All about the dormant period in gloxinia. Gorgeous Gloxinia - Home Care for an Exotic Amazon Flower

Gloxinia is one of the most famous indoor plants that flower growers all over the planet fell in love with. This flower, with its unique appearance, is able to bring a touch of natural beauty and romance into the room.

Gloxinia is a welcome flower for every housewife

Domestic gardeners also did not remain indifferent to the room beauty. But not everyone knows how to provide proper home care for gloxinia.

Plant history

Gloxinia is home to warm and sunny Brazil. Also, this plant was cultivated in European latitudes thanks to the work of the famous botanist Benjamin Peter Gloxin. This plant is named after him. Some time after the works of this scientist, another botanist, Wilhelm Sinning, took up the hybridization of the plant. The fruits of Sinning's work are presented in the form of a wide distribution of subspecies of this flower and its domestication.

Varieties and varieties

The plant has a powerful root system, from which emanates many green fleshy leaves covered with fine hairs. Gloxinia tubers are pronounced and immediately striking. The stem of the flower is not very long, and at its top there are many bright flowers that differ from each other in shape and color, depending on the subspecies. The subspecies are classified as follows: miniatures and classic varieties, the length of which can exceed thirty centimeters. Other varieties are intermediate between the two main categories.

Avante- the white petals that make up the bell-shaped bud.
Royal- contains a lot of purple petals.
Tigrina Red... This variety implies the presence of a bright red or burgundy bud.
Gloxinia Hollywood implies a collection of dark purple petals. Inside the gloxinia flower, there is a white area surrounded by purple particles.
Esinia- a kind of flower that grows up to thirty centimeters in height. On the edges of the petals there is a border of white or delicate pink.
Kaiser Wilhelm implies curvy purple flowers, along the edges of which a snow-white border stands out brightly. The spotted core of the plant draws attention to itself.
Blanche de Meroux- a kind of elongated flowers, the outer surface of which has White color... Slightly curving flowers are colored in pink color, and velvety fleshy leaves form the basis of the plant.
Shagane- a domestic variety of gloxinia, implying dark blue double buds. Petal mass of blue color covered with a bright blue border with a white core, which has bluish blotches.
Anfisa- a beautiful pinkish tiger. Mass of petals on a bud. Inside the flower, you can see a white core with red blotches. The rim of the petals has a pink tint. Outside, the petals are white.

Necessary conditions for growing

Caring for gloxinia at home requires a specific list of gardening skills. but undeniable advantage flower is its ease of care. He does not need constant attention and a lot of effort, like many other representatives of indoor plants.

Soil and pot: basic requirements

The plant is not picky about soil conditions. Suitable soil is sod land, leaf humus, garden soil, and river sand in equal proportions.

If desired, a small amount of sawdust can be added to the ground.... The resulting soil should be soft and airy, and if the resulting soil consistency does not meet this requirement, a baking powder can be applied. It is important to make sure that there is a special hole on the bottom of the flowerpot. About fifteen percent of the height of the flowerpot needs to be filled with rubble or pebbles to create good drainage... Ideally, the resulting substance should be soft, airy and absorb well the water that flows from the bottom hole.

Watering, top dressing and suitable fertilizers

Gloxinia is a flower that is not picky about fertilizers. Of course, this plant cannot do without fertilizers at all, therefore, without their regular application, it is unlikely to please the gardener with abundant and lush bloom... Complex formulations created specifically for feeding indoor plants can serve as fertilizers. Warm time the year is ideal for making nutrient mixtures from spring to the second month of summer. You need to add the mixture no more than twice a month, and the last month of summer is not at all suitable for feeding in connection with the preparation of the plant for the cold season. During this time, gloxinia will gather all the resources in order to withstand the harsh environmental conditions.

Watering gloxinia too often should not be. Gloxinia tubers that have not reached sufficient maturity can protrude from the surface of the earth, being exposed to excess moisture. During this period, the plant is most susceptible to the occurrence of fungal diseases and mold growth, and these conditions can extremely negatively affect the life of the motley pet.

It is also important to avoid excessive watering for already formed plants, which will help the competent composition of the soil and drainage system on the bottom of the pot.

