Selaginella is a plant whose place of growth is tropical zones. It also loves the subtropics. That is why a plant needs sufficient moisture and heat to grow well.
Selaginella belongs to one of the oldest groups of flora - to the plunas. These plants, as a rule, are not large, and basically they line the area of their growth with a green carpet.
Selaginella flower is most often grown in florariums, bottle gardens and greenhouses. Only there you can provide the necessary level of humidity. However, you can take care of this plant in room conditions.
Kinds
Among the great variety is the plant, which is the most popular. This is the selaginella Martens. This species has long (up to thirty centimeters) upright stems, which lie with age. Externally, the branches of this plant are similar to fern. There are varieties of selaginella Martens. The tips of the leaves of such plants have a silver-white color.
There is also selaginella legless. Such a plant has short creeping stems and light green leaves.
The bushy plant is Wildenov's selaginella. Truly unique yet another species. This is a squamous selaginella. Its leaves, having a length of up to ten centimeters, are curled into a ball with a decrease in humidity. After watering, they straighten.
Swiss selaginella has low stems, on which there are small leaves. On the windowsill, you can grow any of these species. Preference is given to the plant you like.
General care rules
Indoor plant selaginella needs a certain thermal regime. To do this, it is enough to maintain the temperature from 15 to 21 degrees in the room where it is located. There are some types of plants for which the air should be colder. They like to grow at temperatures from ten to thirteen degrees. Indoor flower selaginella signals a temperature too high for it by darkening of the leaves, as well as their death. In order to save the plant, try reducing the indicated value by about one to two degrees.
The tropical plant is selaginella. Home care in this regard should consist in abundant watering.
Neither tropical nor northern selaginella likes direct sunlight. Home care should consist of installing flowerpots in dark places. However, the plant may not have enough light. An excessively elongated stalk signals this. In this case, it is recommended to slightly increase the lighting.
From the stems of the plant, dried leaves should be regularly removed. Care must be taken when doing this. If the leaves just wrinkled, then this may simply indicate insufficient soil moisture in the pot.
Watering
The plant needs moisture year-round. It is necessary to water it already when the top layer of soil begins to dry. This point is important not to miss. If the earth is still dry, then the flower pot must be urgently put in a basin with water for several hours. It is recommended to water selaginella through a tray. In this case, the earth itself will absorb the amount of moisture it needs. Water must be settled and have room temperature.
Humidity within sixty percent - these are the conditions that selaginella loves. Home care involves spraying the plant with warm and soft water. It is advisable to put a pot of selaginella on a pallet with moistened peat or expanded clay. This will also help to create the required humidity value.
Transfer
As they grow, the roots of the plant fill the entire volume of the pot. That is why, once or twice during the year, the selaginella needs a transplant. Pots should be chosen small, but wide. This is due to the fact that the root system of the plant is not deep.
The soil with which the pots are filled should be loose and water-intensive. It is desirable that it consisted of equal parts of fibrous peat and leaf land, as well as sand.
Breeding
To obtain new seedlings, two methods can be applied. At the first of them, the bush must be separated from the roots. For planting you will need pots of peat. Parts of the rhizome about five centimeters long, which have shoots, are planted in 5 pieces in one flowerpot. The earth in pots should be well moistened. It is necessary to ensure that the soil is constantly moist. During the first week, the pots should be covered with cellophane. The temperature in the room during this period is maintained at around twenty degrees. The first shoots will begin to appear after a month.
In the second option, propagation is carried out by stem cuttings. Very rarely, some professionals use spores located on the underside of leaflets. In this case, a box with peat is prepared in advance. Spores scatter along the surface of the soil. The box is covered with plastic wrap and waiting for seedlings.
What fertilizer does selaginella like?
Home care requires mandatory plant nutrition. From the period that begins in March and lasts until the beginning of September, complex fertilizer is recommended for selaginella . They need to feed the plant once for two weeks. You can buy fertilizer for deciduous ornamental plants. In this case, the dosage should be halved. He loves selaginella and nitrogenous fertilizers. They feed the plant every month for a year. The recommended dose should also be halved.
Disease
Pests especially do not attack the plant. Only in very dry air can a spider mite hit it. Selaginella care is not too complicated. To eliminate the parasite, it is enough to process the plant with a soapy solution.
Problems When Growing Selaginella
If the plant does not develop well, and its stems are extended and the leaves turn pale, this may mean that the soil lacks nutrients. Another reason for this condition may be a lack of sunlight. And under the influence of direct sun, the ends of the stems dry and gradually become brown. The leaves begin to curl and die off at an elevated temperature in the room.