Hamedorrhea belongs to the Palm family or Arecaceae and is an unpretentious, slow-growing, low-growing palm tree. This plant is native to the foothills of South America, namely Guatemala, Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula.
Description of the plant
Hamedorea is often grown in offices, apartments and winter gardens. And, I must say, they do it very well. This indoor palm has significant phytoncidal properties. Its leaves are able to purify the air even from benzene compounds.
Hamedoree care, of course, is required, but she is quite unpretentious and will not be capricious much. To grow a plant as a tub culture, it is necessary to significantly remove it from heating devices and provide bright but diffused lighting.
Often chamedorea is called a bamboo palm. Most of the species belonging to the genus are multi-stemmed plants. Outwardly, the thin stems of the chamedorea resemble bamboo. Hence the name. The height of the home palm tree does not exceed 2.5 m.only 1 or 2 sheets. It grows very slowly.
Indoor bamboo palm is a shrub with many bare jointed trunks up to 3 cm in diameter with short internodes. On each of them grows up to 7 pinnate long-leaved leaves of dark green color. The length of the leaf in nature reaches two meters, at home the leaf plate reaches 40 cm. Already at a young age, the palm tree begins to bloom.
Its flowers, reminiscent of mimosa, are small, yellow in color, collected in paniculate or spikelet inflorescences. Interestingly, the flowering of hamedorea can occur at any time of the year, the change of seasons does not affect this in any way. Bamboo palm is distinguished by its ability to shade tolerance, which is another undoubted plus for its acquisition. At the same time, it blooms constantly and very abundantly, even under artificial lighting.
Hamedorrhea is a dioecious plant. Each individual produces male and female flowers that grow in the axils of the leaves. Male flowers resemble yellow balls, their inflorescences are spike-shaped, mimosa-like and have a pleasant aroma. Female ones grow singly on a long pedicel, sometimes they have an orange color.
Fruits ripen, acquiring roundness, up to 6 mm in diameter with black skin and juicy pulp. There is only one seed in the center.
Varieties
The genus Chamedorea contains 107 different species. But only some of them are grown at home.
Hamedorrhea elegans
This species has many names: graceful chamedorea,neantha graceful, reed palm, collinia graceful. It is a low and very slow growing palm tree. Its slender green trunk becomes chestnut with age. At home it grows up to 1.2 m, and in nature up to 2 m.
Leaves of Chamedorea elegans, compound, pinnate and thin, dark green. The flowers are small yellow in paniculate inflorescences. The fruit is a dark berry about 5 mm in diameter.
When caring for at home, chamedorea elegans is undemanding. Likes spraying and moisture. It is impossible to allow the drying of her earthen coma. The easy care chamedorea elegans is ideal for apartment keeping due to its compactness and shade tolerance.
Hamedorrhea Briddle
Difference from other varieties of Hamedorea Bridble in fragrant bright colors and saturation of leaf color. It grows up to 1.5 meters in height. However, in a large tub, it can reach the mark of 2 meters.
When caring for at home, Bridble chamedorea is also not demanding. She needs daily spraying, watering and enough light, but without direct sun.
It is necessary to take into account one feature when leaving, Bridble's hamedorea does not tolerate transplants. Therefore, special care must be taken with the root system when manipulating the plant, trying not to damage it.
Chamedorrhea Metallica
This variety is considered the most unpretentious and shade-resistant. The trunk of Metallica hamedorea is covered with lush dark green foliage with a characteristic metallic sheen.
The plant grows no more than two meters high. Bushes of this variety are rich in dense green crown, which is a sufficient decorative element for use in landscaping at home and in office premises. The leaves of this variety are dense, leathery and wide with a silvery coating. The plant has one trunk, which becomes stiff with age and thickens significantly.
With improper care, the Metallica chamedorea flower sometimes begins to dry out at the tips of the leaves. This happens when watering is insufficient, and the air in the room is too dry. You can correct the situation by organizing frequent watering and spraying at least 2 times a day.
Chamedorrhea single color
It is a bushy palm with many reed-like trunks. The leaves of the monochromatic chamedorea are medium-sized in size and pinnate in shape. When planted in a wide container, this variety forms a beautiful jungle thicket.
Chamedorrhea Stolonosa
This species has several shoots growing from one root. The palm leaves are large and fan-shaped. The resulting aerial roots provide an opportunity for propagation by shoots.
Chamedorrhea Cascade
This is a very interesting look for its decorative effect. The cascading hamedorea has many trunks with thin dark green leaves. A distinctive feature in care is that this species is more difficult than others to endure a lack ofmoisture and watering. In oppressed conditions, it stops growing. When there is enough moisture, the palm tree begins to grow and develop rapidly.
Home care
As mentioned earlier, Hamedorea is undemanding to care. She feels great in dimly lit office lobbies and in rooms with windows facing north. She will be just as comfortable on the south side, it is only necessary to remove the plant from the window or use thick tulle, thus providing her with diffused lighting.
