Eustoma (Lisianthus)

Eustoma (Eustoma) belongs to the gentian family. Other names: Lisianthus (translated as "bitter flower"), "Texas bell", "Irish rose", "Japanese rose". The name "eustoma" in translation from Latin means "beautiful mouth" - this is a literal translation, but there is a more literary name - "beautifully speaking". The birthplace of culture is the Mexican territory, the Caribbean, the north of the South American continent, the south of the North American continent.

According to the legend of American Indians, the first time eustoma bloomed on the grave of an innocent girl killed by the spirit of war for not wanting to marry him. In European countries, the appearance of the plant is due to Patrick Brown, a botanist and doctor from Ireland. Among gardeners, lisianthus is very popular and is cultivated for cutting. This is due to the fact that cut flowers can be in the water for quite a long time, within 20 days. It has been cultivated as a houseplant only since the 90s. 20th century.

Briefly

Sowing seeds for seedlings is carried out in late February and early March. Seedlings are transplanted under the open sky three months after the seedlings appear.

Eustoma blooms from the height of the summer season to its end.

Illumination level. Likes to grow in a semi-shaded or shaded area.

The soil should be loose, dry, light, well air and water permeable, in addition, the soil should be neutral.

Watering. You need to water the plant regularly, but in a small amount. Drip irrigation is recommended.

Top dressing. A complex of minerals is systematically introduced into the soil once every couple of weeks.

The flower is propagated by the seed method.

Harmful insects: thrips, whitefly, spider mites, slugs.

Diseases: false gray rot, fusarium, late blight, powdery mildew, root rot, tobacco mosaic virus.

Eustoma description and characteristics

The stem is strong, it grows up to one meter, but the flower looks very beautiful. The stem begins to branch in the middle, so when you cut one branch, you will get a real bunch of up to 35 buds that open in turn. The leaves are dull, bluish or pale gray in color, as if waxy, lanceolate, in the form of an oval. The calyx of the flower is large in depth and large, in the form of a funnel. Flowers of a double structure or simple ones in diameter are 50-80 mm, have a lilac, purple, pink or white color. Moreover, the flowers can be of the same tone or have a bright border. At ½ the opened bud resembles a rose, after full disclosure it looks like a terry poppy.

The wild plant is biennial, but gardeners grow it as an annual. As a perennial, lisianthus is cultivated only at home. On the garden plot, eustoma is cultivated as one-year or two-year.

Eustoma cultivation

Diffuse but bright illumination is required.

It is advisable to grow the flower in humus containing peat and bark (in a 1: 1 ratio).

The culture is propagated only by seeds, since the root system is fragile and does not tolerate division, and the cuttings do not form roots.

Watering is carried out after the soil substrate has dried to a depth of 20 mm.

Transplanting a plant while cultivating it at home is prohibited. Because the flower refers to perennials in this situation only conditionally, because its delicate root system will not tolerate transplantation.

Indoor eustoma blooms more luxuriantly in a cool and ventilated place.

Eustoma landing

To grow this crop at home, you need to spend a fairly large amount of time and effort. However, by mastering this process, you will turn the cultivation of Lisianthus from grains into a business, because over the years it has become more and more popular in the field of floriculture and horticulture.

Problems can arise already during sowing, because the seeds are very small in size (1 gram includes 23,000 pieces). The seeds, which are sold in special stores, are specially processed, due to this, the percentage of their germination increases. Therefore, out of a hundred such seeds, about sixty emerge. For growing plants for the purpose of planting under the open sky, sowing is carried out on February-March days, then in such a situation the flowering of bushes will be on July-August days. The soil substrate for sowing is the same as for other flowering vegetation, or rather, disinfected, having an acid-base balance of 6-7, a reduced content of nitrogenous matter. The container is filled with a moistened soil mixture, the grains must be distributed evenly over the surface layer, we do not sprinkle them with a soil layer, you need to lightly press the seeds with your hand. Next, cover the container on top with glass or polyethylene, and leave the cracks for air circulation. In addition, crops must be additionally illuminated with fluorescent lamps for 10-12 hours a day. For germination of grains, temperature conditions of more than 14 degrees at night and more than 20 degrees during the day are provided. Also, plantings are sprayed, if necessary. In the early days, you do not need to water the plants, since the water that evaporates will be enough for the seeds.