Gloxinia loves a humid environment and grows faster in conditions high humidity... Despite this, it does not require regular spraying, and this is a distinctive property of this plant. For supporting good conditions for plant growth, it is important to maintain a relatively high level humidity around the flowerpot with a pet.

A few saucers of water are unlikely to be able to radically correct the situation, so you can plant moss in the flowerpot if you wish, or put a couple of vases of green plants near the beauty. Plants with green leaves tend to release the moisture needed for this flower.

Compliance with proper lighting will also help to ensure the flowering of gloxinia. Diffused light is ideal for a flower. Therefore, the flowerpot can be placed in the southern, eastern or western part of the apartment, while the curtain on the window should not be too tight.

Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight on the plant can lead to burns on the delicate petals: illiterate watering, which implies spraying, can aggravate this condition. For this reason, it is better to water the root of the plant itself, rather than resort to a spray bottle. You cannot put a flowerpot with gloxinia in places through which drafts pass or on window sills with cracks. Otherwise, the plant may look lethargic, and the loss of elasticity and dullness may indicate not only hypothermia, but also the beginning of decay processes in the root system of the flower.

Falling gloxinia leaves before winter

In the cold season, the flowerpot should be kept in a well-lit room with an air temperature of + 10-17 degrees Celsius. In this case, the plant will be able to calmly throw off the leaves, but you should not be afraid of this: in the spring new, strong and beautiful shoots will emanate from the stem. Keeping gloxinia in such conditions will help it gain strength in the cold season, and with the onset of warmth, release the accumulated energy reserves in the form of a bright, lush and juicy flowering.

Plant pruning and transplanting rules

Some gardeners argue that pruning a plant competently consists in cutting off all the growing foliage, since radical pruning methods lead to the fact that new, abundantly flowering shoots grow from the gloxinia tuber over time. In fact, there is no sense or practical benefit in this. Of course, new shoots will grow, but this method can lead to the process of rotting of the root system, which will receive some amount of water without being able to send it to the branches for replenishment. In addition, the last half of summer can lead to the onset of secondary flowering.

You need to transplant the flower into a pot corresponding to the size of the rhizome. Small, newly formed roots can fit in a small pot, while the already formed root system should be placed in a pot that does not restrict the root. Do not pick up flowerpots of too large a volume, as they can lead to excessive ingress of moisture into the root of the plant, which can lead to the beginning of its decay.

Gloxinia flowering: what is it and what to do after?

The period of development of inflorescences begins from the first month of spring to the last month of summer. The buds can last for about a month, after which they need to be cut off.

After the plant has bloomed, you need to rid it of weak, lethargic and dried flowers. Remember to remove any thick leaves that can be used to propagate the variety.

Incorrect Gloxinia Content and Ways to Correct Errors

In the event that the flowers of gloxinia become dull and lethargic or there are other signs of overflow of the plant, it must be placed in another pot. To do this, remove the affected flower from the pot, shake off excess soil from it, clean it of rotten foliage and flowers and place it in a pot with new soil. The soil in the other pot should be more airy and looser than in the previous one - for this you can add more baking powder to it. After transplanting, water the plant, cover with plastic wrap and place in a slightly shaded area for the recovery period. You can remove the airing film once or twice a week.

The root will rot if it separates too easily from the tuber. Rotten roots should be cut off, leaving a healthy part. The root can be dark to almost black in color and give off a moldy and rotten odor. This indicates the beginning of decay. In this case, you can use the fleshy leaves for the rooting process in the soil.

Reproduction of gloxinia using a leaf

The leaf mode of reproduction is the most common among gloxinia. To do this, cut off the fleshy leaf and shorten it to two centimeters. Next, place the leaf in coarse sand and cover with plastic wrap. In about 1-2 months, roots will begin to emanate from the leaf. When their length reaches two centimeters, this means the sprout can be transplanted into a pot with prepared soil. At the very beginning of the growth of the rooted leaf, leave a film with a small hole over it, and as it develops, increase the volume of the hole in the film. After two weeks, the polyethylene film can be removed.

Propagation using seeds

Plant the seeds in sandy soil and cover the flowerpot. plastic wrap... It will take a long time for the seeds to germinate: from four to nine months. When most of the sprouts have sprouted, the film can be removed.

