You need to water the flowers with water that has been settled during the day with a temperature slightly higher than that of an earthen coma. For heating, bottled water, watering cans are kept in the winter by the batteries, in the summer - in the sun. Watering with cold water, and even immediately from the tap, causes shock in plants and can be the cause of their death. In addition, cold water causes leaf spots, followed by necrosis (death) of the leaf tissue. A weakened plant is easily attacked by pathogens and pests. Water preparation according to all the rules includes several more procedures. The water settled in a bucket is carefully poured into a watering can, and the 3-4 cm layer of water remaining at the bottom is poured away, since salts harmful to plants are concentrated in it. If you notice a whitish coating and even powder on the surface of the ground and the edges of the pots, and white traces on the leaves after spraying, this indicates that tap water contains a lot of lime and may have a pH of 8. In this case, use special water neutralizers. For gardenias, ferns and other acidophiles, a few drops of lemon juice must be added to the irrigation water to maintain the slightly acidic reaction of the soil solution.