If this procedure is carried out correctly, the appearance of the first seedlings will occur approximately 15 days later, immediately after that the glass is removed, and the seedlings should be regularly sprayed with a solution of the "Fitosporin" preparation. After the formation of several pairs of leaves at the seedlings (after 6 weeks), they are dived into individual containers with a diameter of 40-50 mm. After three months, the plants are transplanted to the garden plot, while they are taken together with an earthen lump.

Eustoma care

Planting.

If you want the eustoma to bloom in the winter season, then the seeds are sown from July to September. A small pot is taken and filled with a moist soil substrate, in its composition it should contain peat and sand. Further, the grains are distributed equally over the surface layer of the soil. The container is covered on top with glass or polyethylene and retracted into heat (temperature regime within 19-22 degrees), and this room should also have good illumination. If necessary, you can spray the plantings, the appearance of the first seedlings is possible in 15-20 days.

How to care for seedlings.

After the formation of the first pair of true leaves in the seedlings, the number of watering is reduced, they are carried out only after the surface soil layer has dried. Watering is done only in the morning, as the water that remains on the leaves at night can develop a disease called black leg. After the formation of two pairs of true leaves at the seedlings, they are dived into separate containers. Plants will bloom on January or February days.

Light level and temperature conditions.

Growing this crop at home is not easy, because it requires ventilated air and diffused bright light. The plant will feel best on the east or west window, while a room is selected in which airing can be carried out regularly to maintain temperature conditions within 19-22 degrees, suitable for lisianthus.

Watering.

Watering is applied in a moderate amount with soft and well-settled water.The soil substrate in the container is moistened after drying out of its surface layer. It is necessary to ensure that the soil clod does not dry out in the container, in addition, it is forbidden for the water to stagnate in the root system. Spraying the leaves is prohibited, because this reason can be the development of various diseases.

Fertilization.

When buds are formed during the growing season, the plant is fed with a solution of a liquid complex mixture (dosage - 10-15 ml / bucket of water).

Flowering period.

Remember to cut off fading flowers in time. If everything is done correctly, then after 90-100 days wait for the eustoma to bloom again.

How to plant a plant in open soil and care for it.

Sowing.

If a decision is made to grow a bush in a garden plot, then sow the seeds in December-January days. Then flowering will be in the June-July days. For this purpose, containers (50 ml) are taken and filled with soil mixture for violet plants. 3-5 seeds are laid out on the surface layer, they are not sprinkled, only slightly pressed into the soil substrate. On top, without fail, containers are covered with polyethylene or glass to create a mini-greenhouse. It is required to raise the glass or film systematically once every 10 days to remove accumulated moisture from them and air the plantings. Best of all, the emergence of seedlings occurs under temperature conditions in the range of 20-25 degrees, while the seedlings should emerge after 15 days.

The first two months, the seedlings must be additionally highlighted. But even with good illumination, seedling growth is still very slow. At the end of February, the plants are transferred to a window with good illumination.

How to care for seedlings.

For the prevention of diseases, seedlings are treated with a solution of the drug "Fundazol" (dosage - 1 teaspoon / 1 liter of water). To accelerate the growth of the bushes, they are treated with solutions of the Epin or Zircon preparations. 4-6 weeks after the shoots have appeared, and with the development of 2 true leaves on them, the plants dive into containers of three to five pieces, and they are planted in the soil mixture at the level of the leaves located below. Then the seedlings are watered and covered with polyethylene on top to create greenhouse conditions. After a week, the bushes should double in size. In late February and early March, the plants are planted in containers with a diameter of 80 mm, the seedlings are rolled over together with the soil clod. Place a drainage layer on the bottom of each container. Then there will be active growth and development of plants.

Planting seedlings.

The grown seedlings are planted under the open sky in the midst of May days, during this time period, repeated frosts in the spring should stop. The site for planting should be well lit, the illumination itself should be diffused, in addition, the place should be protected from a draft. The soil needs to be well drained. Landing is carried out in cloudy weather or in the evening.

In the prepared substrate, pits are dug for planting, without fail spilling water. After absorbing water, the seedling rolls over into the hole, you need to try so that the soil lump does not fall apart. Eustoma grows in the open air in the form of a bush, therefore, when planting, the interval between seedlings should be 10-15 cm.In the first 15-20 days, the bushes should be covered with plastic bottles (cut them in advance) or glass cans, watering during this period is not carried out ... Remember that lisianthus can be damaged by both a lack of water and stagnant liquid in the root system.

