Indoor flowers: Stephanotis is bred thanks to their beautiful flowers. Adult plants blossom at the end of June, the flowering period lasts until September. With the right selection of temperature conditions and lighting, you can achieve flowering in winter. Stefanotis is demanding of light and needs support.
Representatives.
Stephanotis blooming (Latin Stephanotis floribunda Brongn.), Its other names are Madagascar jasmine, or Stefanotis of Madagascar. It grows in the forests of Madagascar. It is a curly shrub that reaches 5 meters in length. Dark green, glossy leaves are located opposite, have an oval or oblong-oval shape, entire. At the base they are round, and on the top have a small point. Dimensions: 4-5 cm in width and 8-9 cm in length. Inflorescence is a false umbrella (5 cm wide, 4 cm long). In its upper part the flowers are white, strongly fragrant. Stephanotis blooming is grown as a pot culture in rooms and greenhouses, is used in decorating winter gardens and interiors, it is bred and cut into bouquets.
Care rules.
Lighting. Stephanotis prefers bright diffused lighting. When grown on southern windows, the plant can get burned. The best place for its cultivation is the western or eastern windows. If plants are grown on southern windows, then in summer it is necessary to do diffuse lighting, for example, using translucent fabrics or paper (for example, gauze, tulle, tracing paper). On northern windows, a plant may not have enough light, and then it ceases to bloom. In autumn and winter, stephanotis should be kept in good lighting conditions. He favorably responds to additional illumination in the form of fluorescent lights. Do not turn and do not change the usual place for stephanotis at the time of bud formation, as this will stop the development of buds.
Temperature regime. Spring and summer for stephanotis is most favorable temperature of 19-22 ° C, and in winter it is necessary to create cool conditions - 14-16 ° C. The plant does not tolerate cold drafts and a sharp temperature drop. Always need fresh air.
Watering. In spring and summer, water these room flowers should be abundantly at room temperature water. During the time between irrigations, the upper part of the substrate should dry up. Stephanotis extremely badly tolerates the high content of lime in the water. Winter should be watered moderately, thereby, stimulating abundant flowering.
Air humidity. Stephanotis - flowers that prefer high humidity. In spring and summer, you should regularly spray the plant with warm water. It is recommended to put a pot of plant on a pallet filled with wet claydite or peat. In the period of cool wintering, it is necessary to carry out very careful spraying.
Top dressing. During the period March-August, stephanotis is fed 1 time for 1-2 weeks, alternating fertilizing with organic and mineral fertilizers. Since May, before flowering, it is better to feed stephanotis several times with a solution of potassium salt and superphosphate. For the same purpose, a solution of cow dung is also used. In the autumn-winter period, no fertilizing is done.
Subtlety of care. The rules for the care of stephanotis include tying young shoots to the support. The climbing stems of the plant gradually become lignified and can grow 2-2.5 meters long, so they are recommended to let them through a wire or a stretched rope. Often, due to lack of space, stephanotis is guided along an arcuate support. When it is grown in the winter garden shoots can reach a length of 4-6 m. The plant is successfully used for decorating window flower beds.
It is necessary to remove the wilted flowers, so that the plant directs all energy to the formation of healthy stems.
Transfer. Immediately before transplanting, trim the plant carefully. Young stephanotises pass each year, adults - less often, once in 2-3 years, do this at the end of winter. Do not forget to tie the adult plants to the supports for shoots and annually pour the nutritious soil.
Stephanotis should be planted in fairly large pots, filling it with the nutrient soil of a weakly acid reaction (pH 5.6-6.5) and the following composition: humus, deciduous, clayey-turf and sand.
Reproduction. The flowers of stephanotis reproduce by cuttings in early spring, less often in other periods of the year. The shoots of the previous year are cut so that it has one pair of leaves. Cut should be below the leaf, since the roots are formed between the leaf nodes. Then they plant 2-3 cuttings in 7-centimeter pots or litter boxes. Roots are formed during the next 30-35 days, subject to 24-26 ° C. A substrate of the following composition is used: peat land and sand in equal proportions. Then the entrenched cuttings are transplanted into 7-9 centimeter pots filled with soil of another composition: sod, leaf, peat land and sand in a ratio of 1: 2: 1: 1. Young plants are grown in a bright room at a temperature of 16-18 ° C. The night temperature should not be above 14 ° C, otherwise the flowering will be weak. Plants, removed from the cuttings of the winter term, will blossom at the end of the year.
The constant care of stephanotis means the transshipment of young plants: from 9-centimeter pots in the first year of cultivation they are transferred to 12-centimeter, and a year later to 14-15-centimeter ones. The land of the same composition is used. To stimulate branching, one should pinch the tip of the shoot after planting.
Precautionary measures. Very rarely in the room conditions fruit can form. Remember, they are not edible.
Difficulties of care.
- Put a light mark on the pot, as when forming buds, Stephanotis reacts badly to a change of place.
- Shortage of water, temperature drops, drafts lead to fall of buds.
- Due to temperature changes, poor illumination, the plant does not form flowers even with good fertilizing.
- If the unopened buds wither, then, insufficient watering for the plant.
- If the leaves turn yellow, then the plant lacks light or water is carried out by hard water.
- Pests: aphids, spider mite, scutellum, false-tine.