Kobeya (Cobaea) belongs to the genus of tall bushes - curly or clinging, very beautifully flowering, born in the tropics of America. In Russia, mainly two varieties of kobe are grown - with white and purple flowers, and most often both of them are used as annual creepers. This tropical plant does not survive in our cold climate. But, when it is possible to store a container with rhizome in the winter in appropriate conditions, the kobe, of course, is also a perennial plant,
extremely decorative and instantly growing. Many four-six-meter stems abundantly cover lacy cirrus leaves. A tenacious mustache raises the plant extremely quickly to an incredible height, leaving a bright green carpet in its path. Beautiful eight-centimeter
bells of flowers color the greens with white and purple, adding festivity.
Kobei. Landing and care
Most gardeners note how good they are at cultivating kobe. Planting and care, of course, require certain skills and adherence to basic agricultural technology, but there is nothing excessive in them. The main thing is a sunny location or a small partial shade, fertile, well-fertilized soil, and the absence of excess moisture. It is also necessary to fight against aphids and ticks, from which the kobe is very suffering. Leaving, you see, is relatively easy, when compared with other people from tropical places.
Breeding
This plant can be propagated vegetatively if a mother plant is preserved by spring. Kobei seeds must be soaked before planting in a solution of a growth stimulator, for example, epin. This is best done the day before. The most successful month for sowing seeds is March, or rather, its middle. In order not to injure the roots of the seedlings when picking, it is better to plant each seed in a separate foil sleeve, then growth retardation after transplantation will not happen.
Top seeds sprinkled with a half-centimeter layer of soil. In a week you can wait for seedlings. If all agrotechnical conditions are met, it will rise in almost complete composition of the kobe. Planting and grooming according to the rules is the most important indicator of plant germination, which cannot boast of good qualities in this regard. By the end of March, seedlings can be transferred to cups. Before this procedure, they must be watered, carefully unfold the foil and, without breaking the lump of earth, move the plant to a new place. When the seedlings adapt, and this takes several days, they have to be tempered. For example, on a
glazed loggia. Before moving to the garden, seedlings must be watered and fed several times. In a week and a half, the kobe will have to be transplanted again - it grows so fast. Some time before moving to open ground, seedlings will need to grow a powerful root system, so they move from cups to four-liter pots, and even better - to buckets. In a spacious bowl, a kobe grows like yeast!
Planting and care are still far from complete, and the seedlings no longer fit in the height of the loggia. They need to be tied up carefully so that when moving to the garden it would be possible to easily curl up the creepers and pack them. By the first days of June - the time of landing - landing pits should be prepared in advance and seasoned with fertile soil. Water the seedlings abundantly, and, supporting the folded vine, gently take out a lump of earth and immediately plant it in a permanent place. Next, you will need to free the antennae from the cord, with which the kobeys were tied on the loggia, without damaging them. The easiest way to cut the cord and carefully remove the segments, then raise the lianka on the supports and secure. Kobeya grows extremely fast, and to help her in this, you need to fertilize the soil alternately with organic and mineral fertilizers (every week). And of course, water! Then, by July, the kobe will be ready to bloom. A charming sight! A wall of purple
bells (bells such large flowers cannot be called tongues). Even the seeds appear! True, they do not have enough of our summer to mature.