2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 12:09
Indoor flowers delight the eye, enhance mood, and make the room feel comfortable. In the cold season, indoor flowers help to better endure depression, give aesthetic pleasure from observing their abundant flowering. Many people prefer to grow a Decembrist on their windowsill, because this flower pleases with abundant flowering for a long time. For this, it is important to properly care for the houseplant. Watering is especially important, because excessive or insufficient moisture can lead to the fall of flowers, and sometimes to the death of the plant.
The need for a flower for moisture
The Decembrist is grown very often. The plant is a sprawling bush with dangling fleshy stems. The plant blooms very profusely, with bright flowers. The Decembrist is familiar to many under other names. It got its usual name due to the fact that it blooms just before the New Year in mid or late December and continues to bloom for a long time.
The plant is called "Christmas", "zygocactus". You can also find the botanical name for its "Schlumberger". The flower is named after a florist from France, he has long been engaged in the cultivation and collecting of cacti. The root system of the Decembrist is considered the most vulnerable. For a houseplant to thrive and be healthy, it is important to water it properly . Watering your houseplant too much can lead to root rot. With insufficient watering, the Decembrist will begin to change its appearance. At the same time, its stems begin to turn yellow, yellowness also appears on the tips of the leaves.
When growing a Decembrist, it should be borne in mind that it belongs to the cactus family. That is why the plant is able to accumulate the necessary moisture in the tissues, which, if necessary, is used during a drought. Zygocactus tolerates a lack of moisture much better than its excess. In the event that the soil is very dry, the plant forms air roots, they will absorb the missing moisture from the air.
The need for watering the Decembrist is judged by the condition of the soil.
In the event that the top layer of the substrate is dry by 3-4 cm, you need to water the plant. If the soil is too damp, it will not allow air to pass through well, so it is important not to overmoisten the soil. Excessive watering can provoke root rot, which will even lead to the death of the plant. For the correct development of an indoor flower, it is important to take into account the quality of the water, its quantity and temperature. The condition of the soil also depends on the air temperature in the room where the pot with the Christmas tree stands.
What kind of water to use?
In order for the Decembrist to bloom regularly and delight with its abundant and bright flowering, it is better to use rainwater. The plant does not tolerate lime-containing or chlorinated water. If it is not possible to take rainwater as irrigation, it is better to replace it with settled water . It is necessary to collect a sufficient amount of liquid in a container and let it settle for 10 days.
How to water properly?
When growing a Christmas tree at home, water it sparingly. This plant does not like very wet soil, so you need to wait for the topsoil to dry out. It is necessary to ensure that the liquid does not stagnate in the pan, and the soil, while not too moist. Many people think that watering this houseplant is necessary often, but excess moisture will lead to shedding of the leaves. When waterlogged, you need not to water the Decembrist for several days, and then try to gently pull out the plant.
In the event that the smell of rot is heard and rotten roots are visible, cuttings should be planted, otherwise such a plant will almost certainly die.
When changing the soil, the diseased plant can recover. To prevent the roots from rotting, it is not necessary to greatly overmoisten the soil, this is especially important at low temperatures. In addition, this leads to waterlogging of the soil.
Depending on the season
Depending on the season, the plant needs to be watered differently. From March to the last month of summer, the flower is regularly watered with soft water. At this time, the Decembrist is also sprayed and fed every 14 days. In summer, the Decembrist is taken out onto the balcony or a pot is placed in the yard under shady trees . It is important to ensure that snails and slugs do not approach the pot with a houseplant, this is especially true in August-September.
Gradually, you should reduce the watering of the flower and put it in a cooler place, for example, on a windowsill. It is better that the temperature in the room at this time is about 15 degrees. When buds appear, the temperature in the room increases. Watering the plants is carried out as usual.
- The dormant period occurs in October-November . At this time, the Decembrist is watered once every 7-10 days. The flower pot is placed in a cool place. From the second half of November, you need to water and spray the plant every other day.
- At the end of November and until December, buds begin to appear . During budding, water the flower as the soil dries.
- In winter, it begins to bloom . From December to February, a flowering plant is not transferred from place to place so that the Decembrist does not lose color.
- The period of active growth of the plant falls on March-August . At this time, the Decembrist is evenly watered with soft, settled water. The flower is also fed with special fertilizers. Top dressing is recommended once every 14 days.
