Gloxinia (or Sinningia) is a perennial tuberous plant that appeared on our windowsills from the deciduous forests of Brazil and Peru. Her incredibly beautiful velvety bells, terry, with a frill around the edge or classical forms, may be the most different shades: from white and soft pink to dark purple and bright red. Often there are hybrids with amazing two-color combinations or strewn with bright specks.
The flowering of gloxinia is a very spectacular and fascinating spectacle. But, unfortunately, sometimes gloxinia growers are deprived of the opportunity to admire the wonderful inflorescences of delicate bells - their pet refuses to bloom. Why is this happening? There may be several reasons, and all of them, as a rule, are associated with errors in caring for the flower.
What should you pay special attention to in order to guarantee lush inflorescences with the onset of spring?
Gloxinia is one of the most popular and beautiful indoor plants in the world. Gloxinia, which is easy to care for at home, has become so widespread thanks to decorative flowers of various colors and shapes. Surely every passionate gardener has at least once thought about purchasing this miracle. How to grow gloxinia at home? How to properly care for her? What soils does Sinningia like? We will answer these and many other questions in this review.
The species is named after the German botanist Benjamin Peter Gloksin, who was the first to cultivate this strange plant from the other side of the world in Europe. The second father of gloxinia was another German botanist, Wilhelm Sinning, who became seriously involved in its selection and hybridization. As a result, gloxinia became a houseplant.
Gloxinia is a tropical perennial herb. The flower grows wild in Mexico and South America, from where European colonialists brought it to the Old World in the second half of the 19th century. The peculiarity of its root system is the presence of a pronounced tuber, which during the wintering period can even be dug up and stored cool until spring, like potatoes. The leaves, growing from the root in the form of a rosette, are soft, fleshy, covered with small hairs. The stem is short but thick. Gloxinia flowers vary depending on the variety.
Caring for gloxinia is not as difficult as caring for some other green pets. She loves properly selected soil, moderate watering and sunlight.
Plant the flower in soil made up of 1 part turf soil, 1 part leaf humus, 1 part simple garden soil and 1 part sand, preferably coarse river sand. If it is not possible to provide such a variety of substrates, then soil taken from a meadow, from under a linden or birch tree, as well as a purchased composition, which is best diluted with ordinary soil in a one-to-one ratio, will do. Sometimes it makes sense to add it to the mix. small amount sawdust or perlite. The decision to add disintegrants is made based on the consistency of the resulting soil. It should be light, breathable and crumbly.
An important condition is to ensure good drainage. There must be a hole in the bottom of the pot. At 15-25% of the height, the pot should be filled with pebbles, crushed stone, fragments of pottery, or at least small stones.
Ideally, water should wet the soil well, be easily absorbed and flow freely from the drainage hole.
In terms of fertilizers, gloxinia is not too demanding. Theoretically, it can not be fertilized at all, but then it is unlikely to please the owners with abundant flowering. During spring and summer, you can apply universal complex fertilizers for indoor plants. Feeding should be stopped in mid-August, due to the approaching cold season.
As for watering, it is important to observe the measure. Young plants, whose root system has not yet completely engulfed the earthen ball, are prone to root rot and fungal diseases. However, even adult specimens often suffer from the flood. The best way To avoid this, lay drainage at the bottom of the pot and correctly compose an earthen mixture, which will be discussed later. If possible, it is better to water the flower with warm water.
Another feature of gloxinia: unlike many other indoor plants, it does not need spraying, although it loves moist air and grows somewhat faster if there are many sources of moisture evaporation around it. Unfortunately, the benefit of several bowls of water is almost imperceptible. It’s better to place gloxinia on a windowsill where others are already placed houseplants: green leaves release moisture well. If desired, you can add moss to some large pots.
Gloxinia prefers not direct light, but diffused light, but quite intense and long-lasting. Great option– place the pot on a south, east or west window behind a very thin or mesh curtain. Prolonged exposure to direct sun rays, especially coupled with careless watering, can leave sunburn on the leaves. For this reason, try to water at the root rather than sprinkling.
Do not place the plant where there may be drafts. When overcooled, the leaves become drooping, as if limp. If they lose their saturated green color, then this may indicate either overcooling of the root system, or rotting processes that have begun in the soil.
If the buds do not bloom, drafts and cold water may be the cause.
If possible, then gloxinia in winter months It is better to keep in a cool, bright room with a temperature of +10... +17 degrees. This will allow the tuber to rest, gain strength and “shoot” in the spring, which increases the chances of abundant and beautiful bloom. Just don’t be afraid of the leaves falling off when you move the plant into cool weather: as winter recedes, new shoots will grow from the tuber.
Contrary to erroneous statements, you shouldn’t cut off almost all the leaves - there’s simply no point in doing so. It is argued that after radical pruning, stepsons begin to grow from the tuber, which in the future should bloom profusely. This is not entirely true. The stepchildren, of course, will grow up, but you can do without these sacrifices. But excessive removal of leaves is fraught with rotting of the roots, which will have nothing to nourish. By the way, towards the end of summer it is often possible to achieve a second wave of flowering, which, however, is not as intense as the first.
