How to prepare gloxinia for the winter in order to get vigorous flowering in the summer. Gloxinia: home care, cultivation and propagation by leaves

In winter, there is a high probability that gloxinia may die, so the plant is sent to a dark, cool place, placed in artificial sleep to recover. When should you take out gloxinia so as not to miscalculate the time of awakening? You will learn about this in today's article.

Gloxinia should wake up after forced period peace. For this to happen, the plant tuber must be stored correctly.

Storage conditions for gloxinia in winter:

Cool and dark place;
Protection from moisture;
Rest no longer than 4 months;
Do not dry completely - water occasionally;

Already sent on vacation adult, a little tired gloxinia. Young flowers do not have time to form a tuber of sufficient size. It may noticeably rot, deteriorate, or not awaken - there is a high probability of losing the plant.

When to remove gloxinia from a dark place: at the beginning or end of March. Look at when the sprouts appear - a signal about the awakening of gloxinia. Before possible awakening, there is no need to remove or disturb the gloxinia.

How to awaken gloxinia after hibernation?

We take the gloxinia out of a dark place and expose it to the light. At the beginning of spring, the lighting will not be intense, so there is no need to worry about the condition of the flower. Enter watering. Moisturizing will promote the formation of new shoots. You will stimulate their development and watch how the flower gradually forms a beautiful flower head. Basically, gloxinia should form at least 1-2 shoots, but if this does not happen, it’s time to look for the reasons.

Gloxinia did not wake up: causes and ways to eliminate the consequences

Improper storage, as we noted above, can affect the awakening of gloxinia. Before the dormant period, make sure that you are familiar with all the rules for caring for the plant in winter.

Why gloxinia does not wake up:

The tuber has dried up;
Low quality plant;
Young plant;
Rotten or flooded;

Place in a dark place- closet, closet, under the bathtub - you don’t need to forget about moisturizing until the beginning of spring. Periodically check the condition of the soil mixture, adding water as necessary. The overdried tuber can be placed under plastic film or package. Add damp sphagnum moss to your home greenhouse and tie it up. Reanimation should help the gloxinia to re-absorb moisture, but it is better to inspect the tuber.

Blackened or noticeably rotten tuber Gloxinia is no longer suitable for cultivation. Most likely, the storage conditions were not suitable. Perhaps intense watering or a damp, cold place affected its condition.

A young plant or low-quality tuber also slows down its development. Young gloxinia is not sent for storage, but potentially low-quality tubers treated with “Fitosporin” before the rest period. You can also soak it in a weak solution of potassium permanganate to strengthen it and protect it from subsequent pest damage. Plant the gloxinia tuber after dormancy in a dark place in a nutrient substrate - store-bought soil is depleted and is not suitable for forcing.

↓ Write in the comments how do you know when to take gloxinia out of a dark place? When did your pet beauty start waking up?

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Plant gloxinia (lat. Gloxinia), which received its name in honor of the Alsatian physician and botanist Benjamin Peter Gloxin, forms a genus in the Gesnerieceae family. Gloxinia flowers are perennial tropical herbs and shrubs. Gloxinia's homeland is Central and South America, where it grows in the deciduous forests of Brazil and Peru, in the rocks of Mexico, in the Andes or on river banks. Another name for gloxinia is Sinningia (lat. Sinningia)- was given to her in honor of Wilhelm Sinning, a gardener at Boston University, who devoted himself to the selection and hybridization of gloxinia. Thanks to his efforts, hybrid or domestic gloxinia (sinningia) appeared in floriculture, represented by many varieties and hybrids.

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Planting and caring for gloxinia (in brief)

Bloom: from March to the end of summer.
Lighting: bright diffused light with 12-14 hours of daylight.
Temperature: during the growing season - usual for residential premises, during the dormant period - about 10 ˚C.
Watering: during the growing season - regular, but moderate, bottom watering; from August the plant prepares for a dormant period, and watering should become less frequent.
Air humidity: increased, but spraying the leaves is strictly not recommended; it is better to keep containers of water around the plant.
Feeding: during the active growing season once every 10 days with a solution of complete mineral fertilizer for flowering indoor plants.
Trimming: in May or June, after the end of the first flowering, and in the fall, before the start of the dormant period.
Rest period: from late October to late February.
Transfer: at the end of the dormant period.
Reproduction: seeds, leaf cuttings.
Pests: thrips, cyclamen and spider mites.
Diseases: gray mold, viral infections.

