Cyclamen is a brightly flowering indoor plant with indisputable decorativeness, which is rich in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. It is often called alpine violet, less commonly - scum. The birthplace of cyclamen is Central Europe, the Mediterranean and Iran.
Plant description
The home flower cyclamen (photo - a little lower in the text) is the owner of a capricious and demanding disposition, but for its magnificent and bright appearance, all the inconvenience of keeping in an apartment is forgiven.
A spectacular favorite of women, tender, plentifully and long flowering, fragrant cyclamen is a grassy tuberous perennial belonging to the Mirsin family. Its easily recognizable inflorescences resembling flying butterflies with wings raised upwards, with numerous bright flocks towering above the leaves on their long peduncles.
And the basal leaves of the plant are in no way inferior in beauty and originality to butterfly inflorescences. Their plates have a rounded shape with a heart-shaped base and a light pattern of a lighter tone on the surface of a dark green leaf, which increases the decorativeness and attractiveness of the plant.
Flowering cyclamen mainly occurs in the winter and lasts about three months. However, there are currently some domestic species blooming in spring.
The genus of cyclamens is represented by 60 species. Of these, only about 20 are grown at home.
Requirements and preferences for maintenance and care
Further in the article - some more photos of the cyclamen flower and how to care (recommendations) for one of the most capricious indoor plants. The pickiness of alpine violets is known to all lovers of home flowers. But, armed with knowledge about the features of cyclamen care, you can successfully grow this magnificent plant at home.
Most of all, the junk will feel in a spacious and cool room, on the veranda or loggia, bright, but protected from direct sunlight. In this case, the residence of cyclamen should be away from heating appliances. The plant does not tolerate drafts, but loves well-ventilated rooms.
Temperature mode
Indoor cyclamen flowers prefer careful home care, observing the optimal temperature regime for them. In the summer, this can be from 18 to 22 ° C, but in winter, when flowering occurs, the ambient temperature should be kept between 14-16 ° C, that is, be much lower. At low temperatures, cyclamens bloom more abundantly and longer.
If it is not possible to provide the plant with cool air in the summer heat, then it is necessary to put the pot with it in another larger container with wet peat inside or wet pebbles to prevent the tuber from overheating. Humidification of the air in the place of its content will help to survive the hot period of sluggish.
Features of watering and humidity level
Cyclamen perceives spraying well, but not on the plant itself, but in the air around it. In this case, you must try so that moisture does not get on the tuber. When watering a plant, water should not be allowed to escape shoots and tubers. It is better to do this carefully, along the edge of the pot or into the pallet, but an hour after watering, the excess moisture from the pan must be removed to avoid root decay. When watering, water should be 3-4 degrees below air temperature.
After the cyclamen flower fades, watering is reduced, and in the summer, with the onset of the dormant period, they are reduced a little more. Water intended for cyclamen must be well-maintained. If suddenly a plant needs watering, and the water is not prepared, then you can get by boiled and cooled, but you can not use it immediately from the water supply.
Cyclamen prefers well-moistened air. If the leaves begin to turn yellow, this means that the air around is too dry, and if brown spots appear on them, then perhaps the water still got on the flower and it rotted. Humidify the air around cyclamen by putting a pot with it in a pan with wet pebbles or wet peat.
Priming
The soil for alpine violets should be both light and sufficiently nutritious. The cyclamen flower will feel good in the soil, which consists of the same parts of deciduous humus, peat, sod land, coarse sand, vermiculite and clay.
In order not to infect the plant with microbes and mushrooms, it is better to pour new soil with a weak solution of manganese or burn it in the oven. A drainage layer must be placed on the bottom of the pot, which may consist of expanded clay, clay shards, pebbles or broken brick.
For the convenience of gardeners, ready-made soil for cyclamens is sold in stores, but land for the senpolia is also suitable.
Lighting
The cyclamen flower does not tolerate direct rays of the sun, which easily burn delicate greens and flowers. It is better to slightly shade the plant or scatter the light falling on it.
Bright light is necessary for cyclamen only during the growing season. An excess of illumination leads to wilting of the leaves and to the appearance of brown spots on them.
Top dressing
What top dressing does cyclamen prefer and how to care for it without harming excessive care? It should be noted that this plant is better to undernourish than to add too much fertilizer. In this case, it is necessary to prevent an excess of nitrogen.
Cyclamen is very responsive to liquid mineral top dressing. However, the solution must be prepared strictly according to the instructions for its use, and it is even better to make the concentration of the substance in the water for irrigation slightly lower than the fertilizer manufacturer recommends.
