Gatzania at home: growing in a pot as a houseplant

Adorable garden flower gazania is rarely grown at home. Compact bushes of African chamomile usually decorate flower beds and borders. It pleases with abundant flowering until frost. The plant comes from Africa, so it does not hibernate in temperate climates. Not all gardeners know that gazania grows well in an apartment, on a loggia.

Can gazania be grown as a houseplant?

African chamomile decorates the garden. She is planted in flower beds, in the foreground of the rock garden, along the paths. The plant has a powerful root system, compact, low (25-30 cm) aerial part. Narrow carved leaves are assembled into a rosette.

During flowering, which lasts all summer, gazania throws out tall, straight peduncles, on which single buds are formed. The shape of the flowers resembles a chamomile. The color of the baskets is very bright, diameter is 5-9 cm.

In the garden, the culture is grown as an annual. Where in winter the temperature is not lower than +10 ° C - as a perennial. You can keep African chamomile in an apartment. In the summer, take the pot out to the balcony, loggia, terrace.

Heat-loving plant grows well at room temperature. With proper agricultural technology, it blooms profusely (15-20 baskets per season) and for a long time. At home in Africa, wild gazania blooms all year round.

Cultivation specifics

This is a thermophilic culture. For growth, development, abundant flowering, she needs sunlight. Gatsania is a special flower, in which the baskets fully open at noon, when the sun shines on them.By evening, the petals close. Given this love of light, they choose a suitable place in the apartment.

Choosing a place for gazing

South and southwest windows will do. The plant needs a long daylight hours (15 hours) and 6 hours of direct sunlight. Buds do not open on cloudy days. They also close at night.

When grown in an apartment, the flower is illuminated, phytolamps with a blue spectrum are used. In summer, the temperature in the room is maintained at + 20-28 ° C. In winter, the flower must prepare for the new growing season, so they create conditions for rest. For several months they are transferred to a room where the temperature is kept at + 10-16 ° C.

Capacity for planting

The flower has a tap root system. The main root is long, it is impossible to bend it when planting (transplanting), therefore, high pots with a diameter of 40 cm are chosen. The bottom should have several drainage holes. A layer of expanded clay is necessarily poured into the container.

Soilmix

The quality of the soil affects the decorative properties of the plant, its lifespan. Gazania roots feel comfortable in a light substrate. It should conduct air and moisture well. Growth stops in heavy clay soil. The soil mixture for the flower is prepared on the basis of ordinary garden soil:

• take 2 parts of fertile soil;
• sift 1 part of humus;
• add 1 part of coarse river sand;
• add hydrogel.

All components of the substrate are well mixed. Hydrogel is an important ingredient. It helps to maintain a constant level of soil moisture. This is very important for gazing. It equally poorly tolerates strong waterlogging and prolonged drying of an earthen coma.

Store-bought soil mixtures are suitable for growing gazania. On the packaging of the soil there should be a note that the substrate is intended for cacti and succulents:

• Peter Peat Hobby;
• "Cactus";
• bio soil from the company "Ecoflora" with the addition of sapropel;
• Fasco cactus soil.

How to plant correctly?

A large selection of hybrid and varietal gazania seeds is on sale. The colors are very different. For seedlings, seeds are sown in February and early March. 3-month-old seedlings are planted in the ground. They dive into a container for home growing at any time. You can buy gazania in the nursery. They offer seedlings in containers.

Sowing

When grown in seedlings, gazania blooms 3-4 months after germination. When buying seeds, be sure to look at the dates. Germination lasts only 2 years. Sowing gatzania is easy. Her seeds are quite large.

The landing algorithm is simple:

• take 0.5L tall cups;
• drainage is poured at the bottom (fine expanded clay), almost to the top filled with a substrate for cacti;
• the soil is poured with warm water, 1-2 seeds are placed in each cup, they are lightly pressed down, the entire surface is sprayed with water from a spray bottle;
• the container is covered with cling film, transferred to a warm, bright place.

