Zamioculcas is a beautiful tropical plant, whose homeland is the arid and hot territories of East Africa and Madagascar. It belongs to the aroid family and is considered a close relative of Dieffenbachia and Monstera.
If you are a happy owner of such an ornamental plant - this article is for you. In it we will tell you how to transplant Zamioculcas, as well as how to care for it in an ordinary city apartment. In fact, this plant is very unpretentious, and with due attention it will long delight its owner with a healthy and well-groomed appearance.
What does zamioculcas look like?
This plant is easy to recognize, because it looks quite unusual and very picturesque. In the ground there is a large root-shaped tuber of brown color. It stores moisture. Several cirrus leaves rise above the surface of the earth - usually 4 to 6 of them grow. They reach 100 cm in length.
Their fleshy petioles are often mistaken for trunks, because they look like powerful, highly developed and somewhat swollen stems. Cirrus leaves of zamioculcus are covered with dense, glossy leaf plates having a rich dark green color. In the natural environment, this beautiful flower, like other representatives of the aroid family, produces pale green inflorescences in the form of cobs surrounded by "bedspreads". When grown home, it blooms extremely rarely. However, from an aesthetic point of view, the inflorescences of Zamioculcus do not look very attractive, therefore, many plant growers do not seek to achieve flowering. And without white-green “ears”, zamioculcas looks beautiful and perfectly enlivens any room.
How to care for a flower called zamioculcas: general provisions
This houseplant does not usually give the owner much trouble. It prefers soft, diffused light, but at the same time it is not afraid of direct sunlight. Therefore, you can choose a well-lit southern, eastern or western windowsill and put your zamiokulkas on it. The photo shows the correct arrangement of the pot with the plant.
In summer, it is recommended to take it to a balcony or a veranda. On the street, the plant will gain strength and grow stronger. The lack of light affects the appearance of Zamioculcus - the leaves of the plant become weak and thin, with rare or far-growing leaf blades. Zamioculcas prefers moderate temperature - in the summer within 20 ° C-25 ° C, and in winter - 16 ° C-18 ° C. It is not recommended to keep the plant in a cold room (below 15 ° C), as well as expose it to drafts. Otherwise, it may get sick. Humidity for Zamioculcas, a native of Africa, is not as important as lighting. He calmly tolerates the dry air of an ordinary city apartment.
Watering and dressing a plant
As for watering, it should be moderate from spring to autumn.
The topsoil should have time to dry before the next wetting. In winter, with a cool content, the substrate in the pot is moistened even less often, about one to two times a month. In addition to watering, it is sometimes advisable to wipe the leaves with a damp cloth to wash off the dust. Zamiokulkas is fed only in the spring-summer period, once or twice a month. In this case, special fertilizers are used for cacti or succulents. Next, we will tell you how to transplant Zamioculcas after purchase.
Adaptation measures after purchase
If you have purchased and brought a new flower home, do not rush to transplant it. First, the plant should adapt a little to the climatic conditions of your living quarters. This process will take about two weeks. It is advisable to put the plant in "quarantine", that is, put the pot in a separate room where your other indoor plants are not contained . During the adaptation period, it is desirable to create the most comfortable climatic conditions for the flower, providing it with enough light and moderately watering the substrate in its pot. After acclimatization, you can safely proceed to transshipment of the plant into new soil. It is important to take into account the fact that too young specimens do not transplant, but wait for their development.
Preparation of necessary materials for transshipment in a new pot
How to transplant Zamioculcas? First you need to choose the right capacity for the plant. It is advisable not to use ceramic pots, narrow and elongated. It is better if it is plastic or clay containers, wide enough and roomy. Ideally, the pot should not be too bulky, but at the same time not tight. And remember, it is imperative that the bottom of the container has openings for draining excess fluid. After acquiring the pot, special drainage must be taken care of. Expanded clay is on sale in any floristic shops. It is advisable to purchase medium-sized drainage (fractions of 10-20 mm in diameter). You will also need a quality substrate: it must be moisture permeable, slightly acidic and nutritious. It is desirable that the soil mixture consisted of turf, leaf, peat soil and sand in equal proportions. It is also recommended to add some charcoal to the substrate. If you can’t make the soil mixture yourself, get ready-made land for cacti. After all the "ingredients" are ready, you can proceed to transshipment of the flower.
How to transplant Zamioculcas? Step-by-step procedure description
Important: all work with the plant should be carried out exclusively with gloves, since its juice is poisonous. How to transplant Zamioculcas: first we take the prepared pot and fill it with 1/4 expanded clay. Pour a layer of sand on top. Next, carefully, so as not to damage the tuber and roots, we take out the plant from the old pot. The young specimen does not need to remove the earthen lump in which it grew. Then we transfer the plant to a new pot, after which we add the new soil mixture there. In this case, do not deepen the roots of the plant too much. That's all, now you know how to transplant Zamioculcas. The photo shows the process of transferring a young, recently purchased plant into a new pot. After the procedure, the earthen lump is moistened, and the plant is placed on a well-lit window sill.
Annual transplant of an overgrown plant
In addition to transshipment carried out immediately after purchase, for normal growth and development, Zamioculcus also needs a regular transplantation, which is carried out once every one to two years. If you perform this procedure less often, the growth rate of the flower can slow down significantly due to lack of space in the pot and depletion of the soil. As a rule, transplant is made in the spring. At the same time, a new capacity is selected, slightly larger than the previous one. How to transplant Zamioculcas? A step-by-step description of the process is as follows. First, a nutritious soil mixture is prepared from peat, leaf soil, necessarily using baking powder (perlite, coarse sand, lava crumb). Then a decent layer of expanded clay is poured into the prepared container. A little ready-made soil mixture is placed on top.
Reproduction of Zamioculcas by division of the bush
The overgrown zamioculcas is carefully removed from the old pot. Then gently peel the tubers and roots of excess soil. A large, mature plant will consist of several shoots with well-formed tubers. If desired, they can be divided, and then plant the shoots in different small-sized pots. Or you can transship all the tubers into one fairly large container. After peeling the tubers from the substrate, the plant is carefully placed in a new pot (pots) and the roots are straightened. Soil is poured on top and slightly crushed along the perimeter, and then moisten the soil. That's all, now you know how to transplant Zamioculcas after purchase and how to make an annual transshipment. We hope that our tips will help you to complete these simple procedures correctly. Good luck