Cyclamen is a beautiful indoor flower that strikes with graceful, delicate buds. In nature, there are more than 15 species of this plant.
Basically, they are all wild-growing, only two species are grown as indoor plants: European cyclamen, spring-summer blooms, Persian cyclamen - blooms in winter. Consider how to properly conduct agrotechnika plants to flower bloomed.
Ways to breed a flower at home
Cyclamen breeds in many ways. But you need to choose the best one based on the type of plant. So:
- Tuber division - option for both types of plants, but you need to take only adult cultures.
- Sowing seeds - can be used for the cultivation of any kind, even ivy.
- Rosettes - this method is applicable only for the European species, since the shoots of the Persian cyclamen do not take root well.
- Tubers daughters - A great option for breeding a European flower, only in this species small children appear around the main tuber. When transplanting, they are separated without effort and placed in a separate pot.
Important: some flower growers mistakenly think that cyclamen can be propagated by leaves. But, unfortunately, this is impossible, since such cuttings do not give roots, they stand for a long time, then they simply dry up.
All methods of reproduction of cyclamen, we discussed in detail in this material.
How to collect seed?
Many people choose the easiest way to grow cyclamen - buy seeds in the store. But if the house already has a flowering plant, then you can collect seeds from it.
The flower will not have seeds until it passes the pollination procedure.. Cyclamen itself can not do this, so you need to start collecting pollen, then arm yourself with a brush and make cross-pollination. This is a creative process, because if you take two plants of different colors for pollination, you get a new, attractive hybrid, with original colors.
The period of natural flowering of cyclamen from December to February, at this time and spend pollination. This process is best done on a sunny morning. Pollen can be collected by tapping gently on a flower, pollen will start to pour out of it, which should be placed on the pistil of a neighboring plant.
You can also use a brush to collect pollen and spread on the middle of another flower.. For complete confidence, this should be done at least 5-7 times. If pollination was successful, the flowering process quickly stops, and a small, round box forms in the place of a flower, in which small, round, light brown seeds ripen. The box can not be removed from the plant, the seeds will ripen from 90 to 140 days. The plant at this time should provide a comfortable temperature - during the day +20, at night +12 degrees.
What to expect from homemade cyclamen seeds? Such seeds for a long time do not lose the ability to germinate together - 3 years. It is worth noting an interesting fact that if you let the seeds lie for a year and a half, the plant from these seeds will bloom much faster.
Features of growing
To grow cyclamen from seeds at home, you need to know some features of this process.:
- Shoots will appear in about 30 days, but only if the air temperature during germination is +15 degrees. If this figure is exceeded by several degrees, the seeds can wake up to three months.
- When using several types of plant seeds, you can create a luxurious flower garden from healthy plants on your windowsill.
- It is possible to sow seeds throughout the year, but for better growth of the crop it is better to adhere to the biological rhythms of the plant, and to sow in the spring or late summer.
- Cyclamen from seeds is best grown in a dark room.
Preparing for sowing
The flower loves light and nutritious soil. It can be found in the store, there is sold the soil mixture for this particular culture. But if there is none, you can buy soil for the Saintpaulia.
But if you prefer to do everything yourself, you can prepare the soil by mixing equal proportions:
- sod land;
- sheet soil;
- humus;
- sand.
Once the ground has been prepared, you can proceed to the preparation of seed material.otherwise they will wake up very long:
- Soak the seeds for 18 hours in any growth promoter, for this you can apply - Etamon, Zircon, Epi-extra. The drug is sold in flower shops, and it should be diluted strictly according to the instructions.
- Sometimes the seeds are soaked in manganese-acid potassium - the solution must be weak, or just in warm water. Seeds are soaked for 14 hours.
- If you plan to breed cyclamen, then at the stage of seed preparation, divide them into several groups and apply different processing methods. Subsequently, you can choose the best option for yourself.
Choosing a pot correctly
The development and flowering of cyclamen directly depends on the chosen pot in which the plant will grow. The pot should be washed small, relative to the tuber itself, that is, there should be no more than 3 cm between the walls of the pot and the bulb. Cyclamen is capable of flowering only in very close conditions.
Soil requirements
The soil must meet the requirements of the plant - light, nourishing, loose. Often it is bought in the store, as in the conditions of the city it is difficult to prepare the soil mixture by yourself.
Landing: step by step instructions
- For planting seeds, it is better to use an opaque container in which the soil is poured with a layer of 5-6 cm and compacted well. Then spread out on the surface of the seed at a distance of 2 cm from each other, and sprinkled with a centimeter layer of peat and sand, mixed in equal quantities and water well.
- Capacity cover with the same opaque lid or black film to create a greenhouse effect. For quick germination, the seeds are placed in a room with an air temperature of no more than +15 degrees, while the room should be dark.
- Seeds germinate for a very long time, the first shoots can be seen only in a month. This is due to the fact that at first a root appears from a seed, on which a tuber begins to form. And only then loops of violet-pink color begin to appear from it.
- When germinating, sometimes there is a difficulty - the plant can not unfold the first leaf, because of the peel of the seed, which it is not able to fold. This usually comes from a lack of moisture, so it is advisable to keep a close eye on this.
- If this problem worries you a lot, then you can help the plant uncover the first leaf - put a soaked cotton pad on the sprout and after 2 hours, carefully remove the seed with tweezers.
We recommend to watch the video about planting cyclamen seeds:
Plant Care
Cyclamen is a very capricious flower that requires a certain temperature, humidity and lighting. Therefore, if you are not ready to regularly and carefully take care of the plant, then it is better not to plant this flower at home, it will die.
The first thing that the plant developed well, giving healthy leaves and flowers, it should be placed on the "right" sill, which should be bright and sunny. Do not forget that Cyclamen is very light-requiring. But in this case there is one nuance that is often difficult to accomplish, especially in summer. Cyclamen loves light and cool. The best temperature for a plant is + 6-13 degrees. Maximum - +17 degrees.
For a good flowering room in which cyclamens grow, you need to constantly air. At the same time make sure that there are no drafts - they are destructive for the plant.
Watering greatly affects the growth and development of the plant:
- During flowering, the crop is watered abundantly and it is monitored to ensure that the earth does not dry out, but the flower does not tolerate stagnant water. At this time, spend spraying 3 times a day.
- As soon as the plant fades, watering is reduced, but not by much, in any case, the earth should not dry out.
- Water the plant with watered water at room temperature.
We recommend to watch the video about the proper care for cyclamen:
Moisturize young shoots
The soil in which young Cyclamen seedlings grow is moistened daily with a spray bottle.. You can buy a small cure with a strainer at the end.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that Cyclamen is very picky about leaving, it can often be found on the windowsills of apartments. The beauty of the flowers of this plant fully compensates for the difficulty in agricultural technology. It is worth noting that if you have a desire to grow Cyclamen, it is better to make it out of seeds, since the flower purchased in the store may not suffer a sudden change of environment and die.
