Cissus - home care and reproduction

The flower, which was nicknamed grape, or birch, is very unpretentious to care for. At the same time, all year round it pleases its owners with exuberant growth and dark green foliage. Cissus is a houseplant that has come to the liking of many amateur flower growers; it can often be found among the inhabitants of offices, government and educational institutions. And not in vain, because the unique property of the plant is to disinfect the air, clearing it from pathogenic bacteria and viruses.

Botanical description

The cissus plant belongs to the grape family. It is an evergreen creeper that does not have a pronounced dormant period. The plant has no homeland as such, since it grows on several continents, prefers tropical and subtropical zones. There are more than 300 species of lianas that are completely dissimilar in appearance.

Lush Greens of Cissus

Translated from Greek, it means "ivy", although the birch does not have much in common with it. Yes, the plant is climbing, weaving, but its whips do not twine around like ivy, but cling with the help of tendrils, like grapes. Vines can reach over a meter in length, over time, the stems become coarse and covered with a crust. Each species differs in the shape of the leaves, their color. The main part, most common in indoor floriculture, has dark green shiny leaves, sometimes the trunks have a brown or red edge.

Scourges rush upward, clinging to the supports with their tendrils. If there is no support, the plant feels great as an ampelous one and is planted in this case in a hanging pot.

Cissus: home care

It is absolutely unpretentious in care, easily tolerates shade and partial shade, drought, in winter it can withstand temperature drops to 12 ° C. Does not require frequent transplanting and expensive feeding. Cissus grows very quickly and in different directions in the form of a full-fledged shrub. If you want to observe a beautiful evergreen bush with lush greenery in your home, you still need to provide it with certain conditions.

• There are no requirements for light, it tolerates shade well, grows under artificial lighting. The most comfortable side for grapes is west and east. The less light, the smaller the leaves will be on the shoots.
• Maintaining humidity in the room will only benefit the plant. In summer, when the heat is intense, spraying and showers are recommended. In winter, it is better not to spray, but if the humidity is very low, and the plants are located near the radiators, you need to put pots of peat next to them and constantly fill them with water, the fumes will humidify the air around the cissus.
• When watering, you need to make sure that the earthy clod does not dry out, it should dry out no deeper than 2 cm. Watering is needed abundant, but not earlier than the topsoil dries up. The plant will not tolerate stagnation of moisture in the pot. In winter, during watering, the water from the sump should be poured out.

The flower will not be happy with direct sunlight

• With a shortage of fertilizers, diseases develop. The first sign of the disease is the appearance of brown spots on the surface of the leaves.
• Since the plant does not have a dormant period, it should be fed all year round with mineral and organic fertilizers. Optimally, once every 10 days.If the flower has changed its color to a lighter one with a silvery sheen, this is also a signal of a lack of trace elements.
• The flower is also unpretentious to temperature. Feels great in winter at 16 ° C, in summer at 26 ° C. Even a fluctuation of four degrees will not affect the plant, it will survive the summer heat of 30 ° C and the winter 10 ° C. With a sharp drop in temperature (drafts or gusts of wind), the plant sheds its leaves.
• To form a bush, early spring is suitable, long lashes need to be cut in half or in a third. Shoots can be pinched to form a spherical shape. After such pruning, the plant will actively grow, shoots from the root may appear.
• Grape ivy rarely blooms, some species even bear fruit.
• In the summer, the plant can be kept on balconies and verandas; it is important to shield it from direct sunlight.

How the cissus flower reproduces

• Sowing the seeds. If you managed to get cissus seeds, they should be planted under the greenhouse, maintaining the humidity by spraying. The soil for sowing is suitable for sand and peat, the temperature should be in the range of 20-25 ° C, the lighting is uniform. Seeds sprout very reluctantly, sometimes only after six months.
• You can root cissus using cuttings. In the spring-summer period, young shoots with buds are cut and placed in water. It is advisable to treat the sections with growth stimulants. The roots appear quickly and take root well in the soil. Young roots are very fragile and easily damaged.

Nondescript flowering: small pink or light green clusters of flowers

• How easy is it to root cissus without damaging the roots? Straight into the soil. A mixture of equal parts of sand and peat should be moistened with water, a hollow should be made with a wooden stick and a cut cutting should be planted (there must be several buds and leaves on it). The pot should be covered with a glass jar, creating favorable conditions for rapid rooting and growth. When new leaves appear and unfold at the cutting, you can remove the jar and care for it as usual.
• When transplanting a room birch, you can divide the plant bush by planting it in several pots. The basal processes should be divided, separating them from the roots. If the roots are tightly intertwined, they can be cut off with a sharp knife or scissors. Plants take root quickly and after two weeks they are already actively beginning to grow.

Propagation of cissus by cuttings

After planting a young plant in a pot, you need to provide it with warmth, more shade than light, and watering with a root. After 14 days, you can apply the first complementary feeding with complex fertilizers. It is advisable to immediately expose the supports to which the plant will cling to the antennae.

Transplant and selection of soil for cissus

A young plant is transplanted every spring as a transfer to a larger pot. The roots are very delicate in the plant, so it is better not to strongly remove the soil, which has already been braided by the roots. The pot is required small in size, since the root system is poorly developed. An adult plant requires a transplant as the soil is depleted - once every 2-3 years. For an optimal soil composition, it is necessary to take in equal parts:

• garden soil is heavy fertile soil from under a tree, black;
• peat;
• humus;
• sand.

The pot must have holes and a drainage layer.

Cissus species

The most common types of indoor decorative cissus and their specificity:

• cissus antarctic. Unpretentious in terms of lighting and temperature. Suitable for growing completely in artificial light: in the bathroom, hallway and other rooms without windows. Leaves of this species are distinguished by characteristic teeth along the edges of bottle-colored egg-shaped leaves;
• diamond-shaped, or diamond-shaped grapes. Very similar to grapes or maple. The leaves are dark green, young with a burgundy tint. In summer, the diamond-shaped cissus can bear fruit with edible red berries. Home care of cissus rhomboid does not require special conditions;

Antarctic cissus is actively wriggling in long lashes

• multicolored cissus is the finest type of these vines, but also the most beautiful of them. The leaves of the multi-colored grapes are colored in silvery and pink-burgundy spots, the back side is dark pink. This species requires abundant light and constant humidity;
• The striatal cissus has the smallest leaves of all species. Light green three-lobed or five-lobed striped leaves grow on red vines that grow up to 10 m in length. It is unpretentious in leaving and perfectly tolerates the shade.

Multicolored cissus

The indoor cissus flower is able to purify the air and create a favorable atmosphere in the room. It is a part of dietary supplements for athletes and is used in the treatment of joints and bone tissue. It is used in cosmetology as a cleanser for skin problems. What is not a unique plant for growing at home ?! In addition, there are no problems with him at all, where to plant, there it will grow.