Plumeria - Plumeria

Plumeria: flower description

Home Plumeria: flower photo

The genus Plumeria (Plumeria) is included in the Kutrovy family. This genus includes about sixty-five different plant varieties. The French botanist Charles Plumer, who lived in the sixteenth century, was quite popular, so the plant is named after him. The wild-growing culture is found in the northern part of the South American continent.

The genus of plumeria is represented by trees and shrubs. In indoor conditions, vegetation is cultivated because of the beautiful flowers, painted in light pink, white or yellow colors. The culture blooms for quite a long time, almost all summer. The flowers are very large in size, up to ten cm in cross section.

In the middle lane, plumeria is rarely cultivated, for this reason it is not so often found in special flower shops. If you keep a flower indoors, then it can grow up to two meters high. The plant grows best in greenhouses.

Plumeria: growing from seeds and care at home

Home Plumeria: flower photo

Illumination level.

The Plumeria flower loves light. It can be placed on the southern windowsill, since the duration of daylight hours must be observed six hours a day, it must be illuminated by the direct sun, otherwise it will not bloom. It is also allowed to grow this crop on the east or west windowsill. A window with a north orientation is not suitable for cultivation, because due to a lack of illumination, the bush will definitely not bloom. In the spring and summer season, the flower is transferred to outdoor conditions. But it is forbidden to put it on the hell created by the sun's rays, you need to accustom, and gradually, to bright light. Another plant is required in protection from drafts and from rainy periods. Only purchased plumeria does not need to be placed in direct sunlight, because the leaves can get burned.

Temperature conditions.

Indoor Plumeria is a plant that loves warmth very much. From the very height of spring to the end of summer, temperature conditions should be from twenty-five to thirty degrees. In autumn, the temperature regime decreases slightly; in winter, make sure that the temperature does not drop below sixteen degrees.

Watering.

In spring and summer, when growing this crop in room conditions, watering is carried out immediately after the surface soil layer dries out. For this purpose, compulsorily settled and non-hard water is used. In winter, watering is not done so often, but it is worth making sure that the soil does not dry out. Excess moisture damages plumeria. Therefore, in cloudy summer weather and in the cold winter season, watering is done with caution.

Moisture index.

When the Plumeria flower is actively growing, it is regularly sprayed with soft and well-settled water during the day. To increase the air humidity, pebbles or expanded clay are poured into the pallet, then water is poured into it. But make sure that the bottom of the container does not come into contact with the water in the pan. When you spray the bush, the liquid should not get on the flowers.

Top dressing.

After the plumeria began to actively grow, in the spring it is fed once every fourteen days. You can feed it with a complex of elements for flowering vegetation. If a flower is rearranged in outdoor conditions in the summer, then it is fertilized in turn at the root and on the leaves.Spraying the leaves is carried out on both sides in the evening with a ready-made solution. For this purpose, the volume of liquid in which the required dosage of feeding is dissolved is doubled. Plumeria is sprayed once every seven to ten days. In autumn, fertilizing is rarely applied; in winter, fertilization is stopped.

Rest stage.

When growing plumeria at home, it will retire in winter. The duration of the resting stage is three to six weeks, everything here depends on the variety. At the dormant stage, old foliage falls off. After the end of this period, the active growth of young leaves and flowers begins.

Transfer.

Plants are transplanted in the first days of spring. In the younger years, the procedure is performed every year, the adult plumeria is transplanted once every two years. The container for plumeria is selected slightly larger in size than the previous one (by two to three cm). If there is none, then the root system is cut by about five cm. Fresh substrate is poured at the bottom of the container, below it is a drainage layer. To create a suitable soil mixture, peat, sod and humus soil and sand are combined in a proportional ratio of 1: 2: 1: 1. Do not forget about laying a good drainage layer on the bottom of the container. For this purpose, the pot is 1/5 filled with broken brick and expanded clay, you can also use eggshells.

Plumeria: reproduction

Sowing is carried out in small containers measuring six cm in diameter. After the seedlings have a well-developed root system, they are transplanted by transferring them into containers nine cm in diameter. The soil mixture is suitable for the one used for transplanting. Typically, a seed-grown plant is clearly different from the parent plumeria. The flowering of this bush begins in two to three years.

Cuttings.

Reproduction of plumeria by cuttings is carried out in late winter or early spring. Cuttings are cut at an oblique angle. After that, the sections are moistened in water, and then in a solution of the drug to stimulate root growth. For planting the cutting, 1/3 of the container is filled with soil mixture, 1/3 with perlite, then the soil substrate is poured again. When planting, the stalk is set straight, the cut must be immersed in perlite without fail. In order for the cutting to successfully root, temperature conditions are required in the range of twenty-five to twenty-eight degrees. In order to maintain such an increased temperature regime, it is recommended to make a bottom heating. Good illumination is necessary, if required, you can additionally illuminate the plant using fluorescent lamps. Watering is done carefully. If the cuttings are rooted successfully, then young leaves will appear. This can usually happen in eight to twelve weeks. Irrigations are gradually being applied in larger and larger volumes. Further, the plant rolls over into a large pot, you need to care for it like an adult plumeria. It usually begins to bloom in a year, but it can be earlier.

Precaution. Plumeria sap contains poison. If it gets on the skin or mucous membranes, it will cause irritation. In this situation, the affected area is urgently washed well with a large volume of running water.

Varieties of culture

Home Plumeria: flower photo

Plumeria "White" (Plumeria alba).

This vegetation is found wild in the Antilles. These trees can grow up to ten meters high. Leaves are linear. The inner surface is covered with dense whitish hairs. The edges of the leaves are slightly raised. The leaves stretch approximately thirty cm in length and seven cm in breadth. The flowers are fragrant, small, two and a half cm in cross section, their color is white, and they also have a yellowish middle.

Plumeria "Red" (Plumeria rubra).

This plumeria grows wild in Mexican or Venezuelan territory. The leaves fall from the trees, the plants themselves are five meters in height. The leaves are in the form of an egg, they grow up to fifty cm in length, and up to fifteen cm in breadth. There are flowers, the inner surface of the leaves of which can be smooth, and can also be pubescent. Usually the tops of the leaves are blunt, but you can also find sharp ones. The flowers are collected in tassels at the top of the stems, reaching five cm in cross-section. Different varieties of plumeria can have flowers painted in different colors, for example, white, yellow, pink, red, lilac. Different varieties of plumeria may differ in the type of leaves.