Description is a perennial herbaceous tropical plant, whose homeland is the territory of Mexico, Brazil, Guinea, Colombia. It can be distinguished by beautiful variegated leaves, which can be of any shade, and bright red, pink, orange, white, blue or yellow flowers, slightly resembling bell-shaped ones.
The description is a representative of the Gesneriaceae family. She is considered a relative of Saintpaulia - African violet. In this article we would like to tell how the episode is grown. Proper care at home, carried out competently, will allow you to get a long and plentiful flowering. Now several hundred varieties of these beautiful perennials are known. Usually, such plants as epistaxis clove and copper are grown as a room culture. Particularly beautiful are ampelous plant forms that can revive and decorate any room.
Description: home care. Humidity, lighting and temperature
This tropical plant needs a fairly high humidity. Therefore, frequent and regular spraying is vital for him. But there is an exception to this rule: varieties with velvet leaves are not sprayed, but put on a pallet with expanded clay or wet moss. You can also maintain the necessary humidity with a household humidifier. It is advisable to place the pot with the description on the east or west window, shading the flower from the direct rays of the sun with a tulle curtain or blinds. The plant prefers diffused bright light or, in extreme cases, partial shade. With excessive shading, it will not bloom, and if direct rays hit, its leaves can dry, curl and fall off. Episia loves heat, therefore the most suitable temperature for its cultivation is considered to be a range of 25-28 ° C. At night, it may drop to 18 ° C. The main thing is to prevent strong temperature extremes and drafts in the room.
Description Home care: we select the soil and set the watering mode
The plant is transplanted in early spring. It will feel great in a high-quality earthen mixture that passes air and water well. For these perennials, a substrate for violets consisting of leafy soil, peat, sand is suitable. When planting a plant in a new container, drainage (expanded clay, pebbles, polystyrene) is necessarily placed at the bottom. The soil in the pot should always be moderately moist, but remember that the stagnation of water in the sump does not tolerate the entrainment. Caring for the plant and proper moderate watering using clean, well-kept water at room temperature will give the plant the opportunity to grow vigorously and
bloom profusely. In winter, the amount of irrigation is slightly reduced so that the top layer of the earth has time to dry by the time of the next wetting.
Description Home care: top dressing and reproduction
The description perfectly responds to top dressing with complex mineral fertilizers during the growing season. Additives are added every 14 days, making their concentration half as much as indicated on the package. They stop fertilizing in the fall, all winter the plant "rests" from them. As for reproduction, at home they practice the rooting of daughter sockets, the cuttings of the apical or leaf parts of the plant, as well as the seed method. In order for the cuttings to take root, they withstand temperatures in the room within 23 ° C, as well as increased humidity. The biomaterial is watered, regularly sprayed and the seed box is covered with polyethylene or glass. Quite easily and, as a rule, daughter sockets are successfully accepted, which are planted in a soil mixture of sand and peat. The seed method is laborious: the material is placed in the soil, moistened, covered with glass and waiting for germination, and then the seedlings are moved to separate containers.
So, in order to feel fine and flowered, the care (plant photo is presented in the article) must be literate. All that this decorative indoor perennial needs is regular air humidification, moderate watering, protection against drafts and cold snap, and diffused light. Subject to these principles, the plant will delight others with its healthy appearance and bloom abundantly in bright, cheerful colors.