Amaryllis family. Homeland - South Africa, about. Socotra. About 25 species are officially recorded, some species are assigned to the genus Scadoxus Scadoxus. Among hemanthuses there are evergreen species albiflos, deformis and pauculifolius, but most are deciduous with a pronounced dormant period.
Haemanthus albiflos is a perennial bulbous plant. The bulb is about 12 cm in diameter, rounded, sometimes flattened laterally, recessed into the substrate by 1/3. The leaves are oppositely located, wide belt-shaped with a ciliated edge, dark green, up to 20 cm long. This species is evergreen, usually there are four leaves on the plant at the same time, they gradually age, die off and are replaced by new ones. The peduncle is leafless, up to 20 cm long. The umbrella inflorescence has a reduced perianth, so what we call a flower is actually a cluster of white stamens with yellow anthers. The fruit is a red, single-seeded berry. This species is considered the most hardy, as it comes from the province of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape of South Africa, in areas where it rains at any time of the year, there is no pronounced dry period.
Haemanthus humilis Haemanthus humilis - naturally grows on steep rocky slopes and rocks on a well-breathable and drained substrate.
Haemanthus humilis subspecies humilis has pink to white flowers. Stamen filaments longer than perianth petals. It blooms in summer, the peduncle is usually without pubescence. The leaves appear with the flowers in mid or late summer. The leaves are wide, almost round at the ends. The fruit is a fleshy oval berry, yellow-brown about 1.5 cm long, in each 1 or 2 seeds. Each seed is juicy, translucent pale green, oval about 5 mm long.
Haemanthus humilis subspecies hirsutus - distinguished by pubescent peduncle and leaves. Hairs are white, dense. The flowers are white or pinkish. Stamen filaments are much longer than perianth petals. Flowering in spring and summer, the leaves appear along with the growth of the peduncle or a little later. The leaves themselves are very broad, round at the end. The fruit is fleshy, setting seeds easily if you have two or more clones to cross-pollinate.
Representatives of the species Haemanthus humilis have several forms that differ in size - very miniature and very large, when the leaves are wide and more similar in shape to a shovel than a deer tongue.
Haemanthus humilis
Haemanthus montanus Haemanthus montanus
Haemanthus deformisHaemanthus montanus Haemanthus montanus is summer-growing, the leaves are belt-shaped long (about 1-2 cm wide) similar to the leaves of the hippeastrum, appear later than the peduncle. At first they stick up, the old leaves bend. Inflorescences are white, without pubescence. The fruit is not fleshy with one green opaque seed. The growing season of this species is short, in nature it grows in places not characteristic of any amaryllis - in meadows on the foothills of the eastern regions of South Africa, moreover, in places the meadows are flooded. Therefore, hemanthus montanus is not only the most cold-resistant species, but is quite tolerant of abundant watering. This does not mean that you need to rush to water it like ordinary flowers - do not confuse potting culture at home with the natural environment! I.e. hemanthus montanus is tolerant to abundant watering during the period of rest, but it can also be poured, rotted.
Haemanthus deformis is another evergreen species. The flowers are white, the peduncle is very short, the inflorescence almost lies on the leaves, appears between gray-green leaves always in the center. I.e. there may be two and four leaves at the same time on the plant, but they are paired on two sides from the peduncle, while in many other species the inflorescence is on the side of the leaf bundle as it grows. Leaves at deformis immediately, as they grow, bend back or bend with a boat. The leaves are wide enough about 10-12 cm wide and 12-15 cm long. There are several forms: completely hairless, with slight pubescence and having rather hairy leaves. It grows in the mid-highlands and coastal areas of the Eastern Cape. Very shade-tolerant, does not tolerate not only direct sun, but the heat itself, after lunchtime at home on the sunny side - the most critical time, best of all the northwestern or northern side, you can have an eastern windowsill. This species is very critical to watering: it equally does not tolerate drying out and long drying of the earth .
