Family Freesia from the family of iris. This genus includes 6 species. Africa is considered the birthplace of this plant. Freesia belongs to the tuberous plants. It has long and narrow leaves of bright green color. The flowers of this plant are funnel-shaped, have a different color, can be white, blue, cream, orange, purple. Flowers grow in groups, have a strong aroma, are located one-sidedly on branched, curved stems. In nature there are double and simple forms.
The most common varieties of freesia are considered - hybrid freesia and refracted freesia. Flowering freesia depends on the time of planting corms. Very often freesia is planted so that by the winter holidays it begins to blossom.
Freesia: care
The plant freesia and care for it do not require special skills, so when it grows, there should not be any special difficulties. Freesia needs a bright light, it can grow under direct sunlight, but with good ventilation, otherwise the plant will get burned. For the cultivation of freesia, the south, west and east windows will suit. From the midday sun, especially in hot summer weather, the plant is better to pritenyat. On the northern window, freesia will experience a lack of light, which is necessary for normal vegetation. In the autumn-winter period the plant needs additional illumination with white or daylight lamps.
It is better not to grow young plants under direct sunlight, but to make a bright diffused light. Do not expose the plant immediately after buying in the sun, do this should not also after a long cloudy weather, or else the plant will get burned.
During the growing season, the freesia plant should be kept in a dry, cool, ventilated place, where the temperature is close to 16-18 degrees. With a higher temperature regime of content, freesia should have access to fresh air.
If the plant is kept in a cool place during the growing season, then the irrigation should be moderate, as the surface layer of the earth will dry up. For watering, soft, dewatered water is taken. At a high temperature of the content (about 22-25 o ) it is necessary to increase watering, however, the top layer must still dry up.
During the germination of corms, so as not to flood the plant, you need to water it very carefully. During the rest period, corms contained in pots or in peat should not be watered.
Freesia in a cool room can carry dry air. When the weather is hot, the plant needs to be sprinkled with early water in the early morning, and the water should be soft. Spraying is done every day.
As soon as buds began to appear, the plant should be fed once every 7 days with mineral fertilizers. You need to feed until all the foliage is withered on the plant. During budding, you need to feed fertilizer with a lot of phosphorus. During the growth of the leaves, and also after the plant has faded, it is necessary to feed the fertilizer, which includes a large amount of potassium and nitrogen.
Stems freesia must be tied as they grow, because vibrations can cause deformation of flowers, and sometimes even a complete absence of flowers. During flowering the flower stalk can not remain in a vertical position without support. Blossoms freesia about 15-20 days. Older specimens bloom poorer than seedlings. In order to always have flowering freesias, it is advised to use repeated crops every two decades. As the plant has faded, the floral stem is cut off, after which the watering of the plant should continue for another 5-6 weeks, until new corms are formed. After that, watering should be gradually reduced, until the leaves completely perish. Then the corms are excavated and placed in a light cool room, in dry peat for storage until next summer. The temperature of the content should not exceed 6-8 degrees. Corms can be immediately planted in pots and in the future until the buds are formed in a cool light room. After the emergence of buds freesia can be transferred to the window. The further temperature of the content should be about 12-16 degrees.
Reproduction of a plant
Freesia is a plant that can be grown not only from corms, but also from seeds.
Seeds are advised to be sown as necessary, while you can get well-flowering specimens. Before sowing the seeds are better to germinate, since the seeds are planted every two decades. The earth mixture for sowing should consist of sand and sheet earth. And you can take a ready-made substrate for bulbous plants and sand. Prepared substrate should be watered first, and only then sow the seeds. Sown seeds should be covered with a thin layer (2 mm) of a special mixture for seeds. After the seedlings grow to 2-3 centimeters, they must be thinned, 10 seedlings should remain in the pot. If the seeds are sown at the end of spring, the freesia grown in this way will blossom by the end of winter.
Corms can be planted in the spring or in the middle of summer (it all depends on when you want to get chicly flowering freesias). Plant corms should be 5 pieces in an average pot. Before planting, some gardeners recommend about two weeks to withstand corms in a room with a temperature of 28-30 degrees. To get lush flowers it is better to take large bulbs. At the bottom of the pot must be a layer of sand, shards, gravel, a ready mix for bulbous plants or a mixture consisting of 13 sand and garden soil (1 part) mixed with charcoal is poured over.
Corms are planted to a depth of about 3 cm in moist soil. After that, the pot should be placed in a light cool place, where it should be without irrigation until the leaves are formed. As soon as the leaves start to grow, you need to start watering with a steady, soft water. When buds and flowers appear, watering increases.
Damage: aphids and spider mite.