Taro

Features of outdoor care

Growing calla lilies outdoors is very simple. In order for the culture to grow well, it is only necessary to irrigate in a timely manner, and then loosen the soil. Calla lilies are watered sparingly, but regularly, and the amount of water increases only in dry, sultry summers. After this procedure, the ground near the plant must be slightly loosened. If complex fertilizers were introduced into the soil during planting, then further fertilizing is not needed. But if the substrate on the site is not acidic enough, then it should be poured with water, which is acidified with vinegar or citric acid.

If novice gardeners do not know how to care for calla lilies in the garden, then this is the main care of this culture.

Head care rules

Cephalaria can literally be planted and forgotten. The plant does not need watering, moreover, maintaining a stable soil moisture will lead to very rapid growth (this ability can be used to quickly achieve maximum decorative effect). Even in the height of summer, in a drought, it is not necessary to water the plant, unless the plant is clearly wilting, not recovering overnight.

Top dressing for the head is usually not carried out, since the plant develops very well in poor soil. If you want to get the bushes as powerful as possible, then once a season, in early spring, you can feed the cephalaria with full mineral fertilizers. The plant gratefully reacts to the introduction of organic matter into the soil or to mulching with organic fertilizers.

Weeding cephalaria will not be needed: not a single weed can withstand the competition with it. Only for young plants, weeds are regularly removed and the soil is loosened. Cephalaria grows well on mulch soil, which allows you to stabilize conditions, refuse any care and create highly decorative compositions. The mulching layer is usually created after fertilizing and loosening the soil in early spring.

Pruning on a plant is carried out only in one case - if you want to limit its distribution. If self-seeding is undesirable, the old inflorescences are pruned after wilting to prevent the seeds from ripening and scattering. They ripen by the end of August, so it is better not to start the pruning process.

You can forget about the fight against pests and diseases in the capitate. The plant attracts not only beneficial insects, but also does not suffer from pests.

Cephalaria cut. Estelle didier

Features of growing in indoor conditions

Distillation

In summer, the plant needs a temperature of 22 to 25 degrees, and in winter you need to make sure that the room is not colder than 14 degrees. Needs good lighting, but requires shading from the direct rays of the dining sun. Does not tolerate drafts. The acidity of the soil should be at the level of 6-6, while it is recommended to pour peat combined with sawdust or sphagnum into the soil saturated with nutrients. For planting, tubers are used, the diameter of which is approximately 6 centimeters. To do this, use a pot, the diameter of which is 25 centimeters, and the planting depth should be about 5 centimeters, while the tuber must be planted with the convex side down. The planted calla lilies should be watered with a solution prepared from the fungicide.

How to grow calla lilies. Garden World website

Care

Taking care of such a houseplant is quite simple. Watering should be careful, as the tuber may begin to rot. There is a little trick that allows you to bring the moment of flowering closer and increase the color saturation of the bedspread.So, at night, the flower should be kept at a temperature of 16 degrees, and in the daytime - it is placed in a well-lit place (there should be no direct rays of the sun). In the event that forcing takes place in the winter, then the calla will need additional lighting. So, the duration of daylight hours should not be less than 10 hours. For feeding, a liquid balanced fertilizer is used (for example, "Kemira-Lux"), while it is dissolved in water, which is then poured over the flower. And add fertilizer to the water every 5 watering.

How to propagate

You can propagate it by dividing the bush, tubers, and also seeds. Moreover, the last method is the most unreliable and time consuming. You can divide the bush in the fall, and only Ethiopian calla and its various varieties are suitable for this. So, having dug up the plant, you need to separate the offspring from it with a piece of rhizome. It is planted in a container filled with earth mixture, and at the same time, with the onset of spring, it is again transplanted into open soil. Other varieties can be easily propagated by tubers. To do this, in the fall, they are dug up and stored for the entire winter. In spring, they are planted in open soil.

Reproduction methods

Taro is propagated by dividing the roots and planting tubers

When working with a plant, it is important to be careful, because fresh juice is very irritating to the skin. It is better to carry out all manipulations with gloves.

Seed reproduction in the middle lane is a rather complicated and ineffective process. Small seeds are planted in a pot with moist peat soil to a depth of about 5 mm. The container is covered with foil and stored in a bright and warm place. The optimum temperature is + 22 ... + 24 ° C. Seedlings appear within 1-3 weeks.

