Tropical plants, when grown at home, have specific requirements for the conditions of growth and reproduction, taking into account the peculiarities of their growth in nature. Dieffenbachia is no exception, caring for it has a number of distinctive features, without which it is impossible to get a healthy and attractive flower.
Dieffenbachia care at home: watering and lighting
The place to place dieffenbachia is chosen so as to provide bright lighting without direct sun. In winter, it can grow well in partial shade, away from the window, subject to additional illumination. It is good to place a flower near a window covered with a tulle curtain.
A distinctive feature of the culture is its thermophilicity, the temperature for growing dieffenbachia should not be lower than 18 ° C, in summer it is 18-24 ° C, maximum – up to 30 ° C. In winter, the plant can briefly tolerate a decrease to 10-12 ° C, but this will certainly affect its appearance, causing yellowing of the lower leaves. Optimally for the winter period – 17 ° C, with minimal differences during the day and night. You can not place a flower near heating appliances. Dieffenbachia loves fresh air , in the summer it can be on an open balcony or loggia, if it is possible to provide it with shade and the absence of drafts. The culture does not tolerate the latter, it immediately reacts to them by yellowing and falling leaves, so even for the time of airing it is better to take the flower out of the room.
When watering Dieffenbachia, certain rules must also be observed. This tropical culture is moisture-loving, but does not tolerate waterlogging, which causes root rot, especially at low temperatures. The earth ball should be moderately moist, but not wet, watering is done with warm, settled water only after the topsoil has dried.
Decorative dieffenbachia in the photo
Like any fast-growing flower, the culture needs regular top dressing, during the period of active growth from May to August they are carried out every 10-14 days, in winter and autumn – once a month or less. As a fertilizer for Dieffenbachia, a weak solution of a complex flower fertilizer is used; fertilizing with nitrogen-containing organic matter is also useful. With a lack of nutrients, the plant sheds the lower leaves and exposes the trunk, and also loses its color brightness.
For the successful cultivation of dieffenbachia, home care must necessarily include measures to increase the humidity of the environment. Due to the large surface of the leaf plates, the flower suffers greatly from dry air. The optimal humidity at which the plant feels good is at least 60-70%. Obviously, it is impossible to create such a microclimate in an apartment with central heating, so daily spraying is used to increase humidity, it is also useful to wipe the leaves with a damp cloth or sponge once every 2 weeks. For these procedures, warm boiled water is used, hard tap water causes plaque to appear on the sheets and lose their decorative effect. When spraying, it is necessary to pay attention to the absence of drafts and air temperature, otherwise, instead of benefit, you can harm the delicate flower. Even at +18 ° C, it is better to replace spraying with wiping.
The culture develops and grows all year round, requires a constant temperature in summer and winter, however, according to experts in growing Dieffenbachia indoor flowers, caring for them in winter should provide the plants with a dormant period. At this time, watering and fertilizing are limited, due to which it is possible to avoid the appearance of small leaves due to insufficient lighting.
It should be noted that for the stem and bush Dieffenbachian care is almost the same, it differs mainly only in the volume and regularity of pruning, which will be discussed in detail below.
Pruning bush dieffenbachia
Regular pruning is an important event that is mandatory when growing a flower, but for certain species and varieties of dieffenbachia , this type of care is significantly different.
Dieffenbachia, the photos of which are given below, represent bush and stem forms, they clearly show that the first variety, in order to preserve decorativeness, needs to remove only damaged and dried leaves, while stem Dieffenbachia needs to limit growth by trimming or pinching the top. This species quickly loses its attractiveness, because, stretching out, sheds the lower leaves and exposes the trunk, therefore, once every 3-4 years, it is radically pruned, leaving a stump of no more than 10 cm, from which young shoots will develop. Cut tops and parts of the stem root easily.
You can cut a flower at any time of the year, while in order not to harm yourself or the plant, you need to follow a number of rules:
- It must be borne in mind that all parts of dieffenbachia are poisonous , so it is better to pre-wet the place of damage to the leaf with a soft cloth, removing the toxic juice that has come out.