Gloxinia flower - growing features

Indoor gloxinia is a tuberous perennial with a short stem and juicy velvety leaves of rich green color. The same velvety bell-shaped flowers, simple or double, pink, red, white, purple, speckled, frilly or two-colored, reach 5 cm in length and 7 cm in diameter. Numerous gloxinia seeds are very small. Of the 25 species that exist in nature, the basis for breeding work Only gloxinia royal and gloxinia beautiful became.

Royal Gloxinia (Gloxinia regina)

is a flower with thickened stems up to 10 cm in height. Dark green pubescent leaves, with silver veins on the upper side and reddish on the bottom, broadly oval, arranged oppositely in 4-6 pieces, from 15 cm to 20 cm long. Peduncles are long, bell-shaped drooping flowers of a dark purple hue reach a length of 5 cm , and in diameter 7 cm.

Gloxinia speciosa

– herbaceous plant with broadly oval, evenly green leaves tapering towards the base on long stalks. Flowers of the most different forms, depending on the variety, including double gloxinia, white, red, violet, blue, pink, purple, there are forms with a white rim around the edge.

Like any plant, gloxinia has some features:

after flowering, the above-ground part of the flower dies, and it is important to wait until this process spontaneously completes;
before the dormant period, gloxinia requires feeding with fertilizers that do not contain nitrogen - potassium monophosphate, for example;
a gloxinia pot requires a decent size, for an adult plant - at least 15 cm in diameter;
if you want your gloxinias to bloom all year round, arrange a rack or a warm shelf for them with additional lighting for 14 hours a day.

Caring for gloxinia at home

How to care for gloxinia at home

If you decide to grow gloxinia, provide it with a spacious place where bright, diffused light will fall: it needs twelve to fourteen hours of daylight, so during long nights, be prepared to organize the plant additional lighting. There is an easy way to tell if a flower has enough light: if the dark green leaves are horizontal and the stem is short, there is no need to worry, but if the leaves and stem stretch upward, then the plant is not getting enough light. However, remember: caring for gloxinia involves, first of all, protection from direct sunlight, which is detrimental to the plant.

And one more important point: no drafts! If you decide to keep the flower on the windowsill, you will have to forget about frequent ventilation. And the air humidity that gloxinia needs will have to be increased artificially by placing containers of water around the flower, since the plant does not like moisture on the leaves and flowers, which cannot be avoided when spraying.

As for the temperature, during the growing season gloxinia will be satisfied with the usual for this time of year room temperature, but during the dormant period it needs coolness - about 10 ºC. Observe the plant, and it will tell you what changes in care it needs: overheating causes gloxinia leaves to stretch upward, but if the leaves are lowered below the edge of the pot, the flower freezes.

Watering gloxinia

During the growing season, water gloxinia in a tray or by overhead watering, being careful not to wet either the leaves or flowers. Between waterings upper layer the substrate should dry out. At the end of August, the intervals between waterings are increased so that the plant gradually enters a dormant period until the end of October. Both overwatering and underwatering should be avoided. Water the gloxinia with settled or filtered water a degree or two warmer than room temperature.

Gloxinia fertilizer

During the period of active growth, gloxinia is fed once a decade with a complete complex fertilizer for ornamental flowering plants. In mid-August, feeding is stopped. If you neglect the application of fertilizers, problems may arise with both growth and flowering: growth slows down, the buds become smaller, the color of the flowers fades, causing the decorative appearance of the plant to suffer, and the flowering period becomes much shorter. Sometimes the plant suffers from a lack of boron. This becomes noticeable in the summer with maximum daylight: deep notches appear along the edge of the leaf blade. In this case, you need to implement foliar feeding gloxinia with a two percent borax solution. And let me remind you that excess fertilizer is much more dangerous for the plant than its lack, so try to observe moderation in this matter.

Planting Gloxinia

Every year, at the end of the rest period, the gloxinia is transplanted into a new pot. Soil mixture The same is used as for begonias and violets. It can be purchased at the store, or you can make it yourself from two parts of leaf, one part of humus soil and one part of sand. So, in February, gloxinia tubers are taken out of the pot along with a lump of earth and transferred to a new pot, slightly larger than the previous one, in which a layer of drainage is first laid, and a layer of soil is placed on top of it. Then the substrate is gradually added and compacted. As a result, the tuber should only be buried halfway into the substrate. The same principle applies to the initial planting of gloxinia.

Gloxinia has faded - what to do?

When gloxinia has bloomed (usually this happens in May-June), cut off the stem and almost all the leaves, leaving only 2-4 lower leaves on the plant, in the axils of which stepsons will soon appear, of which you will leave a couple of the strongest ones and remove the rest . At this time, it is advisable to fertilize the flower with fertilizers for growth, and a month later, when the buds appear, you need to introduce fertilizers for flowering. The second bloom most likely won't be as lush as the first, but that's normal. Sometimes gloxinia blooms all summer, and the question of re-blooming disappears. When gloxinia has completely faded, you need to gradually reduce watering and stop feeding, wait until the leaves turn yellow and dry, then cut off the tops, leaving a stump of 1-2 cm above the tuber.