When transplanting, several tubers are separated from an adult plant. They are completely buried in moist, light soil and covered with glass or film. Within 2-4 weeks, the first shoots will appear, and after another 10 days, the shelter can be removed.

An adult plant can be cut into several divisions. At each root site, 1-2 growth buds should remain. Cut the taro with a sharp blade and sprinkle abundantly with charcoal. The delenka is immediately planted in a wet sand-peat mixture and left in a warm place. Rooting is quite easy, after 1-2 weeks the plant begins to release new leaves.

The use of taro in cooking

The plant has been used for food since ancient times: as a vegetable side dish for meat dishes from beef or pork, tubers are boiled or fried, and as an ingredient in salads - leaves and petioles, but only after heat treatment, fresh taro cannot be used.

Taro is one of the few crops grown in flooded fields along with rice and lotus. The stalks of the plant have special air chambers that allow for underwater gas exchange. Thanks to this method of growing, large yields are obtained during the growing season uncharacteristic for the plant, and also simplifies weed control. Average yields in such fields are up to 6.2 t / ha, and maximum - almost 12.5 t / ha of tubers.

At home in Bangladesh, it is cooked with shrimp or fish, seasoned with curry sauce. The fine-crystalline starch in the taro tubers makes it possible to use them even for baby food.

In Chinese cuisine, the plant is often eaten as a main dish as mashed potatoes, or stewed with meat. Dessert delicacies served during the Chinese New Year celebrations - sweet pies - are very popular. Even McDonald's in Beijing have taro-flavored pastries and taro-flavored ice cream on their menu. Thais prefer taro chips, which have a richer flavor than potato chips and are somewhat firmer.

On the islands of Oceania, taro is added to soups instead of potatoes, and in Africa it is boiled and eaten with tea or other drinks.In the Egyptian army, there was once a so-called offensive black dish - stewed eggplant and unpeeled taro halves.

The plant got to Europe during the heyday of the Roman Empire. It was cooked stewed with poultry meat, seasoned with various sauces. For a long time, interest in taro has fallen, but now it is resuming as one of the exotic products.

In the United States, the plant was used as food in Chinatown restaurants. In the 1920s, taro tubers were dried and processed into dashin flour, from which delicious pancakes were obtained.

In Hawaii, leaves are part of the laulau national dish.

Growing ampelous bacopa at home from seeds

It takes a lot of effort and patience to get a beautiful suter plant for your garden or home.

Be sure to pay attention to the fact that when propagated by seeds at home, not all of them will have a good germination rate, which, by the way, decreases every year. Also, you should be aware that the process of obtaining a new plant largely depends on where exactly the ampelous bacopa will be grown - in the garden or in greenhouses.

About all these nuances, about how it is carried out growing ampelous bacopa from seeds at home and on the site, we will try to talk in more detail further.

To begin with, in order for the sutera to grow beautiful and strong, you need the right substrate. To do this, you can take a slightly acidic mixture of garden and peat soil in a ratio of 1/1. Before sowing seeds, the soil is disinfected with boiling water or keeping it in an oven preheated to 100 degrees for 4 hours. After the soil has been sterilized, its surface must be compacted and sprinkled with a small layer of snow. Snow is needed so that after the seeds have been carefully laid out on it, the melting promotes proper burial.

It is important to know when to sow ampelous bacopa with seeds for seedlings - most often it is advisable to do this in mid-February or early March, when daylight hours begin to arrive. Sowing time is in the middle of winter - February

Some growers do not use snow, but spread the seeds on a loose substrate, repeating the sowing twice. In this case, the first wave is without deepening, and the second with a slight deepening.

For good germination of seeds, a certain temperature regime will be required - from 18 to 23 degrees. Its preservation can be ensured only when creating a wiring mini greenhouse. To do this, the container is tightened with cling film or covered with glass. Also, you should take dishes with transparent walls for growing and propagating by seeds. The penetration of sunlight and light into the soil will have a beneficial effect on seed germination.

