Plant Care, Watering, Bathing, Soap Baths, Home Garden Alphabet - 4

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

Water in the life of indoor plants

It is advisable to have a watering can for watering flowers with a long spout, with the help of which it is very convenient to reach far-away plants, if there are a lot of them on a windowsill or rack. In addition, the long, thin spout of the watering can prevents the soil from eroding in the pot and exposing the roots, which inevitably occurs when watering from a container with a large neck. (If the roots are still exposed, you need to sprinkle them with a fresh earthen mixture. Palm trees are an exception to this rule. They stand, as if "on tiptoe", on their roots slightly bare at the root collar. And this is normal for them.)

The missing long spout of the watering can can be replaced with a simple device. The abundance of plastic bottles allows them to be used for watering. To do this, drill 1–2 holes in the bottle cork with a heated awl or nail. Such a thin stream of water will not harm any plant. Another option for using plastic bottles with one hole in the cork is during the summer vacation when there is no one to take care of your flowers. A bottle filled with warm water with a screwed-on cork is buried in a large flower pot with the neck downwards and the bottle is fixed by tying it to a peg or strong stem of the plant itself. Automatic drip irrigation for the plant is provided for two weeks, while, of course, the flower must be removed from the solar window.

Cosmetic water treatments and plant pest control are directly related to water and should be discussed separately. Like any living being, a plant needs cleanliness, and, therefore, washing. Different procedures are useful for different genera and species, but cleanliness is necessary for everyone, as a guarantee of health. Well-groomed, washed crowns and leaves of flowering plants are generally free from pests and diseases. It is always easier to prevent defeat than to fight it later.

Conventionally, one can distinguish a group of species with pubescent, velvety leaves - especially sensitive to moisture ingress. These are the familiar Saintpaulias, gloxinia (or synningia, as they are now called), streptocarpus, coleria and other representatives of the Gesnerian family; ruelia, begonias of many species, and even pelargoniums (which are colloquially called geraniums, although the latter grow only in open ground). Drops of water leave unsightly spots on pubescent leaves, which inevitably leads to necrosis (necrosis) of the leaf tissue. If a sunbeam hits the water droplets, a powerful lens is formed, which immediately burns through the delicate tissue of the leaf.

A general rule for bathing plants: the crown must dry completely, only after that you can put the flowers in a permanent place with sunlight. Floral plants with pubescent leaves, perhaps more than smooth-leaved, accumulate dust on their surface, which spoils their appearance. But the main thing is that dust complicates their life processes, and therefore it is necessary to regularly clean the leaves on both sides with a soft brush, while covering it with an earthen lump in order to protect the ground from debris and possible pests, microorganism spores. In the same "brush" way cacti are cleaned.

The rest of the plants are very fond of regular bathing under a warm shower. Regularity depends on the degree of dust accumulation and contamination of leaves with oily residue from incomplete combustion of gas in kitchens. Ideally, bathing is done every month. Whether the bath is actually in the shower or on the spot with a sponge depends on the size of the plants. Young specimens, which can be transferred to the bath without consequences for the health of their own back, are transferred there.

The earthen ball is carefully covered with a film and tied up so that dirty water does not get into the ground. It is convenient to put the pot in a bag and tie its edges around the stems, making the opening as small as possible.

If there are many stems, and it is not possible to close the ground tightly, then, closing it as far as possible, the plant is laid on its side and the crown is watered with warm water, gradually turning the bush around its axis in order to rinse it from all sides and thoroughly. In this case, it is better to pre-water the plant so that the dry earth does not spill out during these rotations. Before bathing, it is convenient to remove with a brush everything unnecessary from the surface of the earthen coma: pieces of fallen leaves, petals, salt appearances on the edges of the pots. Small insects that emerge during watering and immediately become noticeable are drained away along with the irrigation water. The land is dried, the irrigation regime is changed to a more moderate one, and in one of the next irrigations, a pink solution of potassium permanganate is used.

If small "inhabitants" of the earthen coma were found, it is worthwhile to carry out a more thorough cleaning of them. When the crown of the plant is dry, untie the protective bag, gently loosen the top layer of soil by 1–2 cm and sweep it into the bag with a toothbrush. Now you can add some fresh soil, and, if necessary, apply a complex fertilizer of long-term effect in the form of capsules AVA or AVA-N with nitrogen, organic sticks "Aburakasu - deciduous", "Keifun-flower", "Floretta" and other brands. This technique makes it easier to care for plants, since it provides plants with food for several months (and even up to a year), eliminating the need for frequent feeding.

If the plants living in the kitchen are heavily contaminated from fatty deposits, one shower is not enough. You can first wipe the leaves of hoya, chlorophytum, scindapsus and other species with a sponge moistened with soapy water from laundry soap (the earthen lump should be covered with a film). The same method is used if pests are found on the plants: spider mites, scale insects, thrips, mealybugs, aphids, etc. Thick soapy foam dissolves fat, closes the air holes of pests, which suffocate after 1.5–2 hours. After this exposure, the crowns are washed with a warm shower. In the event of the appearance of a scale insect and a worm, more delicate work is required: with a cotton swab dipped in vodka or alcohol, or in a soap-alcohol solution, carefully remove these uninvited guests from the leaves and stems.

