Gloxinia is very popular with floriculture lovers, as it does not require special care and pleases the eye with unusually beautiful inflorescences. However, beginners who decide to have this decorative miracle on their windowsill are probably wondering how gloxinia reproduces. Planting a tuber, cuttings and seeds - all these ways you can get a wonderful plant.
Flowers are the decoration of any room. Gloxinia, the landing of which requires special care, will rightfully take pride of place on the windowsill. Another name for this plant appears in botanical reference books - beautiful syningia. The representative of the flora got its name for a very beautiful appearance: green leaves, pubescent with villi, and flowers in the form of large bells of bright red, blue, pink and purple.
Pretty simple care gives inexperienced growers a chance to have this beauty in the room. Let's telldetails on how to grow gloxinia from a tuber.
Features of choice
Appearance and size are the main criteria when buying. Tubers should be free of rot and mold. Elastic, dense to the touch, up to 5 cm in diameter - these are the most suitable for planting in the soil. In the upper part of the tuber there is a recess, where the kidneys are located. They look like small tubercles. It happens that nodules for sale have already sprouted, and then the buds look like shaggy little sprouts.
Time to plant
Delay landing is not worth it. This can be done immediately after the dormant period, at the awakening stage, until the sprout has grown large. If you miss the time, then the shoots will stretch and turn pale due to a lack of chlorophyll. The time of appearance of the kidneys depends on the conditions of keeping the tubers in winter. Gloxinia wakes up in February-March. Sometimes a flower can wake up in May. If by this time the tubers have not come out of "hibernation", then they can be "awakened". This is necessary when the flower has been in a pot all winter. Placed in a warm place, with good lighting and watered soil, syningia will sprout. It is important not to fill the tubers with water, otherwise they may rot.
Preparing for landing
Gloxinia babies are stored in shavings and sawdust in winter. Often the tubers are covered with old dried roots. Therefore, before planting, they need to be cleaned as much as possible - cut off carefully or cut off all the threads of the roots with nail scissors, leaving the largest ones. The tuber should be as naked as possible. BUTthe biggest roots will grow new ones.
It is necessary to determine where the tuber has the bottom and where the top is, so as not to land it upside down. There is a small depression in the place of future sprouts. On the opposite side of the tuber there is a bulge, and it must be buried in the soil. You should make sure that there are no rotten spots, rot, or various damage on the seedling. If there are any, you need to carefully cut them out, and sprinkle these places with charcoal. Alternatively, it is appropriate to treat the cut with fungicide and Kornevin powder, after mixing them. After such treatment, it is desirable to dry the tubers for about a day. These operations will reanimate damaged seedlings.
Recovery of a dried tuber
There are drugs that help stimulate the immune system of plants. They are also able to eliminate the stress of flowers and start their root system to grow. A solution should be prepared from the preparation "Epin" or "Zircon" in the following way: add 10 drops of the agent to 200 ml of boiled and settled water. In the resulting solution, you need to soak the tubers for a day. After such treatment, the flowers can be safely planted in the soil.
Another way to revive gloxinia babies is appropriate. Vermiculite (layered mineral), often used in floriculture, should be moistened with water. Place the whole tuber in it, if there are no sprouts yet. If shoots appear, you need to carefully dig in, but so that the sprout remains on the surface. Do not fill the mineral with water abundantly, it is enough that the vermiculite ismoistened, otherwise the tubers may rot. It will take a couple of days for the seedlings to restore their elasticity by absorbing water from pebbles saturated with useful substances. Using these techniques, you can avoid the risk that gloxinia will die - planting the tuber will end in failure. Now let's talk about soil requirements.
Oh, those flowers! Gloxinia: planting and care
To grow a he althy plant, the soil must be made light, loose, permeable and well saturated with air. And it should be based on peat. Such a soil will reliably protect the flower from excess water and decay. You can buy ready-made soil or make your own. The substrate consists of peat, sand and leaf earth (proportion 2:1:2). Before planting gloxinia with a tuber, the earth mixture must be calcined in a dry frying pan or baking sheet in an oven. If there is a desire and opportunity, you can irrigate the soil with the Maxim preparation, making a solution at the rate of 2 ml per 1 liter of water. After processing, you need to let the soil dry out.
Choose a pot
The root system of the plant is formed in such a way that the roots do not grow in depth, but in breadth. Therefore, when choosing a container for breeding a flower, you need to pay attention to wide and shallow pots. It is in them that gloxinia will grow correctly. Planting a tuber in such a container is the key to successful breeding. The containers are selected depending on the size of the seedling: the more nodules, the larger the flowerpot. But even here you need to know the measure, otherwise in a huge potthe leaf system will develop as much as possible.