After sowing ampelous bacopa with seeds, it is also important to observe the increased soil moisture; for this, careful drip irrigation is used. The first shoots can be seen in 15-20 days, if this did not happen, then re-sowing in the same soil is required

After the appearance of 3 leaves on a young stem, the plants dive into peat pots with a diameter of about 5 cm

The first shoots can be seen in 15-20 days, if this did not happen, then re-sowing in the same soil is required. After the appearance of 3 leaves on a young stem, the plants dive into peat pots about 5 cm in diameter.

Bacopa can be planted in open ground after the establishment of warm weather, in late May or early June. A well-drained soil with part of the peat land is suitable for this. Broken rubble or brick can be used as drainage. Often, river sand is often added to the garden soil to make it lighter.

In greenhouses, ampelous bacopa is grown in soil with the addition of humus or sand.

To preserve the ampelous bacopa for the next year, you will need to know how to propagate it by cuttings. The fact is that even if it turns out to create favorable conditions for her, the next summer the flowering will be more scarce. Therefore, the mother bush is placed for the winter at a temperature of 10-15 degrees, and in the spring the strongest shoots, 12-15 cm long, are cut off from it. The cuttings must be placed in clean water, which must be changed daily. The roots are formed within 2 weeks, after which the bacopa can be planted in a permanent place.

Self-propagation of alocasia

In order to propagate alocasia in an apartment, all possible methods are used: seeds, cuttings, shoots, tuber division, bud shoots. The only thing that is bad is that when propagated by seed, leaves with patterns in young plants lose their decorative effect.

For planting seeds, a substrate based on peat soil and sand is used. They are slightly pressed into the ground and the container with seeds is covered with polyethylene, after which the seeds, and then the seedlings, are regularly sprayed and aired. For a successful entry of seeds, it is necessary to maintain a warm temperature, which is limited to 20-25 degrees. As soon as the seedlings grow up, the plants are transplanted into small pots (about 7 cm in diameter). After the root system of the young alocasia has mastered all the land provided to it, the pot is changed to a new one with the replacement of the soil suitable for adult plants.

When grafting, species changes can also occur, therefore this method is applicable for alocasia without a pattern and spots on the leaf plates. This process also needs to be done in early spring. You need to choose a well-developed top of the stem, and make a cut with a very sharp knife (preferably obliquely). Sections are carefully sprinkled with crushed activated charcoal or charcoal. The cuttings are immersed in light soil using seed boxes. Before this procedure, the tips of the stems can be treated with any root growth stimulant. The mixture of soil for planting should be very light (sand with perlite, peat soil with sand, chopped sphagnum moss). Containers with planted cuttings are wrapped in polyethylene or placed under glass. For rooting, frequent airing and spraying is required.

When dividing alocasia tuber, it is necessary that these root formations appear above the soil level. Their rapid growth occurs in the spring months. The selected shoots are carefully separated from the maternal alocasia and planted in a small pot of chopped and moistened marsh moss. The young plant is covered with a plastic bag or placed under a glass jar to retain moisture. As soon as allocasia has new full-fledged leaf plates, the planting pot is changed to a larger one with a substrate suitable for adult plants.

It is possible to divide the bush of an adult plant only in the process of transplanting an adult alocasia. The earth is carefully removed from the root system, if this fails, then a thorough but careful washing in water is performed. It is necessary to cut the root system with a sharply sharpened knife, but try to do this so that each part has a growing point or leaf rosette. Sections are treated with crushed coal for disinfection and dried a little before planting. Then it is necessary to place part of the rhizome in a prepared pot of soil and adhere to warm temperature indicators. Regular spraying and watering is also required.

If the method of reproduction with the help of a kidney is chosen, then a stem bud is selected on the mother plant of alocasia, which is already well developed. With a very sharp knife, the selected bud is cut along with a piece of the central stem. The cut sites are carefully treated with coal to avoid the development of pathogenic bacteria and are slightly dried. Then the buds are planted in a substrate based on sand and peat and the seedlings are covered with plastic bags or glass.Airing and spraying are necessary for rooting. This method gives a complete guarantee that the young alocasia will have all the properties of the mother plant.

Reproduction methods

Calla lilies can be purchased at the end of February.

If you decide to buy exactly the root tuber, then you definitely need to pay attention to its appearance. It must be dense - otherwise the plant will not be able to produce flower stalks in the same year when it is planted.

