Stromant and crossandra at home (PHOTO) – planting and care

I also want to tell you about plants, which take pride of place in my large collection of home flowers - beauties stromante and crossandre.

STROMANTA HOME CARE

Stromanta – Photo

I had this plant of the Marantovye family a long time ago, once planted a tiny stalk. Now a large bush in a large beautiful pot stands in the center of the table near the south window. I rarely transplant stromant, only when it grows strongly.

I make up the soil from equal parts of the garden land, purchased peat and leaf humus, which I cook myself in the fall. Stromante needs abundant watering in summer, I cut it down in winter, but I do not allow the earthen coma to dry completely. I water the plant only with rain or snow water. I spray the leaves daily, I have a hot shower once a week (the temperature is so, to make your hand comfortable).

Stromante likes it.

Since spring, once a month I water with a solution of complex fertilizer and potassium monophosphate (according to instructions). I did not notice pests. Someone considers stromanthus to be a capricious plant., but she doesn't give me problems. In the evening the leaves go up, showing burgundy seamy side, the underside of the leaf blades. This is how the plant reacts to the onset of darkness..

CROSSANDRA: HOME CARE

Crossandra – Photo

There is also a retinue near the queen - crossandra. The offspring of this exotic was given to me by the head of the library reading room, flower lover. A plant with beautiful shiny leaves looks beautiful in itself, and when it blooms, then a real holiday comes. Buds appear first, collected in "spikelets", then in turn, starting from the bottom tier, flowers bloom. Crossandra stands on the west window, in the summer, in the bright sun, its leaves acquire a reddish tint.

I rarely transplant, the plant does not like root disturbance and takes a long time to get used to the new "home". If you really have to increase the pot, then I transplant using the transshipment method, without destroying the earth lump.

I prepare the same soil, as for stromant. I water abundantly in spring and summer, I do not allow the soil to dry out, otherwise the plant withers. Since spring I feed with fertilizers for better flowering, mainly "Uniflor" and potassium monophosphate. Crossandra blooms all summer. Be sure to remove faded inflorescences.

In the fall, the plant begins a dormant period - I reduce watering. In February, I shorten the shoots by half. After such pruning, the bush becomes more magnificent., means, and there will be more flowers. I root the cut tops in greenhouses in purchased soil, then I distribute to friends.

A whitefly emerged from the pests., apparently, from nearby fuchsias. Aktara quickly coped with it, and I didn’t spray (I don't want to do it in the house), and sprinkled a little powder on the top layer of earth in a pot and poured. Also processed fuchsias and pelargoniums.

© Author: Lyudmila KALDINA, P. Tamala, Penza region. Photo by the author

GROWING CROSSANDRA – LANDING AND CARE. FLOWER TIPS AND REVIEWS

Crossandre is good outside

For the summer I take crossandra to the garden.

I water after the topsoil has dried. To maintain humidity, I spray around the bush, without falling on flowers. The beauty grows in light, no direct rays place. I feed until late autumn 2 once a month with complex mineral fertilizer for flowering species, alternating with nitrophobic (0,5 tablespoon / 5 l warm water).

With this care, the plant blooms all summer..

Withering flowers fall to the base of the spiky inflorescences, and I take them away. Seeds are formed after flowering. It is better to sow them right away, as they quickly lose germination. I propagate crossandra and cuttings, which take root at any time of the year in wet sand under the film.

© Author: Olga ALEXANDROVA, r. Skadovsk

CROSSANDRA – CARE

CROSSANDRA – SOUTH BALCONY DECORATION

For a long time, Krossandra admired only in photos in magazines and on the Internet. I haven't met her on sale.

But 3 years ago at the beginning of summer I was lucky to acquire a small flowering bush.

HOME IS BEST

I put the beauty on the table by the east window. She grew up in peat, so a week later I decided to transplant her. Completely freed the roots from the substrate and planted the crossandra in the Terravita soil. The leaves first lost their turgor, but after a couple of days they recovered, the flower has grown.

FOCUS ON WATERING

Krossandra turned out to be unpretentious in leaving. It's important not to miss watering, otherwise the leaves will wilt, and after moistening they quickly return to normal. Sometimes added fertilizer to the water for flowering species. Over the summer, the bush has grown noticeably. And pleased with flowering until November! Development stopped in winter, and I minimized watering. At the end of February, she shortened the twigs by about half. Soon, the plant gave new shoots, and the cuttings remaining from pruning gave roots in water.

