Bougainvillea is a beautiful and original plant. She can decorate and transform any room or territory. How to grow such a spectacular tree and create conditions for long flowering?
Description
Bougainvillea is an evergreen liana native to Brazil (South America). There she can grow up to 15 m. Her young branches are very flexible. They cling well to the support. Therefore, it is easy to form any geometric shape from them. A ball, a pyramid, a cone can form a bougainvillea. Growing and caring for her is not difficult.
Bougainvillea blooms profusely in spring and summer, from April to September. Her flowers are inconspicuous, small, yellow. Unusual appearance and beauty give them bright bracts. From a distance it seems that these are petals. And only close to you can examine in detail their structure. Colors are vibrant and expressive. Bracts can be red, purple, red, purple, white.
Some gardeners are afraid that the room will grow too large bougainvillea. Growing and caring (photo) will help to get a healthy plant. And in order to adjust its size, there is cropping. You can put it on the trellis and get a plant that will serve as a decoration for an apartment or house.
If you plant several trees of different colors nearby, you will get very beautiful compositions.
The leaves of bougainvillea are large, up to 12 cm long. They are dense, wide and ovoid. They are arranged alternately.
There is a room and garden bougainvillea. Growing and caring at home are slightly different from natural ones.
Varieties of indoor bougainvilleas are "wonderful" and "naked."
Used by:
- for compositions in gardens, parks;
- for landscaping facades;
- for decorating apartments.
In creating bonsai style compositions, bougainvillea is also indispensable.
Cultivation and care
Bougainvillea loves heat. The best weather for her is from 22 to 30 degrees. But in winter, during the rest period, it must be lowered to 12 degrees. In apartments, this is not always possible. Then you need to find for her the coldest place in the room.
Do not overcool the roots. It is better not to install a pot of plants on the floor of a cold room. Otherwise, bougainvillea may disappear.
Garden cultivation and care
In the southern regions, bougainvillea is grown on the street, covering for the winter like grapes or roses. But this can be done in areas where the temperature does not drop below 5 degrees heat.
Feels good in the fresh air. Therefore, in the summer it is better to take it to the yard, where bougainvillea grows well. Cultivation and care for the garden are different in that you do not need to transplant the plant. The temperature regime is regulated in a natural way. But you need to water yourself. Natural precipitation may not be enough for bougainvillea to grow well and bloom profusely. Growing and caring on the street in the summer and spring consists of pruning, top dressing.
Lighting
Of great importance for the formation of colors is the amount of sunlight. During flowering, bougainvillea should be in a well-lit place.
And in winter and autumn, it will feel good in the shade. During this period, she needs only 5 hours of illumination per day.
Watering
What kind of watering likes bougainvillea?
Cultivation and care are not possible without proper water regime. Bougainvillea does not tolerate drought, it discards leaves and loses attractiveness. But stagnation of water in the root system leads to its decay.
Therefore, you need to water bougainvillea only after the soil in the pot dries for a couple of centimeters. Be sure to drain excess water from the pan.
In winter, at rest, bougainvillea can not be watered. But you need to make sure that the earth in the pot is not completely dry.
Bougainvillea leaves are irrigated every summer. Do this in the winter, if the air in the apartment is too dry. The water temperature should be around 22 degrees.
Do not use chlorinated water for spraying and irrigation. Do not allow moisture to get on the flowers.
Top dressing
Once a week, bougainvillea is fed with a solution of complex mineral fertilizers, organic or means for flowering plants. When the plant becomes large, then you need to feed it once every two weeks.
In order for bougainvillea to bloom and grow well, they are fed with phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers.
During dormancy, there is no need to feed the plant.
Planting and transplanting
Bougainvillea is planted in the spring in a deep bowl with good drainage. The soil for cultivation should be dense, slightly alkaline, well permeable to moisture and air. For planting, you can prepare a composition consisting of turf and leaf soil, peat with the addition of sand. You can take humus instead of peat. If it is not possible to cook it yourself, take ordinary soil and add sand to it. Although bougainvillea can grow on any soil.
But first, every year it needs to be transplanted. This is done carefully so as not to damage the plant. Otherwise, it may discard leaves and even become ill. Bougainvillea is transplanted by transshipment so as not to destroy the lump of land in which the roots are located. For this, the plant is watered, wait a while, until the whole soil gets wet. Gently pass a narrow object near the walls of the pot so that nothing interferes with the transplant. Tilt the dishes with the flower, holding with your hand. Carefully transfer the lump of land into the dishes prepared in advance with new soil.
When the plant grows up, it can not be transplanted until five years. When the pot is cramped, bougainvillea blooms lushly. And if you transplant it into dishes with a large volume of land, then it will begin to grow actively, and flowering will deteriorate.
When replanting, you can not take the pot much more than the previous one. It is enough to take a couple of centimeters more in diameter.
Pruning
Bougainvillea needs constant regular pruning. She will help to form an original and beautiful crown. If pruning is not carried out, the plant will have several long branches, at the ends of which flowers will be placed. The number of flowering shoots also depends on the quality of the crop. Flower buds are formed mainly on young short branches.
Pruning is done in spring and autumn, after flowering, if it was plentiful. At the same time, young shoots cannot be cut. It is only necessary to shorten them to half. Otherwise, the plant will not produce new flower shoots.
In the fall, just cut off the tips of the shoots. This contributes to the growth in spring of young stems on which flower buds will be laid.
Having carefully examined the plant and correctly cutting it, you can form the original shape of the crown.
Breeding
Bougainvillea multiplies:
Young shoots are propagated by layering, shoots to the ground and sprinkled with soil a few centimeters. Shallow incisions are made at the site of the alleged appearance of the roots. They contribute to the rapid formation of roots.
Bougainvillea is propagated by cuttings harvested from young shoots. This is done from May to July. Shoots with three to four leaves up to 10 cm long are cut off under the kidney. Stand for several hours in ordinary warm water. Then immersed in a solution of epin or heteroauxin. You can use any growth stimulator. The simplest and most affordable can be honey. Cut the leaves that are at the bottom of the cuttings.
A mixture of peat and sand is prepared in a ratio of 1: 1. Set the prepared cuttings so that they are in the substrate until the second internode. Set in a place where there will be a constant temperature of 25 degrees. It is desirable that heat be supplied from below. Cover with a glass jar or make a mini greenhouse. Appreciates the young bougainvillea cultivation and care. We must not forget to spray the cuttings every day and air them. The root system develops within a month. Then the young bougainvillea is ready for transplantation.
Growing and leaving seeds is complicated by the fact that it is not easy to collect the seeds themselves. In early spring, they are sown in moist soil. They germinate for a very long time. Therefore, they need to be covered with a film or a mini-greenhouse should be built over them, constantly sprayed and watered.
Diseases and Pests
Very much appreciated bougainvillea cultivation and care. Diseases are associated with improper watering.
Bougainvillea does not tolerate drafts and waterlogging. She reacts to them by dropping leaves or does not bloom.
The plant can be affected by spider mites, aphids and fungal diseases. Sprayed with the same drugs as the rest of the flowers.