Crossandra: care and reproduction at home

HomeCrossandraCrossandra: care and reproduction at home

In room culture, varieties and hybrids are grown that are compact, abundant and long flowering, and, unlike natural species, are less demanding on temperature and water conditions. For modern varieties of crossandra, home care is quite accessible even to a beginner, however, the tropical nature of the flower determines a number of features that must be considered when breeding it.

Features of caring for room crossandra

Optimal for a flower is bright diffused lighting without open sun. It develops best on windows of western and eastern orientation, in the south the plant can be placed in winter, in summer it must be shaded here to prevent sunburn. Crossandra can also grow on northern windows, but it will not bloom profusely without additional lighting.

It is customary to keep the culture in a room all year round, from spring to autumn maintaining a constant temperature in the range from 22 to 27 ° C. In the middle lane in winter, with a lack of lighting, they provide a period of rest, for which the temperature is gradually reduced to 18 ° C. It must be remembered that the flower does not tolerate sudden changes in temperature and drafts, it can react to them by dropping foliage.

When watering the crossandra, both overdrying of the earthy coma and waterlogging it should not be allowed. Water should be soft, settled, slightly warm or at room temperature, avoid getting it on leaves and flowers, be sure to drain excess moisture from the pan. It is watered weekly in summer and spring, in winter, during the dormant period – once every 10-14 days, but in any case, the surface layer of soil between waterings should have time to dry out. When growing crossandra, you need to remember that you can try to save a plant that has suffered from a lack of moisture, and waterlogging of the roots inevitably causes the death of a flower. It is especially dangerous in the cold season.

A prerequisite for the successful development of this tropical crop is high humidity. If it is excessively dry, which is typical for enclosed spaces in winter, the tips of the leaves of the flower turn yellow and dry out, the leaves may curl and fall off. Increasing the humidity is achieved in all possible ways: placing the pot near the aquarium, on a pallet with wet pebbles, using various humidifiers. In the heat, it is recommended to spray the plants, while the water should not fall on the delicate flowers, which can easily crumble. An increase in humidity is facilitated by placing a flower surrounded by other indoor plants.

Crossandra has a long, abundant flowering, which requires regular top dressing. For these purposes, any complex fertilizers for flowering plants are used, which are added to the water for irrigation once a week. If the flower is provided with a dormant period, it is not fed at this time.

Care features include the need for regular pruning. To form a lush crown, young plants are recommended to be pinched regularly, after flowering, shorten all shoots by one third. If the bush is kept with a dormant period, then in February, before the start of active growth, it is recommended to shorten the stems by half. The apical cuttings remaining after pruning can be successfully used for propagation.

To increase the duration of flowering, wilted flowers must be removed. After all the flowers in the spike inflorescence have withered and fallen off, the flower stalk should be cut off above the topmost pair of leaves.

Transplantation and reproduction of crossandra

Young specimens are recommended to be transplanted annually, adults – once every 2-3 years. This is usually done in February-March, using any well-drained nutrient soil mixture, for example, a substrate of equal parts peat and clay with the addition of sand or perlite. Good drainage is a prerequisite. The crossander transplant is well tolerated, but over time it stretches a lot and loses its decorative effect, so it is better not to replant the old bushes, but to remove them, replacing them with young ones. Note that the culture develops well in hydroponics .

For propagation of crossander in room conditions, stem and apical cuttings are usually used, which are cut during the flowering period in spring and summer. For these purposes, shoots remaining after the February pruning are also suitable. The length of the cuttings should be from 8 to 10 cm, they easily take root in water or substrate at a temperature of about 20-22 degrees C. In 2-3 weeks, the shoots placed in water form roots, after which the seedlings are placed in a pot with a substrate and close the mini – a greenhouse, or a plastic bag. Shelter is removed after the appearance of young leaves, the plant is gradually accustomed to the open air. When rooting directly in the ground, the sections are pre-treated with phytohormones.

In indoor floriculture , growing crossandra from seeds is rarely used, since most modern varieties are hybrids and reproduce only vegetatively. Seeds are best planted freshly harvested, with long-term storage, their germination time increases significantly. They are sown in March under glass, kept until germination at 16-18 degrees C.

In conclusion, we note that the beauty of the flower and its unpretentiousness in culture contribute to the intensification of work on the creation of new varieties. More and more popular among flower growers is the recently bred Fortuna crossandra hybrid, the care of which has become even easier, and the decorative qualities are even higher. Thanks to a strong and hardy root system, this bright orange cultivar tolerates temperature fluctuations better, can withstand temperatures down to 10-12 degrees C, it blooms longer and more abundantly, and also has a longer lifespan.

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Wednesday, November 8, 2023