Preparation of the room.
Room spruce is extremely demanding on the conditions of detention. The unfavorable factors surrounding the plant environment can lead to its death, so the ideal place for growing araucaria is a specially equipped greenhouse - at home, the plant can be damaged by too dry air, insufficient lighting and low temperatures during the colder seasons.
If you decide to buy araucaria, first of all, you should make sure that there is sufficient air humidity and a suitable temperature regime in the room. In summer, the temperature should not exceed 20-25 ° C, in winter the optimum temperature is 10 ° C (the extreme temperature mark for the winter period is 15 ° C).
In addition, pay attention to the ventilation of the room - the wood needs fresh air, so a good solution can be installing in a room or a greenhouse ventilation equipment. If you can not afford it - you can do by regular airing the room.
An important factor is lighting. If the room in which you decide to install the plant, like most rooms, has one-sided lighting, you will have to rotate it about its axis about 90 degrees regularly (about once a week). Otherwise, plant development risks passing asymmetrically. Also, care should be taken to ensure that the lighting is diffused - direct sunlight from araucaria will only harm.
The pot for araucaria should be wide enough and roomy, and have a good layer of drainage. The soil in the pot is prepared from a substrate of drained, leafy peat soil and sand in a ratio of 1: 2: 2: 1 or deciduous, turf, coniferous soil, humus, peat and sand in a ratio of 2: 2: 3: 2: 2: 2.
Care of the plant.
Water the plant Araucaria followed by standing water. The sedimentation is carried out in order to isolate from the water substances that can harm the plant. For settling, special settling tanks are used. The minimum duration of sedimentation is three hours. You can do without a sump: in the evening, put in a closed glass or enamel dishes water. In the morning, gently drain the water into another container, leaving about a third of the liquid in the dishes.
In warmer times, indoor plants require more active watering because of the threat of drying the soil, and care must be taken to ensure that there is no stagnation of water in the pot.
In winter, in addition to watering, this houseplant needs regular spraying of needles with standing water at room temperature, especially in rooms with an air temperature exceeding the optimal temperature (10 ° C). In spring and summer, once every two weeks, araucaria is fed with a weak solution of fertilizers with a low calcium content (excess calcium in the soil threatens to slow the growth of the plant), once a month - infusion of mullein. With insufficient nutrition, shoots will become thin and painful.
As the plant grows, it may be necessary to transplant it. Since Araucaria does not tolerate transplantation, it is recommended that this be done no more often than once every 3-4 years, in the period from March-April to August.
The top of the tree requires special care - with its damage the araucaria stops in development.
Sowing cuttings.
The most popular method of propagation of araucaria is seeding with stem semi-woody cuttings.
Cut the semi-matured tops of adult araucaria 3-4 cm below the whorl and remove them for a day in a shady place. After that, clean the cut places from the resinous juice and apply a powder of charcoal on them. Plant the resulting cuttings in sand or a moistened mixture of peat and sand and cover the pot with a can with a jar or bottle.
The rooting of Araucaria lasts up to 4-5 months. To shorten this period to 1-2 months it is possible, having established cuttings in a special mini-greenhouse with the bottom heating and maintaining in it a temperature of 24-26 ° С.
Do not forget to regularly spray and air the cuttings in the process of rooting. After braiding the soil coma, the roots of the cuttings can be transplanted into a substrate suitable for an adult plant (see the section "Preparing a room").
Seed sowing.
A faster and easier way is seed sowing. Seeds for sowing araucaria should be fresh, sowing should occur immediately after harvesting.
Fill the pots with a mixture of peat land and sand and one by one plant the seeds in them. Soak the soil with a little water and cover with a layer of sphagnum.
The first shoots appear only two weeks after planting, finally the germination process will be completed in 2-3 months. Periodically spray and wind the emergence of sprouts.
When the roots of the seedling are braided all over, you can transplant it into a large pot in a suitable soil for an adult plant.
Protection against pests.
Araucaria is a plant that is sufficiently resistant to pests, but it should be protected from aphids, mealybugs and specific pests of conifers.
Recognize the damage to aphids is simple: in damaged plant aphids, the needles turn yellow, their surface deforms, and a sticky, sweetish coating appears - honey dew. If aphids are found, rinse the affected area of the plant with soapy water or clean with a soap brush. If the infection is too strong, then it is better to remove the damaged areas, otherwise you risk infecting the entire tree. After removing aphids, the plant should be treated with infusions of herbs (tobacco, dandelion, onion, yarrow, tansy) or chemical preparations based on pyrethroids. Aphids quickly get used to drugs, so regularly change the used remedy.
Powdery mullet is considered one of the most dangerous pests for indoor plants. Infection is manifested in the coating of the plant with a white cobwebby coating. Covering the plant, the chervets suck in the juices of young shoots, which leads to deformation and drying of the plant. If the infection is shallow, remove insects soaked in soapy water with a cotton swab, and then three times treat the plant with alcohol, tincture of calendula or a solution of green soap. In case of severe infection, use specialized medications.