With proper care at home, the chamedorea flower can produce viable seeds. For this, artificial pollination is used and simultaneous flowering of male and female plants is ensured.
Temperature conditions
You should know that Hamedorea prefers a moderate temperature regime when leaving. The optimum temperature in summer for her is 20-22 ° C, in winter it is slightly lower: 13-15 ° C, while she will calmly endure heat up to 30 ° C, but the plant will often need to be sprayed. The lower temperature limit that the hamedorea can endure without consequences for its he alth is 12 ° C.
In the warm season, the bamboo palm loves to soak up the air, so it is transferred to a balcony or terrace, protecting it from drafts and direct sunlight. The room where the chamedorea is kept should be well ventilated.
Irrigation
When cared for at home, the chamedorea palm prefers abundant watering in summer. Her earthen ball should be constantly wet. Besidesbamboo palm requires frequent spraying with room temperature water. The optimum air humidity should be 50%, this is due to its tropical origin.
In summer, in especially hot weather, you can not only water the plant, but also place a container of chamedorea in a vessel of water and leave for a while to saturate the soil and roots with moisture. Spray often, at least 2 times a day. And once a month, wear a palm tree under a warm shower to wash off the accumulated dust.
In winter, watering and spraying are significantly reduced.
Preferences for soil composition
To ensure optimal soil composition during care, chamedorea is planted in ready-made soil mixture for palms, which can be easily bought at any flower shop.
But you can make the necessary substrate yourself. To do this, you just need to observe the correct proportions:
- clay-turf light earth - 2 parts;
- humus-leaf land - 2 parts;
- peat – 1 part:
- rotted manure - 1 part;
- sand - 1 part;
- a little charcoal.
Feeding
When cared for at home, hamedorea needs periodic top dressing, which is complex mineral fertilizers or liquid concentrated fertilizers for palm trees.
It is necessary to take into account that only he althy, normally developing plants are fed. It is impossible to stuff sick and weak palm trees with fertilizers. And if the chamedorea was transplanted, then it is not fed for 6 months after this event.
In spring-summer period (April-August), when the plant begins to grow and develop vigorously, fertilizing is applied 1 time in 2 weeks, alternating mineral and organic fertilizers.
Autumn comes a dormant period, so you do not need to feed the hamedorea. However, if the plant has not been transplanted for a long time, then feeding is also allowed in the winter, but not more than once a month and a complex mineral or organic mixture highly diluted in water.
Transfer
When caring for the Hamedorea palm, transplants are sometimes required. If this is a young plant, then it must be transplanted once a year. An adult plant should also be transplanted annually, but here it is permissible to do this at least once every two years. If the hamedorea is a large tub plant, then it is transplanted once every 3-5 years.
These manipulations are carried out in the spring, in April-May. Between transplants, you should sometimes pour fresh soil into the pot or change the top layer to new soil, being careful not to damage the root system.
When transplanting a chamedorea, it is necessary to provide it with good drainage. To do this, a drainage layer of large expanded clay, crushed clay shards or broken red brick is placed at the bottom of the pot. Then a layer of nutrient soil mixture is placed in the previously indicated proportions. An earthen clod with a plant is placed on this layer, and then a clod with roots is covered with fresh earth, compacting it between the walls of the vessel and the root of the hamedorea. The transplanted plant does not feed for several months!
When pruning, it is allowed to remove only old, driedor diseased leaves. In no case should you break them off, just carefully cut them off.
Reproduction
With good care, hamedorea can be propagated by growing from seeds, root cuttings and dividing the bush.
If it turned out to pollinate the blooming chamedorea correctly and get high-quality planting material, then propagation by seeds occurs as follows.
Seeds are deepened by 1 cm into the soil and germinated in a greenhouse at a temperature of 25-27 ° C, while it is important to maintain high humidity and temperature, otherwise it will not germinate. Shoots appear in about a month or a little more.
Sufficiently developed plant starts layering. When this happens, young plants can be carefully separated from the parent along with the roots and planted in a separate pot.
The division of the bush can be carried out when transplanting an overgrown chamedorea. However, at home, bamboo palm rarely grows to such a state.
Pests and diseases
Only improper care can lead to the appearance of diseases in chamedorea. For example, with excessive or insufficient watering, palm leaves can dry out, which must be carefully cut, and he althy ones can be treated with fungicides to avoid fungal diseases.
With an inattentive attitude to the plant, scale insects and spider mites may appear on it. Remedies for pests "Aktellik" or "Aktara" will help to cope with this.
Hamedorrhea is one of those plants that are not only beautiful, but also useful. Being close to someone who cares abouther and does it right, she makes his life easier, significantly improving the microclimate around, purifying the air from all kinds of chemical impurities.