SUMMER CARE OF CROSSANDRA

The beauty spends summer on the southern balcony, but I try to place it in the shade of other plants - it can burn in the direct sun.

Read, that crossandra often suffers from chlorosis, so every year I transplant it into fresh soil. Several times during the season I feed the fertilizer "Mr. Color. Antichlorosis ».

Spider mites can be another problem.. I saw him on my plant only once - the treatments with Fitoverm helped (according to instructions).

I bring crossandra into the house, when the temperature at night drops to +10-12 city.

© Author:Elena BUKHTA

CROSSANDRA-TROPICAL BEAUTY IN YOUR HOUSE

Crossandra one resembles jasmine, other violets, third hibiscus, but all agree on one thing – she is beautiful and simply must live in every house or apartment.

To grow – NOTHING DIFFICULT!

If you decide to have a crossandra at home, then you can safely do it, because the plant is completely simple to care for. You won't have to wait long for flowering – even young specimens form several inflorescences. If you do it right, then crossandra will bloom throughout the warm season.

When growing crossandra, remember, that plant is tropical, hence loving warmth and moisture. Therefore, even in winter, the room temperature should not drop below 19 degrees, and in the summer be at around 23-24'С. Afraid of crossandra and draft, as well as a sharp change in temperature; if it happens, then the plant can drop almost all the leaves.

As for lighting, then the south window will do, however desirable, so that at noon the rays of the sun do not shine directly on the leaves.

Watering is also an important part of care.. There should be enough moisture in the summer., and in winter it is practically not needed. In the cold season, water the crossandra only as the topsoil dries out. Loves crossandra and moist air, due to which the culture will have to be periodically sprayed from a spray bottle.

Crossandra will not be at all opposed to being adjacent to other similar cultures; if you have the opportunity to create a "living corner", then the plant will give you even more lush flowering. Prolongs flowering and periodic removal of wilting buds.

During watering and spraying, try not to get on the flowers, otherwise they will wither quickly.

Otherwise, crossandra is a very resistant plant., it practically does not get sick and is extremely rarely affected by pests, however, when buying, take a closer look at its leaflets. May be, previous conditions or contact with other crops led to infection of the plant with spider mites or whitefly. But this is extremely rare.. Maximum, what can happen, – this is a sudden drying of the tips of the leaf blades – clear sign of, that the plant lacks moisture.

With age, the crossandra becomes like an unkempt beauty, and she will need a haircut. It is better to spend it in early spring., well, the shoots remaining after this procedure can be placed in a glass with river sand, cover with a glass jar and try to root.

Roots on cuttings, special

when soaking them in growth stimulants, formed after a couple of months, and in order for the plants to continue to develop actively, they should be transplanted into a nutritionally rich, moist and well-drained soil.

Suitable for transplanting mixture, composed of equal proportions of non-acidic peat, loose clay and coarse river sand. There must be drainage at the base of the pot, it could be pebbles, expanded clay or soil for an aquarium.

In the summer, you can have sun or air baths in the crossandre, taking it out to an open terrace or balcony.

Sometimes for the summer, the cross is placed in the middle of other flowering plants in the flower bed., she decorates the space very well.

ATTENTION!

The most suitable variety for indoor conditions is the Mona Wilhead variety., his flowers are reddish-brick, and the bush is not high. Pinching young shoots in spring stimulates the formation of additional inflorescences. With a lack of light, flowering is delayed; since young plants bloom more actively, we recommend pruning every 4-5 years old.

IT IS INTERESTING!

Crossandra was brought to Russia from India at about the end of the last century and, as soon as it went on sale, immediately gained popularity, becoming a kind of personification of a special taste.

This wonderful plant belongs to evergreen shrubs and can grow no more than half a meter in a room.

In their homeland, in the tropics of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, crossandra is the most common, there it grows in well-lit forests, consisting of trees with a sparse crown, where it develops and spreads very quickly, sometimes occupying large territories.

Crossandra is especially popular with women in India., her flowers are highly esteemed there, decorating their hair on the way to the temples.

Crossandra is interested not only in flowers, but also leaves. They are quite long, up to nine centimeters. Leaf blades are painted in a rich green hue. After spraying, they become smooth and shine like glossy. The shape of the leaves is elliptical, their tip is rounded.

At home, crossandra blooms usually in May., then you can see her spikelets-inflorescences, which consist of rather bright tubular flowers, not opening immediately, and one by one.

The first flowers bloom at the very bottom of the inflorescence, and the latter open up at the top closer to the beginning of autumn.