Hedera, or home ivy, is a flower that can be found in almost every home. This evergreen plant does not need complex care and takes root perfectly in any conditions. Even in a poorly lit room with a rather low temperature, it continues to actively grow and develop. The only thing that this flower does not tolerate is the drying of the soil. Drought can cause complete dropping of leaves. The Mediterranean is the birthplace of the flower.
Ivy today, thanks to the work of breeders, is represented in floriculture by more than a hundred varieties of indoor plants.
What makes ivy so attractive?
The ivy flower, the photo of which can often be seen on the pages of floriculture publications, belongs to the Araliaceae family. The plant belongs to deciduous-decorative, shade-tolerant. It has a second, popular name - loach. It is a shrub with many leaves. It got its popular name due to the fact that adventitious roots wrap around any nearby supports and cling to them.
On onetwo types of leaves grow on the bush: on flowering branches - light green and whole leaves, having an oblong shape, non-flowering branches are covered with dark green leaves of an angular-lobed shape.
Has ivy flowers collected in a brush. They are located on the upper branches. Their corolla consists of 5 petals, 5 stamens and a calyx consisting of 5 cloves. The pistil has a short style with a fleshy disk at the very base. Indoor ivy flower bears fruit. Yellow or black berries with seeds and eat its fruits.
The variety of forms, high variability and ease of care have turned ivy indoor flowers, the photos of which you can see below, into popular and widespread plants for vertical gardening in home floriculture. Numerous varieties have a different shape, size and color of the leaves. The most common leaf shape is five-lobed, but there are varieties with oval leaves or with elongated tips, star-shaped leaves. Most often, the edges of the leaf blades are even, but they can also be corrugated or slightly wavy.
Leaves are mostly solid green, but sometimes are bizarre combinations of yellow and green, white and cream. The ivy flower, whose photo can decorate the cover of any publication for lovers of home plants, calendars or postcards, is so popular due to its decorative effect, unpretentiousness in care, resistance to temperature extremes and drafts, and rapid growth. How to care for him?
Ivy (flower): care
If you decide to grow this beautiful plant in your home, first choose a place for it. It must be borne in mind that indoor ivy flower is a shade-loving plant. It does not tolerate bright light, and even more so direct sunlight. Therefore, a place with soft diffused sunlight is ideal for it. It may even be in the middle of the room.
The only exception is variegated ivy. Flowers of this species, with a lack of lighting, may lose their characteristic decorative effect - the leaves will very quickly turn into an even green color. Many grow ivy as an ampelous plant. In this case, it is better to place it against the wall so that the plant has room for young shoots.
Humidity and air temperature
These figures depend on the season. So, in summer, the most comfortable temperature for plants is up to + 25 ° C, dry air and heat are contraindicated for ivy. In hot weather, it is advisable to move young plants to a cooler place (for example, in the shade on a balcony or loggia). Daily spraying is required, as well as dousing the leaves with water at room temperature. This will help refresh the plant and wash away dust.
In winter, indoor ivy flower is best kept in a fairly cool room at a temperature of +12 ° C. Please note that the flower should not be placed near heating appliances. But if there was no other place, then the humidity should be increased - often watered and sprayed. If the air temperature is much higher than necessary, place the pot on a tray of water andexpanded clay.
House ivy - a flower, the photo of which you can see below - quite easily tolerates drafts and even significant temperature fluctuations (up to 10 ° C).
What soil do you need?
Ivy is not too demanding on the ground. Flowers develop well in slightly acidic soil (pH - 6.5). It should include in equal parts:
- turf;
- leaf land;
- humus;
- sand;
- peat.
The soil mixture should be loose and slightly moist (summer). In winter, the soil is left moist inside, and the top layer is slightly dried. You need to know that a chedera tolerates a lack of moisture much better than its excess.
Water the plant twice a week (in summer) and once a week in winter. These are general rules, but in each case, you should focus on air temperature and humidity.
Plants are fed in the warm season twice a month, and once in winter. For feeding use complex fertilizers intended for indoor deciduous plants.
Cutting
Sooner or later there comes a time when the ivy needs to be trimmed. Flowers tolerate this periodic procedure quite easily. It is best to do this during the period of active growth of the plant. Pruning is necessary to create a beautiful lush crown, remove old, diseased bare shoots. But it is necessary to leave 1-2 buds when pruning. Later, new young ones will appear from them.shoots.
Transfer
When does a plant need to be transplanted at home? The first time it will be needed almost immediately after acquiring a flower. Quite often, hedera is sold in a transport substrate. After ten days (the plant needs to adapt to new conditions), the substrate must be completely removed, while trying not to damage the roots. It should be transplanted into a wide pot with expanded clay drainage.
