My passion for flowers began back in 2009. Decree, I wanted to occupy myself with something. And now I have the first varieties of streptocarpus. Not really knowing the agricultural technology of these flowers, I decided to purchase about 40 fragments. Rooting was very sad, all my streptocarpus died. Without giving up and without losing hope of making friends with them, I acquired more and more new varieties. And here is good luck - within six months of persistent efforts, the streptocarpus fell in love with me, and I loved them even more. Now I can say with confidence that I know almost everything about these plants.
They love the wetter air
Streptocarpus are plants from tropical and subtropical regions of South Africa. From mountainous areas with forests, including the east coast and the island of Madagascar. The plant got its name from the fruit - a swirling pod. Translated from the ancient Greek language, it means "twisted fruit". In nature, there are about 140 species of streptocarpus. They are found on mountain slopes and tropical forests with high humidity, therefore, it is better to grow streptocarpus at home with high air humidity.
And something else
- I have tried a lot of soil mixtures for these plants, and in the end I settled on this: high peat + perlite + sphagnum moss. Streptocarpus can also be grown in coconut substrate with the addition of perlite, moss, bark.
- Judging by my numerous observations, it is advisable to transplant adult streptocarpuses several times a year.
- If there are no shelves, you need to place the plants on light windowsills, but in such a way that direct sunlight does not fall on them, otherwise burns (brown spots) will instantly appear on the leaves, which will not go anywhere and the leaf will have to be cut off.
The optimum temperature for growing streptocarpus = + 18 ... + 22оС.
The biggest mistake a novice florist makes is choosing a large pot for streptocarpus. This will be followed by 100% death of the plant, because in such a container you will definitely flood it.
We water streptocarpuses only after drying the earthen coma! It is better not to add these plants than to pour them over.
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How to make streptocarpus bloom all year round
My streptocarpus grow on shelves under artificial lighting, I use fluorescent lamps. If there is no possibility of backlighting in winter, then it is better to put the plants on the south or west window.
Streptocarpus can bloom under the lamps all year round, but here you cannot do without fertilizers. After transplanting the baby into a pot, after 1.5 months, the plant begins to lack nutrients, and I start using the Master fertilizer 20:20:20. After they have built up a good leaf mass, you can use fertilizer for flowering plants, I use Fertika Lux.
When flowering, be sure to use a weak solution of Fertika Lux fertilizer so that the plant does not starve.
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I still want to multiply
Whatever one may say, but as soon as friends, neighbors or relatives see you blooming streptocarpus, which looks like a living bouquet, they will definitely ask you for a sprout or "what else is possible", if only they have the same beauty. And for those who are just beginning their acquaintance with these plants, it is useful to know how to propagate them. After all, it is not always possible to buy an adult plant - not so often you will find the desired varieties on sale, and it turns out to be expensive. There is a great alternative - to buy children or fragments of a sheet from collectors. But I'll start all the same from the very beginning.
Streptocarpus reproduce by leaf fragments, bush division and seeds.
The easiest way for a novice grower is to divide the bush. In this case, you can get several plants at once.
It is possible to propagate by fragments of a leaf in two ways - by the "toaster" method and by horizontal segments.
- Toaster method: cut out the midrib of a leaf fragment and plant two halves of the fragment in a peat mixture.
- The second method is to cut the leaf horizontally into fragments approximately 5-6 cm long.Experienced growers are able to root fragments of only 2-3 cm.
A prerequisite for reproduction in fragments is a sharp blade so as not to injure tissue when pressed.
We deepen the fragments by about 0.5 cm into the ground, press lightly and put them on rooting in a greenhouse. Transparent plastic containers work very well for this. Until the children appear, and this happens after 1.5-2 months, the planted fragments should be carefully moistened, and sometimes it is better not even to water the soil, but spray it and the fragments themselves from a spray bottle.
After our fragments have taken root, babies appear (after 1.5-2 months), which will need to be planted in separate cups. I separate the babies from their mother when they reach size. I transplant them into transparent 100-gram cups - it is convenient to observe through them how the root system develops at the initial stage. A prerequisite is that when you put the kids in cups, put them back in the greenhouse for two weeks, this will give a rapid growth of the root system.
After two weeks, we take the babies out of the greenhouse and put them under the lamps or on the window. But not in direct sunlight! We do the next transshipment of the plant when it braids the roots of an earthen lump.
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Aerobatics - grow from seeds
Sooner or later, enthusiastic florists will begin to worry about the issue of seed reproduction of streptocarpus, because bags with their seeds can easily be found in the store. Moreover, you can dust the flowers of different plants yourself with a soft brush and get your own seeds. However, in streptocarpus, self-pollination often occurs. In any case, after pollination, the seeds ripen in 1.5-2 months.
But remember that when grown from seed, the offspring of streptocarpus do not repeat the color and shape of the mother plant. But it's so great - you can get very interesting seedlings, which no one else has, to breed your own variety and then propagate it vegetatively.
Seeds can be sown at any time of the year, if there is artificial supplementary lighting - daylight hours for seedlings should be 12 hours. It is better to sow them in a peat substrate, slightly moistening it from above. The seeds should not be covered with soil, they should remain on the surface. It remains to create greenhouse conditions for them.
After 2-3 weeks, the first shoots appear, after another month the seedlings dive, and after the second dive, each plant must be identified in its own cup.
Secrets of good health
Like all plants, streptocarpus are susceptible to disease and pest attacks. The main pest is a tick. To combat it, you can use modern acaricides: Sunmight, Nissoran, Oberon. Dilute the drugs according to the instructions. It is better to spray it 2-3 times with an interval of 10 days with different preparations.
Very unpleasant pests are thrips and scale insects. They can be "driven" by insecticides Fitoverm, Aktellik, Aktara.
Preventive treatments of plants against pests in spring and autumn will not be superfluous to avoid serious infections.
The appearance of powdery mildew can be determined by the formation of a characteristic white bloom on the diseased plant. If you notice, it is necessary to carry out the treatment with Topaz fungicide - 1 ampoule of the drug for 10 liters of water.
Photo by the author
Special issue of the newspaper "My favorite flowers" No. 4, 2018 "Blooming indoor plants"
