Hyacinth is a versatile plant, it is grown in the garden and at home on windowsills. In early spring, when the snow has not yet melted everywhere, it appears in the flowerbed among the first flowers. However, even in the long cold winter, hyacinth can delight others with beautiful buds with a great aroma if grown at home. How to plant a plant and care for it, read the article.
Description of hyacinth
This flower is from the Asparagus family, experts say so now. Previously, it was ranked among the Hyacinth or Lily representatives of the flora. Hyacinth flowers are bulbous perennials. Their homeland is Asia and the Mediterranean. But breeders from Holland brought out so many varieties of the flower that it can be safely called a native of this country. If you translate from the language of the ancient Greeks, the plant is called the "flower of the rains", as it blooms in the spring period of the first rains.
Hyacinth flowers can beshort and tall. The bulb is dense, the leaves of an oblong shape form a rosette, from which a stem emerges, crowned with a juicy peduncle. The buds are bells, the petals of which are twisted. They are collected in inflorescences similar to an ear. They have a racemose shape and high density. Flowers have the form of simple and double forms.
How to choose bulbs for planting?
Hyacinth flowers are bred with bulbs. For landing, they must be large enough, with a diameter of five centimeters, no less. They grow full-fledged flowers. If you plant small bulbs, they will throw out the leaves, but you can not wait for the flowers. It is important that the planting material is free of damage and rot. Before planting in the substrate, it should be disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The plant will grow without problems if the bulbs are he althy and their surface is smooth.
In order to know what color the plant will be, you need to pay attention to the scales. The color of the future inflorescence will be the same. If the bulbs are not available at home, they are bought. It is best to do this at the end of summer. When buying already adult plants, the stems and leaves are inspected. The former should stand straight, while the latter should look up.
What should be the pot?
When planting, everything is taken into account, since every little thing is important for the proper cultivation of a plant. The flower should not grow in cramped conditions, so you need to choose a wide, but shallow pot. In its bottom you need to make several holes, whichcalled drainage. When watering, excess water will flow out through them, which will ensure the growth of the roots without rotting.
Choosing a place to grow
We must not forget that the hyacinth flower (photo for consideration is presented) is a garden plant, so when growing at home, it needs to create conditions close to natural. And he loves a lot of sunlight. The best option for a houseplant are windows located in a south and southeast direction. The duration of daylight should be 15 hours a day. If you put hyacinth flowers in any of the other sides, you will have to install sources of additional lighting. Being a light-loving plant, hyacinth does not tolerate direct exposure to the sun's rays on leaves and buds. On such days, it is better to move the plant to another place where it will not get burned. So that the flower does not grow one-sidedly, it must be rotated periodically.
Temperature conditions
To make the flower feel comfortable, the temperature in the room where it grows should be + 20-22 ˚С. Sharp warming, cooling, drafts, close proximity of hot heat sources in the room - not for a home hyacinth flower. Caring for a houseplant is to create conditions for it that are similar to natural ones. This also applies to the temperature regime. In the warm season of the year, the plant should be taken out to the balcony, this will benefit him.
Soil preparation
You can buy a special substrate for flowering plants or cook itindependently from sod, leafy soil, compost and humus. All ingredients are taken in equal proportions. Sand and peat should be added to this mixture in a small amount. Even if everything is done correctly, the home flower hyacinth does not bloom for several years in a row. Stimulation of this process is achieved by weakening the bulbs due to artificial forcing. For this year, in two years they are planted in open ground for restoration.
Hyacinth flowers: planting and care
After all the materials are prepared, they start planting the bulbs. This procedure is best done in the morning or on cloudy days. The landing steps are as follows:
- A layer of drainage is placed at the bottom of the prepared pot. It can be any natural material that absorbs moisture well, expanded clay, for example.
- The next layer will be soil.
- Then fine sand is poured in.
- Only now bulbs are placed evenly over its entire surface: one or more pieces for lush flowering. It is important that there is no contact between them. To do this, they are planted at a distance of two to three centimeters from one another.
- The next step is to press the bulbs into the ground. This must be done carefully so as not to damage them. After that, the plantings are covered with the remaining soil, on top - with sand so that the bulbs do not rot.
- It is very important not to miss this moment: when planting a hyacinth flower, the bulb does not need to be completely immersed in the ground, the top should be above its level.
What to do after landing?
The main thing is that the bulbs take root and germinate. The plant needs to create such conditions, which are called a dormant period. A pot with plantings for a period of 45-75 days should be placed in the basement, where it should be dark and cool. In this room, the air temperature is maintained at a level of + 5-10 ˚С, not higher. If there is no cellar, the flowers are placed in the refrigerator, where the temperature regime is necessarily maintained, otherwise the bulbs will freeze and will not sprout. You need to monitor the soil, if it dries out - water it.
This period must be met in time. If you take the plant out of the basement before it ends, it will be weak and unlikely to bloom. No need to overexpose it in the dark. In this case, all the power of the plant will go into throwing out the leaves, due to which the buds will form much later.