- For work, you need to use gloves, after its completion, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
- To prevent diseases during pruning, a sharp knife or blade, previously disinfected with alcohol, is used; for disinfection, sections are treated with crushed coal.
Planting dieffenbachia (transplanting indoor flowers) and how to plant dieffenbachia
For planting Dieffenbachia, a slightly acidic soil of loose and light consistency is used, the recommended composition is sand, peat, turf and leaf soil in a ratio of 1: 1: 1: 4, or sand, peat, leaf soil, humus in a ratio of 1: 2: 2: 2 . For large, more than 1 m, specimens, the share of the earth can be increased by making the substrate heavier. Commercially available ready-made peat soils are not suitable for growing a flower, as they are too water-intensive, and can lead to root rot. A mandatory requirement is the presence of a hole for draining excess water and good drainage with a layer of at least 5 cm, in which brick chips and charcoal can be added.
The pot should not be too large, chosen “for growth”, because with abundant watering in such a container, the roots can rot. It is better, as the root system grows, to transplant Dieffenbachia several times into a larger flowerpot, especially since the plant tolerates this procedure well.
It is better to transplant a flower in the spring, once every 1-2 years, after the root system fills the entire space of the flowerpot, which is indicated by the yellowing of the lower leaves with the normal growth of the upper ones.
For planting use larger pots. The plant is carefully taken out together with an earthen clod, the root system is examined.
If it is healthy, the old soil is not shaken off, but the plant is simply placed in a new pot, sprinkling fresh soil on the drainage layer and on the sides. The trunk is slightly deepened, which stimulates the development of new roots. In the presence of damage and rot , the old earth is removed, the rotten parts are cut off, the cut is sprinkled with crushed coal, then planted in new soil. When planting, the earth should not be wet; when waterlogged, damaged roots can be affected by rot. After transplantation, for better survival, a rooting agent (root, etc.) can be added to the water for irrigation. For large plants that are difficult to transplant, only the topsoil can be replaced.
Dieffenbachia propagation and how to root it
Dieffenbachia reproduces both by seed and vegetatively. In indoor floriculture, the second method is most often used, namely the rooting of apical stem cuttings, root suckers and pieces of the trunk, since it is difficult to propagate dieffenbachia with seeds at home. It rarely blooms, female and male flowers are spaced at different ends of the cob and require manual pollination, so the process of obtaining viable seeds is only available to an experienced grower.
Unlike seed propagation, cuttings do not cause any particular difficulties. It is carried out at any time of the year, most often using apical stem cuttings. To do this, cut off the top of the plant with a length of 15-18 cm with several nodes with a sharp knife, treat the cut with powder from charcoal or activated charcoal, and dry it for a day. Then the cuttings are placed in the soil, consisting of equal parts of peat and river sand. Since dieffenbachia can be rooted only at high temperature and air humidity, the cutting is covered with a jar or polyethylene, placed in a bright, warm room without direct sunlight at a temperature of 25-27 ° C, periodically ventilated, sprayed and rubbed leaves. Water regularly, but carefully, excessive moisture can cause the cuttings to rot. To speed up the process, you can treat the cut with root when planting, and also add it to the water for irrigation. When young leaves appear, the plants are planted in a suitable flowerpot.
Cuttings can be rooted in water, in which case they are planted in the ground after roots 2-3 cm long are formed.
In a similar way, pieces of the stem without leaves are rooted, which are cut into a length of 15-20 cm. The sections are also pollinated with coal powder, the cuttings are laid on the ground in a horizontal position, deepening to half the thickness. Rooting can take a long time, up to 10 months.
Often, flower growers have a question about how to plant dieffenbachia in a bush form if it has grown too much. In this case, the bush can be carefully divided into several parts, trying to injure the root system as little as possible, placed in separate pots and further rooted, following the recommendations above.