Cestrum

 
цеструм

Nightshade family. The birthplace of the tropics and subtropics of Central and South America, Mexico. There are about 150 species of evergreen deciduous shrubs and small trees in nature.

  • The graceful Cestrum elegans cestrum is an evergreen shrub, up to 1.5 m tall, with drooping, hairy shoots. Leaves are lanceolate or oval, pubescent on the underside. Flowers are collected in racemose or umbrella inflorescences. The corolla of the flower is red, funnel-shaped or tubular, up to 2.5 cm long. It blooms between April and September, quite abundantly.
  • Cestrum golden yellow Cestrum aurantiacum shrub, up to 1.5 m in height. The leaves are ovoid or oval, with a wavy surface. Flowers are collected in racemose inflorescences. The corolla of the flower is orange-yellow, funnel-shaped or tubular, up to 2 cm long. Flowers are fragrant, the aroma of flowers is especially enhanced by night.
  • The nocturnal Cestrum nocturnum is a shrub, about 1.5 m tall. The leaves are ovoid or oval, with a slightly wavy surface. Flowers are collected in racemose inflorescences. The corolla of the flower is white, funnel-shaped or tubular, up to 2.5 cm long. Flowers open up by night, from which this species got its name.
  • The tufted Cestrum fasciculatum is a shrub, up to 2 m tall. The leaves are ovoid or oval, about 10-12 cm long. Flowers are collected in corymbose apical inflorescences. The corolla of the flower is red, funnel-shaped or tubular, about 3-4 cm long.
  • Cestrum nocturnum is a shrub up to 4 meters tall. The leaves are simple, narrow, lanceolate, 6-20 cm long and 2-4.5 cm wide, smooth, shiny. The flowers are greenish-white, with a thin tubular corolla 2-2.5 cm long, with five sharp lobes, 10-13 mm in diameter, open by night, extremely fragrant, sweet aroma. The fruit is an oblong berry 10 mm long, dark purple. This species has a variety with yellowish flowers.

Cestrum - care and cultivation

Temperature: moderate in summer, do not like nightshade heat and stuffy rarely ventilated rooms, the optimal temperature for growth is within 18-26 ° C. In winter, cestrum is kept in cool conditions at about 12-14 ° C, at least + 10 ° C, this is necessary so that the plants do not stretch, do not grind the leaves.

Lighting: Cestrum is photophilous, but in summer it can get burns from direct sunlight. In summer, it grows well in bright diffused light. If the plant is dark, then there are not many leaves on it, it blooms poorly. In central Russia in winter, the sun is not at all aggressive and you can put a pot of the plant on the south window from October to March without shading.

цеструм

Watering: plentiful to moderate in summer, after drying out the top layer of the ground (about half the depth of the pot). During the period of growth inside the pot, the ground should be slightly wet all the time, but not too damp. In winter, watering is very moderate, depending on the temperature, in a week or more, after the soil in the upper half of the pot dries.

Fertilizer: from May to September Cestrum is fed with special liquid fertilizers for flowering indoor plants, every week. Preferably, the fertilizer has an equal NPK ratio, such as 10-10-10 or 1:1:1.

Air humidity: Cestrum loves humidity of at least 50%, so it needs periodic spraying. In winter, when kept in a heated room, you need to cover the batteries with a screen or wet towels.

Transplant: annually in February-March. Soil - 2 part of sod, 1 part of humus, 1 part of sheet earth, 1 part of fine gravel (2-3 mm) or vermiculite. Good drainage at the bottom of the pot, even if it is clay about 1-2 cm. After heavy watering, be sure to loosen the top layer of soil. If a salt deposit has formed on the surface of the earth, you need to remove the top 2 cm of soil with a scoop and add fresh soil. Cestrum naturally grows on light sandy soils with acidity close to neutral (6.5-7.5). But at home, soil latching can lead to impaired absorption of some nutrients and leaf chlorosis, so try to keep the acidity of the soil no higher than 6.3-6.5.

Breeding: Cuttings and seeds in early spring. Cuttings are quite easily rooted in water, roots appear within a month. Seeds are sown in a mixture of peat and vermiculite, lightly sprinkled with earth. The optimum temperature for seed germination is 25-26 ° C. Usually 6 weeks are enough before the emergence, which immediately need to be put in a very bright place or under the lamp. From the lack of light, the cestrum seedlings are very weak, thin and not viable.

   

By the way

Cestrums are prized for their very fragrant, fragrant flowers. But among them there are also invasive species that grow like a weed, clogging the surrounding vegetation. After flowering, the cestrum can form fruits - rounded, about 1.5 cm in diameter. Interestingly, the fruits are collected in clusters resembling grape.

Growing problems

Cestrum leaves turn yellow in winter, although watering is sufficient if the air is too dry. Periodically spray the plant, making sure that water does not fall on flowers and buds. Use only soft water for spraying.

The leaves of the cestrum pale, there are few flowers or flowering is not long - a lack of nutrients. The plant grows very quickly, the root system is strong, so you need an annual transplant and feeding. After transplantation, the cestrum can be fed after 3 weeks. Use fertilizers for ornamental flowering plants at the dose recommended by the manufacturer, but nothing more. If the fertilizer is diluted with water twice as much as recommended, then top dressing can be carried out weekly.

If brown spots appear on the leaves, there may be several reasons. It can be sunburn if the plant has been in direct sunlight for several hours in summer. Spots can be a consequence of excessive watering or a consequence of overfilling of an earthen coma.

Spots appear, and then the leaves turn black in winter if the plant is in a cool room, and the soil is too wet. Try to water the cestrum in winter according to the principle "it is better more often than less often, but more."

The cestrum needs a lot of sun to bloom, at least 6 hours a day, but it is too hot on the south or southwest side during midday hours.

Features of care

Two important points in the care of Centrum: uniform watering, without going to extremes - drying or swampiness of the soil. In this regard, cestrum is similar to myrtle, leaves dry and turn yellow from drying, roots rot from waterlogging.

The second point is the periodic pruning of shoots. If the plant is not pruned, the stems grow long enough, but branch little. The cestrum blooms on the young shoots of the current year, so you need to trim and pinch it in the spring. Cestrums are vigorous plants and grow quite quickly.