Kochia - the diamond of your garden

Few gardeners imagine what this plant actually looks like. But many have seen live or even a photo of the culture from which the panicles are made. Pleasing to the eye, Kohia carries endless spaces for imagination. After all, it is already a prepared tool for the transformation of any personal plot. In your sensitive hands as a gardener - only the correct planting and future due care of the dwarf shrub. This is what will be discussed in our article.

Briefly about kohija

Cochia is an annual or perennial shrub from the amaranth family. The crown is rounded. It can grow up to one hundred centimeters in height. The colors of foliage and stems are varied.

Kohia: the main rules for planting

Growing this shrub is quite interesting. He prefers a fairly lit area, but if there is no opportunity to provide such a place, then the plant will be able to adapt to partial shade conditions. The main point is that the daytime rays of the sun fall on the bush. Otherwise, if the bush is completely devoid of light, it can simply be ruined. In its natural habitat, this culture grows in semi-desert areas. This should also be taken into account.

The right time to disembark kohija

Many gardeners recommend taking a closer look at the next period - from the beginning to mid-spring, and planting it in open ground at the end of the spring season. This time period gives the right to attribute Kokhia to crops, the planting of which begins in early spring.

This shrub is a rather unpretentious culture, especially with regard to the soil, since it can take root even in depleted, not rich soil, but it can die in waterlogged and acidified soil.

Under the right conditions, the growth of an adult plant reaches one hundred centimeters.

In an open area and without neighbors, the freedom-loving bush will grow much more actively. Since the large area itself gives it a good opportunity to build up a green lush mass. Otherwise, it will bloom ahead of time and lose its decorative properties. This nuance confirms the idea that Cochia is not a plant for home cultivation.

How to properly care for bushes

During the vegetative period of growth, the plant needs regular care, namely: loosening, weeding, watering the soil and feeding with universal mineral complex fertilizers. The feeding itself is introduced on the tenth day after planting the culture in an open area, and then after thirty days.

The main feature of watering a plant is that it must be done at a time when there is no rainfall. In order to avoid the flowering period at a time when the bush is less decorative. Kohia is fed with nitrogen fertilizers, as a rule, at the end of the process of forming a lush crown and active development. If the plant is limited to food and watering, then it will fade, and the leaves will go down and look bad. And the soil with a lot of trace elements, macronutrients and nutrients will help the bushes to be especially lush.

How to prune and shape the crown of a kohija

Based on the fact that this culture tolerates pruning well, then there is actually one problem.How to trim it to form a beautiful and lush crown? After all, this bush, you can lay absolutely any kind and shape, because it will hold on for a long time.

At the moment, shearing and pruning of various shrubs and dwarf shrubs is very widely used in landscape design. Including create a variety of geometric elements and shapes.

Of the tools, in addition to the hydrocutter, we need ropes and small boards.

One of the lightest geometric elements is considered to be a cube. To create a green cube using a Cochia with sides of one hundred centimeters, you will need about five plants. They are planted in the corners with a distance of eighty centimeters, and the fifth bush must be planted exactly in the center. After the area, you need to outline the boundaries along which the future frame will be built.

At the beginning, there is a trial trimming: you need to leave some margin over the frame building of two centimeters. You need to start trimming from the top area and leave on the side parts. After a more thorough check of the preliminary version, they proceed to the final version of the crown formation.

She recommends pruning the shrub every fourteen days to keep it in shape.

Kohia in the form of "Ball"

Initially, this type of haircut is done by eye. For novice gardeners, it is recommended to first cut the Kohia in the shape of a cube, and only then truncate and give it the shape of a ball, sphere. Already after stuffed hands in these forms, it will be much easier to cut bushes in the form of animals, boulders, and so on.

Formation in the form of a column or a cylinder

To create them, it is necessary that Kohia grows in a sufficiently illuminated area. Before a haircut, slats are set around the entire perimeter of the culture - which will be the main frame. Periodically, in the process of pruning a bush, it is necessary to look at the bush from the side and evaluate the process, cleaning up the flaws.

It is also important that the position of the planks is strictly vertical when clipping.

Cochia in the shape of a "cone"

To cut a bush in this shape, a circle is drawn around Kokhia and a rack frame fixed on top is placed along its contours. At the time of trimming, you need to systematically move from the top to the bottom.

Cochia in the form of "spiral"

One of the most time-consuming forms of haircuts, which must be carried out gradually, in two stages. First, you need to give an ideal cone-shaped shape, and tie a bright rope to the lower part of the central stem and wrap it along the trunk to the very top.

It is important to clearly maintain the inclined angle and the distance between the turns. Then you need to fix the rope at the tip and cut the spiral shape along the rope with a pruner. Then, with trellis scissors, form rounded turns.

How can you propagate the Kokhia dwarf shrub

Absolutely every variety of this shrub is propagated at the beginning by seeds, they must be sown at the beginning of the spring period. The ideal temperature for sowing them is eighteen to twenty degrees Celsius. Based on this, the seeds must be planted from the beginning in a greenhouse, and only later transferred to an open area.

This is important, as the nighttime low temperature can destroy the culture.

At the time of collecting germinated seeds, it is important to loosen the grooves one centimeter wide, but with a distance of thirty centimeters. So in the beginning the seedling needs a lot of sunlight. At the same time, there is no need for deep digging in them - it is only important to lightly sprinkle them with soil and water abundantly, otherwise the leaves will simply fade.

When the seedlings have already reached seven centimeters in growth, it is important to dive them correctly. A pick is needed so that the root system develops, and the central trunk, as well as the stems, are strengthened. When the first leaves appear, the seedlings must be planted in separate containers.

It is important when picking seedlings, to dig them out together with an earthen clod, without damaging the young roots.And also take care of the seedlings, after transplanting and until the end of the spring season, until its height reaches twenty centimeters.

Kokhia's place in landscape design and favorable neighborhood

In landscape design, this shrub provides you with an endless field of thought. Using this plant, you can create: a hedge, a decorative flower bed, a green border, a decorative slide, a rose garden. Also goes well with lavender. All designers skillfully use the chameleon of kochia - in summer it is a green background, and in autumn it is red and yellow. In floristry, twigs of this shrub are woven into bouquets and dilute various compositions with them.

Where and how else can you use a dwarf shrub

Cochia is a valuable spherical shrub. It is magnificent both in splendid isolation, and on a decorative flower bed, in a group lawn planting, on a decorative slide, in a rose garden, and so on.

It would be a good idea to plant Kohia near large stones, or create trimmed compositions, as well as a green hedge.

In everyday life, various brooms have been woven from kokhia for a long time, therefore it is also called "broom" grass.

In the medical field, namely homeopathy, kochia helps to treat a variety of skin diseases, edema and rheumatism. A decoction of cochia helps in toning the body. It also has a diuretic, cardiac stimulating, diaphoretic and laxative effect.

In Asian medicine, gels and ointments based on it are produced. They also treat skin diseases, and the fresh foliage of the bush is used in cooking and when feeding cattle.

Potential diseases and insect pests

The most dangerous enemy for this plant is the spider mite. It sucks nutritious juices from the foliage of the crop, which is why the leaves turn yellow, dry and fall off. You can find out about the presence of a small cobweb on the back of the sheet. When traces appear, the bush should be treated with insecticidal preparations.

Conclusion

So, dear gardeners, based on our article, we can conclude that the cultivation of kochia does not require hyper efforts, and its stamina and unpretentiousness make caring for it a sheer pleasure.