Afelandra - care at home, features of flower maintenance and reproduction

The beautiful house plant of the afelandra affects a thick, saturated greenery and an unusual leaf pattern. Blooming in early autumn, when most domestic crops have already blossomed, it throws out yellow, red or coral inflorescences of spicate form. For the opportunity to admire your beauty, an exotic flower requires careful treatment and does not tolerate close proximity to other representatives of the flora. Care for horseradish at home is quite a difficult task, if you do not comply with the norms of illumination or watering, it can quickly wither, discard leaves and even die.

Description of the plant

The homeland of the afelanders is Central America, so it is not surprising that the plant always needs a lot of light and moisture. Growing at home, the flower lives no more than three years and reaches a height of 50 cm.

Florists appreciate the afelandra for beautiful, juxtaposed leaves. On the bright green background of the rigid sheet plate, along the central and lateral veins, light strips are formed, forming an intricate ornament. Some species have faint spots between the streaks, which make the flower even more decorative.

In early autumn, the plant throws flowers of yellow, golden or pink, forming a spicate inflorescence with bracts of a quadrangular shape. Attractive exotic ears, reaching a height of 20 cm, pleases the eye for 6-8 weeks.

More than 200 species of this plant grow in nature, but only a few species survive at home, one of which is the protruding aphelanda. The flower is very fastidious, but if it provides the right daily care, it is incredibly decorative and grows fast.

Varieties of the plant

There are several varieties of this houseplant - they differ slightly in the color of the leaves and flowers, but equally require careful care.

• Aphelandra aurantiaca( orange) - has oblong ovate leaves, reaching a length of 25 cm, and inflorescences of bright orange color.
• Aphelandra squarrosa( scoarossa) - differs pale veins on leaf plates and light yellow inflorescences.
• Aphelandra tetragona( combed) - it surprises with large inflorescences of red color in the form of crests and saturated green color of foliage.
• Aphelandra sinclairiana( Panamanian) - can have flowers of pink, orange and even lilac.

In nature, the plant grows in the form of shrubs or tall grass and blooms in the summer. Home afelandra blooms depending on the created conditions.

How to care for the aphelandro

Each indoor plant requires certain conditions of growth, lightness and humidity, and soil composition. Is not an exception and aphelandra - caring for her at home is a rather laborious process.

Light and heat

For a southern plant, heat is very important. Many indoor flowers easily tolerate a drop in air temperature in the winter to + 16 ° C, but not an afelandra. For the growth and flowering of this culture, a temperature of at least + 22 ° C is needed.

In addition to heat, the flower can not do without good lighting, so the best place to plant a pot with a plant is considered to be windows facing west or east. If the aphelandra is placed on the window sill facing the south, the plant will have enough sun and heat, but it will be necessary to constantly take care of the protection of the foliage from the harmful effects of direct ultraviolet rays.

Special attention should be paid to the neighborhood of other domestic plants.

Important!

Afelandra does not tolerate the neighborhood with other flowers, so the pot with this plant is best placed separately.

Watering

Care for afelandro includes regular watering. The ground in the pot should always be slightly moist, and for watering it is better to use warm soft water, for example, rain water or boiled water. Do not water the plant with cold water from the tap, as this can turn into big trouble for him.

In addition, the flower requires spraying and humidifying the air. In a dry summer, when the air in the room becomes warm and dry, you can put the pot in a tray with pebbles filled with water.

Transplant and top dressing

For soil growth and development, a soil with a neutral or weak acidity balance is well suited. The mixture can be purchased at a specialized store or prepared with your own hands, mixing turf ground, humus, peat and sand in equal proportions. The soil should be light and loose, it is good to let in air and not to retain moisture. When planting, drainage should be provided.

Important!

The plant needs to be transplanted every spring, as it grows very quickly and loses its decorativeness. This is another difficulty of care for aphelandra.

The flower intensively increases the green mass, so you should constantly enrich the soil with nutrients. Top dressing is carried out at least twice a month and uses universal fertilizers for flowering indoor plants.

Reproduction of the aphelandra

There are several ways to reproduce this exotic flower, but in any case, in order for the process to succeed, heat( from +22 to + 25 ° C) and high humidity. How to grow an afelandra, I understood the author of the site mschistota.ru.