The growing season of the flower begins in mid-March and lasts until September. At this time, the plant grows rapidly, building up new segments. In summer, zygocactus is sprayed with warm water as the clod of earth dries out. At this time, nitrogenous or universal fertilizers are applied once every 2 weeks. It is better to put the flower pot on the balcony, open veranda or in the yard, starting in spring and ending in late autumn. It is not recommended to water the Christmas tree at night.
During flowering, it is not sprayed so that the buds do not fade in the sun.
To make it bloom
Even with constant care and watering, the Christmas tree can look sluggish. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary that the plant does not stand near a hot radiator or fireplace. It is very important to moisturize the Decembrist, as he just needs it. A healthy plant will feel best on a well-lit windowsill . In this case, it is important that the flower is not in direct sunlight for a long time.
To form strong buds, the plant begins to be fed with potassium-phosphorus dressings. In addition, the Decembrist is recommended to water with tea leaves, while the water should be warm. To increase the set of buds, the flower is watered with a solution of calcium nitrate. For this, an egg shell infusion is also used. To make such a solution, you need to wash the raw eggshells and fill them with water. The solution is insisted for a day, then the plant is watered. Budding begins a week after watering.
During flowering
During the flowering of the Decembrist and its budding, the plant is not moved or moved, turning it towards the light and vice versa. The pot with the plant is placed on a windowsill with windows facing northeast. This will allow him to get plenty of light in the morning and during the day most of the year . You can put it on a window facing north and west. When placing it on the south side, care should be taken to shade it from hot rays.
Before the flowering of the Christmas tree, it is watered as needed. The plant must be placed in a warm place. This is necessary for the correct formation of flower buds. During flowering, the Decembrist is watered with plenty of water. Spraying should also be carried out, but do it in small doses.
So that the Decembrist does not shed the buds, it is important that the air in the room is not very dry.
Before and after transplant
For tropical plants such as zygocactus, certain conditions are required. The plant is sprayed regularly. On hot days, it is done 2-3 times in 7-10 days, and in cold weather the flower is sprayed at least 1 time in 30 days. To carry out this procedure, take a spray bottle and pour water at room temperature into it.
In its natural environment, zygocactus grows in regions with high humidity. That is why it is necessary to regularly spray it; they also put a bowl with wet expanded clay under the pot . The young Decembrist grows quickly, it is transplanted as needed. Transplantation of adult plants is carried out once every 5 years. After transplanting, the flower is watered and placed in a permanent place of growth. When the soil dries up by 2-3 cm, the flower should be watered again.
Signs of improper watering
With a systematic lack of moisture in the soil:
- the plant becomes pale in color;
- wrinkles appear on the stems;
- additional aerial roots are formed to help absorb additional moisture;
- the soil in the pot dries out more than 4 cm during flowering and almost half during dormancy.
When problems are identified, the plant begins to water in small doses, but watering is done more often.
To do this, it is better to moisten the soil 4-6 times within 2-3 days. The plant can begin to rot when watering it with cold water, as well as when it is abundantly moistened at a low temperature. Also, a sign of improper watering is the introduction of a solution with a high concentration of fertilizer into the soil.
Care advice
In order for the Christmas tree to bloom regularly and delight with abundant color, you need to correctly follow it look after.
- If a houseplant stops blooming , it is necessary to provide good lighting for it and select a more fertile soil. The best place for a flower is on the north side windowsill. If necessary, the Decembrist is shaded from the sun.
- With the emergence of buds the plant cannot be moved, otherwise the Decembrist may lose color.
- When dry leaves and flowers appear , withered stems, you can water the plant with a solution, the main component of which is hydrogen peroxide. To prepare the solution, take 2 tbsp. tablespoons of peroxide and dilute them in a liter of water.
The plant is watered with this solution once every 7-10 days. If necessary, you can increase the amount of water during irrigation, while reducing the concentration of the solution. Add 10-15 drops of peroxide to 1 liter of water. After a few such waterings, a positive result will be noticeably noticeable.
Before such watering, you should loosen the soil a little and remove the fallen flowers. This solution is used for root rot. Thanks to water with peroxide, the plant begins to recover faster after watering. If the plant is regularly looked after, watered, sprayed and fed on time, then the Decembrist can delight with its flowering up to 20 years.
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