How to change the shade of a hydrangea

Hydrangea is an amazing plant that, under the influence of external factors, can change its original color another. This feature of this shrub is very much appreciated and widely used in horticulture. Anyone can grow a hydrangea on their backyard and experiment with coloring. To do this, it is important to understand how and as a result of which hydrangea changes its colors.

Brief description of the culture

Hydrangea is a representative of the genus of flowering plants, the Hortensia family. Most often it has the shape of a bush, the height of which can be up to three meters, with bright rich greenery and large spherical inflorescences. Blooms from spring to mid-autumn. This plant is remarkable for its ability to change the color of flowers, depending on the influence of environmental factors. Initially, the flowers, most often, have a pinkish tint, but in recent years, cream and greenish tones can also often be found. The color palette changes due to the influence of certain chemical elements and compounds.

Reasons for changing the color scheme of hydrangeas

In order to independently cope with a change in the shade or the entire color gamut of a plant, you need to find out why this can happen. The change in the tone of flowers occurs in the course of a complex chemical process. For example, in varieties with large leaves there is a substance called "delphinidin-3-monoglycoside", which, by reacting with aluminum compounds, leads to the transformation of the petals into blue tones.

Hydrangea can only absorb aluminum as a solution, which dissolves if the pH in the substrate is low. If the indicators turn out to be above the five and a half mark, the substance does not dissolve and becomes unattainable for our shrub. With this information, we can color our plant in different tones by changing the acidity.

Let's analyze this moment in more detail:

If the pH is below the five and a half mark, the hydrangea will turn blue.
If the pH is from five and a half to six and a half, then the shrub becomes purple.
If the pH is from six and a half and above, then the flowers of the plant will change their color to pink and red tones.

In addition to the acidity level, the amount of the aluminum substance itself plays an important role. If there is too little of it, then the flowers will only slightly change their tone, that is, the color will change very slightly. Another important factor for color change is the level of phosphorus compounds. If its amount is excessive and exceeds the required norm, then the color will change very little or not at all. This is due to the fact that phosphorus compounds are converted by aluminum. So before carrying out manipulations to transform the bushes, it is of paramount importance to reduce the level of phosphorus in the ground to the required minimum.

Application of aluminum salts

The sky and blue shade of shrub flowers in the original color is extremely rare, which makes these very colors the most attractive for gardeners. Everyone wants to diversify their beds and hedges with unexpected and beautiful blue flowers, which seem to have left the pages of fairy-tale books. But in order to achieve this effect, you need to do everything right.To begin with, we need to reduce the acidity to an indicator of five and a half, and then compensate for the deficient amount of aluminum.

Different types of irrigation can be used. Here are some options:

Five grams of "aluminum-potassium alum" must be dissolved in a liter of water. In a special container. The above described compound has in itself exactly the form of aluminum that will be most convenient for hydrangea and will be absorbed in the best way; an "acid residue" is also observed in the composition, which will reduce the level of hydrogen.

You can also use fertilizer complexes that already contain potassium compounds and with a minimum phosphorus content. This mixture will definitely transform the colors of the shrub. It is necessary to observe the correct ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, they should be in proportions of ten to five to twenty.

Alternatively, use a top dressing in the form of sulfuric acid potassium. It will form an acidic environment, and in our situation this is one of the most important points, without which the whole venture can fail. We use fifteen grams of the substance per liter of liquid, mix thoroughly and pour the resulting mixture under the roots of the plant. The manipulation must be repeated regularly throughout the growing season.

Another popular way to achieve the desired level of acidity is to use acetic acid, you can also use other types of organic acids, but acetic acid is preferred. If you do not have such substances at hand, then it is allowed to use almost any type of electrolyte, except for the one used in batteries, since it contains elements of heavy metals that will settle in the soil and cause harm.

The water resources that we use for irrigation can often contain an excessively high carbonate content, which makes it more hard and poorly applicable for irrigation. In order to avoid such a situation, you should settle the water for several days before watering, and later mix it with a small amount of lemon juice.