Gloxinia in winter

To the question “how to store gloxinia after flowering” there are two answers:

– Gloxinia, pruned for the winter, is stored in a dark, cool place until the end of February. Gloxinia is moistened in winter only 1-2 times a month so that the tubers do not dry out. Gloxinia can overwinter under a bathtub or in an insulated loggia;

– the second way to preserve gloxinia during the dormant period involves removing the tuber from the pot, and since at the end of January or beginning of February you will still have to transplant the gloxinia into a new pot with a new substrate, so why not remove the tuber from the pot in the fall? The extracted tuber is cleaned of soil residues, placed in a plastic bag with a zipper, vermiculite with substrate is added to the bag in a 1:1 ratio, the zipper is fastened and the bag is placed on winter storage in the vegetable section of the refrigerator. Now you don’t have to worry that the tuber may dry out without watering after three to four months of dormancy.

Reproduction of gloxinia at home

Gloxinia from seeds

The rich assortment of gloxinia seeds in specialized stores inspires optimism for those who want to test themselves as a breeder. But don't expect too much from this experiment. Growing gloxinia from seeds begins with purchasing seed material- thank God, today this is not a problem - and it is better to purchase granulated seeds. The packaging usually indicates a germination period of 4-6 months, or even 9-10, but this is only if you sow in winter or autumn. If you do this in March, the process will go much faster. You can use purchased greenhouses for sowing, or you can make a greenhouse yourself: loosely place and soak peat tablets in a deep plastic container with a lid, and spread the granules onto them without embedding them in the soil. Make several holes in the lid for ventilation. Place the greenhouse with the seeds in a bright, warm place with a temperature of approximately 22-23 ºC and for one and a half to two weeks, carefully moisten the soil as necessary and wait for the emergence of seedlings. When the sprouts sprout and get stronger, plant them with peat tablets By disposable cups, and after a while into permanent pots.

Reproduction of Gloxinia by leaf

No matter what they say, vegetative propagation is usually more reliable than seed, and unless you have a particular reason to grow plants from seed, use it vegetative method, and we will tell you how to grow gloxinia from leaf cuttings. Since Gloxinia leaves are quite large, take either the smallest leaf or divide a large leaf into fragments. Cut sheet plate it is necessary across, parallel to the transverse veins, the leaf petiole is also cut off, leaving no more than 2 cm. Use a sharp tool for cutting, otherwise the edges of the leaf or its fragments may rot. Plant the fragments in pots with a light, slightly moist substrate and place them in a greenhouse or cover plastic bag– for a month you will not have to water the soil or ventilate the greenhouse, and after a month the rooted fragments need to be gradually accustomed to life outside the greenhouse, opening the polyethylene for a short time. The greenhouse with the rooting parts of gloxinia should be kept in a well-lit, warm place.

Pests and diseases of gloxinia

Unfortunately, gloxinia, like other flowers, suffers from diseases that are usually a consequence improper care. Gloxinia is affected by gray rot, which manifests itself brown spots on the leaves. It must be combated by treating the plant with a fungicide, after removing all damaged areas. But most often the plant suffers from root rot: the roots turn dark brown, the stem rots at the base and the plant dies. This happens from constant waterlogging of the roots or watering the plant too much. cold water. In addition to the above diseases, protect gloxinia from late blight, blackleg, powdery mildew and fungal diseases. For preventive treatment, use phytosporin; for treatment, use foundationazole.

Gloxinia dormant period.
In autumn, after flowering, gloxinia begins a period of rest. The plant slows down, does not produce buds, and the leaves begin to turn yellow and dry out. The leaves of such a plant are cut off and stored for winter storage. Optimal time trimming gloxinia and sending the tuber for winter storage is October-November.
Sometimes it happens that gloxinias do not want to go on their own. hibernation. If the tuber is more than a year old, then gloxinia still needs to be put to sleep.
Such gloxinia must first be prepared for the dormant period, i.e. reduce watering, move to a darker and cooler place, stop fertilizing. After the plant stops growing, the leaves begin to turn yellow, the stems and leaves are cut off.
Gloxinia tubers are stored in a dark, cool place at a temperature of 12-16 degrees Celsius. I keep gloxinia in closed closet on an insulated loggia. Some gardeners store tubers in the refrigerator, after first measuring the air temperature on the refrigerator shelf.