Seedlings growing without picks bloom faster. She quickly adapts to a new place. But many flower growers prefer to sow African chamomile seeds in a common box.

The container is taken high, with sides of 15-20 cm. Before planting, the seeds of gazania are not soaked. They are laid out dry on the surface of the soil in 2-3 cm increments. Be sure to press the seeds shallowly or sprinkle them with a thin layer of sand.

The box is tightly covered with foil. Keep in a warm place until sprouts appear. Shoots appear quickly. After 10 days, they are seated in separate cups. Gazan picking tolerates well.

How to plant a purchased sprout

Gazania seedlings are sold in cassettes. Plant height 15-20 cm, root system diameter 7 cm. To decorate the loggia, apartments choose beautiful planters. A layer of expanded clay is poured at the bottom. Get soil for cacti. Fill a container ⅓ of the height with it, water it.

Carefully take out the gazania seedling from the cassette, place it in a pot. Make sure that the central root is not bent. Pour the soil, compact and water it. The root neck of the flower is not deepened. It should be 3 cm below the edge of the pot. Then there will be enough space for watering.

Care instructions

Flower growers who grow gazania note its unpretentiousness, drought resistance. It does not require special skills to maintain it. It is enough to know the characteristics of a flower and love it.

Water and fertilize plants

Gatsania does not need frequent watering.With systematic waterlogging of the earthy coma, the roots begin to rot, it stops growing. The soil is moistened no more than 1 time per week. For control, check whether the top layer is dry (3-4 cm). Spraying of leaves is not carried out. They are not needed.

Approximately 2-3 times a week, potted gazelle is watered with a low concentration flower fertilizer. When preparing a working solution, the dose indicated in the instructions is reduced by 2 times. Nitrogen-containing fertilizers are not carried away. Excess nitrogen prevents abundant flowering.

Caring for soil in a pot

The topsoil is being renewed. Remove a layer of 1-2 cm and pour a new one. When the root fills the entire volume of the pot, the flower is transplanted. Choose a deeper container. Its height should be a third higher than the old pots.

Transplantation is carried out according to the usual scheme:

• drainage layer;
• substrate - ⅓ of the height of the planter;
• transshipment of a flower together with an earthy clod;
• sprinkling soil, watering.

Gazan Trim

The bush throws out up to 15 peduncles per season. Stimulate their formation by pruning old flowers. They live 2 weeks. In late autumn, all old flower stalks are removed from the plant under the root.

Diseases and pests of the flower

On gazania bushes growing at home, mealybugs, spider mites, and aphids can parasitize. Due to insects, the flower loses its decorative effect. Destroy pests with insecticides:

• Aktellik;
• "Akarin";
• Oberon.

With poor agricultural practices, irregular, abundant watering, gazania can suffer from gray rot. Its symptom is a dusty coating on the buds, the underside of the leaves. Treat a diseased flower with fungicides:

• Gamair;
• "Quick";
• Alirin-B.

Reproduction of gazania

Most often, gazania is propagated by seeds. A good time for planting seedlings is at the end of winter - the beginning of spring (February, March). Practice vegetative propagation methods:

• dividing the bush;
• cutting.

For the purpose of reproduction, gazania bushes are transplanted into a container for the winter, the aerial part is cut off. Contain a flower in a cool (10 ° C) room, rarely watered. With the onset of spring, the air temperature is raised to + 20-25 ° C, watered, fertilized. Start breeding:

• divide the bush into rosettes, root them in separate pots, plant them in the garden when warm weather sets in;
• cuttings are cut from side shoots 10 cm or more long, rooted.

Shoots are cut with a heel, use a sharp scalpel. The bottom sheet is removed, the cut is dipped in the powder of the root formation stimulator ("Kornevin"). Cuttings are planted in pots with a diameter of 9 cm.

For rooting create comfortable conditions. Cover with a transparent film cut off by a plastic bottle. Provide diffused lighting, favorable temperature. After 5 weeks, a small bush is formed from each cutting, which can be transplanted into a garden or a beautiful planter.

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