Experts recommend completely abandoning the purchase of a flower, the tuber of which looks stale, slightly wilted. You will need to plant flowers in the spring, so if you bought rhizomes in winter, then you need to provide them with reliable and correct wintering.

There are several ways to reproduce garden calla lilies. A detailed description of possible methods is offered to your attention.

Rhizome division

• The landing period is April.
• The landing site is a pot, the capacity of which should be up to 3.5 liters.
• Temperature range from + 20 ° C to + 22 ° C.
• Watering is carried out not immediately after planting the plant, but after a week. Then you need to constantly monitor that the soil does not become too dry, and in a timely manner to fill your plant with moisture.

For tree species, it is best to resort to the reproduction process by dividing the rhizomes

At the same time, it is important to try to keep as much soil as possible on the roots so that they do not dry out. Further, the resulting rhizomes must be planted in separate pots.

They should be stored at a special temperature regime - from + 12 ° C to + 15 ° C.

With the arrival of spring, shoots should appear, and already at the beginning of the summer season it will be possible to plant your flower in open ground.

Sowing for seedlings

To get a beautiful calla in this way of reproduction, you should adhere to the following recommendations.

• The seeds should be soaked in a solution of a natural biostimulant (potassium humate) for almost 6 hours.
• Then you need to put your seeds on a pre-moistened textile and cover with another damp piece of cloth on top.
• In this form, the seeds should be stored for about 7 days. The place should be warm and dry. From time to time, you need to rewet the textiles so that the seeds do not dry out.
• After that, they can be planted in open soil.

Planting and features of caring for bulbs

The choice of pot is very important for planting bulbous plants. It is best to choose a container made of slightly fired clay with thin porous walls, not glazed from the inside, by the way, a clay pot with your own hands can be made at home without special equipment. The size of the container is selected based on the size of the bulb. The pot is selected correctly when 1.5 cm of free space is left from its walls to the plant on each side. Bulbous plants do not like waterlogging, so there must be a hole to drain the water. The diameter of the pot should be equal to its height. For planting, use a conventional substrate for flowering plants, not forgetting to make drainage: lay a layer of expanded clay or broken brick on the bottom of the pot. In addition, to ensure a good outflow of moisture for the plant and at the same time to facilitate the flow of air to the roots, the pots of plants can be slightly raised above the surface of the windowsill. Bulbous flowers thrive in a bright but not hot room. The optimum temperature of the content during the growing season is 20-25 degrees. They prefer moderate watering, they like melt or rainwater, but ordinary tap water, which has been previously settled for a day, is also suitable. Water temperature - room temperature. Bulbous plants respond well to feeding with liquid fertilizers containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. They should be fed only during the flowering and growth period, once every two weeks.

A feature of the successful cultivation of this type of plant is to provide them with a dormant period.Rested bulbs will begin to form leaves with renewed vigor, and the plants will bloom regularly and profusely. For each species, wintering conditions are different, but, in general, it all comes down to stopping feeding, reducing watering and storing the bulbs in the substrate at a temperature of at least 10 degrees

Reproduction methods

Taro reproduces in several ways:

• transplanting tubers;
• separation of roots;
• growing from seeds.

To propagate a flower with tubers, they must be separated from the adult plant and planted in new nutrient soil. In order for the plant to take over, conditions are created for it, close to those of a greenhouse. The cover can be removed after 10-14 days.

When dividing the root, several growth buds should be left on the divide. You need to cut the root with a sharp knife and sprinkle generously with crushed coal. Then transplant it into moist soil and after a couple of weeks the plant will begin to release new leaves.

The method of seed propagation is very difficult and ineffective. The seeds are planted in pots with moist peat to a depth of about 6 mm. The container must be covered with glass or transparent film and moved to a well-lit place with a temperature of + 21-24 ° C. After 2-3 weeks, the plant should emerge.

It is advisable to engage in transplanting and reproduction of taro in the summer, in the country. Moreover, it is very good for a flower to be not in pots in the summer, but buried in the ground.

Botanical description of cephalaria

The popularization of landscape styles that mimic wild, natural thickets has led to an increase in the popularity of plants, which were previously known only to very keen gardeners.