When the bulbs take root
When a sprout of five centimeters in size appears, the plant needs to arrange an artificial spring, bring it into the house. The flower must be placed in a bright room with a temperature of + 10-15 ˚С. He will grow up very soon. The flower, finally, can be placed in the room you want. But there are conditions, the fulfillment of which is considered mandatory: the temperature must correspond to +20 ˚С, the room must be well lit and no drafts.
Planting hyacinth in water
This procedure is considered fashionable today. For its implementation, the bulbs are prepared in the same way as for a normal planting. Each flower is a hyacinth (see photobelow) is placed in a separate glass dish, into which distilled or spring water is poured. It is necessary to ensure that the bulb is not completely immersed in the liquid. Only the lower part should come into contact with water.
Plants should not be disturbed until they have sprouts. To do this, you need to place a home flower hyacinth in a cold and dark place. How to take care of him at this time? Nothing special needs to be done, the main thing is to add water to the container in time. It should not completely evaporate, otherwise the bulbs will die. When green arrows appear, fertilizer with a mineral composition is added to the water. It is sold in any specialized store. After 75 days, the containers with the sprouts are placed in a room with good lighting, where they continue to grow, as in ordinary pots.
Hyacinth flower: home care after the flowering period
Time will pass and the hyacinth will fade. What can be done to keep the plant alive? Flower stalks should be cut off immediately and watering and fertilizing should not be stopped until all the leaves have withered. This is necessary in order for the bulb to regain its strength and be capable of forming “children”. You need to dig them out at the beginning of the first month of summer. After that, a thorough inspection is done, if necessary, disinfection. In the future, the bulbs are stored when the temperature regime changes from 30 to 17 ˚С until planting in the ground in the fall.
Then the hyacinth flower, the care of which at this stage is over, is taken out of the pot, the withered leaves are removed. Next, the bulbs are placed ondrying: the first seven days at a temperature of 30 ˚С, for a period twice as long - at 25 ˚С, until planting - at 17 ˚С with high humidity. If the formed "children" are well developed, they are separated. If it is impossible to detach, leave it.
Bulbs of faded plants for forcing a second time are not recommended. They need to be transplanted to the site chosen in the garden. This must be done in the fall. They will bloom next year. Distillation is called the preparatory stages for flowering plants in the winter. If something is done wrong due to inexperience, the plant will still bloom, but its flowers will be smaller and fall faster, and the leaves will stretch and begin to fall down. The main thing is that the flower after planting needs to withstand a period of cold, without it it will not release buds.
To make the hyacinth bloom at a certain time
In the life of every family there are solemn occasions. To please your loved ones, you can present them with a hyacinth blooming by this time. But how to do that? You need to make calculations. They are, of course, approximate, but suddenly it will turn out. So, from the moment of planting to the flowering period - 75 days. Depending on the variety, the plant blooms from 10 to 18 days. Everything is easy to calculate. In order for the plant to bloom on New Year's Eve, it must be planted in the middle of the second month of autumn, on Valentine's Day - at the end of November, for the women's holiday on March 8 - in the second decade of December.
Reproduction
Hyacinth cultivation is carried out in several ways. The most relevant for home conditions is reproductionbulbs. Naturally, during the growing season, one bulb gives four to five "kids", no more. In this regard, flower growers propagate hyacinths at home in an artificial way. To quickly obtain "children" in large numbers, they use the use of special techniques. Before the start of artificial propagation, the bulbs must be treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, and then sent to dry for two to three days. The air temperature should be +20-23 ˚С.
The first method is cutting the bottom. The procedure is carried out after the end of the rest period. With a small spoon in the bulbs, you need to cut the bottom. For storage, put them in boxes so that the cuts are at the top. The temperature in the room should be 21˚C. After 60-75 days, 20-40 small "babies" will form on the sections. After their appearance, the bulbs need to be planted in a cool greenhouse. They will begin to grow rapidly and throw out leaves. At the end of the growing season, the bulbs must be removed from the ground, separated and planted in other containers. In three or four years, they will mature and form their flower stalks.
The second method is cutting the bottom. Hyacinth flower at home can be grown in a different way. This method is similar to the first, but there is a slight difference. The bottom does not need to be cut, it is enough to make cuts in the amount of two to four pieces in it. Their depth should be half a centimeter. Otherwise, everything is done in the same way as in the first case, however, fewer “children” are formed, 8-15 pieces, but they are strong andlarge. It will take less time to grow the bulbs - only two to three years.
How to water properly?
The flower needs moisture. But it must be watered very carefully and carefully. When water gets on any part of the plant, it begins to rot, and the whole plant dies. The safest option is to water by immersing the flower pot in water, the level of which should not reach the top of it. Through the drainage holes, the plants will absorb the liquid. Hyacinth does not need to be sprayed, especially during flowering.
Feeding home flowers
The soil in a pot is depleted quickly as the plants take nutrients from it. To grow hyacinths without problems, they need to be fed as soon as the first leaves appear. A good fertilizer is Fertimix. It contains a balanced content of the main microelements and vitamins necessary for the growth and formation of the plant. In a liter jar of water, you need to stir two or three caps of this product and water the flowers every two weeks. So hyacinths will be provided with good nutrition, will begin to grow and bloom better.