Tuberous propagation method

This method of dividing gloxinia is quite complicated and risky, so they resort to it experienced gardeners. Large tubers without damage and signs of decay must be divided during the dormant period.... It is recommended to cut one tuber into two parts and cover it with charcoal. This transplanting method is not used very often due to the increased risk of rhizome decay.

Gloxinia cuttings

Cuttings emanating from the stem of the gloxinia are also suitable for the propagation process of the plant. The difficulty of this method lies in the small length of the cuttings. Therefore, grafting must be carried out exactly according to the same algorithm as with a leaf: place the cut component in coarse sand, cover it with plastic wrap and wait for the beginning of rooting. The rhizome appears in a month.

Disease prevention and treatment methods

Generally proper care for gloxinia at home means regular watering of the plant. In addition, do not forget about the periodic introduction of dressings, compliance with the required temperature and lighting in the room. If all the above recommendations are followed, the plant will be able to please its owner with lush flowering.

One of the most important points in the development of gloxinia there is a dormant period, because thanks to this, the plant can delight with its colorful flowering annually. In a rested and rejuvenated flower, more peduncles are tied, and the flowering itself lasts longer.

When does gloxinia go to rest?

A rest period is not required for all gloxinia. Young and small nodules still do not need it, but the bushes, which have already produced flower stalks and have reached adult sizes, go to rest for the winter.

Tubers that have reached a diameter of more than 2 cm, and which turned more than a year hibernate in late October or November.

How to understand that gloxinia is preparing for a rest period?

The fact that the flower wants to take a break can be understood by its appearance:

at healthy plant the lower leaves gradually dry out;
over time, the entire aerial part of the flower dries up.

Drying as a transitional stage of preparation for winter can take place even if there are peduncles on the bush. They may not have time to bloom, but this is not scary - the flower simply did not calculate its strength and threw out the peduncles too late.

You cannot cut off the remaining green top of the bush - it should dry out on its own. So everything nutrients from green leaves they turn into a tuber, and the flower gains strength before wintering.

How to prepare a flower for a dormant period?

As soon as the gloxinia has external signs of falling asleep, it is necessary to reduce the frequency of watering and completely eliminate feeding.

Since the bright light will only interfere with the plant now, the pot must be removed from the windowsill and placed in a darker place.

How to store tubers in winter?

When the gloxinia is completely dry (its green part), it's time to start sending the tuber for storage.

There are two ways to store nodules in winter:

Directly in the pot without removing them from the soil... Trim dry leaves and stems with scissors, leaving a small stump. Moisten the earth slightly and cover the flowerpot with a bag, tying it tightly. Once a month, you need to remove the bag to check the soil and, if necessary, moisten the soil again, watering only along the edge of the pot.
In a bag with peat... Gently remove the tuber, wash it, getting rid of the remnants of the earth. Be sure to let it dry. Pour some peat into the bag and put the tuber on top. Spray a little water and close the bag tightly.

Where to store tubers?

Prepared gloxinia tubers should be stored in a dark and cool room. The maximum temperature in the room should be 15 degrees Celsius, and the minimum - at least 5 degrees.

This beauty from the world of flowers requires a special attitude towards herself. Previously, not all growers knew that the inhabitant of the tropics, Gloxinia, sheds its leaves for the winter and waits a dormant period in the form of a tuber, which is why this flower sometimes turned out to be thrown away. Now everything is different. We know that winter peace is needed, but how to provide it correctly?

In the photo gloxinia

Sinningia is native to the mountain forests of South America. Only not from the evergreen selva, but from the upper reaches of the Amazon, where the rainy summer months are replaced by arid winter relative coolness. Why the physiology of the Gesneriaceae requires a period of rest. Otherwise, you can not only weaken the plant, not allowing it to bloom next spring, but also completely destroy it.

There are two main ways to store gloxinia tubers in winter.

We store the tuber taken from the pot;
The plant hibernates with an earthen clod.

Gloxinia care video

Let's take a closer look at them. So the first one.