When transplanting, the size of the container is selected according to the volume of the root system. Newly rooted leaves are planted in the smallest pots. For older plants, select a container whose volume is equal to or slightly larger than the volume occupied by straightened roots. Intensively growing specimens are transferred to a slightly larger container every year at the beginning of the growing season.
Remember: a pot that is too large is a risk factor in terms of flooding and rotting of the root system!
Blooms from March to August. The gloxinia flower lasts for about a month, after which the shriveled peduncle can be safely cut off. When gloxinia has faded, not everyone knows what to do next. The first thing you need to do when flowering ends is to remove the remains of flowers, weak and too “fat” leaves. The latter, by the way, can be used for reproduction.
What to do if mistakes are made in caring for gloxinia? With progressive signs of flooding and rotting of the roots, the flower needs to be replanted. You need to take it out of the pot, clean it from the soil, remove rotten roots and too weak leaves and plant it in a new one. light soil. The “reanimation” soil composition should contain more coarse sand and disintegrants than the standard one. After this, the plant is watered moderately, hermetically covered with a transparent plastic bag and stored in partial shade until it begins to grow. You can ventilate the mini-greenhouse 1-2 times a week. If the outcome is favorable, it can be gradually removed.
How to calculate rotted roots? They are diagnosed based on several signs, and let's start with the most obvious. If the spine comes off easily taproot, which means it is 100% rotten. If it does not come off completely, but seems to be peeling off, then this is also a sure sign of its death. Such a root is cut off either to the healthy part or to the branching point. Less obvious signs are black or dark brown color roots and putrid odor. Healthy parts are light brown or even White color. In advanced cases, the root system rots so much that nothing remains of it. The only option in this case is to take the remaining leaves and try to root them.
Reproduction of gloxinia in practice is easiest leaf cuttings. Less often they resort to sowing seeds and dividing the tuber.
For this purpose, a large mature leaf is cut from the plant. It is recommended to shorten the petiole to a length of 1.5-2 cm to avoid rotting. After this, the leaf is planted in moist coarse sand and placed in an airtight mini-greenhouse. Instead of coarse sand, you can also use fine quarry sand, but it is slightly less preferable. In this form, the leaf takes about 1 month to sprout small roots. When they reach a length of 1-2 cm, you can move the plant to a small pot with soil. At first, you should still keep the sheet under cover, only not airtight, but with a small hole. As the leaf gets used to the dry room air you can increase the gap, and after 2 weeks the film can be removed. Around this time, a rosette of small leaves should shoot out from the base of the petiole. This means that gloxinia propagation was successful! In the future, it is important to ensure that you do not overwater the young plant, which at this age is especially sensitive to waterlogging.
You can grow gloxinia from seeds, but it is important to know that they germinate for a very long time: from 4 to 9 months. Small shoots develop slowly. To achieve success in this matter, it is recommended to plant seeds in a light sandy soil and seal hermetically with plastic wrap. It should be removed gradually as soon as most of the seeds have sprouted.
This method is the most difficult and risky, since there is a danger of causing the tuber to rot after cutting it. It is recommended to divide dormant large tubers that are free from rot and damage. It is better to cut them into no more than two parts. The cut areas are sprinkled with coal.
Gloxinia can also be propagated by stem cuttings, but this method is complicated by the fact that their length is very short. Therefore, they rarely resort to it. The technology is the same as for rooting leaves: the cutting is placed in coarse wet sand and hermetically covered with a mini-wig. The appearance of the first roots can be expected in a month.
Gloxinia is rarely affected by pests. Sometimes she gets attacked by red spider mite. These insects appear as small red dots on the surface sheet plate. Under no circumstances should they be allowed to reproduce! First, you can try to remove the tick with Fitoverm, but if there is too much of it, you will have to resort to more powerful means: Omite, Oberon, Sunmite.
Among diseases, gloxinia often suffers from root rot. This is treated by replacing the earthen clod and watering the plant with a weak solution of Fitosporin.
In general, growing gloxinia on a windowsill does not cause much trouble. This is beautiful ornamental plant With beautiful flowers, which, with proper care, have more saturated color. Behind good attitude Gloxinia is always happy to reciprocate with abundant and lush flowering.
If the first flowering was not too late, the plant may produce a second wave of bud development. Total time Flowering lasts six to seven months with a short break. The flower lasts seven to ten days. The second flowering is less abundant than the first.
You can see the flowering of gloxinia grown from a leaf in about four months. How long does it take for a tuber to form? If the leaf is rooted in the spring, flowers will appear in the fall. Flowering will be modest and short. If the plant overwinters properly, next spring it will appear in all its glory.
We talked about how to grow gloxinia from a leaf.
Buds on gloxinia appear only when.
Storage methods:
Video about the dormant period of gloxinia and storage of tubers:
In May or June, after the first flowering, carefully examine the gloxinia. If there is a growing point, after a while the plant will again produce buds. If there is no growth point, pruning will help:
If the plant continues to bloom until the end of summer, there is no need to prune it. Gloxinia may not have the strength for a second flowering. It's better to let her do it on her own.
