Guzmania - home care, transplantation and reproduction

The guzmania flower comes from tropical forests and features long, dark green leaves that form a rosette, due to which there is no stem. Bright bracts coming from the center also attract attention. They delight the eye for up to five months, which gives the flower a special charm. Guzmania is a common version of landscaping of offices, apartments due to its attractive appearance and unpretentiousness.

Guzmania (guzmania): home care

Tropical indoor flowers, due to their thermophilicity, require keeping at a temperature of 17-20 ° C. Guzmania does not tolerate drafts, open sunlight, preferring content in diffused light. To maintain optimal conditions, you also need to ensure proper watering and moisture levels. You can buy a ready-made flowerpot or plant an offshoot from the mother plant.

Guzmania appearance

Flowering care

The plant blooms for 15-17 weeks, so this stage is especially important. In nature, the flower lives on the bark of other trees, receiving nutrition from them. It belongs to epiphytes, that is, it receives moisture from the air. The flowering period begins in the plant 3-4 years after the start of growth.

Temperature and humidity

Guzmania, home care during the active period, for which it differs in the requirements for high temperature and humidity, will delight in the end with its flowering. When the first buds bloom, the first parameter should not be lower than 25 ° C. Directly during the active period, the temperature can be reduced to 20 ° C.

Moisture is provided by daily irrigation with warm filtered or distilled water. The bracts should be avoided to avoid shortening the flowering period. A container of water is placed near the pot to nourish the aerial roots.

How to water indoor flowers guzmania

The water should not be cold, so it must be defended in advance. During the warm period, the soil should also be moist, but water should not stagnate in the sump. In the summer, it is best to feed and water the gusmania in the center of the outlet. As a rule, watering once a week is sufficient.

Houseplants such as guzmania are sensitive to lime and chlorine in the water, so it must be cleaned. As the substrate absorbs the liquid, it is poured. 2 times a month, the water from the outlet is completely drained and replaced with a new one.

Top dressing

It is enough to feed the gusmania once every 3-4 weeks. For nutrition, you should choose options designed for the Bromeliad family, with a reduced nitrogen content, without phosphate and nitrate. Dissolving fertilizer, you need to apply a dosage 2 times less than indicated in the instructions.

How often guzmania blooms

The plant blooms once in a lifetime, then dies. Reproduction of guzmania occurs by transplanting daughter shoots. They are separated and transplanted, after the allotted period of time, with proper care, they bloom. It usually takes 3-4 years from the start of growth.

Guzmania blooms once every 3-4 years from planting

Resting care

How to care for decorative guzmania depends on the season. There is no pronounced rest period, it is created by the owner forcibly as the daylight hours decrease. During it, the plant does not need active care and intensive watering.

Watering mode

During the forced dormant period, which lasts from October to February, watering is reduced to 1 time in 2 weeks. Water still needs settled, but the pot is not removed from a bright place. If necessary, the culture is provided with artificial lighting for 7-8 hours. Spraying and feeding are not used.

Temperature regime

In cold weather, the temperature can be reduced to 18-20 ° C. For a short time, gusmania can withstand up to 13 ° C, but in such conditions it is highly likely that it will refuse to bloom or release vegetative shoots.

Guzmania transplant at home

As a rule, the plant is bought already flowering, so it does not need to be transplanted immediately. Then, at the end of the active period, during transplantation, they are transferred into a wide, shallow container (a suitable diameter of about 15 cm). The soil should consist of several components:

• peat;
• humus;
• coarse sand;
• turf;
• loam.

In order not to bother with the selection of soil composition, it is best to buy ready-made for bromeliads, an alternative option is soil for orchids. A drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the container for ¼ of the volume (2-4 cm). Shards from a clay pot, porous stones are used as it. Thanks to this, the roots are ventilated, do not rot, and do not retain excess moisture.

If the plant enters the apartment before flowering, then it can be transplanted before the vegetative period during the appearance of the receptacle, and even if the shipping pot is too small. You need to change the soil where the flower grows every 2-3 years, or if the soil is acidic.

Transplanting a plant by dividing the mother bush

If you need to transplant an existing plant into a large container, then they take it out of the old flowerpot, shake off the ground from the roots and sprinkle it with earth in a new pot.

Reproduction of guzmania

Growing a flower involves several ways to get offspring:

• by dividing an adult bush;
• from seeds;
• when shedding children.

