Marants are mainly represented by herbaceous plants. Their shoots are creeping or straight. Their roots are tuberous, often there are varieties without tubers. The leaves of the arrowhead are linear, lanceolate, resembling an ellipse; they can be green or colored. The flowers of the maranthrope are collected in the inflorescence of the pharynx-shaped form, which is called spiked thirds. They are small, often white in color.
Basically, representatives of this genus - ornamental deciduous plants, which are remarkable for the color of leaves: on their even green background, spots and veins with a bright color are prominent. But the background of the leaves is not always green, it can be almost white, and dark green, and almost black. The shape of leaves can also be different: both oval, and round, and elliptical, and lanceolate.
The leaves of the representatives of the arrowhead can change the direction of the leaf blade. If the conditions are favorable, it is located horizontally, and if there is little lighting or other unpleasant conditions, the leaves fold up, rising upwards. This feature served to the fact that plants began to be called "praying grass". In the people, plants are also called "the ten commandments." One of the varieties of arrowroot on the leaves has ten spots. The English try to have a plant on their windowsill.
Often, selective varieties of maranthus are grown as starch-bearing plants. In this respect, the most famous plant is M. arundinacea. Her rhizomes are processed into flour, which is called the West Indian garbage. This product is used in the diet menu.
According to popular beliefs, the house plant of the arrowroot protects the house, apartment from quarrels and disagreements, it can absorb aggression, relieve insomnia, smooth out nervous overstrain.
Maranthly: care
The plant of the arrowroot is well tolerated by the shadow. They develop well where there is light scattered. In winter conditions are suitable for plants with bright scattered light. At approach of spring and the summer period, the arrowrots should be protected from direct light, because they do not tolerate it. Coloring of leaves and their size depends on how successfully the plant is protected from bright light. If it is very bright, the leaves turn pale and decrease. Excellent arrowroots grow in the light of daylight (fluorescent) lamps. They need light for 16 hours.
Marantha is a plant that loves heat very much. In the summer days, the optimum temperature for him is a level of 24 degrees. It is dangerous to overheat plants. The soil should be warm, its temperature should not decrease even up to 17 degrees. The rest period of the Maranth is the first days of October to the end of February. These days the temperature should be about 20 degrees. Under no circumstances it should not be lower than 10. Maranths are sensitive to temperature changes and drafts, which must be avoided.
Watering the earrings should be abundant, and soft non-cold water. The soil should always be slightly moist. When the arrowroots grow, do not let the ground in the pot dry out. As for the autumn and the winter period, watering at this time is greatly curtailed. If the conditions are cool, then the upper mass of the soil in the pot should dry out. It is necessary to watch to prevent waterlogging of the earth and hypothermia of rhizomes.
For high humidity, high air humidity is good. The whole year it should be periodically sprayed, and the water for this is suitable only filtered or durable. For a plant, it is necessary to select places where the humidity would be maximum. If the air in the room is too dry, then the arrowrock should be sprayed even up to 2 times a day. To increase the level of humidity, you can put a pot of maranthas on wet pebbles or sand. Of course, the pot bottom must not reach the water. From time to time, this plant must be rinsed under the shower, which will help not only to clean the plant of dust, but also to moisten the leaves. When carrying out the procedure, the pot must be wrapped in a bag, so that water does not fall into the ground and does not wash it.
But, even despite all the measures that are being taken to increase humidity, plants often dry leaf tips. It is good to keep the earrings in terrariums, teplichkah and florariums.
You need to feed Maranta. For this, organic fertilizers, and, of course, mineral fertilizers, and, of course, mineral fertilizers, which need to be diluted and brought into the substrate in summer times a couple of weeks, and in winter less often, will do.
This houseplant must be transplanted after a couple of years. The pot should be slightly wider than the one that was. Plastic pots better retain moisture, so preference should be given to them, and they must be low, because the root system of the plant is not large. Also, for shoots to be stronger, you need to cut old leaves. At the bottom must necessarily be drainage. The soil for planting should not be strongly acidic, and the pH should not exceed 6. The land should include leaf, peat, humus (in the same parts). You can add a dry mullein.
If the growers grow in hydroponic culture, then it gives low shoots with large beautiful leaves, then they do not need transplantation and fertilizing for about three years, the same applies to growing on ion-exchange substrates.
Reproduction of the arrowroot is a division, when a large plant is neatly divided into a couple of new ones, but it is necessary to ensure that the root system is not damaged. Plant the plant in the ground with a predominance of peat and watered with cold water. Pots should be placed in a bag of polyethylene, loosely tied and put in heat, where it should stand before rooting and the appearance of leaves.
Propagate the arrowroot and with the help of apical cuttings. In summer or in the last days of spring, cut 2-leaf cuttings and put them in water. Roots will appear, approximately, in a month and a half. Cuttings, which gave roots, must be planted in a substrate with peat.
Difficulties that can arise when growing
- Growth of the arrowrock can be slowed if the room is too dry air. The tips of leaves in this case dry and become brown. They often fall off.
- The stems can start to rot. The reason for this is too cold air and overmoistening of the substrate. This is especially true for winter.
- Leaflets can curl up and become stained due to the fact that there is little moisture.
- Leaflets can wither and become pale if the plant receives direct light.
- The plant can damage the spider mite.