Mistakes made when maintaining the plant significantly reduce the quality and duration of flowering.
Intensive watering is required during the flowering period. The soil is moistened when it dries out upper layer. For irrigation, you need soft filtered water or water that has stood for a couple of days. Its temperature should be two to three degrees higher than the air temperature in the room.
Water through a tray. This way, water does not get on the tuber, leaves and buds. After some time, be sure to drain off excess moisture. In the second half of August, the frequency of watering is gradually reduced. - a process that requires a lot of attention and effort. At each stage of development it is necessary to create for the plant optimal conditions content. If everything is done correctly, gloxinia will bloom profusely all summer with a short break.
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
When breeding gloxinia, a common defect is a violation normal development plants, namely when the bush takes on a disheveled shape. The shoots of the flower begin to stretch out, and the flower itself falls on its side. This creates certain inconveniences in care; in addition, the bush loses its compact appearance and may even break. What is the reason for this phenomenon and how to help the plant?
If the bush begins to lose its shape and stretch out, you don’t need to look far for the reason. Most often this occurs as a result of a violation of the conditions of detention, namely a combination of two factors:
This combination is typical for winter period, when the radiators start working, and the duration of daylight hours is significantly reduced. It is precisely during the period when the tubers wake up that the shape of the bush is largely determined.
Gloxinia will grow lush and beautiful if you provide it with a comfortable temperature and good lighting during the period from the beginning of tuber germination to flowering.
Most appropriate place for a flower - this is the southwestern window sill. If the pot is on a north window, it is necessary to provide the plant with additional lighting in winter so that it does not reach out in search of light.
The daylight hours must be at least 12 hours.
As for the temperature, it is undesirable to place the flower next to a heating radiator - it emits hot and dry air. It is better that the air temperature in the room where gloxinia grows is 18-20 degrees.
If it was not possible to save the flower, and it still lost its shape, this does not mean that you can say goodbye to the bush. Fortunately, the situation can be corrected by using a simple method.
So, what needs to be done with an elongated bush? At the end of spring, after the first flowering, the above-ground part of the plant should be cut off. Moisten the remaining part (tuber) and place the pot in a bright place. It is better to choose a window that does not open to protect the flower from a possible draft.
By the beginning of summer, new shoots will emerge from the tuber. Since there is enough light during this period, the new bush will grow compact and lush.
Gloxinia – perennial Gesneriev family. It has a tuberous root system. The stem is short erect or long curved, smooth or covered with hairs. The leaves are large, oval, velvety, rich green. The flowers are bell-shaped, simple or double. The color of the flowers can be red, white, pink, purple, brindle. Gloxinia seeds are very small. Gloxinia comes from South America. The second name of the plant is Sinningia.
Gloxinia begins to bloom in March. Flowering lasts up to three months. The flowers of the plant are single, emerging from the axils, large, oblong, velvety. The shape resembles a bell. The peduncles are soft, so large, tall bells may droop. The diameter of the flowers is 8-12 centimeters. The buds have 4 stamens. The nectary is ring-shaped or absent. The corolla is tubular, consists of round petals with a corrugated edge, arranged in one or several rows.
The corolla can be plain: white, purple, red, crimson or cream. It can be two-color, have a border, contrasting specks or spots. The base and edges of the petals most often have different colors. Some, instead of an open corolla, have an elongated tube and small bent petals. From 8 to 40 buds can form on one plant.
Why do gloxinia buds not fully open, then turn brown and become soft?
Causes:
Solution:
The buds wither without blooming and become black and dry.
Causes:
Solution:
The buds dry out without ever blooming.
Causes:
Solution:
When opened, the sepals reveal a small green pea instead of a bud. After a while, the peduncle turns brown. The undeveloped bud falls off.
Cause:
Solution:
IMPORTANT: Dry black buds should not be confused with rotting ones. When rotting, the bud turns dark brown or black, but remains soft and moist.
Causes:
Solution:
In order for gloxinia to bloom safely, it is necessary to systematically prevent possible problems:
At proper care Gloxinia blooms from spring to early autumn. To ensure healthy flowering, certain conditions must be met:
In order for gloxinia to bloom again, the stem is cut off after flowering, leaving several pairs of lower leaves. Stepchildren grow from the sinuses. Only the most powerful of them should be left. At this time, it is important to fertilize with a high concentration of nitrogen. These procedures will stimulate the growth of new leaves. When buds appear, you need to apply fertilizers containing potassium and phosphorus. Repeated flowering is always less lush than the first.
ATTENTION: The age of gloxinia must be taken into account. The older the plant, the less it blooms.
In the process, it is important to remember the need for systematic disease prevention. If the flower does not open or darkens, it is necessary to immediately establish the cause and proceed to measures to save the plant.
By following all the rules of care, you can achieve abundant flowering Gloxinia. Good luck with your home gardening!
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
