Tips for growing this impressive plant will begin with caution. Dieffenbachia - a beautiful plant, but this beauty is treacherous. The fact is that diffenbachia is a poisonous plant. If juice of this plant gets into the mucous membrane and on the skin, irritation or even swelling may start. Therefore, it should be placed in such a place that it is not reached by small children and animals. When caring for diffenbachia, one should use household gloves. And after work, wash with soap and hands.
They appreciate the diffenbahia as a decorative evergreen plant with large leaves, often with a motley color. This indoor plant grows rapidly, reaching a height of two meters. Cultivate it is not easy. It is difficult to constantly maintain a high temperature in a residential building, which diffenbachia needs. In addition, it will have to provide increased soil and air humidity. But, despite the increased demand for cultivation, for 150 years now diffenbahia has been used to decorate the interior in most countries of the world.
Cultivation of dienenbachia
The cultivation of dienenbachia must be approached responsibly. The place for it is chosen with lighting parameters from very bright to semi-dark. But it is desirable to shade from direct sunlight. Water the plant abundantly, but you should not allow stagnation in the water pan. Dieffenbachia does not tolerate lime, so the water for sprinkling and watering should be taken for 1-2 days. The temperature of the water must not be lower than room temperature. A more effective means of softening water is the addition of oxalic acid. In the room, air humidity is about 50 percent, and when central heating radiators work, it is even lower. This humidity is not suitable for diffenbachia. It is sprayed, the leaves are wiped with a soft damp cloth, but this increases the moisture for a short time. Therefore, plants put on pallets with wet moss, sand, peat. Or, between the plants, large containers of water are placed.
If the diffenbachia is located in the depth of the room, where the sun's rays do not penetrate, then the plant is additionally refreshed. It is good to diffuse a diffenbahia in the summer to open air. In winter, the minimum room temperature should not be below eighteen degrees. The higher throughout the year the temperature, the faster the diffenbachia grows, the larger its leaves.
In spring and summer every 10 days, dienenbachia is fed with mineral or organic fertilizers that do not contain lime (calcium nitrate can not). In autumn and winter, this fertilizing is done once a month. The forms of diffenbachia with motley leaves without sufficient illumination and when a large amount of nitrogen is introduced into the soil turn green. Therefore, such specimens are not fed with organic fertilizers, and the doses of mineral fertilizers are reduced by half.
Update
Overgrowing, diffenbachia becomes ugly. The stem bends under the weight of the huge leaves and can even break. And the lower part of the stem loses the leaves. Then the plants are renewed, rooting the top with a couple of healthy leaves. To do this, for 5-10 centimeters away from the sheet, cut with a sharp knife (carefully not to burn) around the stem skin - to a height of one and a half centimeters. The cut is wrapped with wet sphagnum moss, and on top with a film that is tied to the stem above and below. Periodically monitor the moisture of the moss, when drying, wet it with water. About a month later, you will see the roots inside the plastic bag. After that, the strapping is removed. The resulting batch is cut off, the cut is rubbed with activated carbon and planted in the ground. On the uterine plant, the cut is also rubbed with coal, and soon the sleeping buds will wake up. Of these, lateral shoots will develop.
Reproduction of diffenbachia by cuttings
Councils for dienenbachia continue reproduction. Propagate the diffenbachia by stem, apical cuttings, which can be rooted in sand, water, in sphagnum, or in a mixture of peat and sand (1: 1). The cuttings are slightly dried, then the activated charcoal is crushed into the cut so that it does not rot. Cuttings are often sprayed and wiped with leaves, protected from direct sun rays. The substrate temperature should be maintained at least 21-23 degrees. The container must be covered with a plastic film or glass. Then they need to be removed every day for 1-2 hours for ventilation.
To establish the cuttings of the diffenbachia in the moss, take a small tray, fill it with sphagnum. Pour water to moss soaked, excess water is drained. The prepared stem is lowered in the moss obliquely. A tray with a handle is also covered with a film, which is periodically removed for airing.
If the stalk is rooted in water, then it is transplanted into the pot when the roots grow to 2-3 cm. If rooted in sand or moss, cuttings should preferably be fertilized with a weak solution of mineral fertilizers (1/4 part of the prescribed dose). When the rootlets grow well, the cuttings together with the substrate lump must be transplanted into pots.
Diffenbachia transplantation
In spring, if necessary, the diffenbahia is transplanted into a mixture of leaf land, humus, peat and sand (3: 1: 1). For the looseness of the soil, sphagnum is added. The new pot should be slightly larger than the previous one. The stem of the plant during transplantation is slightly deepened, additional roots will grow from the buried part.
As you can see, there are not very many tips for cultivating diendenbachia. But for a qualitative result, one must adhere to all the recommendations.