Cordylina

 
КордилинаCordylina apical cultivar 'Red Edge'

Asparagus family. There is still confusion with the cordyline family, but it's time to calm down - according to official sources - The Plant List - a catalog (list) of all known plant species, cordyline belongs to asparagus (asparagus).

Cordylines are evergreen shrubs and trees with spreading crowns. About 15 species are common in the culture. In their homeland, these are mainly very large plants, reaching a height of several meters. At home, cordylines grow slowly and live with proper care for a very long time, as long as there is enough space and light. Large specimens are planted in tubs and placed in a bright place by the window. The tulle curtain protects the plant from direct sunlight, and if you put the cordilina in the back of the room, it will lack light, then the old plants especially lose the old lower leaves and the plant looks naked. On sale, you can often find cordylina in the form of a rooted piece of stem.

Cordylina southern or Australian Cordyliny australis is a tree that has saber-shaped green leathery leaves, up to 1 m long and 2-5 cm wide. There are varieties with red or yellow stripes along the leaf. Homeland South Zealand. This large cordylina with a spreading crown is more suitable for growing in greenhouses: it requires a lot of space, light and cool wintering.

Cordylina apical Cordyliny terminalis is a tree that has a weakly branched weakly expressed or not branched trunk. The leaves are oblong, tapered at the end, about 50-80 cm long and 5-10 cm wide. There are forms with green leaves and crimson stripes on them, as well as with brown, yellow and red stripes. Homeland India, Malaysia, Polynesia, Australia. This type of cordylina requires more intense lighting and is more capricious in care, in winter it requires warm maintenance.

Cordylina undivided Cordyliny indivisa is a tree that has a non-branched trunk. The leaves are lanceolate, tapering to the base, often with a reddish border, and below a bluish tint, 60-100 cm long and 10-12 cm wide. The central vein on the leaf is orange or red. Homeland New Zealand.

Cordylina straight Cordyliny stricta - a tree whose stem from the bottom is covered with the remains of dead lower leaves. Leaves up to 60 cm long, lanceolate or linear, tapering towards the end and with serrations or roughness along the edge. There are forms with bronze-purple leaves. Homeland Australia.

Cordylines are often confused with dracens in appearance. To distinguish them, you will have to get the plant out of the pot. In cordylina, the roots are white on the section and have swellings or pineal growths, and in dracaenas, the roots are even and smooth in color from orange and yellow to light brown.

Cordylina care

КордилинаCordylina apical cultivar 'Tango'

Temperature

In summer, normal, moderate. Cordylines do not tolerate heat above 28-30 ° C. They grow well on open terraces and in the garden. In winter, most cordylins prefer cool overwintering at a temperature of 8-10 ° C, but there are also heat-loving species (apical cordylina) that winter well at 20-22 ° C.

Lighting

A bright place, partial shade, does not tolerate direct sunlight. Many consider cordylina, like dracena, a shade-loving plant, but in fact, in a dark place, it will lag behind in growth and grind. Good growth and development requires intense light. Variegated forms require more illumination than forms with green leaves. If there is enough light in summer, then in winter cordylines should be rearranged closer to the window, since in winter there is usually not enough lighting.

Watering

In summer, plentiful, moderate in winter, but all taking into account the temperature indoors (the cooler the rarer). Cordylines do not tolerate stagnation of water in the pot, otherwise the plants drop their leaves and easily rot. But also these plants do not tolerate drying of an earthen coma. Cordylines are suitable for hydroponic cultivation.

Fertilizer

During the growth period, from April to August, every two weeks, cordylines are fed with special complex fertilizers for indoor plants. You can use "Rainbow," "Ideal," "Ispolin," etc.

Air humidity

Cordylines require regular spraying of leaves. While the plant is small, it can be placed on a tray of water. Periodically give the plant a warm shower to wash off the dust and refresh the plant, while covering the ground from getting wet. Dry brown leaf tips often become cordylina when kept in winter in rooms with central heating. If the air in the room is very dry, then even spraying does not save the cordylina, the leaves gradually dry. In this case, the only way out is an air humidifier.

Flight connections

In the spring every two years. Cordylina soil is a mixture of turf and leafy land, rotted manure or greenhouse land with the addition of sand. When transplanting a plant, add pieces of birch coals to the fresh soil mixture in addition to sand.

Cordylines respond well to periodic loosening of the upper layer of the earth in pots in spring and summer. This improves soil aeration. If in a pot the ground on the surface is covered with a white crust - these are deposits of salts from water and soil, then this land must be removed and replaced with fresh.

Reproduction

Cordylines are propagated by apical cuttings (possibly using heteroauxin and heating the soil), pieces of trunk, not less than 10 cm long, air extraction and root offspring. If you cut off the top of the cordylina, it can be put in a jar of water, adding a few pieces of charcoal there, after three months roots will appear and the plant is planted in a pot.

Growing problems

In most cases, cordylines are grown in apartments in winter at high temperatures, although for many of them a temperature of about 8-10 ° C is optimal for them. In this case, they often suffer from a lack of light and dry air, which manifests itself, first of all, at the drying tips of the leaves, pulling the shoots and the general oppression of the plant.

  • Brown spots on leaves - can be a sign of both insufficient and excessive watering (check the soil to the touch).
  • The leaves are twisted, soft with brown edges - the temperature is too low, it may be warm during the day, and at night the temperature drops below normal.
  • Yellowing of leaves - with dry air, lack of nutrients in the soil.
  • The lower leaves turn yellow - it is typical for cordylina to lose the lower leaves, while the upper part of the plant remains leafy. You can only rejuvenate the plant by cutting off and rooted the top. You can also plant younger plants in a pot to the old cordyline, in the group they will look more spectacular.
  • Light dry spots on the leaves - too intense lighting or sunburn. Cordylina needs shade from direct sunlight.

Tick on Cordilina

Spider mite - appears on indoor flowers at any time of the year, brought in with the wind or other plants. Initially, small discolored spots appear on the leaves, if you look at the lumen of the leaf, point punctures are visible. Gradually, the leaves turn yellow and dry out. With severe damage in the internodes and from the back of the leaves, a web is visible.

Control measures: rinse the plant in soapy water - beat the foam with a sponge and wipe off each leaf, or dilute the soapy solution and rinse the entire crown (covering the ground with a bag). You can leave the soap for 20-30 minutes. Then rinse the foliage with hot water, the temperature is 40-45 degrees, according to the sensations of the hand it is hot. It is better to use green potassium soap, it is sold in flower departments.

Repeat the hot shower in 5-7 days twice more.

You can use drugs such as Fitoverm, Actofit, Agravertin, Acarin - at the rate of 10 ml per 1 liter of water, or Vertimek (1 ml per 1 liter of water). Processing must be repeated in 3-5 days - if the weather is hot or warm (26-24 degrees) and after 7 days, if the air temperature is 20 degrees and below, since these drugs do not kill tick eggs.

It is also useful to alternate between hot showers and acaricidal treatments.

The drugs Sanmait or Taurus are very effective at the rate of 1 g per 1 liter of water - a single treatment with thorough wetting of the crown destroys adult pests and non-nutritious stages (eggs).