The foliage begins to fade - we slowly stop watering, complete the cycle of fertilizing with fertilizers. Thus, we prepare the plant for winter sleep. Closer to the end of September and mid-October, synningia sheds its leaves. Its roots are dying off. Only the tuber that has matured over the summer remains. We're going to keep it. To do this, carefully remove it from the soil.

This is best done using the transshipment method:

We take a large container for soil, for example, a basin
Turn over the pots with gloxinia over it
Gently knead the earthen ball with your fingers until it breaks up into several parts
We clean the tuber from pieces of soil and remnants of roots

We can wash the tuber under running water, after which it is necessary to dry it. It is highly discouraged to lay a wet tuber for storage - it is fraught with the development of putrefactive processes.

Keep developed root we will be in a bag with wet sand or wet sawdust. But sand is preferable. Only you need to use the gray river, we first wash it from dust, and then bake it in the oven with a thin layer on a baking sheet. Thus, we get rid of the infection.

The storage sand should be slightly damp, just do not overmoisten it. Otherwise, the roots can sour from a lack of oxygen and excess fluid. Now we are preparing a strong bag, pour wet sand on the bottom, put the tuber, cover it with sand to hide it from sight. Now you need to decide on a place.

Wintering of the root systems of home Gesneriaceae must meet three conditions:

Lack of bright light
Temperature from +3 ° C to +15 ° C
The air should not be drier than 60%, but not more than 90%

This ensures normal conditions similar to those of the places where synningia comes from. Winter storage works best at the bottom of the refrigerator, where we usually store vegetables and herbs. If you have a lot free space and some gloxinia tubers, then put your bags in there. But remember that the air inside is very dry. You should periodically check to see if the sand is dry. Most likely, once or twice a winter you will have to slightly moisten it.

Another option is to consider an insulated unheated loggia or balcony. It is important that the temperature does not rise to +20 ° C. This can provoke tubers to wake up early from sleep.

It is also good to hide the plants in a warm deep cellar, where winter temperatures are around +5 ° C, high relative humidity, and almost no fungal moldy processes on the walls and shelves. Then you don't even have to check the moisture content of the sandy or sawdust substrate - it will always be optimal.

You can also store bags under the bathroom. This is the most compromise option. Not everyone has a lot of space in the refrigerator, warm cellar or balcony. The humidity and darkness of the bathroom allows us to hope for a good winter. Only the temperature is high.

Another option is to store bags of tubers on the mezzanine of the hallway. But you can forget about them, not water on time. And this is bad for the bulbs.

It is recommended to periodically check the tubers for putrefaction. If they make themselves felt, we cut them out with a sharp knife or razor until healthy tissue. Be attentive and careful. Do not notice rot in time - you risk losing the entire plant. Powder the place of the cut for disinfection with ash.

We are waiting until spring. We watch when the first shoots appear. Then we remove the tuber, inspect it for rot, clean it if necessary, dip it in a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate. Can then be placed in the root - very nutritious for future flowers. Now we are planting in a new substrate for leaf growth and flowering.

If you bought tubers in the fall, then we store them without soil with mandatory pre-winter and pre-spring treatment with disinfectants, for example, potassium permanganate.

Storage in the ground

Gloxinia care in winter is greatly simplified if we leave the plant intact. We also stop watering in the fall. We are waiting for the complete fall of the foliage. Then we put the pot with the wintering nodule closer to the coolness. For example, if you have cold balcony, then keep the pot closer to its door, away from the battery - this will provide the required wintering temperature.

You can also take the wintering pots to the cellar, put them on the balcony, if you have it insulated. It is important that gloxinia in pots in winter experience temperatures significantly lower than those + 30 ° C that are sometimes observed in apartments.

It also needs to be moistened sometimes upper layer water. Do not overmoisten, but also do not overdry the soil. By the way, potty storage is more advisable in the bathroom. Place ice cubes on top of the soil to create a cooler temperature for the tuber. This will lower the temperature of the substrate surrounding the tuber to the most acceptable level.

Video about rest in gloxinia

A tuber that remains overwintering in the ground is much less exposed to putrefactive processes.

