Cordyline - Enrooting

Posted under Non-blooming plants by ruola

 

 

 

Cordyline gives good opportunities to make a nice composition and decoration of your house. When the plant is big enough (about 30 cm) you can notice outgrowths appearing on its scrape. That can happen without your help or you can cut the top of the plant and soon have the outgrowths here and there. Think of the future composition in advance and remove the outgrowths you don’t need. Usually gardners leave two outgrowths on opposite sides of the plant and at the same level. By the way the cut top of the plant you can put into the water and as soon as it gives roots you can plant it and have another Cordyline in your house.

Give your imagination freedom: together with the cut Cordyline you can seed some low growing plants — thus you’ll have an immitation of the tree and the grass under it.

For now i didn’t cut my Cordyline because i like it as it is — it has luxurious foliage. Though it is normal if the scrape gets bold and the plant is covered with foliage only by half. In this case you can easily cut the plant trying to make it more interesting.

 

 When you enroot the cut top of Cordyline make sure you don’t put it too deep into the pot. In future you might have problems with it as the outgrowths will grow directly from the soil and it will be too late to remove without hurting the plant.

 

Unfortunately i’ve made this mistake and on the picture you can see it. What i’ve done is first of all removed the layer of the soil to find the place where the outgrowth comes from. Then i cut the outgrowth. I put it into the water and later i’m going to write later about the results.

 

Ficus Benjamina

Posted under Non-blooming plants by ruola

 

Water: moderate

Light: diffused light

Temperature: 15-18

Blooming: no

 

This plant comes from Asia mostly, countries like India and China.

Ficus can grow high enough up to 20 meters height.

At the same time when planted in a pot this kind of Ficus won’t grow too high and can be a nice house plant. The remarkable thing about Ficus is that it’s perfect for Bonsai art. In good conditions Ficus grows very fast and to restrain its growth use small containers and cut branches.

Water the plant moderately and spray with boiled water. The reason for using boiled water is that usual water from the tap contains a lot of soil. After boiling, water won’t leave salt spots on the leaves.

Ficus benjamina multiplies with grafts which give roots quite soon. When replanting Ficus put a thick layer of drainage on the pot botton, then add universal soil or special soil for Ficus. Replanting should be done every 3 years and better in spring. Or you can renew the upper layer (ab. 3 cm) with fresh soil. In the period from spring to the middle of autumn Ficus need foliar application

Due to a specific coloring of its leaves it can decorate your appartment to advantage. You can put it eather by a large window on the floor and use to make a plant composition.

Ficus Benjamina doesn’t need as much light as other ficuses that’s why you can put it deep in the room. It doesn’t like dry air and drafts. Also avoid drops in temperature.

In winter Ficus benjamina has a rest period and loss of leaves is normal at that time till it doesn’t exceed 30% of the foliage.

On the whole Ficus won’t take much of your time, even with little of care it can grow better from year to year and be a good decroration of your place.

Ceramics or Plastic?

Posted under General by ruola

 

If you are planning to start your indoor garden the information below can be of use.

Let’s talk about pots. This is an important question if you don’t want to regret in vain wasted money and time. This is the question which raises for every gardener – what pot to choose – ceramic or a plastic one?

I suggest to look into the matter to find advantages and disadvantages and to make the best choice for your garden.

 Let’s start with ceramics. There are two types of it: lacquered and non-lacquered. The main advantage of lacquered ceramics is that it gives you a variety of colors to match the colors of your rooms. All imaginable and unimaginable pictures on lacquered pots will decorate your place to advantage. You can easily take care of the lacquered pot thanks to its smooth surface – dust can be easily wiped off with a wet cloth. Another thing which is also true for non-lacquered pots is that you can single out your favorite, especially beautiful plant. For instance, choose a pot which color matches the color of plant flowers. And, of course, there is always a fly in the ointment. In lacquered pots plant roots cannot “breathe”. Besides ceramics is quite heavy and if it is a big pot you might have difficulties when transferring it into the bathroom for shower. Ceramics is fragile as well – you have to find a secure place for such pots.

 The best thing about non-lacquered ceramics is that plant can breathe which is very important for some plants. Water and salts in that water easily escape through porous pot walls making plant’s life comfortable. At the same time salts coming out spoil the appearance of the pot. Be careful with pot in a form of a ball – because of the narrow throat you will most likely have problems when replanting. Anyway this kind of pot is most natural for pot plants.

 Plastic is first of all a practical material: easy to clean, it won’t break into pieces if your cat or child drops pot by chance on the floor, and it is much cheaper than ceramics. Many people prefer plastic pots of one color (usually white or blue) thus they can move pots from one room to another and not to be afraid that one company stops production of specially designed ceramics and they have to buy pots of a different design and remain unhappy of disharmony. Plants in plastic pots require less water. Though there’s a danger of a plant decay. Some people think that a plant feels cooler in a plastic pot as well. Plastic is more comfortable when replanting. Due to a low price you can break the pot and not to regret money spent on it.

 I tried to mention major advantages and disadvantages of ceramic and plastic pots. You’re welcome to share your experience.

Spathiphyllum - Enjoy the Beauty

Posted under Blooming plants by ruola

 Water: warm, moderate

Light: shadow, half shadow

Temperature: +20C

Blooming: yes, white flowers

 

Spathiphyllum is one of the most popular plants among indoor plants. The reason of its popularity is a magnificent appereance and low requiments. There are few important rules which you need follow to keep this plant healthy. First of all avoid direct sun beams on the leaves as the foliage tissue is tender and the sun can cause serious sunburns. Temperature is another important aspect. Spathiphyllum doesn’t like cold and overwatered soil. The temperature shouldn’t drop lower than 16 degrees. Avoid excessive watering, just make sure the soil doesn’t get completely dry.

For blooming Spathiphyllum needs a bit more sun than usually and it happens in most cases naturally in spring or summer. Cut the scrape when you notice brown spots on the flower thus you will help Spathip hyllum bloom again and longer. To achieve best results spray the plant twice a day or make a bath for it, especially if the air is dry in your house.

If there’s too much light Spathiphyllum will react the way you can see on the picture. In this case find a more shaded place.