Coniferous plants until recently were not considered suitable for indoor conditions. But now individual species of cypress have been successfully cultivated as houseplants. They cultivated large-fruited, chestnut and macrocarpa Goldcrest cypress, which has erect stems, as a room culture.
Especially popular indoor cypress with erect stems. His homeland is Southern California. This variety is not very whimsical, it is a fast-growing evergreen tree with a bell-shaped, very elegant crown. Its wood is fragrant, dense, impregnated with a richly odorous resin, which has the function of protecting the plant from decay or woodworms. It is better to place this variety in a group composition, thereby creating an excellent background for more colorful plants.
Cypress is an indoor plant whose healing needles extremely beneficially affect the human nervous and respiratory systems. In addition, it intensively produces oxygen, thereby improving the indoor microclimate. The height of indoor cypress can reach up to 2 meters. Its growth is regulated by pruning, as well as the capacity of the pot.
In general, indoor cypress is an unpretentious plant, but there is one important nuance: it does not tolerate dry air and high temperatures in winter. Therefore, it is rather difficult to grow them in rooms with central heating, but it is still possible.
Indoor cypress: plant care
Lighting Indoor cypress needs bright diffused light, shading from direct rays of the sun, especially in the summer. In winter, a bright room is needed for cypress. If the content of cypress in the summer on an open window sill (with the exception of the northern windows) is not allowed, then in winter it will have to be rearranged as close as possible to the light - to the western or southern window, but only before the hot sun in spring. With a lack of light, the cypress will stretch and lose its shape, and with an excess of light, on the contrary, the leaves turn yellow and crumble.
The temperature is moderate, but in winter you need to create a cool regime for the plant, the temperature will be optimal at 8-10 degrees. If the temperature is too high and the humidity level is insufficient, the plant in the pot will start dropping needles, and its branches will dry out and will not grow back. From the end of May to the end of August it is best to keep the cypress in the fresh air, in the shade and protecting from drafts. Hot air of central heating is detrimental to the plant.
Watering . In winter - moderate. And from spring to autumn - plentiful. Indoor cypress does not tolerate either an overabundance of water, or drying up the earth, or rather drying out an earthen coma, because it is simply fatal to the conifer. In winter, watering depends on room temperature, for example, when it is kept at a temperature of 8 °, watering is needed about once every ten days, at 12-14 ° - about once a week.
Humidity In summer and spring you need regular spraying. In cases where in winter it is not possible to provide room cypress with a cool room, it should also be sprayed with warm water in the morning and evening.
Topping up cypress from May to August is carried out using liquid mineral fertilizer for indoor plants. The concentration of fertilizer is taken at half the recommended rate. Such feeding is carried out once a month.
Reproduction . Indoor cypress propagated by lignified cuttings in summer and spring. It is also possible to grow plants using seeds (in spring).
Transfer. The plant is transplanted every 2 years, in April - May. Indoor cypress is extremely painful for the trauma of its root system, therefore, a transplant with a complete replacement of the earth is carried out only in extreme necessity. Often, transshipment with incomplete replacement of the upper earthen layer is used. In simple terms, they replace only the land that easily separates itself from the roots if the plant is removed from the pot. The soil for cypress take this: one part of turf and peat land, two parts of leaf, one part of sand. This plant prefers soil looser, so be careful when transplanting, so that the root neck does not penetrate excessively into the ground, because then the cypress can die. Good drainage is also needed.