Pros and cons of off-ground and underground storage of gloxinia in winter

It is better to store young synningia without removing it from the ground. So there is less risk of drying out;
Pots with soil are cumbersome, if there is little space and a lot of flowers - choose off-ground storage;
The tubers should be checked frequently for rot;
The bags are conveniently stored in the refrigerator - the most suitable method for wintering a flower, called gloxinia;
Wintering in the bathroom is an option in the absence of a cellar, balcony, large refrigerator;
Moisten the top layer of the earth ice is the best a way of storing gloxinia in a warm room in winter.
We store purchased tubers without soil with mandatory disinfection.

Gloxinia is one of the most popular and beautiful indoor plants in the world. Such wide use gloxinia, home care for which does not cause much difficulty, received thanks to decorative flowers different colors and shapes. Surely every enthusiastic florist at least once thought about purchasing this miracle. How to grow gloxinia at home? How to properly care for her? What kind of soil does Sinningia like? We will answer these and many other questions in this review.

The species is named in honor of the German botanist Benjamin Peter Gloxin, who was the first to cultivate this outlandish plant from the other end of the world in Europe. The second father of gloxinia was another German botanist Wilhelm Sinning, who was seriously engaged in its selection and hybridization. As a result, gloxinia became a houseplant.

Types and varieties

Gloxinia is a tropical perennial herb. The flower grows wild in Mexico and South America from where European colonialists brought it to the Old World in the second half of the 19th century. The peculiarity of its root system is the presence of a pronounced tuber, which during the wintering period can even be dug up and kept cool until spring, like a potato. The leaves growing from the root in the form of a rosette are soft, fleshy, covered with fine hairs. The stem is short but thick. Gloxinia flowers differ depending on the cultivar.

The most common types of gloxinia are:

Royal (purple flowers);
Avante (white petals);
Tigrina Red (bright red);
Hollywood (dark purple);
Yesenia (pink velvet flowers);
Kaiser Wilhelm (black-purple flowers with a white border);
Blanche de Meroux (elongated pink flowers);
Shagane (domestic variety with bright purple small flowers);
Anfisa (pink petals with white spots).

Gloxinia: basic requirements for growing

Gloxinia care is not as difficult as some other green pets. She loves properly selected soil, moderate watering and sunlight.

Requirements for soil and pot

A flower is planted in soil composed of 1 part of sod land, 1 part of leaf humus, 1 part of simple garden soil and 1 part of sand, preferably coarse-grained river. If it is not possible to provide such a variety of substrates, then soil taken from a meadow, from under a linden or birch, is suitable, as well as a purchased composition, which is better to dilute with ordinary soil in a one-to-one ratio. Sometimes it is justified to add a small amount of sawdust or perlite to the mixture. The decision to introduce baking powder is made based on the consistency of the resulting soil. It should be lightweight, breathable and crumbly.

An important condition is to ensure good drainage. There must be a hole in the bottom of the pot. At 15-25% of the height, the pot should be filled with pebbles, rubble, fragments of earthenware, or at least small stones.

Ideally, the water should wet the soil well, be easily absorbed and flow out of the drainage hole without hindrance.

Watering, feeding and fertilizing

Gloxinia is not very demanding in terms of fertilization. Theoretically, you can not fertilize it at all, but then it is unlikely to please the owners. abundant flowering... During spring and summer, it is possible from time to time, but not more than twice a month, to apply universal complex fertilizers for indoor plants. Top dressing should be stopped in mid-August due to the approaching cold season.

As for watering, it is important to observe the measure. Young plants, the root system of which has not yet completely covered the earthy clod, are prone to root rot and fungal diseases. However, even adult specimens often suffer from the gulf. The best way to avoid this - lay drainage on the bottom of the pot and correctly form an earthen mixture, which will be discussed below. If possible, it is better to water the flower with warm water.

Optimal conditions of detention

Another feature of gloxinia: unlike many other indoor plants, it does not need to be sprayed, although wet air loves and grows somewhat faster if there are many sources of moisture evaporation around it. Unfortunately, the benefits of a few bowls of water are almost imperceptible. Better put gloxinia on a windowsill where others have already been placed houseplants: green leaves are good at releasing moisture. You can add moss to some large pots if you like.