The plant you just bought in the store cannot be fed for about three months, as it is oversaturated with nutrients to maintain attractiveness and presentation.
It is better to fertilize once every 14 days, alternating mineral and organic fertilizing. Doing this is necessary only during the period of active growth and flowering.
Features of landing and transplanting
The cyclamen flower, like other indoor plants, needs regular transplants. In this case, you should choose the right pot, which should not be too spacious. A size will be suitable in which from the cyclamen tuber to the walls of the planter there will be no more than 3 cm of distance. In slightly constrained conditions, the plant blooms better and more abundantly.
What else are the secrets of boarding and leaving? Flowers are cyclamen, do not belong to fast-growing crops, this is always worth remembering. Corm of alpine violet grows in volume for about two years. After this time, the plant should be transplanted into a larger flowerpot, changing the substrate to fresh in known proportions.
It is better to transplant using the transhipment method. At the same time, an earthen lump with a tuber is carefully removed from the old pot and, without shaking off the earth, transferred to a new pot, a little more spacious, and fill the voids with new soil, leaving the top of the tuber above the ground. Transshipment is carried out at the end of the dormant period, until the plant has begun active growth.
If cyclamen was just purchased or donated, then there is no need to rush with a transplant. It is better to wait about a month to let the plant bloom and acclimatize in a new place.
Rest period
Indoor flowers cyclamens when leaving at home need a dormant period, which occurs when the plant finishes blooming. At this time, its inflorescences begin to fade, then the leaves turn yellow, and the aerial part dies, leaving only a tuber.
Inexperienced flower growers often decide that cyclamen is dead, and throw it away. However, you should not worry and panic in this case. The plant only prepares in this way for a rest period.
Withered foliage can be removed without waiting for complete dying, twisting the petioles clockwise without using scissors. Care at rest requires the following:
- as soon as the leaves began to turn yellow, it is necessary to reduce the frequency of watering;
- the tuber pot should be rearranged where there is less light and cool;
- it is necessary to water a sleeping plant, but very rarely, only to prevent drying of the soil and to support the corm.
Cyclamens sleep in winter, if the room is too warm and dry, waiting for uncomfortable conditions. For flowering, they need coolness and humidity. In general, they should have a rest period in the summer, when it is too hot and lacks humidity. Hibernation lasts about three months. Then, with the first leaves waking up, cyclamens are transferred to a bright place and gradually resume watering.
Breeding methods
To reproduce the cyclamen flower, special care is required. There are two ways:
- Tuber division.
- Seed germination.
By dividing the tuber, it will be difficult to obtain a new plant, since mainly the corm has only one growth point. Plants with several tubers are rare, then this method can be used. However, delenki root very poorly and often die.
The method of propagation by seeds is more effective. It is better to sow them in the spring when daylight hours become longer (small cyclamens are less extended). Seeds are disinfected before sowing in a manganese solution or in a solution with a growth stimulant.
Nutritious soil is placed in a seedling container, grooves are made in it and seeds are planted at a distance of 2 cm, then they are sprinkled and covered with film or glass, creating the conditions of the greenhouse, not forgetting to air and spray the soil from the spray.
In a couple of months or a little earlier seedlings will appear. Remove the film gradually, increasing the time spent without it. It is necessary to ensure that for seedlings the temperature and humidity conditions are observed, otherwise small plants will fall asleep.
If after a month the seedlings did not appear, then it's okay, you just have to wait. Some species can sit in the ground for up to 5 months. When the sprouts form a pair of leaflets and small tubers form, they can be dived into separate containers. At the same time, young bulbs can be buried in the ground completely, and not like in adult plants. The first flowering will occur no earlier than after 18 months.
Diseases and Pests
Improper care can cause cyclamen disease and infection with pests. If the watering was too intense and the plant was kept in a cold room, the tuber may rot. In this case, the tuber should be removed from the soil and cut off the rotted area. Then it is washed in a weak solution of manganese and planted in fresh soil, after drying the root.
If pests, such as aphids, thrips, and mites, are found on the plant, then processing with special agents that can always be obtained at flower shops is necessary.
Causes of wilting cyclamen may be impaired care. For instance:
- too high air temperature;
- the pot is incorrectly selected;
- watering not in the pan, but on the tuber;
- violations in feeding - either did not feed for a long time, or too much nitrogen in the composition of the fertilizer.
No matter how much effort has been put into growing a flower. But when cyclamen begins to bloom as soon as it can - brightly, abundantly, exuding a unique pleasant aroma - then all difficulties go by the wayside, leaving satisfaction and pleasure from observing the beauty of the process.