One of these cultures, undeservedly deprived of attention of garden fashion, is cephalaria. It is a beautifully flowering, very large, hardy and unpretentious perennial

And all these qualities do not prevent the plant from remaining a wild and untamed candidate for vertical accents in landscape compositions.

Cephalaria, or Cephalaria, are plants that have come to gardens a long time ago. In nature, they are found in southern European countries, the Caucasus and the Crimea. But unlike most typically southern stars, cephalaria is so hardy that it does not require any preparation for winter even in the middle lane and feels great in a climate that is far from being familiar to itself. The popular name "capitate" clearly indicates the shape of the inflorescences. We often advertise this plant as a giant yellow scabiosa.

Cephalaria are powerful, in every sense, rhizome herbaceous perennials that retain their decorative effect for decades and do not need frequent renewal or rejuvenation. Strong, deep-lying rhizomes are striking in size and allow cephalaria not only to survive, but also to bloom in almost any conditions.

The shoots are powerful, but thin, create loose, unevenly dense, bizarrely variable clump bushes, branch well, surprise with a color that exactly repeats the color of greenery, and a hollow structure. The stems of the cephalaria are leafless.

The leaves of the cephalaria are located in the root rosettes, creating a pillow, above which the flower-stalks rise. They are pinnately dissected, large (up to 60 cm in length), rich dark green, create a lush mass, against which single inflorescences glowing brightly, sitting on thin peduncles.

Small reed and tubular flowers are collected in large heads of inflorescences up to 6 cm in diameter. Outwardly, the flowering of cephalaria is very similar to scabiosa. All cephalaria bloom in early summer, with favorable weather - in May, surprising with power and scope. Throughout the first half of summer, huge bushes attract such a number of insects that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the actual inflorescences under them. The aroma of cefalaria is very delicate and delicate.

Cephalaria seeds ripen by the end of summer, they are ribbed and oblong, hidden in large fruit capsules.

Giant Cephalaria (Cephalaria gigantea). Paula j james

Taro - care:

Lighting:

Taro loves bright lighting. In summer, you can choose areas where there is a lot of light, the sun's rays hit the flower without obstacles, sometimes with a slight shade. Can't stand shadows. If the plant is grown in the shade, then the leaves can grow slowly and become not saturated with light. In winter, it is necessary to provide the Tarokasia with abundant lighting. In cases of lack of light, you need to use additional artificial light.

Temperature:

Taro is a rather thermophilic plant. In summer, it is recommended to grow the flower at an air temperature of 22 - 28 ° C. In winter, you also need to provide the plant with a high temperature, in no case below plus 15 ° C. When the plant is kept at a lower temperature, the leaves may begin to die off. Taro does not tolerate frost, if it gets on it can die. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor the temperature conditions for the growth of Taro.

Watering:

Regarding watering Kolokaziya, it is recommended to water it three to four times a week in summer. The soil should not be dry, but also not have time to dry out. With the onset of cold weather, the frequency of watering can be reduced to one or two times a week. Taro does not tolerate excessive excess moisture either.

Humidity:

Taro grows normally at high humidity. The optimum is considered to be 65 - 70%. In winter, the flower should be placed away from the battery, because the air around it is dry enough. From time to time, you can spray with cool water, or wipe the leaves with a damp cloth. The leaves are large and dust can collect on them.

Top dressing:

Taro, of course, needs to be fed with nutrients. Especially during the period of active growth, starting in early spring. Complex liquid fertilizers, Mullein solution, which we apply once every two weeks, are well suited. With the help of dressings, the leaves will not lose their shape and saturated light.

Transfer:

Taro can be replanted annually in the spring. The growth rate is high. To do this, you need to take a large pot with a deep bottom. If the plant is quite large, you can put several stones on the bottom so that it does not turn over, because the leaves of Taro are heavy.

Reproduction:

Taro is propagated by offspring, basal tubers, and by dividing bushes. They are cut off during transplantation. Keep the planted plants at a high temperature, covering with a bag. They are placed in a well-lit place. Colocasia seeds are hardly propagated by seeds, but this method is possible. For planting, take a loose, nutritious soil.

Some features:

Taro at home is a part of various dishes and is used in cooking. In some cases, the leaves can be poisonous, it is worth making sure that children or animals do not accidentally try them.

