Clerodendrum, home care which takes some time and patience, is a plant from the Verbena family. Coming from the Canary Islands, he has not only excellent decorativeness, but also a special aroma that exudes its flowers.
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Clerodendrum: the nuances of growing
A perennial plant, which is easy to give a bushy, standard or ampelous form by pruning, is a hardy and undemanding representative of exotic flora. Clerodendrum shoots, quickly lignified in the lower part, are covered with bright green ordinary or heart-shaped leaf plates with serrated or even edges. The most decorative are flowers that are shaped like a butterfly, and collected in racemose or corymbose inflorescences. Thanks to the fragrance, the flower gained popularity among phytodesigners when decorating the interior of premises for various purposes.
Popular varieties
The genus of a tropical plant has more than 300 species.
Among the varieties grown as potted crops, stand out:
- Thompson's Clodendrum is a winding ampelous species with fast-growing elegant shoots covered with white-red flowers and foliage that the exotic drops for the winter. It is the most popular variety among gardeners.
- Clerodendrum specosum or otherwise the most beautiful is an evergreen bush growing in natural conditions up to 3 m.It consists of shoots that are densely covered with heart-shaped leaf plates. When flowering occurs from June to early September, red flowers bloomed in panicles bloom.
- Ugandan clerodendrum is a lianoid-shaped species whose wide sheets are lanceolate. Purple-blue inflorescences are formed by butterfly flowers, the petals of which are painted in different colors.
- Filipino clerodendrum is a capricious species with pink-white inflorescences consisting of pink-like flowers. Despite the beauty and jasmine aroma with a hint of vanilla, the plant can rarely be seen when decorating apartments.
- Clerodendrum inerme is a shrub form with elliptical oblong leaves and white inflorescences. It is rarely grown in an apartment environment, despite the ability to adapt to dry air and sparse watering.
- Clodendrum Wallich is a species that blooms profusely with white inflorescences, which are formed by flowers of an extraordinary shape. A compact bush that does not require a large space needs a special light mode and high humidity.
Home Care
To achieve regular flowering of a tropical plant, it is necessary to observe a number of basic rules for care.
Soil requirements
To grow a tropical plant, fertile soil with a slightly acidic reaction is used, similar in composition to soils in natural places of growth. To prepare it yourself, it is enough to take sheet and clay soils, peat and sand in equal proportions. Before use, the substrate should be calcined in the oven for disinfection.
Lighting
Clerodendrum needs bright lighting, so the best option is to place the flower on the eastern or southern windowsills, protected from direct sunlight.
Temperature mode
Throughout the growing season, the flower feels comfortable at a temperature of 18 to 25 ° C. In the cold period, when the plant is immersed in a dormant state, a temperature regime below 15 ° C is ensured.
Watering a flower
The flower requires abundant moisture, between which the surface of the substrate should dry. Irrigation is carried out with protected, softened water. With the onset of the resting phase, the amount of irrigation decreases and depends on the temperature in the room: the lower it is, the less is required. However, it is undesirable to allow complete drying of the substrate.
Air humidity
A tropical plant critically needs a high level of humidity, for which daily spraying with settled water is organized. In winter, the flower moves away from heating appliances.
Fertilizer and fertilizer
From mid-spring until the arrival of autumn, twice a month, additional nutrition is organized for the clerodendrum using liquid mineral complexes for flowering plants. The rest of the feeding is not carried out.
Trimming
The plant is pruned annually in the spring after waking up for two reasons:
- Sanitary pruning - removal of dry, damaged and diseased shoots.
- Formative - to create a bush, all shoots are greatly shortened, which stimulates branching. To get a standard tree, all shoots are removed, except for the strongest, cut at a height of 70 cm. After that, all apical shoots are pinched to form a crown.
How to transplant?
Transplantation of young specimens is carried out annually. As the plants grow older, the interval between procedures increases to 2-3 years.
After trimming:
- a new pot is selected, which will be 2 cm larger than the old in diameter and height;
- a drainage layer of 3 cm is placed at the bottom;
- by transshipment, so as not to disturb the rhizome, a flower with an earthen lump is placed in the prepared container;
- voids are filled with new soil mixture;
- after soil compaction, the plant is watered.
Flowering period
The phase begins at the beginning of June and the end in September.In order to enjoy a flowering plant every year, it is necessary to give the flower a rest and not overdo it with nitrogen-containing fertilizers.
Pest and Disease Control
The plant is quite resistant to disease damage. And pests such as whiteflies and spider mites are noted on the culture. An effective method of control is spraying the flower with an insecticidal preparation according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Clodendrum Reproduction
The most popular and productive way of propagating a crop is cuttings, in which:
- In spring, when pruning, cuttings are harvested from young shoots, after which they are placed in a container with a substrate of sand and peat.
- The container is covered with glass and moved to a warm, bright place.
- After the emergence of sprouts, the rooted plant is planted with an earthen lump in a pot with a diameter of 11 cm.
Clerodendrum does not bloom, leaves turn yellow and fall
Sometimes flower growing is associated with some difficulties:
- The plant does not bloom. The main reason is a violation of the flower regime - improper wintering.
- The leaves turn yellow. If this happens during the period of active growth, this may be caused by a lack of moisture or iron in the soil. The problem is easily eliminated by normalizing the irrigation regime and feeding the plant with iron-containing micronutrient fertilizers.
- Falling foliage. If the phenomenon is observed in autumn and winter, then this is a natural process, otherwise it is necessary to look for an error in violation of the care regulations.
So, leaving a representative of the tropics at home will not be particularly troublesome, but the result in the form of lush flowering against a background of bright greenery will make you forget about all your efforts.