If you don't have time to wipe every small piece of paper, but there are fatty contaminants, make a soapy bath. It is more convenient to use a bucket of lukewarm soapy water for this (the sponge is repeatedly washed with laundry soap and immediately washed off in this water until the water becomes cloudy and foam forms). The pot with the plant is tightly tied in a plastic bag, the crown is lowered into soapy water, placing two sticks parallel to the rim of the bucket for support under the edges of the pot. You can keep a flower in such a soapy bath for 1–2 hours, after which it is carefully removed, placed on the bottom of the bath and washed off with a warm shower. When the crown dries up a little, the plant is placed vertically and the leaves are allowed to dry completely, then they are put in place. (If a plant with a dense crown, heated and softened in water, like myrtle or fuchsia, is immediately placed vertically,their fragile branches may break off).

A soap bath according to the same “recipe” is prescribed for those species that aphids, ticks, whiteflies have chosen. Whiteflies are always a special pain for flower growers. They enter the house along with garden soil and new plants.

A useful rule of thumb: each new plant is best placed for a while separately from the entire collection. It is even worth holding it in a spacious plastic transparent bag. If any pests are visible, it will be more convenient to deal with them by treating them with the desired composition and closing the package again. In this case, the risk of contamination of other plants is minimal.

There are no effective means of protection against whiteflies, more precisely, their egg-laying at home. Recently, a systemic drug Aktara has been recommended, but at home, of course, I do not want to use chemical protection. But aktara, indeed, is effective against both whitefly and scale insects, the worm. A solution of this systemic drug in the concentration specified in the instructions is watered with highly egg-laying whiteflies, specimens of fuchsia, ferns and subtropical species affected by the scabbard. Then repeat watering in 7-10 days 2-3 more times. Of course, it is better to do this on the balcony or in the garden (then the crowns are also sprayed at the same time), but, as a last resort, in order not to lose the collection, you have to do it in the house. The notorious yellow cardboard plates with glue, apparently, have not been popular for a long time. Adult insects can be treated with infusion of garlic, tobacco dust according to the usual recipes. Here is one of the simplest: 80-100 g of chopped garlic is poured into 0.5 liters of cold water and infused in a tightly closed glass container in a dark place for five days.

Then the infusion is filtered. 20-25 ml of the resulting concentrate is poured into 1 liter of water, shaken well and sprayed with insect-affected plants with this working solution, adding a few drops of dishwashing liquid to it, so that the solution better adheres to the surface of leaves and insects. (Garlic concentrate can be stored for a long time in the cold.) But after two days, new insects hatch, and everything must be repeated from the beginning. Garlic or tobacco vapors in the air at home every other day - very few people are able to withstand two. There remains a "long-lasting" method: a cool shower, especially on the underside of the leaves, where the whitefly egg-laying is located, is convenient to do by laying the plant on the bottom of the bath. It is possible to swim "upside down" in a bucket, even with clean, non-soapy water, for an hour. In the water, insects suffocate and thus free the plants from their presence. The procedures are repeated every two to three days until the pests disappear. Sometimes it is necessary to ruthlessly trim heavily affected specimens in order to preserve the collection. For the whitefly, fuchsia is a host plant, she loves her very much and has difficulty parting. Some growers exterminate these small white flies mechanically: by moving the branches, they crush the insects on the glass, immediately erasing the traces of the “struggle”, or catch them with a vacuum cleaner. The consolation is that when the air temperature drops in winter, the number of pests decreases, and you can succeed in this fight. You can replace the topsoil in pots more often, this also reduces the number of various pests. For the whitefly, fuchsia is a host plant, she loves her very much and has difficulty parting. Some growers exterminate these small white flies mechanically: by moving the branches, they crush the insects on the glass, immediately erasing the traces of the “struggle”, or catch them with a vacuum cleaner. The consolation is that when the air temperature drops in winter, the number of pests decreases, and you can succeed in this fight. You can replace the topsoil in pots more often, this also reduces the number of various pests. For the whitefly, fuchsia is a host plant, she loves her very much and has difficulty parting. Some growers exterminate these small white flies mechanically: by moving the branches, they crush the insects on the glass, immediately erasing the traces of the “struggle”, or catch them with a vacuum cleaner. The consolation is that when the air temperature drops in winter, the number of pests decreases, and you can succeed in this fight. You can replace the topsoil in pots more often, this also reduces the number of various pests. You can replace the topsoil in pots more often, this also reduces the number of various pests. You can replace the topsoil in pots more often, this also reduces the number of various pests.

As for bringing beauty and cleanliness to large-sized plants, there is only one method: each leaf on both sides is cleaned by hand, with a soft sponge or cloth, with soapy or clean water (soapy water must be washed off with clean water), sometimes first with a dry sponge, then with a wet one. In recent years, special polishes for leaf shine based on natural wax have appeared on the market. This cosmetics is not for everybody, besides, it can be used only on the upper surface of glossy leaves, which actually look great after the next bath. On the underside of the leaves are the stomata, which must be free and clean for normal metabolism.

Still, the most important thing for the success of an indoor flower garden is to love these amazing green, variegated, variegated, fragrant living creatures or just with the smell of fresh greenery. Indeed, with the advent of green pets, life at home is transformed, as with the birth of children. Do not believe me - check!