Violet primer

Each senpolist has his own secrets of compiling soil.

In the literature on violets, the same is found in different proportions of components. But by trial and error, everyone selects the composition of the substrate acceptable to him. And this is correct, because everyone has their own varietal preferences, their own capabilities, their own conditions of detention, therefore, the composition of the soil should be different.

But the basic principles are still unchanged .

Soil requirements:

• ease
• moisture capacity
• air permeability
• sufficient content of phosphorus and potassium, as well as the necessary trace elements
• nitrogen content in sufficient quantity, but not in excess
• acidity close to normal pH 5.5-6.5
• the presence of a living and favorable microflora that helps fight painful bacteria
• absence of pests and their larvae

How to make violet soil

Most of the earth mixtures available for sale are not suitable for breeding senpoli and other gesnerium. But based on some of them, you can prepare a suitable substrate.

The main disadvantages of purchased mixtures:

• high acidity
• presence of components poorly tolerated by violets
• lack or excess of macro and trace elements, etc.

In addition, almost all purchased soils are poorly mixed at the manufacturer's enterprise. As a result, the numbers on the packages showing the contents of N, P and K do not correspond to the truth. In one package there may be too many main elements, in another - little.

It is not possible to find out the chemical composition of soil at home. Sometimes the manufacturer does not comply with the technology or storage conditions of the raw materials. If the package is not hermetically closed, then when buying, moldy fragments can be found in it, and there was a case when adults, fat trips flew out of the opened package!

As the basis for a violet group, I advise you to use Terra Vita universal soil, manufactured by Fart CJSC. Add to it per 5 liters of soil:

• deoxidizer (dolomite flour or finely ground egg shells, in the extreme - fluff lime)
• baking powder, clean river sand - 1 cup
• vermiculite 1-2 cups (to increase moisture capacity and hygroscopicity)
• charcoal small pieces half a glass
• superphosphate 1 tbsp. spoon
• sphagnum moss finely cut, about two handfuls

Universal soils "GREEN WORLD," manufactured in Germany-Estonia, can also be used as a basis; "Violet," production Kaliningrad.

The amount of additives to the base soil is approximately. For senpoli of different ages, different varieties, different proportions are needed.

So the soil for rooting leaves should contain more baking powder. To transplant old violets, you do not need to put a deoxidizer, because gradually the acidity of the soil drops, when watered with hard water, it even snaps. When transplanted or transferred to an acidic substrate, the excess acid itself is neutralized.

If possible, you can collect land from under limes or birches as a good basis for the earthen mixture. It is located in the pits between the roots of these trees, under a layer of semi-rotted last year's leaves.

Garden land from areas where strawberries grow well is also suitable. In rural areas, suitable land can be found in places where nettles usually grow violently. The land is always harvested in the spring, when the snow falls, and the land has not yet warmed up. Peat, horse-drawn, coarse fiber, having a brown color, is added to the leaf humus. The ratio of humus and peat can be different and 2:1 and 1:1. The remaining components are added the same as for purchased soils.

To increase nutrition, you can add well-rotted manure humus - 1/10 part of the total volume. Heat treatment of the soil is needed to destroy pests, except for nematodes, whose eggs are able to survive at temperatures of more than 1000S.

Also, by heating or freezing, it is impossible to destroy the spores of some fungi and many pathogenic bacteria, and even more so viruses. At high temperatures, the soil structure deteriorates, so it is advisable to heat to the border just below the 1000S.

This is possible when steaming. You can heat wet soil in the microwave to the desired temperature by placing it in a closed dense plastic bag.

Do not bring it to the point that an unpleasant smell appears. It is necessary to heat not the finished substrate, but those components that may contain eggs and pest larvae.

The composed earth mixture must be mixed very carefully. The substrate can be used 7 days after preparation. Store so that the earth does not dry out at the same time, so that there is air access.

The author of the article Rusinova T.A.

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