Methods for storing tubers:
1. The plant can be left in the same pot in which the gloxinia grew. The soil in which gloxinia is stored should be slightly moist, but not wet. With this method of storage, gloxinia must be watered, slightly moistening the soil, with about a spoonful of water. Watering is carried out 1-2 times a month, making sure that the soil does not dry out and the tuber does not dry out. You can make it simpler: place the pot with the tuber in a plastic bag and tie it tightly. With this method, there is no need to water the gloxinia and the possibility of the soil drying out is eliminated. Once a month it is necessary to check the soil moisture and the condition of the tuber.
2. In a plastic container.
Currently, various plastic containers with lids are sold in disposable tableware pavilions. It is convenient to store small gloxinia tubers in such containers. Pour a small amount of wet soil into the bottom of the container, place the tuber, and sprinkle it with soil. Close the container tightly with a lid to prevent the soil from drying out. Such containers save space during storage and eliminate the possibility of soil drying out.

Awakening of Gloxinia.
The resting period of gloxinia lasts from one to five months. After this, the tubers wake up and produce new shoots. The optimal time to wake up is February, March, April. If the gloxinia tuber has not woken up before May, it can be forcibly awakened. To do this, the gloxinia tuber needs to be placed in a transparent bag, add a little damp soil, and place it in a well-lit place, but not directly Sun rays. Usually after this the tuber produces sprouts within one to two weeks.

After waking up, you need to remove the tuber from the old soil, shake it off, rinse it in water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate, cut off the old thin roots, leaving thick roots.
The awakened gloxinia needs to be transplanted into fresh, nutritious, light soil and lightly watered. When planting, you should not bury the gloxinia tuber; you need to plant the tuber with the deepening upwards, sprinkling the tuber itself with soil no more than 1 cm. At the same time, you need to make sure that the young sprout is not covered.
The first time after awakening, the plant should be watered moderately, without over-moistening the soil, in order to avoid rotting of the tuber.

It often happens that gloxinia produces several shoots. I always leave one, the strongest one. The remaining sprouts can be carefully removed by cutting with a blade. Leaving one sprout on a tuber results in a neater bush and larger flowers.
If you want to get a more magnificent plant, you can leave two sprouts.
Cut “extra” sprouts can be easily rooted by placing them in water until 1-2 cm of roots appear, and then planting them in the soil. In this way, you can get another plant that will bloom in the same year. It should be taken into account that slightly grown sprouts with 4 leaves are suitable for rooting.

Pot size for gloxinia tuber.

The pot for gloxinia must be selected so that the diameter of the pot is 3-4 centimeters larger than the diameter of the tuber.
For example, I plant a very small tuber, about one or two centimeters in size, in a hundred gram a plastic cup, medium tuber - in a pot with a diameter of 7 cm, adult tubers feel good in 9 cm pots.
As the small nodules grow and the root system develops, the gloxinia will need to be transplanted into a larger pot.
If you plant a small tuber immediately in a large pot, there is a possibility that the soil will become sour and the tuber will rot.

The velvety leaves and large bell-shaped flowers of Gloxinia are loved by many gardeners. And with the current abundance of varieties and hybrids, it is doubly offensive when, due to mistakes or lack of care at home, gloxinia blooms little and irregularly, and sometimes simply dies.

How to succeed in growing a houseplant? How to care for gloxinia at home so that the crop consistently pleases the grower with powerful foliage and lush caps of bright flowers?

Lighting conditions for growing and caring for gloxinia

Like all members of the family, domestic gloxinia loves an abundance of light, but not direct sunlight. in the best possible way affect the condition of the plant. Quite dense pubescent castings can wither and flowers wither much ahead of time. Therefore, when caring for gloxinia, they choose a place for it according to the season and climatic zone.

For example, in spring a flower grows well and gains color on a south-facing window, but on summer days and at the peak of flowering it will need shading here. In hot weather, it is optimal to place pots with gloxinia on eastern or even western windows, where the maximum intensity of the sun appears only in the evening or morning hours.

At the same time, we must not forget that a lack of light when caring for gloxinia threatens:

pulling out internodes;
loss of decorative foliage;
decreased quality of flowering or complete failure to form buds;
pale foliage and opening flowers.

To make the plant comfortable in created conditions, he is provided with 12–14 hours of daylight.

It is especially important to follow this rule during the period when the tuber has just taken root and leaves appear above the surface of the substrate. Special ones will help with this.

Microclimate for caring and growing gloxinia

Tuber rooting takes place at a temperature of 24–25 °C. When gloxinia forms the first leaves, the temperature is reduced to 22 °C during the day.

