People like to create comfort in homes. For these purposes, they often grow flowers in their homes. Some of them are especially elegant and delicate, for example, indoor eustoma.
How to grow eustoma at home
Eustoma is a flora with amazingly beautiful flowers of delicate shades. They are often added to bouquets - they stand for a long time, do not fade. This plant also has a minus - it is rather capricious, it requires a lot of attention to itself. The color of this flora is very similar to pink, so sometimes its name is Irish or Japanese rose.
Indoor Eustoma
Important! Some people wonder: is it possible to grow eustoma as a houseplant. The answer is yes: she is raised both in the garden and at home. Remarkably, the same species is used everywhere - large-flowered eustoma, or eustoma grandiflorum. She is now called Lisianthus Russell.
In height, the adult bush of lisianthus is from 15 to 90 centimeters, during the flowering period produces about twenty flowers. They do not bloom simultaneously, but one after another. Because of this, the beauty of blooming flora is preserved for a rather long period.
Until recently, this culture was considered garden or greenhouse. Today, eustoma can often be found in the house. Getting ready to get such a flower, necessary consider the following:
- In nature, lisianthus is a perennial plant. In the house, he is often kept only during the flowering season. For the winter, he needs conditions that are difficult to recreate in the apartment. Even if it succeeds, a full-fledged perennial at home cannot be made of it.
- Be sure to clarify what kind of flowers it is. Home needs crops that can survive in pots. They should not grow above 30 centimeters.
- Most likely, after buying a bush, even a dwarf one, will begin to grow in breadth and up. All because for the sake of speeding up and reducing the cost of the process of growing plants, it is fertilized with growth inhibitors.
Sale of eustoma seedlings
To avoid the latter, you can grow this flora at home yourself. It is best to start with zero, that is, with seed germination.
How and when to grow seedlings
For a plant such as eustoma, growing from seeds at home is quite possible, although it is fraught with a number of difficulties (however, like all care). That is why all factors necessary specifically for this flower should be taken into account.
Seeding time
In lisianthus, flowering occurs in the summer season. Given this, as well as the fact that from the first sprouts to flowers usually takes about six months, sowing should begin in January.
When sowing seeds in winter, keep in mind that sprouts need a lot of light. In the cold season, the daylight is short, so you have to organize additional lighting with a special lamp. If we talk about growing a purely room culture, then sowing can begin in early March. Then a lamp is not needed.
Where and in what to grow
You can plant eustoma seeds like this:
- In purchased soil. In a floriculture store, you need to ask for a mixture for Saintpaulias or violets. It will have to add a little perlite.
Senpoly soil
- In soil made in person. The composition of suitable soil is as follows: peat, garden soil, sand in a ratio of 2-1-0.5.
- In peat tablets. The easiest way to sow seeds in peat tablets with a diameter of 4 centimeters. First, they are placed in a container disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Then gradually watered with water until the tablets swell. Excess water is carefully drained.
Important! If soil is chosen for breeding, it must be steamed for an hour. Eustomas need sterile soil.
For propagation of lysianthus with the help of seeds, a container of medium depth (from 7 centimeters) is suitable. In the case of tablets, the capacity should be such that they fit entirely in it.
Seed treatment before sowing
Seeds of eustomas are very small. Therefore, they are most often sold as dragee, that is, enclosed in a hard shell (it is also fertilizing for the first time), which is destroyed by moisture. Usually, you don’t need to do anything with it, but such seeds germinate for a long time. An experienced gardener can help lisianthus sprout faster. To do this, with a toothpick spread out on the soil and well-moistened seeds, they carefully try to crush the dragee shell.
Untreated seeds can also be selected. They should have a dark, almost black color. Their sprouts will have to be fed more often.
Eustoma seeds without pelleting
note! Some unscrupulous sellers may advertise bulbs of other colors, claiming that it is an Irish rose. But eustoma is not a bulbous culture; it can only be grown from seeds.
Sowing
Step-by-step cultivation of eustoma from seeds at home looks like this:
- Soil preparation.
- Preparing a container for seedlings.
- The soil is laid in the tank, leveled. The seed should be laid on it, not sprinkling on top. Then the seeds are sprayed with water through a spray bottle.
- At the request of the grower, you can crush the dragee shell, in no case removing it from the container.
- In conclusion, you should definitely organize a greenhouse by covering the container with seeds with glass or polyethylene.
Care after sowing
Japanese roses are rather capricious, delicate plants. Eustoma, and when landing, and when leaving at home, needs a lot of attention. Her seedlings strict adherence to the following points is required:
- Long daylight hours. Seeds need at least 12 hours of light per day. If the sun sets earlier, use a lamp.