In the axils of the leaves, shoots gradually appear. When they reach a height of several centimeters, you need to push back the surrounding tissues, to expose the "baby". The separation of the shoot occurs with a sharp knife. The place where the separation took place is treated with garden varnish. The sprout can be dipped into a glass of warm water in which activated carbon is dissolved. After 5-7 days, it takes root. When several of them appear, you can root the shoot in the ground.

As it grows, the daughter becomes overgrown with an individual root system. When the length of each process reaches 2 cm, they can be separated.

Shoots must be transplanted into a substrate consisting of a mixture of sand, pine bark and leafy soil. It requires a high temperature (26-28 ° C) and a hood that shades the space.

Sprout transplant is a more popular propagation method than seed. The second way is a long and laborious process. It involves rooting in soil consisting of a mixture of peat and sand. On the eve of planting, the seeds are soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Then they are dried, laid out on the soil, without pressing down. Thanks to this, the seeds can constantly receive sunlight.

Germination requires a temperature of 22-24 ° C, spraying and ventilation. At least 20 days must pass before the sprout appears. Shoots require diving after 2 months, they need to be planted in six months.

Diseases of Guzmania

If you follow all the recommendations for caring for guzmania, then it will grow in time, fade and delight with new shoots. But in some cases, the plant begins to wither, for which there are several reasons:

• excessive watering;
• the spread of the fungus;
• sunburn;
• wrong choice of water for irrigation;
• lack of nutrients.

The first is evidenced by the fact that in the center the leaf wrinkles, dark spots appear, water remains in the pan, the substrate is noticeably moist.

Diseases of guzmania, external manifestations

If a fungus has gone over the plant, then the leaves are covered with a gray bloom. The reasons for the spread of the microorganism are too high temperature and humidity in the room.

If there are brown spots on the surface, this means that the flower is in a sunny place and gets burned. The tips of the leaves dry out if the plant is watered with hard or cold water without settling it.

If the guzmania receives less nutrients, then it stops releasing daughter shoots. If the leaves are soft, then it lacks warmth. Some of these problems are eliminated with the use of special medicinal formulations, others as adverse factors are eliminated. Another dilemma that growers face is pests. There are several types of insects that infect epiphytes.

You can suspect a pest infestation by several signs:

• the leaf becomes covered with yellow spots, and then completely turns yellow and falls off;
• if convex brown plaques appear on the sprout;
• a whitish fluff forms on the surface.

These are the most common traces of plant pests. In the first case, we are talking about a spider mite. You can get rid of it by treating the sprouts with a solution of laundry soap.

The appearance of brown plaques indicates a lesion with a bromelium scale. It is harvested by hand and then treated with a solution of an insecticide suitable for indoor species.

If a white fluff is visible on the surface of the leaf, then these are symptoms of the reproduction of a mealybug. Flowers need to be treated with a solution of actara, actellik, bankola.

Guzmanii Mix, Minor, Tempo: how to care at home

Not many plant species have been able to take root at home. Which variety to choose depends on the individual preferences of the grower. Most often in the store you can find such as Guzmania Mix, Minor, Tempo. The first variety was created by breeders, therefore it combines the characteristics of several plant species. Guzmania Mix has no features of home care. The peduncle of the plant is red, yellow or burgundy. Propagated only by seeds, at a cost slightly higher than other species, it is 500-2000 rubles *.

Guzmania Mix appearance

Guzmania of the Minor variety is a cross product of the reed plant species. It is distinguished by its low growth up to 25 cm, diminutive flowers. The top is bright red, inside of which there is a white middle, towering above the rosette.

Guzmania Tempo is similar to Minor, but it has a large peduncle, long leaves of light green color with white splashes. General care recommendations are suitable for these varieties.

Guzmania Ostara and Amaretto

The second variety is distinguished by shoots 30-50 cm long. The leaves are narrow, medium-sized. The receptacle is tall, bright in color. It is a hybrid derived from two other species.

The Amaretto variety propagates only by germinating seeds. It belongs to the reed species. The length of the plant reaches 45 cm. Flowers can be pink or red. Flowering begins later than other varieties - in February or March.

In total, about 130 species of guzmania are known, of which indoor species are selectively bred, which bloom for up to five months, after which the mother dies, leaving several shoots. Subject to high optimal conditions, it does not require special care, although it is whimsical to the quality of water. It attracts with its appearance due to the pineal receptacle, which has a color from yellow to burgundy.

* Prices are for July 2019