Night air can be another 4–5 °C cooler. If the room gets hotter and the plant lacks light, which often happens when buds set at the end of winter, even with proper care, gloxinia stretches out, losing some of its decorativeness, flowers and leaves on long petioles become smaller.

The lower temperature limit for gloxinia is 18 °C. In colder air, the plant slows down its growing season, and if you do not properly care for gloxinia at home, it may die. Equally detrimental to a plant during the growing season and flowering is a prolonged increase in temperature above 28 °C.

Except temperature regime In the room, gloxinia needs air humidity in the range of 60–80%. Discomfort associated with excessive dry air is indicated by downward, slightly tucked leaf plates.

How to care for gloxinia if the room is heated and the air humidity is much lower than the recommended values? The pubescent leaves of the plant do not tolerate spraying, which is often used to humidify the air. Therefore, in this case, it is better to place pots with plants on wet expanded clay or use household humidifiers.

If irrigating the crown is necessary, it is better to do it in the bathroom at night, so that the leaves dry in a closed, dark room, and the gloxinia gets completely dry on the window.

Planting and caring for a gloxinia tuber

Depending on storage conditions, the gloxinia tuber begins to grow from February to March. At this time it is important:

remove from last year’s substrate, clean from remnants of old roots and soil;
hold for half an hour with a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate or treat with any available systemic fungicide;
Immerse in a solution of heteroauxin or another growth stimulator for 12–24 hours so that the growth point in the recess is not exposed to the drug.

Most often, it is at the planting stage and during the subsequent, as in the photo, caring for gloxinia at home that the greatest risk of losing tubers appears. This happens due to their decay. Therefore, the pot must have at least 3–4 cm of drainage, and the tuber itself is sprinkled with soil no more than a centimeter deep.

The pot for gloxinia is chosen depending on the size of the tuber. For a young specimen, a container with a diameter of 7–9 cm is suitable, and a long-blooming tuber is planted in a pot up to 15 cm wide.

A mixture of two parts can be recommended as a substrate leaf soil, the same amount and one share of washed sand. It is useful to sterilize the soil and also add a natural antiseptic to it, for example, a little crushed coal or sphagnum.

The planted tuber is covered with film or a bag and placed in a warm, well-lit place. The plant remains in such a shelter for several days, during which, in addition to regular ventilation, special care for gloxinia at home is not required.

Watering regime when caring for gloxinia at home

When caring for gloxinia and growing it from a tuber, watering is best done through a tray or along the very edge of the pot.

It is extremely dangerous if moisture gets on the core of the tuber, or on young, immature foliage. The sun can leave permanent burns, and cool air combined with water leads to pockets of rot.

Water for irrigation should be settled and 2–3 °C warmer than the air in the room. When the moisture is absorbed into the soil, after half an hour its remains are removed from the pan under the pot.

The interval between waterings is selected in such a way that over the course of time the lump of soil almost dries out. At the same time, during cold weather or a long period of rain, you can moisten the substrate when caring for a gloxinia flower at home much less often.

Top dressing when caring for gloxinias

Rapid growth of foliage and lush flowering impossible without additional support. Gloxinia is alternately fed with organic and. It is best to carry out this procedure in evening hours or during the day, as well as in cloudy weather, so that the sun does not damage the growth zone and foliage of the plant.

Before the buds appear, in addition to organic matter, the plant needs nitrogen, which stimulates the growth of green mass. But after the formation of buds, the release of nitrogen into the soil is limited and they switch to phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. They enhance flowering, and microelements help maintain high decorativeness of plants.

When mass flowering is complete, within regular care gloxinia after two weeks, fertilize twice with potassium-phosphorus agent. This measure will help the tuber prepare for hibernation.

Caring for gloxinia during the dormant period

The end of the gloxinia growing season occurs in mid-autumn.

When the above-ground part dies, the tuber gradually goes into a state of “hibernation”, ceasing to develop and consume moisture. At this time, it is important to first reduce and then stop watering altogether.

For the entire dormant period, as in the photo, caring for gloxinia at home changes. First of all, it is important to provide the tuber safe storage. They do this in one of two ways:

the pot is transferred to a cool room where the air is no warmer than 10–15 °C, and sometimes moistened to prevent the tubers from drying out;
After the foliage dies, the tubers are removed from the soil, cleaned and sprinkled with sand or sawdust and placed in the cold.

In the second case, the storage temperature of gloxinia tubers is 5–8 °C, and the substrate in which they are located must be dry or barely moist, otherwise the appearance of rot and mold cannot be avoided. This storage method is convenient because planting material does not take up much space, and caring for gloxinias comes down to inspecting dormant tubers.