Whichever option you choose to use, you need to be extremely careful. Avoid skin contact with chemicals and plant stems and leaves. And in order to accelerate the absorption of the mixture by the roots of the shrub before the direct operation, the earth around the root system should be shed.

Watering with citric acid

In order to keep the required acidity of the earth at the level you need, which is needed for the correct absorption of elements by the roots of hydrangea, it is necessary to use citric acid. Watering with its use should be started in the spring as soon as the snow has melted and carried out regularly, every one and a half weeks.

To prepare the required solution, we need two tablespoons of citric acid in a standard bucket of water. The mixture must be stirred until the solution is homogeneous. Next, we water it on the basis that a whole bucket must be used for one square meter. Before watering with the prepared mixture, it is necessary to pour the earth with clean, not heavy water.

How to make a blue hydrangea quickly and easily

To begin with, if you want the color of the shrub petals to turn blue or blue, you need to level the acidity of the soil to the required level. If you want to get a more saturated shade of blue, then the acidity of the soil should be at a higher level, so if this indicator in your area is not high enough, you should increase it to the required maximum.

Further, it is necessary to increase the amount of aluminum, for this it is necessary to add one of the following components to the ground around the roots: ground coffee beans, compost mass, spruce needles or aluminum sulfate.

We ask you not to forget that the process of changing the shade or the entire color of flowers is a laborious and time consuming process, in some cases you have to wait for changes up to a year.

If, on the site, there is initially soil with a high alkali content, mixtures with aluminum should be added to it at regular intervals so that the resulting color does not disappear and continues to please the eye. The easiest way in this situation is to use "aluminum sulfate". To do this, in a container with a volume of about five liters, you should dissolve about four tablespoons of the substance described above and spill the root sector. This manipulation should be repeated every twenty days.

However, if the hydrangea occupies a large area on your garden plot, you should use a top dressing with aluminum sulfate in the form of a dry mixture. For this, about half a kilogram is applied for each square meter; later, all shrubs will need to be treated with aluminum-potassium alum twice a year. To do this, forty grams of the substance must be dissolved in ten liters of liquid poured into a separate container and about two buckets of this mixture must be shed on each mature shrub.

How to change the color scheme of hydrangeas from white to pink in an easy way

The land on which our hydrangeas grow must be brought to an acidity level above the six and a half mark. Vegetation at such rates will proceed as it should, but the assimilation of aluminum salts will be impossible. If the soil is too acidic, limestone products should be added to it, which will help to achieve the required level of indicators. However, one should not forget that a large amount of these substances can provoke certain diseases that will be difficult to cope with.
After reaching the required level of all indicators, they should be kept in this state with the help of fertilizer complexes based on nitrogen and phosphorus elements.

How to water hydrangeas to change color, simple ways

Potassium permanganate
This method will help the aluminum to be absorbed much better, this will entail a rapid development of the blue color of the flowers, which will decorate your garden with their fresh tones both in pots and in the landscape composition on the site. In addition, potassium permanganate has a number of properties useful for hydrangeas, including prevention of various fungal diseases, enhances flowering, maintains the hydrogen index in the necessary hydrangea, increases the flexibility and strength of the stems. However, you should not use a concentrated solution of potassium permanganate, as this will lead to the death of flowers, burns of the leaves and roots of the plant itself. The plant can even die if this substance is used incorrectly.

Vinegar
Vinegar acts in a way similar to the effect of citric acid, which means that it is possible in a short time and simply to change the color of the flowering bushes. All that is needed is to dilute one hundred milliliters of acetic acid in a volume of liquid equal to one standard bucket. For each square meter, we need about a dozen of these buckets. These manipulations should begin from the moment the plant revives and until the end of its growing season. Processing should be carried out every fourteen days.

Conclusion

Now that you know what, how and in what proportions it is necessary to water hydrangea bushes in order for a color change to occur, you can transform your garden by adding bright flashes of unexpected heavenly color to it, additionally shading them with irises, lupines or other plants that you like ...