Description of flowering.

After the formation of 6-8 leaves on the shoot, its top is pinched, then the bush will delight you with its splendor. A month after planting, after complete survival of the eustoma, it is fed with a solution of minerals. In this situation, the drug "Plantafol" is used.

In June days, lisianthus is treated with a solution of the "Plantafol growth" drug, because it contains a large amount of nitrogen, in July-August, the "Plantafol budding" drug is used. In addition to these funds, you can feed the flower with a solution of "Kemira", fertilizer is applied by the root method. Do not forget that the concentration level of the solutions should be slightly lower than on the manufacturer's packaging.

The flowering period depends on when the seeds were sown. If sowing was carried out in late November or early December, then flowering will be observed from July 1-15 (spring weather conditions also affect). Bushes that have grown from seeds sown in January 15th usually bloom in August days. The plant blooms without interruption until the very October days, after the wilting of some flowers, the disclosure of others occurs. Eustoma is not afraid of early cold snaps, only when the temperature conditions decrease to -10 degrees, and when it snows, it stops blooming. If the culture has finished blooming very early, all the wilted flowers are cut off, it is possible that after 1.5 months the bushes will bloom again.

Diseases and harmful insects.

Lisianthus can be attacked by slugs, spider mites, aphids and whiteflies. You can destroy these enemies with "Fitoverm", "Confidor", "Aktara" or "Aktellik".

Diseases: fusarium, powdery mildew, gray rot. For prophylaxis, plants are treated with a solution of the preparations "Fundazol" or "Ridomil Gold".

How to care for a crop after flowering.

After flowering room eustoma, the stems are shortened to 2-3 internodes, the bush is removed and stored in a room with temperature conditions of 10-15 degrees. Watering at the dormant stage is carried out in a small volume and rarely, the plants are not fed at all. When young shoots appear in the spring, the soil mixture is replaced with a fresh one. Again, they begin to water regularly, the care is resumed, identical to the previous one.

For a longer flowering of the garden eustoma, it is dug up and, together with the garden soil, is planted in a container, which is placed on a balcony or window. Leaving is carried out as usual, and then the lisianthus will delight you with its flowering for some more time. But in the future, flowering will end anyway. Then you should remove all wilted flowers, when the leaves turn yellow, the stems are shortened to two or three internodes, the bush is removed to a well-ventilated place, watering is applied more poorly. In this place, the plant will stay until the spring season.

Varieties of culture

Although there are about 60 varieties of eustoma in the wild, only the Eustoma Russelianus variety is grown at home, only the Large-flowered eustoma (Eustoma Grandiflorum) is grown outdoors. Some gardeners say that these flowers belong to the same variety.

All varieties and varieties are divided by application. There is a plant of low stature (up to 0.46 m in height) and strong vigor. Moreover, high-growth varieties are most of all cultivated in the open air for cutting, and low-height varieties are often grown on a balcony or in a room.

Garden lisianthus of high growth for cutting.

"Aurora". The bush grows up to 90-120 cm, the flowers are terry, white, pink, blue or light blue. Flowering of this variety occurs 15-20 days earlier than others.

"Echo". The stems are sprawling, grow up to 70 cm, the flowers are large, they can be colored in different colors (11 colors), while you can find eustoma of two tones and one. Blooms early.

"Heidi". The bush stretches up to 90 cm, the flowering is lush, the flowers are simple. There are 15 color options for flowers.

Flamenco. The bush reaches a height of 90-120 cm, the stem is strong, decorated with simple flowers of large size (grow up to 80 mm in diameter) of different tones. The variety is unpretentious.

Indoor varieties of low stature.

"Mermaid".The bush grows up to 12-15 cm, decorated with simple flowers, growing up to about 60 mm in diameter. The coloration is blue, purple, white or pink. The eustoma branches, therefore, there is no need to pinch it.

LittleBell. The plant grows up to 15 cm, the flowers are small, simple, funnel-shaped, their color is different. No pinching is required.

"Loyalty". The bush stretches up to about 20 cm. The peduncle bears a large number of simple, small flowers arranged in a spiral, their color is white.

Florida Pink. The flowers are simple, pink in color. Thanks to them, an even bouquet is formed on the bush.