Benefit and harm

Poison and medicine - these properties often coexist in nature. The poisonous juice of Alokazia can cause allergies and burns on the skin, and if you mistakenly eat a piece of the plant (this happened, Alokazia was mistaken for ginseng), food poisoning cannot be avoided. But at the same time, tinctures, gruel, ointments and oil from Alokazia large-root are able to heal.

Alokazia and its medicinal properties have been used by the Chinese for centuries, and in India and Sri Lanka, Alokazia is still cultivated for medicinal purposes.

Large-root alocasia: medicinal properties

Tinctures (water and alcohol) from the aerial parts are suitable for the treatment of joint pain, wounds, polyarthritis, pneumonia, cholera, tuberculosis, and toothache. Tincture of alcohol is made from one leaf together with the stem. It is insisted in half a liter of vodka in the dark for 2 weeks.

Important! Since Alokazia is poisonous, it is better to apply medicines from it externally, and first consult a doctor.

Alocasia has anti-tumor properties. Its tuber, crushed into gruel, is applied to neoplasms.

Also used for medicinal purposes: Chili Pepper, Caucasian Azalea, Acacia, Sansevieria, Eonium, Pallas Euphorbia, Agave, Kalanchoe, Aloe Vera, Aloe and some others.

Planting in spring

You should also pay special attention to the fact that the care and cultivation of calla lilies in the garden has its own characteristics. For example, in spring these plants are planted in early May.

First, the seedlings must be kept for 30 minutes in a manganese solution, then carefully examine the planting material, and, if necessary, cut off the decayed areas to healthy tissue. Wounds must be lubricated with brilliant green.

At the site, complex mineral fertilizers should be applied to the soil at the rate of 35 g per 1 square meter of soil. After that, the site is dug up. The tubers are immersed in pre-prepared holes to a depth of no more than 10 cm. The distance between the tubers should be about 30 cm from each other. After that, the bulbs must be dripped, and the planting site must be thoroughly watered.

As mentioned earlier, garden calla lilies have a peculiarity not to emerge until the underground part is formed. Do not despair if seedlings do not appear within one month. For the first two weeks, the plants also do not need to be watered, these crops will only need one watering, which was carried out after planting.

Leaving and planting street calla lilies also means preparing for this procedure. To do this, at the end of March, the tubers must be planted in small containers to a depth of 3 cm in a special substrate intended for seedlings. To do this, you can also use the soil, which is pre-calcined for 40 minutes in the oven. Planting material is watered 1-2 times a week, and 7 days before planting in open ground, you need to briefly open the window to harden the plants. It is necessary to transplant calla lilies into open ground together with an earthen lump.

As for planting in the fall, this procedure is not carried out at this time.

Reproduction

Can be used seed way
, tuber division
and side offspring
.

Seed propagation is used when growing taro on the street. They are sown in seedling boxes and watered. Seedlings are transplanted in separate containers after the first true leaves appear.

After wintering, the lateral ones are separated from the main tuber and they are seated immediately in individual pots. Daughter shoots
carefully separated from the main plant, being careful not to damage them, and placed in a separate pot.

Can't be buried
escaping taro!

An example of a correct fit
you can make a mother plant and plant a young seedling at the same depth. To speed up rooting, the shoot is covered with polyethylene film.

Care rules

Home care for taro is pretty simple. It is enough to find a comfortable place for it and water it periodically. When grown indoors, it does not need a dormant period and is equally beautiful all year round. This large beauty must be allocated at least 1 m² of free space. Taro needs a long day of light. Indoors, it does not tolerate direct sunlight, but in the open field it easily tolerates even extreme heat. In the garden, taro feels good in the sun or in a little shade. The optimum temperature is + 22 ... + 26 ° C.

Since in nature taro is constantly in contact with moisture, it needs to be watered often. For irrigation, use settled warm water. It is recommended to spray the ground part of the plant periodically. It is also helpful to arrange vessels with wet pebbles or expanded clay.

During the entire growing season, taro is regularly fed. Indoor plants are fertilized twice a month with complex mineral compounds. For street specimens, one fertilizer every 25-30 days is enough.

Even large taro can be taken out into the garden in the spring. They are left in tubs or transplanted into open ground, where they feel great before the onset of cold weather. When the outside temperature starts to drop to + 12 ° C, the plant is dug up again.You can completely cut the foliage and store only the tubers that are used for new plantings in the spring.