Young plants need to be replanted every year, after three years - every two years, after five years it is not recommended to replant ivy, you can only change the top layer of soil to a new one. Transplantation is recommended in spring or early autumn. The most effective method of transshipment: immediately after watering, a plant with an old clod of earth is planted in a new container, 2 cm larger in diameter than the previous one. The resulting cracks are carefully covered with fresh earth. The plant is watered and sprayed well.
Reproduction
Indoor ivy can be propagated in three main ways:
- cutting;
- shoots;
- layering.
In the first case, the apical stem cuttings (length no more than 10 cm) with aerial roots serve as the starting material. Cut off the cuttings, plant them in a pot with a nutrient mixture consisting of sand and leafy soil. Three cuttings can be planted in one pot. Immediately after planting, the plant is watered and covered with a transparent plastic wrap. Moisten the soil periodically to keep it from drying out.
After rootingseedlings are transferred to separate pots. It is possible to germinate the cuttings before the roots appear in a jar of water, having previously removed the lower leaves on the process. This method is used most often by lovers of indoor floriculture.
Propagation by shoots
When using this method, you can get several rooted shoots from one stem at once. Cut off a shoot with ten leaves, deepen it two centimeters into the wet sand. The leaves remain on the surface. You can make cuts along the entire length of the stem - this simple technique will speed up rooting. Water the shoot and constantly moisten the sand until the roots appear. This process takes approximately 2-3 weeks. You will understand that roots have appeared when you see new leaves.
Now you can get the stem out of the sand and cut it into pieces. Each of them should have a leaf and roots. They need to be planted in pots. As a result, you will get several new plants. The disadvantages of this method include a long rooting process.
Propagation by layering
This method is more often used when keeping a flower in the open field, when the grower does not want to take a shoot from the flower. If the container in which your indoor ivy grows allows it, then it can also be used at home. To do this, bend the whip to the ground, make a longitudinal cut along the stem and dig it with earth. The whip must be fixed so that it does not straighten. After rooting, it can be cut off from the bush and transplanted into a separate pot.
Features of care anddiseases
Indoor ivy is a plant with high immunity. Therefore, the cause of his death can only be neglect of the rules of cultivation and care. Most often, novice flower growers face the following problems:
- Variegated varieties lose their decorative effect and fade over time. The reason may be the lack of light. Saving the plant is quite simple - just rearrange the flower in a bright place.
- Leaves become smaller and actively crumble. This usually happens when the air humidity is low. To help the plant, you need to spray it more often, normalize watering, feed it with fertilizers;
- The leaves are turning yellow. Provokes excess moisture or top dressing.
The most common plant pests (especially in dry air) are:
- shchitka, which deprives the leaves of nutrition;
- aphid (most often winged). It feeds on sap, kills young leaves and shoots;
- mealybug that attacks leaves. It infects the plant with a fungus, slows down the growth of the plant;
- red spider mite attacking stem.
Ivy treatment and pest control includes spraying, as well as watering with a solution of special preparations - Aktellik, Karbofos, Aktara. The procedure is repeated every three days. If the disease is advanced, it is allowed to treat the aerial part of the plant with an insecticide.
Useful and healing properties of ivy
This plant, in addition to high decorative qualities, has useful properties:
- cleansesindoor air from harmful impurities:
- oxygenates him;
- destroys fecal bacteria (this is true when there is a pet in the house).
Hedera leaves contain a large amount of provitamin A, vitamin E, hederin, carotene, oleic and tannic acids. Ivy leaves are used in medicines (anti-inflammatory, expectorant, antispasmodic).
This plant is called home pharmacy. Traditional healers have used the healing properties of the loach since ancient times:
- infusions and decoctions of leaves (dry) cure cough;
- from corns, gruel from fresh leaves is used;
- infusion of leaves effectively helps with rheumatism, arthritis. In addition, an infusion of the roots helps in the treatment of boils, burns, scabies.
Myths and prejudices
Sometimes beginner flower growers doubt whether it is possible to keep this flower at home. This is due to rumors that ivy is a husband. Does the flower, the photo of which we posted in our article, “survive” all plants from the house? Is that really true? And that's not all: the flower is considered a lovebird and an energy vampire.
However, there is no scientific evidence for such speculation. Moreover, in the Scandinavian countries, ivy is an obligatory attribute of the spouses' bedroom - they believe that the hedera tightly binds family members. In the East, ivy is recognized as a source of vital energy, so every home tries to plant and grow it.
Don't believe in prejudice. If you like ivy - feel free to wind it upplant. It is unpretentious, useful and beautiful.