Gloxinia's light prefers not direct, but diffused, but rather intense and long-lasting. A great option is to place the pot on a south, east or west window behind a very thin or mesh curtain. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight, especially in combination with careless watering, can leave on leaves sunburn... For this reason, try to water at the root rather than sprinkle.

Do not place the plant where drafts are likely. With hypothermia, the leaves become drooping, as if lethargic. If at the same time they lose their rich green color, then this may indicate either hypothermia of the root system, or about the processes of decay that began in the soil.

If the buds do not bloom, drafts and cold water may be the cause.

If possible, it is better to keep gloxinia in the winter months in a cool, bright room with a temperature of + 10 ... +17 degrees. This will allow the tuber to rest, gain strength and "shoot" in the spring, which increases the chances of abundant and beautiful flowering. Just do not be afraid of the leaves falling off when the plant is moved into the cool: with the retreat of winter, new shoots will grow from the tuber.

Pruning and replanting

Contrary to erroneous statements, you should not cut off almost all the leaves - it just doesn't make sense. It is argued that after radical pruning, stepchildren begin to grow from the tuber, which in the future should bloom profusely. This is not entirely true. The stepsons, of course, will grow up, but you can do without these sacrifices. But excessive removal of leaves is fraught with decay of the roots, which will have nothing to feed. By the way, towards the end of summer, it is often possible to achieve a second wave of flowering, which, however, turns out to be not as intense as the first.

When transplanting, the size of the dishes is selected according to the volume of the root system. Freshly rooted leaves are planted in the smallest pots. For older plants, a container is selected, the volume of which is equal to or slightly more than the volume occupied by the spread roots. Intensively growing specimens are transferred to a slightly larger container every year at the beginning of the growing season.

Remember: too large a pot is a risk factor in terms of flooding and rotting of the root system!

Gloxinia has faded, what to do next?

Blooms from March to August. The gloxinia flower holds for about a month, after which the shrunken pedicel can be safely cut off. When gloxinia faded, not everyone knows what to do next. The first thing to do when the flowering is over is to remove the remaining flowers, weak and too “oily” leaves. The latter, by the way, can be used for reproduction.

Work on bugs

What to do if mistakes are made in the care of gloxinia? With progressive signs of bay and root rot, the flower needs to be transplanted. You need to get it out of the pot, clear it from the ground, remove rotten roots and too weak leaves and plant in new light soil. The "reanimation" soil composition should contain more coarse sand and baking powder than the standard one. After that, the plant is moderately watered, hermetically covered with a transparent plastic bag and stored in partial shade until it grows. You can air the mini-greenhouse 1-2 times a week. If the outcome is favorable, it can be gradually removed.

How to find rotten roots? They are diagnosed on several grounds, and let's start with the most obvious ones. If the root comes off easily from the taproot, then it is 100% rotten. If it does not come off completely, but as if it exfoliates, then this is also a sure sign of its death. Such a root is trimmed either to the healthy part or to the branch point. Less obvious signs are black or dark brown root color and putrid odor. Healthy parts are light brown or even white. In advanced cases, the root system is so rotten that nothing remains of it. The only option in this case is to take the remaining leaves and try to root them.

Breeding features

Reproduction of gloxinia in practice is most easily carried out by leaf cuttings. Less commonly, they resort to sowing seeds and dividing the tuber.

Reproduction of gloxinia leaf

For this purpose, a large ripe leaf is cut from the plant. It is recommended to shorten the petiole to a length of 1.5-2 cm in order to avoid decay. After that, the leaf is planted in moist coarse sand and placed in a sealed mini-greenhouse. Instead of coarse sand, you can use fine quarry sand, but it is slightly less preferable. In this form, the leaf takes about 1 month to put down small roots. When they are 1 to 2 cm long, you can move the plant to a small pot of soil. At first, you should still keep the sheet under cover, only not sealed, but with a small hole. As the leaf gets used to dry room air the gap can be increased, and after 2 weeks the film can be removed. Around this time, a rosette of small leaves should shoot from the base of the petiole. This means that gloxinia breeding was successful! In the future, it is important to ensure that you do not flood young plant, which at this age is especially sensitive to waterlogging.