• Seeds.

Seeds used for propagation of the afhelandra are harvested in early March and are immediately planted in a soil mixture prepared from turf and sand. To speed up the process, the pot with the seeds should be thoroughly poured, placed in a plastic bag and put in a warm place, on a battery or floors with heating. After the boring appears, they are dived into individual pots. Flowering can be expected already in the year of planting.

• Cuttings.

It's very easy to breed the aphelandra with cuttings cut in January or May. For cutting, take one-year shoots and trim the tops so that a 15 cm long stalk with two sheets is obtained. The future planting material is placed in a previously prepared soil substrate, watered and covered with polyethylene. Usually for rooting cuttings enough 15-20 days, during which you need to regularly roll back the polyethylene protection and ventilate the planting. After the cuttings take root, they are planted on a permanent place in the pots.

• Foliage.

The technology of plant reproduction with a leaf exactly coincides with the rules of growing cuttings, only in the role of planting material is a leaf cut with an axillary bud from a healthy shoot.

Important!

When planting aphyllaries with leaves, do not take planting material from flowering shoots.

Pruning after flowering

Buying this exotic houseplant, not all growers know how to care for the afelandra after flowering, and are very upset when the entire appearance of the flower begins to change along with the withering of the inflorescences.

The fact is that during flowering all the forces of the plant go to the formation of inflorescences. After this work is done and the flowers have faded, the green mass begins to increase. At the same time, the lower leaves fall off, the stems become bare and lengthen. If you do not urgently take the necessary measures, the flower will quickly turn into an untidy bush, as it is in nature.

Regular and correct pruning will help to cope with this problem. Experts advise to trim the aphelanders early in the spring, removing two-thirds of the main trunk and leaving only a few buds in the lower part of the plant for future growth. This procedure will save the compactness of the flower and increase the number of inflorescences.

In addition to cardinal pruning to give the desired shape the flower will help pinch the growing shoots.

Common Problems

There are a number of problems that are the same for all varieties of this capricious plant. Caring for the aphelandra, we must carefully monitor the condition and color of the leaves, so as not to miss the moment of disease and the death of the flower.

1. Leaves fall. The Afelandra, growing to a certain height, resets the lower leaves. This is quite natural and is due to the peculiarities of vegetation of a domestic plant, which in the past grew in a wild environment. After all, the aphelander, growing in the forests of America among the high dense grass, as soon as it starts to rise above the neighbors, also sheds the lower leaves. Pruning will return the plant to its previous appearance.

Another thing is when the leaves fall down at any time of the year, regardless of the flowering period. In this case, the cause should be sought in uncomfortable environmental conditions: air dryness, low temperature, too bright sunlight. To fix the situation, you must transfer the flower to a ventilated place, water and sprinkle.

1. The flower is fading. If the plant is in a draft for a long time, then the leaves become weak, they begin to dry at the ends and gradually fade. This can lead to the death of the whole plant, so the afelandro needs to be urgently moved to a protected place.
2. Does not bloom. Often, flower growers notice that the beloved plant suddenly lost its attractive decorative appearance, new leaves appear small and not so bright, flowering is short or absent altogether. This is due to a lack of nutrients. It is necessary to feed the flower with useful microelements, and in especially neglected cases, cut off and transplanted into a new soil.
3. Stains on the leaves. Brown spots on the leaves of the aphelanders indicate a too bright illumination of the room and an excess of direct sunlight. If there is no possibility to rearrange the plant in another place, it must be pritenit.
4. Rotten the base of the stem. When the flower is in a damp and cold place for a long time, it will begin to rot. The plant should be urgently moved to a warm place and not watered until the soil dries, and the flower does not recover.
5. Brown leaf color. In addition to all the conditions listed above, the afelandra will not be able to grow and bloom in a gassy or smoky environment. This whimsical representative of the flora needs fresh air, otherwise the leaves from the green will turn into dark brown.

Knowing with what changes in appearance the flower signals its poor state, it will be possible in time to provide the pet with the feasible help and save it from withering.

The exotic home plant of the afelandra with proper care will long please with bright inflorescences of unusual form and decorative foliage, calming the nervous system, creating a great mood and filling life with harmony and beauty.

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