Do you want to know how to plant gloxinia with a tuber so that the flowers are large and bright? For this, a small seedling should not be placed in a container that is not the right size. Otherwise, there is a danger of flooding with excess water. The flower will develop a root and leaf system, and the bells themselves will be small. Large tubers can be placed in containers from 10 to 15 cm in diameter. Small enough and 8-9 cm.
Gloxinia: tuber propagation
If you follow the recommendations and advice of experienced craftsmen, then a lush gloxinia will grow, the planting of the tuber will be successful. First of all, drainage from expanded clay or polystyrene is laid out at the bottom of the flowerpot. The height of the layer is -1-2 cm, this is enough for a small depth of the pot. Soil is poured on top, which must be left uncompacted, rather loose (so that gloxinia grows better). Planting a tuber is as follows: in the center of the earth you need to make a recess and place it there with the convex side into the ground, gently sprinkle with soil. It is necessary to do this so that 1/3 of the tuber remains above the soil. The earth needs to be moistened.
In order for gloxinia to grow faster, the tuber should be planted in a suitable microclimate. You need to create the effect of a greenhouse, for this, put a plastic bag on the pot and put the container in a warm, lit place. This will keep the soil moist, and watering is not required. The bag must be removed every day for 20 minutes to ventilate the soil. When the first leaves appear, the package should be left only at night, andsubsequently, after a few days, do not cover the pot with gloxinia at all.
Watering the future flower at first should be very careful, literally drop by drop. Be sure to ensure that water does not fall on the plant. In such a simple way, gloxinia from a tuber grows lush, already in the first year it gives its beautiful flowers. With good and proper care, there is a chance that soon there will be a large flower garden on the windowsill.
Some experienced flower growers believe that growing a flower from a tuber is the least attractive way to propagate, especially if the seedling is large and has to be cut in half. In this case, the cut points are sprinkled with crushed activated carbon. But due to the fact that watering is done through the top, high humidity is created. At the same time, the cut points quickly rot, the children of the plant deteriorate, gloxinia does not germinate for a long time. For this reason, you can lose not only part of the flower, but the whole of it.
Other types of reproduction
In addition to dividing by tubers, there are also ways to propagate the beautiful syningia: seeds or cuttings. Rooting leaves can be done in the period of spring and until autumn. This can be done before, during and after flowering. Moreover, young leaves cut in spring take root faster and easier than those that were separated in autumn.
Before the procedure, a special device is made. A hole is cut in the lid or piece of cardboard. Carefully, so as not to damage the tender shoot, a leaf is inserted there, and the cardboard / lid is placed on the glasswith water. The liquid level should be up to the tip of the handle. Water is added as it evaporates. During the rooting period, 1 tablet of activated charcoal is added to the liquid so that the process of rotting of the sprout does not begin. Within a month, small roots appear at the end of the cutting, and a tuber is tied.
Often flower growers divide the edge of the cutting along so that the greatest division of the gloxinia tuber occurs. It is better to plant the stalk in the ground immediately, at the first sign of the appearance of roots. Before winter, the first embryos the size of a hazelnut are formed on it. Rooting with peduncles is made from an already blossoming plant. Carefully remove the buds, and place the flower stalks in the same structure as in the case of a leaf cutting. The water level should reach the tip of the plant so that 1 cm of it is submerged in the liquid. A month later, when the roots appear, the peduncle must be planted in the soil. After another 30 days, the leaves that appear will signal that the nodules have already started. Young plants for the winter must be placed in a cool but bright place to rest the flower. Watering during the dormant period must be reduced, otherwise the gloxinia flooded with water will die.
Flower position
Optimal east side of the apartment. In the north it is too dark and cold, and in the south there is a lot of direct sunlight, and the plant can get burned. West side allowed.
Irrigation
Constantly abundant, but only in the soil. Avoid getting water on the leaves and flower stalks. It's better to put the pot on a pebble or wetpeat so that the humidity is at a high level. The air around the gloxinia is sprayed periodically. And water it well with melt water. You should take care of the drainage system, as the flower does not tolerate stagnant water as well as overdried soil.
A few tips
- Gloxinia loves top dressing. It should be produced when the young foliage is fully developed. 60 minutes after watering, a solution of mineral fertilizer should be introduced into the soil. The procedure must be done every 10 days.
- Caring for the leaves of the plant is simple - you should wipe off the dust with a soft brush or wash them with warm water, avoiding moisture getting into the outlet.
- If it is not intended to collect seeds, wilted flower stalks must be removed. Thanks to this, the flowering period will noticeably last.
- After full flowering, before the dormant period, watering is reduced, and fertilizer is stopped altogether.
These simple tips and tricks will help you understand how gloxinia reproduces, planting a tuber will not seem so difficult. A beautiful ornamental plant will bloom with lush bells as a token of gratitude.