Stem cuttings

Gloxinia can be propagated and stem cuttings, only this method is complicated by the fact that their length is very small. Therefore, it is rarely used. The technology is the same as when rooting leaves: the cutting is placed in coarse-grained wet sand and hermetically covered with a mini-wig. The appearance of the first roots can be expected in a month.

Pests, diseases and treatments

Gloxinia is rarely affected by pests. Sometimes she is attacked by red spider mite... These insects look like small red dots on the surface of the leaf blade. In no case should they be allowed to breed! First, you can try to remove the tick with Fitoverm, but if there is too much of it, then you will have to resort to more powerful means: Omaytu, Oberon, Sunmight.

Of the diseases, gloxinia often suffers from root rot. It is treated by replacing the earthen coma and watering the plant with a weak solution of Fitosporin.

In general, growing gloxinia on a windowsill is not a big hassle. It is beautiful ornamental plant With beautiful flowers which, with proper care, have more saturated color... Per good attitude Gloxinia is always happy to repay itself with abundant and lush flowering.

Winter for hybrid gloxinia (Gloxinia hibrida), the most common in home floriculture, is a time of rest. Gloxinia in the winter at home should rest. The plant must be properly prepared for this period in order to maintain the vitality of the tubers.

Proper care for gloxinia in winter at home

Gloxinia in winter requires minimal care. The main thing is to properly prepare it for wintering. To do this, in the fall, when flowering ends, watering is reduced, gradually reducing it to nothing. At this time, it is better to put the pot with the plant in a less illuminated place. This usually happens between September and October. If the plant is late flowering, then it needs to be allowed to bloom, and then watering should be reduced.

In preparation for winter, you can feed the plant with potassium-containing fertilizer once. The stem and wilted leaves are cut off, leaving a small stump. The upper part is removed only after it is completely dry. Otherwise, the nutrients will not have time to transfer from the foliage to the tubers.

How to store gloxinia in winter? You can store tubers in the following ways:

tubers are not dug out of flower pot ... Cover the pot with a saucer and put it in a cool, dark place. From time to time you need to check the condition of the plant so that it does not dry out. Otherwise, the tubers will completely dry out and nothing will bring them back to life. In the case of gloxinia care at home in winter, it involves careful spraying of the ground. But one must not allow it to become overmoistened, which is fraught with the appearance of premature shoots;
the tubers are dug out of their native substrate and stored in a plastic bag filled with sawdust or crushed peat. You can also use the substrate mixed with vermiculite to store gloxinia in winter. If the grower has several gloxinias blooming at different times, then it makes sense to label the packages with labels indicating the date of packaging and the variety.

How to store gloxinia tubers in winter? Packages of tubers are placed in a box or box. It is placed in a dark place where the storage temperature should be between 12 and 15 degrees.

Young gloxinia - winter care

If gloxinia is young, then its storage in winter is special:

since young gloxinia have a very small tuber, then during wintering without watering it can die from drying out. Therefore, young plants are not hibernated. However, due to the short daylight hours, they need backlighting. It is necessary to arrange so that the flower is illuminated for at least 12 hours per day;
important for young gloxinia in winter temperature regime... If it is too hot in the room, then the strength of the plant will be spent on stretching the stem, and not on increasing the mass of the tuber. Therefore, the temperature in the room should not be higher than 20 ° C. You need to water the pot less often than in the summer, avoiding waterlogging, which can lead to rotting of the tuber-roots.

If the plant has already bloomed once and has formed medium-sized tubers. In this case, gloxinia requires special care for itself. For her, conditions are created for her to be half asleep: the pot is rearranged to the north window and occasionally watered. At the end of winter, with lengthening daylight hours, the rested plant is exposed to a sunny place.

Exit from the resting state of gloxinia

The emergence of young shoots on tubers at the end of February indicates the incipient awakening of gloxinia. Then the tubers are transplanted into a fresh, slightly moistened soil substrate, without deepening. It is better that the tops of the tubers are not covered with earth. Watering begins a week after transplanting. Watering should be moderate, waterlogging threatens fungal root diseases.
At the beginning of the growing season, it is advisable to remove several shoots, leaving a few strong shoots. This is done for the purpose of directing vitality plants for the development of tubers, the quality of which will determine the beauty and splendor of flowering.
Broken shoots that have reached a length of 5 cm can be used for plant propagation. They are planted in other pots for rooting and covered with transparent plastic caps with ventilation holes. It is convenient to use plastic bottles for making shelters.