Lamp sprouts
- The optimum temperature. Seedlings need 20-25 ° C, not higher and not lower.
- Patience. Sprouts are usually shown 10-12 days after sowing (in the case of dragee seeds with a crushed shell, this period is slightly increased). They will be ready for transplantation only on average in 7 weeks. During this time, the sprout will grow slowly. This is because, first of all, it grows roots, only then leaves.
- Adequate amount of water. Seedlings should never be overdried. The soil should always be moist.
Eustoma transplant in a pot
When 2-3 pairs of leaves appear in the sprouts of eustoma (usually this occurs within 6 to 8 weeks from sowing), they can be planted in separate pots for seedlings. This is called a pick.
Important! You can’t delay it with a pick - the roots, in lisianthus, are especially tender, grow very much every day. They can be damaged.
The soil for dive is the same as for sowing. The only thing - you can not steam it. It is necessary to slightly tighten it when falling asleep (leaving the landing holes) so that it does not settle during watering. Pots need more. Usually for these purposes they are bought 6 centimeters wide.
Eustoma sprouts must be removed very carefully, completely shaking off old soil. In a dive pot, you need a hole so that the entire root fits freely into it. After transplanting, the flora is watered, but not under the root, but from the edge of the pot. A plant stem cannot be buried.
If the sprouts were planted in peat tablets, then they do not need to be peeled off. It is enough to remove the outer shell.
Important! After transplanting, it is recommended to pour eustoma with a solution of fungicide. It is bred according to the instructions of the drug. It is still desirable to cover the seedlings again for some time with polyethylene, now the sprouts will begin to grow more actively.
After another one and a half to two months, the home eustoma is transplanted into ordinary pots (not more than 15 cm wide), where it will grow further. At the bottom of such pots, a drainage layer of 2 centimeters of expanded clay is sure to be added. Seedlings are extracted from a small pot with a solid lump of earth, and transplanted with it. At the same time, fresh land must be fertilized.
Eustoma transplant
A complete mineral fertilizer is required at the rate of one tablespoon per three liters of soil. It is impossible to increase concentration.
Window Care
Growing and caring for room eustoma are things that require attention, time and effort. The flower will not forgive negligence, wilt.
How to water
There is one important condition for watering the home lisianthus: in no case should moisture be allowed to get on the leaves and flowers of the plant. Water pours strictly onto the ground. Otherwise, there is a great chance that the leaves will rot.
Watering should be moderate. Soil overdrying and waterlogging are bad.
Important! As a top dressing, you can add a little lemon juice to the water for irrigation - from 3 to 5 drops per liter of liquid.
How to feed
A month after transplanting into a permanent pot, eustoma seedlings can be fed. For these purposes, take mineral fertilizer for flowering flora. At the same time, it should completely dissolve in water. Concentration is needed lower than recommended on the label. Lisianthus has very delicate roots, which are easy to burn with excess fertilizing. Fertilize a flower is recommended every month during the flowering period.
How can I feed eustoma
How to form a crown
In the first flowering season, it is better to focus not on the flowers, but on the formation of the crown of the eustoma bush. For this, experienced flower growers recommend pruning the buds before they open. In this case, at the end of the period of active growth, a properly formed bush will be obtained. Next year, he will no longer spend energy on rooting and growth of branches, he can immediately begin to bloom.
This item can be skipped if initially the plans were to grow eustoma by one bloom. With a high degree of probability, upon its completion, the plant will be suitable only for ejection.
Eustoma dormancy care
To extend the life of this flora, it should be ensured that it has the correct wintering. In particular, four points must be observed:
- Temperature. In summer, lisianthus is comfortable at 20-25 ° C, with the advent of autumn, they begin to gradually lower it - a sharp temperature drop will kill the plant. In winter, the flower pot should be at a temperature of 10-15 ° C.
- Watering. In winter, eustoma is watered with water at room temperature abundantly, but rarely (in summer it is recommended the opposite). Remove excess fluid from the pallet immediately. Repeated watering is carried out only after complete drying of the first 3 centimeters of soil from above.
- Pruning. After the plant has flowered, its stems are pruned. Only three internodes and a few pairs of leaves are left. So it goes to winter.
- Fertilizer. In winter, lisianthus is not fertilized.
Different varieties of eustoma
Despite the fact that there is a lot of fuss with homemade eustoma, it is gaining popularity as a home plant. Because of the beauty of its flowering, people agree to look after the capricious flora, spending their time and energy.
