Hedera, or domestic ivy, is a flower that can be found in almost every home. This evergreen plant does not need complex care and perfectly survives in any conditions. Even in an insufficiently lit room with a rather low temperature, it continues to actively grow and develop. The only thing this flower does not tolerate is the drying out of the soil. Drought can trigger a complete drop of leaves. The Mediterranean is the birthplace of the flower.
Today, thanks to the work of breeders, ivy is represented in floriculture by more than one hundred varieties of indoor plants.
How attractive is ivy?
The ivy flower, a photo of which can often be seen on the pages of floriculture publications, belongs to the Araliev family. The plant belongs to deciduous-decorative, shade-tolerant. It has a second, popular name - loach. This is a shrub with many leaves. He got the popular name due to the fact that the subordinate roots entwine around any supports that are nearby, and cling to them.
Two types of leaves grow on one bush: on flowering branches there are light green and whole leaves with an oblong shape, non-blooming branches are covered with dark green leaves of an angular-lobed shape.
Has ivy flowers collected in brushes. They are located on the upper branches. Their corolla consists of 5 petals, 5 stamens and a cup consisting of 5 cloves. Pestle has a short column with a fleshy disc at the very base. Flower ivy indoor bears fruit. Yellow or black berries with seeds are its fruits.
The variety of forms, high variability and ease of care have turned indoor flowers ivy, photos of which you can see below, into popular and widespread plants for vertical gardening in home floriculture. Numerous varieties have different shapes, sizes and colors of leaves. The most common leaf shape is five-lobed, but there are varieties with oval leaves or with elongated tips, star leaves. Most often, the edges of the leaf blades are flat, but can also have corrugated or slightly wavy.
The leaves are in most cases painted in a smooth green color, but sometimes it is a fancy combination of yellow and green, white and cream colors. The flower ivy, the photo of which can decorate the cover of any publication for lovers of home plants, calendars or postcards, is so popular due to its decorativeness, unpretentiousness in care, resistance to temperature changes and drafts, rapid growth. How to care for him?
Ivy (flower): care
If you decide to grow this beautiful plant in your home, first select a place for it. It must be borne in mind that indoor ivy flower is a shade-loving plant. It does not tolerate bright light, and especially direct sunlight. Therefore, a place with soft diffused sunlight is ideal for him. It can even be in the middle of the room.
The only exception is variegated ivy. With a lack of lighting, flowers of this species may lose their decorative effect - the leaves will quickly turn a smooth green color. Many grow ivy as an ampel plant. In this case, it is better to place it against the wall, so that the plant has room for young shoots.
Humidity and air temperature
These figures depend on the season. So, in summer, for plants, the most comfortable temperature is up to + 25 ° C, dry air and heat to ivy are contraindicated. In hot weather, it is advisable to transfer young plants to a cooler place (for example, in the shade on a balcony or loggia). It requires daily spraying, as well as dousing the leaves with water at room temperature. This will help to refresh the plant and wash away the dust.
In winter, indoor ivy flower is best kept in a rather cool room at a temperature of +12 ° C. Please note that the flower should not be placed next to heating appliances. But if there was no other place, then you should increase the humidity - often water and spray. If the air temperature is much higher than necessary, set the pot on a tray with water and expanded clay.
Domestic ivy - a flower whose photo you can see below - can easily tolerate drafts and even significant temperature fluctuations (up to 10 ° C).
What soil is needed?
Ivy is not too picky on the ground. Flowers perfectly develop in slightly acidic soil (pH - 6.5). It should be composed in equal parts:
- turf;
- sheet earth;
- humus;
- sand;
- peat.
The soil mixture should be loose and slightly moistened (in summer). In winter, the soil is left moist inside, and the top layer is slightly dried. You need to know that heder can tolerate a lack of moisture much better than its excess.
Watering the plant is carried out twice a week (in summer) and once a week in winter. These are general rules, but in each case, you should focus on the air temperature and its humidity.
Plants are fed twice a month in the warm season, and one in the winter. Complex fertilizers intended for indoor deciduous plants are used for top dressing.
Pruning
Sooner or later, the time comes when you need to cut ivy. Flowers tolerate this periodic procedure quite easily. It is best to do this during the period of active plant growth. Pruning is necessary to create a beautiful magnificent crown, to remove old, diseased bare shoots. But it is necessary to leave 1-2 kidneys when pruning. Later, new young shoots will appear from them.
Transfer
When does a plant need a transplant at home? The first time it will be needed almost immediately after the acquisition of the flower. Quite often, a header is sold in a transport substrate. After ten days (the plant needs to adapt to the new conditions), the substrate must be completely removed, while trying not to damage the roots. Transplant should be in a wide pot with expanded clay drainage.