Possible growing problems and gloxinia leaf disease.

What if the gloxinia tuber does not wake up?

Gloxinia usually sleeps for about 3 months. In some cases, gloxinia sleeps longer (4-5 months) and does not want to wake up, despite artificial lighting, watering and an increase in the temperature of the content. If gloxinia does not wake up, but the tuber is healthy, firm, without visible signs of rot, you can stimulate the awakening of the plant. However, before awakening, it is still necessary to carefully examine the gloxinia tuber. For this it is washed warm water and examine. If there is rot, it is removed (cut out) to healthy tissue, the place of the cut is sprinkled with a fungicide and the cut is allowed to dry out. Drying is arranged within 2 days. During this period, the cut is monitored. If it has dried up and the spots of rot no longer appear, then the tuber will certainly give healthy shoots in the future.

There are several ways to wake up the gloxinia tuber. All of them have been tested by experts and participants in popular forums. Each of the above methods gave a positive result.

1 way. You need to take a regular, transparent, plastic bag, preferably with a zip-lock fastener, but you can also use the most ordinary one. A little (2-3 tablespoons) of light, peat soil, slightly moistened with water, is placed on its bottom. Next, a gloxinia bulb is placed in a bag, which does not want to wake up. The bag is fastened or tied. It is placed in a well-lit place. If there is a lamp of artificial lighting, then under it. the temperature of the content of the tuber should be within the range of +24 ... + 28 degrees. The package is not opened. It can be ventilated once every 3 days to avoid air stagnation.

The result comes in 2 weeks. In a greenhouse, with good lighting and high maintenance temperatures, one gloxinia tuber is able to give from 2 to 5 shoots. The brighter the light, the more sprouts. However, there is more than 2 sprout left on one tuber, the flowering of the plant in the current year can not be expected, and therefore "extra" sprouts can be cut and rooted. The tuber itself from the greenhouse is transferred into a regular pot with soil. But we must not forget that the gloxinia tuber cannot be completely buried in the ground, otherwise it will rot.

Method 2. A greenhouse is also used here, but this time it is made from a plastic, transparent bottle or glassware. So, the gloxinia tuber is examined for rot. If there is none, then proceed as follows: wet moss or vermiculite is placed on the bottom of an impromptu greenhouse. Tubers are placed on top of the wet material. The greenhouse is covered with glass or a bag and placed in a bright, warm place. The temperature of the content lies in the range of +24 ... + 28 degrees.

In the greenhouse, the gloxinia tuber can turn green. Nothing wrong. In the ground, it will acquire its usual color. In such a greenhouse, several shoots can also wake up at a flower at once. Some of them must be cut and rooted. If the tuber first began to expel the roots, and not the green part, do not worry. He woke up and soon green sprouts will appear. This tuber can also be transferred to a pot of soil.

If gloxinia woke up in December-January ...

What to do if gloxinia wakes up in December or January? The early awakening of gloxinia indicates the wrong conditions for keeping tubers during the dormant period. It can be high temperature (above +15 degrees) or bright light. But the tuber is already awake and what to do with it in winter.

1. If there is no artificial light, and the size of the tuber exceeds 3 cm in diameter, you can put it to sleep again. For this, the illumination of the plant and the temperature of the content are reduced.

2. If there is an artificial light, then the tuber is not sent to rest again, but the pot with the plant is placed under the lamp. The required duration of daylight hours for the successful development of a plant is 12-14 hours. The temperature of the content should be within +18 ... + 20 degrees. If the temperature in the room where gloxinia grows in winter is raised to +20 degrees, then its sprouts will begin to stretch.

Even without artificial lighting, gloxinia, which woke up early, can be grown in winter. But the air temperature in the room should not rise above +18 degrees and the plant should be placed on the windowsill. If during the winter months the gloxinia stretches out, then in the spring the stalk can be cut off, leaving a stalk with 2-3 buds on the tuber. The cut stem is rooted. And from the remaining cutting, new shoots will soon appear.