Taro is transplanted infrequently, as the rhizome grows. The pot is immediately chosen large, with a diameter and depth of 50 cm.For planting, a mixture of equal parts is used:

• turf land;
• humus;
• peat;
• sand.

Types and varieties of bacopa

In addition to natural species and varieties, there are a large number of hybrids and varieties that have appeared in recent years thanks to breeders. Below will be described those species and varieties that are very popular with gardeners.

Bacopa caroliniana

The homeland of this species is the eastern part of the United States. The height of the bush with erect thick stems is about 0.3 m. Oval-shaped leaf plates grow on the shoots in pairs crosswise. If the bush grows in a sunny place, then its foliage is copper-red, and in shade it is greenish. At the tops of the shoots, small flowers of a deep blue color are formed. This bacopa is an aquarium, it is often grown in water under glass. In garden plots, this plant is used to decorate the shores of artificial or natural reservoirs, and it can also be planted directly into the water to a depth of at least 30–35 centimeters.

Australian Bacopa (Bacopa australis)

This undersized bush has thin shoots, and it grows under water. Bacopa stems are decorated with opposite greenish leaf plates of a round or oval shape, which reach about 1.8 cm in length. During flowering, bluish flowers form on the surface of the stems.

Bacopa monnieri

In this succulent plant, creeping shoots are decorated with sessile leaf plates of an oblong shape with a rounded top, their length varies from 0.8 to 2 cm. The edge of the leaves can be sparsely toothed or whole. The length of the corolla of the axillary flowers is about 10 mm; they can be colored white, blue or purple.

Bacopa cordata

The height of such a perennial herb is about 15 centimeters. Its green leaves can be small or medium in size.

Spreading Bacopa (Bacopa diffuses)

Or beautiful (Bacopa speciosa). This perennial comes from the Canary Islands and South Africa. Its flowers are originally snow-white in color; they retain their decorative effect even during prolonged rains. The species blooms for a relatively long time, while it can independently cleanse itself of wilted flowers, simply dropping them. The most popular varieties of this type:

1. Snowflake. This ampelous variety is distinguished by its lush flowering. The flowers are white and large.
2. Boar. The flowers of this variety are quite large.
3. Olympic Gold. This is a hybrid with a stem length of about 0.6 m. They are decorated with small leaves of a golden-green hue, as well as white flowers.
4. Scopy Double Blue. This variety is grown as a ground cover plant. Its foliage is colored deep green, and its large flowers are pinkish-purple.
5. Blizzard. A large number of small flowers grow on the bush.
6. Rosea. The flowers are colored pink.
7. Pink Domino. The flowers are purple.
8. Taibun Blu. The variety is distinguished by lush flowering, its flowers are painted in a lilac shade.

In addition to these varieties, gardeners are widely cultivated such as: Giant Cloud, Blue Schauers, Efrican Sunset, etc.

Bacopa. The main rules for growing bacopa from seeds. Rooting Bacopa

Pests

The most dangerous pests for a flower are spider mites and whiteflies.

When taro is infected with a spider mite, if you do not start treating the plant in time, it can suck out all the juices from it. It is necessary to spray with an insecticide ("Actellik", "Malathion").

Whitefly is a small light green butterfly with snow-white wings. She belongs to pests that are very difficult to control.Therefore, it will be necessary to process not only one plant, but also everything that is nearby: a pot, a windowsill, glass and other plants. You can use "Fufanon", "Mospilan" or "Confidor".

Features of home care

Caring for homemade calla lilies is no more difficult than gardening.

Watering a tuber planted in a pot must be very careful so that it does not start to rot due to waterlogging of the soil. In order for the calla to bloom as early as possible and have the most vivid color of its bedspread, it is necessary to lower the air temperature in the room to 16 degrees at night.

During the day of culture, it should be provided with the brightest possible lighting in the room, but at the same time without direct sunlight. But if forcing takes place in the winter, then the culture must be supplemented with fluorescent lamps in such a way that the duration of daylight hours is at least 10 hours.

Room calla is fertilized with liquid balanced fertilizers, for example, "Kemira-Lux". Top dressing is applied to the soil together with water during every fifth irrigation.