The beauty of the hippeastrum flower can bewitch. The plant blooms only once a year, but how! However, unpleasant surprises also happen: a flower has not appeared or the plant has begun to fade. To prevent this from happening, you need to know the nuances of caring for hippeastrum, its growth features.
Plant characteristics
Hippeastrum is usually classified as bulbous plants, so it has its own characteristics of care and reproduction. In total, about 90 species of this plant are known. In accordance with this, the size of the bulb may also vary. It can reach a diameter of about 5-10 cm.
Hippeastrum, which is also transplanted using bulbs, has linear leaves. Their color is predominantly green, however, some specimens may have a crimson color. The inflorescences of the plant are umbellate, the length of the peduncle is from 35 to 80 cm.
The color of the flowers of this plant can be very different. Sometimes it can simply surprise you with its color scheme and unusual combinations.
Features of home hippeastrum
The hippeastrum flower, the photo of which can be seen in this article, has a number of features that you just need to know in order to grow it.
If you prefer plants with light flowers, then keep in mind that they receive extremely few seeds suitable for planting. For the summer, this plant is most advisable to relocate to the garden, having dug it on your personal plot.
Blooming hippeastrum can be a great gift for any holiday. After all, the timing of its flowering is easily regulated. The flowering period lasts about ten days for each flower. Bulbs of rather large size are used for distillation, since it is in them that there is a fairly large supply of necessary nutrients.
How to care for hippeastrum at home?
Growing hippeastrum is a rather difficult and painstaking process. Because of this, many do not dare to start a blooming hippeastrum at home. For its growth should choose a well-lit place, best of all south. However, direct sunlight should not be allowed to fall on the leaves. The temperature should ideally be maintained at 17-25 ° C.
Hippeastrum, the transplantation of which in the summer to open ground is very favorable, should be protected from excessive waterlogging. At first, you need to water it very little, increasing the volume only with the appearance of a peduncle, which will signal that the growing season begins.
Hippeastrum bulbs do not like the direct ingress of water on them. It should be ensured that the ground is moist, but in no case wet. The lower watering method from the pallet is suitable, which is more gentle. After flowering, watering can be significantly reduced, and then completely stopped.
Hippeastrum transplant technique
Hippeastrum, planting and caring for which require some effort, will certainly thank you with an unusually beautiful and lush flowering. An important point for its transplant is the choice of pot. There should not be a distance of more than 2 cm between the bulb and the wall. The hippeastrum, which is transplanted every three to four years, is seated either before the dormant period, or immediately before leaving it.
For transplanting a plant, it is better to use the transshipment method so that the root system is injured minimally. About a third of the bulb should be above the surface of the soil.
Breeding
Hippeastrum, planting and care for which are described in this article, has two methods of reproduction: seed and vegetative. In this case, it is better to sow the seeds immediately after when you collected them. So their germination capacity reaches almost 100%. If the seeds dry out, then the germination capacity drops sharply - up to 30%. However, for seeds to appear, the flower requires artificial pollination.
Can also be separated from the main bulb of the so-called children. This can be done, for example, during a transplant. Baby sit in a separate pot. It is noteworthy that for two years the leaves on it are not removed even during dormancy.
Rest period
The hippeastrum flower, a photo of which can be seen in this article, is characterized by the presence of a dormant period. It lasts from September to January. Plants that were in the open field in the summer should be brought into the room by September. At this time, watering should be minimized, and then completely stopped. In this regard, the flower will dry the leaves that need to be removed, and cut the stem. After this, the pot should be sent to a dark and dry place with a temperature of 6-12 ° C. Watering it is not necessary. In this state, the plant is 6-8 weeks. After this begins the period of awakening.
Hippeastrum flowering period
Hippeastrum, the transplantation of which took place before the dormant period, needs to activate flowering. Especially resorting to tricks to speed up this process in the event that on the eve of any celebration, which is simply necessary to make forcing.
In order to bring flowering closer, the hippeastrum bulbs can be treated with water at a temperature of 43-45 ° C for three hours before planting in the ground. Extreme temperature will provoke flowering after about three weeks.
You can also stop watering your pet at the end of August, and then move it to a dry and dark place before the end of January. After that, watering resumes again. After one and a half months, the plant is again ready to please you with its flowers.
Some gardeners practice a different technique. In July, the plant cuts off all the leaves and stops watering, and with the resumption of watering, liquid complex feeding is introduced. However, in order to avoid a burn, the kidney must first be soaked well. The flowering period in this case will be around August or September.
Why does hippeastrum refuse to bloom?
Interruptions in flowering may be due to depletion of the soil. After all, this plant consumes quite a lot of nutrients, and their supply in a small pot is very limited. To avoid this, you need to regularly feed. You can do this with watering.
The reason for the lack of flowering can be pests. It is to fight them that the plant can throw all its main forces, but they simply will not remain for flowering.
Flowering will not occur due to waterlogging of the soil, as well as due to rotting of the bulb.
The timing of the onset and the quality of subsequent flowering are directly dependent on how correctly the plant was introduced during the dormant period and how it spent it. From mid-September, watering should be completely stopped, the wilted peduncle cut and the fallen leaves removed. Thus, the plant leaves in a dormant period, which will last until you put the pot from a dark, cool room in a well-lit place and resume watering. Hippeastrum will again begin a period of active growth.
When growing a flower indoors, lovers often encounter diseases and pests. So that they do not cause a lot of trouble and do not ruin your pet, you should periodically carry out preventive maintenance in the form of examination and antiviral treatment. Hippeastrum, which is transplanted with an examination of the bulb, can be treated with solutions of antifungal drugs.