Young plants need to be replanted every year, after three years - once every two years, after five years, ivy is not recommended for replanting, you can only change the topsoil to a new one. A transplant is recommended in spring or early fall. The transshipment method is most effective: immediately after watering, a plant with an old lump of land is planted in a new container, 2 cm larger in diameter than the previous one. The resulting cracks are thoroughly covered with fresh soil. The plant is watered and sprayed well.
Breeding
Indoor ivy can be propagated in three main ways:
- cuttings;
- shoots;
- layering.
In the first case, the apical stem cuttings (length no more than 10 cm) with air roots serve as the starting material. Cut the cuttings, plant them in a pot with a nutrient mixture consisting of sand and sheet earth. Three pots can be planted in one pot. Immediately after planting, the plant is watered and covered with a transparent plastic film. Moisten the soil periodically so that it does not dry out.
After rooting, the seedlings are transferred to separate pots. You can germinate the cuttings before the appearance of the roots in a jar of water, having previously removed the lower leaves on the process. This method is used most often by lovers of indoor floriculture.
Sprout propagation
Using this method, you can get several rooted shoots from one stem at once. Cut the shoot with ten leaves, deepen it in the wet sand by two centimeters. The leaves remain on the surface. You can make cuts along the entire length of the stem - this simple technique will accelerate rooting. Water the shoot and constantly moisten the sand until the roots appear. This process takes approximately 2-3 weeks. You will understand that the roots appeared when they saw new leaves.
Now you can get the stem out of sand and cut it into pieces. Each of them should have a leaf and roots. They need to be planted in pots. As a result, you will get several new plants. The disadvantages of this method include the long process of rooting.
Propagation by layering
This method is more often used when keeping the flower in the open ground, when the grower does not want to take the shoot from the flower. If the capacity in which your indoor ivy grows allows, then it can be used at home. To do this, bend the whip-shoot to the ground, make a longitudinal cut along the stem and ditch it with the ground. The lash must be fixed so that it does not straighten. After rooting, it can be cut off from the bush and transplanted into a separate pot.
Features of care and disease
Indoor ivy is a plant with high immunity. Therefore, the cause of his death can only be a neglect of the rules of cultivation and care. Most often, beginner gardeners face the following problems:
- Variegated varieties lose their decorative effect and fade over time. The reason may be a lack of light. To save the plant is quite simple - just rearrange the flower in a bright place.
- Leaves become smaller and actively showered. This usually occurs at low humidity. To help the plant, it is necessary to spray it more often, normalize watering, and feed with fertilizers;
- The leaves turn yellow. Provokes an excess of moisture or fertilizing.
Pests of plants most often (especially in dry air) are:
- scab, which deprives leaves of nutrition;
- aphids (most often winged). She eats juice, kills young leaves and shoots;
- mealybug infecting leaves. It infects the plant with a fungus, slows the growth of the plant;
- spider red tick affecting the stem.
Ivy treatment and pest control include spraying, as well as spraying with a solution of special preparations - Actellik, Karbofos, Aktara. The procedure is repeated every three days. If the disease is started, the treatment of the aerial parts of the plant with an insecticide is allowed.
Useful and healing properties of ivy
This plant, in addition to high decorative qualities, has useful properties:
- purifies indoor air from harmful impurities:
- saturates it with oxygen;
- destroys fecal bacteria (this is true when there is a pet in the house).
Heder leaves contain a large amount of provitamin A, vitamin E, hederin, carotene, oleic and tannic acids. Ivy leaves are part of medications (anti-inflammatory, expectorant, antispasmodic).
This plant is called a home pharmacy. Since ancient times, traditional healers have used the healing properties of loach:
- infusions and decoctions of leaves (dry) cure cough;
- from corns, gruel from fresh leaves is used;
- leaf infusion effectively helps with rheumatism, arthritis. In addition, the infusion of the roots helps in the treatment of boils, burns, scabies.
Myths and Prejudices
Sometimes beginner gardeners doubt whether it is possible to keep this flower at home. This is due to rumors that ivy is a husband. The flower, the photo of which we posted in our article, “survives” all the plants from the house? Is that really true? And that’s not all: a flower is considered an archer and an energy vampire.
However, no scientific evidence exists for such speculation. Moreover, in the Scandinavian countries, ivy is a mandatory attribute of the spouses' bedroom - here it is believed that the heder firmly and firmly binds family members. In the East, ivy is recognized as a source of vital energy, so in every house they try to plant and grow it.
Do not believe in prejudice. If you like ivy, feel free to plant this plant. It is unpretentious, useful and beautiful.