Hippeastrum flower - home and outdoor care

Hippeastrum is a predominantly Brazilian flower that attracts with its inflorescences. He won the hearts of many gardeners and indoor plant lovers. Its long paired leaves, emanating from the bulb, surround a 50 cm pedicel with umbrella inflorescences, surprising with a variety of colors. There are several hundred varieties of the plant, differing in the shape and color of the petals.

Hippeastrum care rules

The hippeastrum flower can be grown both in a pot on a windowsill and in the open field. The main thing is that the climate matches the needs of the plant.

Blooming hippeastrum

When kept in room conditions, it does not need to be transplanted often - once every 3 years is enough. Frequent transplants harm the bulb.

Top dressing and fertilizers

The feeding regime directly depends on the growing season of the flower. After the end of the dormant period, mineral fertilizers are applied to the soil, contributing to the rapid and correct formation of leaves. After the appearance of the fourth leaf, the period of flower bearer formation and budding begins, for which universal fertilizers are suitable, which are marked "for flowering plants" on the package. When the bulb fires an arrow, it is time to change the feeding in favor of potash and phosphorus formulations.

Watering mode

The quality of soil moisture also depends on the period of plant development: while it does not bloom, it is rarely watered in small portions. Care for the hippeastrum begins after a dormant period, when the plant has released the first leaf arrow. Typically, awakening occurs in January.

When the first peduncle appears after the third leaf, you need to water more abundantly, throughout the entire flowering.

Water without falling on the bulb

In August, when the plant has completed its flowering cycles, it goes into hibernation and no longer needs watering.

Growing soil

Hippeastrum is a bulbous plant; for its healthy development, nutritious soil is required that does not crumple, has a loose composition. Also, the bulb is demanding on acidity - it must be either neutral or alkaline. The ideal option for growing will be a ready-made potting soil mixture for bulbous plants. It contains all the necessary nutrients, besides, it is quite light and loose. It is impossible to plant a plant in clay soil - the bulb will rot.

Pot for hippeastrum

When choosing a pot, it is important to pay attention to the depth of the pallet - it must be suitable for bottom watering, and the bottom of the pot must have a sufficient number of holes through which moisture will enter the ground. It is not recommended to plant the plant in a pot with a shallow tray.

Pot with pallet

The pot itself should not be too wide and deep, otherwise the roots developing from the bulb will not be able to reach the wet bottom of the pot. The priority is to have products made from natural materials such as clay or ceramics, as they have the ability to breathe. If the plant is already planted in a plastic container, the soil around the bulb should be loosened frequently to allow air to flow to the roots.

Temperature and humidity at home

For Hippeastrum of any kind, home care does not imply special indicators of air humidity. They are close to the average apartment, so there is no need to worry about additional spraying or any other type of humidification. A comfortable environment for humans is excellent for keeping a plant.

How to adjust flowering time

Often there are specimens of hippeastrum that do not bloom. This does not mean that the florist got a sick specimen. Hippeastrum has no non-flowering varieties, they were bred by breeders not out of love for a green leaf, but to create a variety of colors of buds and petals.

When hippeastrum grows in the open field, for it the wintering period begins in its natural environment. Cooling comes, there is no watering. The bulb sheds its leaves and falls asleep, gaining strength for the next season. With the arrival of spring, a comfortable air temperature and sufficient lighting return. The plant wakes up, the first leaves and a peduncle appear.

Hippeastrum home care for which does not provide a change in temperature regime, is not able to understand the sequence of seasons, and therefore it is impossible to predict the period of its flowering, and sometimes even wait for it altogether. Therefore, in August, when the plant has completed its last flowering cycle and shed its leaves, the bulb should be placed in a cold, dark place. An excellent option would be a closed box on an unheated loggia. There the plant should sleep for two to three months.

Upon returning to the warm windowsill, the bulb will begin to wake up and will certainly delight you with its inflorescences. This is all you need to know about hippeastrum, how to care for it to bloom. With such a change in temperature, the plant can live several cycles - up to four. This means that it will bloom several times, delighting with its gramophones for two weeks for each cycle.

During and after flowering

It is necessary to remember how to properly care for the hippeastrum during its flowering period, so as not to shorten the time of admiring it. Waking up from sleep, the plant is in favorable conditions, where the air temperature is close to 22˚C. It should not be moved to a cooler place, it is important to maintain the constancy of the environment.

Bulb awakening

Since the air temperature outside the window is often much lower than that prevailing in the room, it is not worthwhile to put the awakened flower on the window sill, the window of which is opened to ventilate the room, since cold air currents will slow down the vegetation processes, after which it may not be possible to make it bloom. ...

Around the awakened bulb there should not be many other larger plants blocking the light, otherwise the arrow will begin to stretch, spending energy on growth, which will cause the flowering to be poor and short-lived.

After about two weeks the gramophones were pleasing with their color, the flowering ends. The bulb is significantly reduced and thinned. If the sleep period is still far away, it must be carefully fed through the bottom watering. She is able to bloom several times a year, with a sufficient amount of nutrients in the soil.

Possible care difficulties

Like many indoor bulbous plants, hippeastrum is susceptible to damage from pests.

Damage to bulbs with red burn fungus

Diseases

A plant can hurt from an elementary lack of light, which is why its long elastic leaves turn yellow, nutrients from the bulb are not consumed, which leads to decay of the entire root system.

Pests

Among the dangerous and popular pests are:

• red burn fungus;
• powdery mildew;
• shield.

If the watering regime is observed and the plant is kept free at a sufficient distance from neighbors, it is possible to avoid acquaintance with any pests.

Breeding instructions

Reproduction is possible in several ways, depending on how many new plants you need to get.

Bulbs

After the hippeastrum has bloomed, all you need to do next is to transplant a baby onion from an adult plant. It will become an independent flower, it will be able to bloom as early as 3 years of age.

Seeds

It is not easy to obtain varietal plants from seeds, since most representatives are mixes. To obtain the desired variety through germination of seeds, it is necessary to pollinate the buds with a cotton swab during the flowering period. When varietal seeds are tied, they will be able to bloom in the same shades as the parent plant.

Planting any sort of hippeastrum on the windowsill or in the garden is the desire of many flower growers. It will bloom more than once a season, if you provide it with proper care. The plant goes into hibernation on its own and wakes up with the arrival of heat. Colorful umbrellas will surely decorate your home without requiring close attention.