Medinilla: home care, transplant, diseases, pests

Medinilla, care at home for which requires responsibility and immense care, is a worthy adornment of any garden, its pearl. Almost every connoisseur of beauty dreams of possessing a spoiled beauty, but not everyone can afford it: the plant is too capricious. Medinilla, care at home for which is very laborious, adapts heavily to an environment different from the usual wet tropics. In nature, an evergreen plant - a native of the island of Luzon (Philippines), Madagascar and tropical Africa - is much larger than a room copy, grows shrubs and reaches a height of 2 meters.

Medinilla: Description

The flower received its interesting name in honor of Medinella, the governor of the Mariana Islands, one of Spain's former colonies. The English call this plant a "tree-chandelier" for its huge drooping inflorescences.

You can admire the natural pearl in the botanical gardens, greenhouses and the true connoisseurs of exotics, where the medinilla (home care for which not everyone is able to do) reigns majestically in its royal niche, favorably standing out against the background of other plants. Indeed, several tiers of large leaves with a lot of small bright pink flowers collected in elegantly drooping racemose inflorescences (about 10 cm long) truly fascinate with the delicate beauty and magnificence of pink hues. The leaves are equally impressive; Oval, grayish green with prominent bright veins, they are huge (reach about 30 cm in length).

Medinilla: capricious alien

Observance of the temperature regime and the provision of necessary humidity are factors in which the demanding medina is in dire need. Care at home (photo demonstrates this) with full compliance with the comfortable for the plant regimes will cause its blossoming twice a year (in spring and summer), and the duration of this fascinating spectacle is about 10 weeks. After the flowering, the exotic beauty is recommended to be cut off qualitatively.

In search of an optimal place to accommodate medinyls, your choice is better to stop on the eastern and western windows; On the south side, the plant will be negatively affected by direct sunlight, on the north side it may not flow well. In summer, the flower can be grown on the street, in the penumbra. When the first buds appear, you can not change the location of the plant.

Temperature and humidity are the main conditions for growth

It is very important that not only the place where the medina stands properly is selected. Care at home is to comply with the main requirement: the correct temperature regime, which should be 20-22 ^o C from spring to autumn, in winter, this figure must be gradually reduced to 15-17 ^o C. It is during this period that the plant is in its infancy Flower buds. One of the enemies of medinyl are drafts, so you need to choose well-ventilated and at the same time quiet places for accommodation. In the rest period it is important to provide the plant with maximum illumination, for which you can use daylight lamps (or phytolamps).

An important factor responsible for the normal growth of medinyl is air humidity; The optimal indicator is 75-80%. The leaves of the plant are required to be constantly sprayed (without falling at the flowers) or use an air humidifier. You can place a container next to the flower with water to evaporate.

Watering

Watering the flower is required to be carried out with water at room temperature. An important condition for quality care of the plant is moderation and avoidance of water stagnation in the flower pot, which, by the way, it is desirable to place on a pallet with expanded clay, wet gravel or moss, which will ensure the evaporation of water and the required humidity. In the autumn period, watering should be reduced and practically limited in winter.

The plant will not blossom or it can discard the leaves under disturbed temperature conditions, insufficient light and low humidity. This can also lead to frequent changes in the location of the pot with the flower. Therefore, it is very important to find the right place where the medina will feel comfortable.

Home care: pests and diseases

Low humidity can cause damage to medinyls such pests as thrips, scab, spider mite and red spiders. Against thrips used drugs such as "Carbophos", "Argavertin", "Actellik", "Karate", "Fitoverm"; With a red spider, you can fight by spraying with special means and increasing the humidity of the air; The shield is destroyed by systemic insecticides. Spider mite is afraid of chemical and plant products. It is important to timely identify the symptoms of possible pests in order to prevent the death of the plant. It's always nice to see in your flower collection such a unique specimen as a medina.

Home care: diseases

The plant can begin to hurt when the conditions of its cultivation are violated. Their manifestation will be noticeable in the form of brown spots on the stems and leaves. If such signs are found, the affected shoots should be urgently removed.

From March to August, the plant needs to be fed with complex liquid fertilizer twice a month. Excellent as a fertilizer for fertilizers for orchids. In the rest of the year, fertilizer is not required.

Propagation of the medinyls

Medionilla reproduces both by seeds and by cuttings obtained during the spring pruning. Cuttings are planted in sand containers and covered with polyethylene or glass, which are kept at a temperature of 26-30 ^o C. After rooting, which occurs a month after the landing, young plants need to be pricked to stimulate branching, then abundantly watered and fed. Seeding is carried out in February-March in a mixture of sand and earth (proportion 1: 1). The crops are planted in a warm place, and in May-June, the roots are transplanted into a larger container. Thus, there is already almost formed adult plant - medinilla.

Care at home: transplantation of a young plant is carried out every year, adult flowers - every two years. At the same time, for a successful growth, a small pot is enough. The substrate can be made from peat, sand, humus, turf and leaf earth, taken in the proportion 1: 1: 1: 2: 2. During the transplant, the plant needs to be cut off, the cut branches can be used as cuttings to plant a new beautiful flower.

Do the gardeners like medinilla? Care at home (reviews about which are different and diametrically opposed) is complex, but possible. It is easy for someone to grow a medinila, and someone for several years can not breed it in his or her garden because of the capricious nature of the latter. In fact, everything is very simple: you must follow the above recommendations and love the plant, and everything will turn out.