Hemanthus care
Temperature: during the growing season optimally 18-24 ° С. For the rest period, it is not necessary to transfer the plant to the basement, or another cool place, 14-16 ° C is enough, but not lower than 10 ° C. At home, the dormant period will often fall on the summer months, in which case, the hemanthus "sleeps" at the temperature that is, and only in extreme heat should the pot be rearranged to a cooler place (on a shadow balcony or simply composed from the windowsill to the floor). There is no need to cut the dying leaves of deciduous hemanthus either, wait until they die out themselves. Since beneficial substances during leaf death are redirected back to the bulb .
Lighting: bright diffused light. Shade from direct sunlight in the afternoon. Most hemantuses arrange an eastern or northwestern window sill, not shaded from the street.
Watering: moderate during growing season. The soil must necessarily dry out at least half the depth of the pot. During the dormant period, deciduous species are kept dry, and evergreens with moderate watering. In fact, the issue of watering is the most difficult to care for, for evergreen species. The problem is the rigid dependence of temperature, growth stage and water demand. Hemanthus bulbs quickly rot in warm and humid conditions, but the lack of moisture is also not good - the bulbs dry out, the growth point dies, the inflorescences quickly fade.
Therefore, success in growing hemanthus depends on the correct size of the pot and the correct composition of the soil, they should be such that after watering the soil is wetted immediately, instantly, completely, but dries no longer than 2 days in warm conditions (above 18 ° C). Species of evergreen hemanthus in the winter months are not at rest, but may not have visible growth, they simply slow down. During this period, the temperature should drop, so watering is such that all the soil in the pot is not completely abundant, but partially, water not under the onion, but closer to the walls of the pot. The soil should also dry out no longer than 2 days.
Deciduous hemanthus species stop watering when the leaves begin to turn yellow, and resume only after new leaves or peduncles appear.
Top dressing: during the period of active growth, once every two weeks, feed fertilizer for flowering indoor plants, diluted in a concentration that is less than twice as recommended by the manufacturer. Fertilizers with an NPK ratio of 4:1:3 or 2:1:2 are better suited, not to be confused with the percentage of elements. If the bottle with fertilizer says N - 20%, P - 5%, K - 15%, such fertilizer is suitable, but it needs to be diluted with water four times more than recommended. Never use organic fertilizer. During the dormant period, when there is no visible growth, do not feed the hemanthus, and if it is planted in poor almost inert soil, add top dressing not with every watering, but after one or two in a highly diluted form.
Air humidity: resistant to dry air, you can spray or wash the leaves (protecting the bulb from getting wet) with warm water from hygienic purposes (wash off dust). If the rest period fell on very hot months, you can spray the onion once a week (without watering!).
Transplant: Solely by necessity at the very beginning of the vegetation, usually every 4-5 years. Immediately take a pot with a small margin, but not too deep. Any width, even a box, but 12 cm is enough for a young one, for an adult plant - look at the root: so that the roots are calmly removed in an expanded state and another 2-3 cm to the height of the drainage. The fact is that in a deep pot for a very long time the earth inside remains damp, the processes of decay are going on below, but pathogenic microflora throughout the pot. Therefore, it will seem to you that you are not pouring an onion - after all, it is dry above, and at a depth, in a humid environment, putrid fungi and bacteria multiply. By the way, many experts note that it is better to use not clay, but plastic pots (holes at the bottom are larger), especially if the soil is well drained, with a large proportion of vermiculite, gravel or sand. In clay pots, such a substrate dries out too quickly.
So, the need for transplantation arises when the roots grow strongly and crawl out of the drainage holes if the pot has cracked or a salt deposit has formed on the soil surface. If the deposition of salts occurs earlier, you need to remove the top layer of soil and replace with fresh.
Approximate soil composition: 2 part of sod, 1 part of sheet earth, 1 part of humus and 1 part of small gravel (or zeolite granules). The pot should not be too spacious, otherwise the earth will turn sour and the bulb may rot. Be careful to disturb the roots as little as possible when transplanting. If there is a break in the roots, the breaks must be sprinkled with crushed coal.
There are other options for the soil mixture, for example, Jim Shields Jim Shields - a collector of gemanthus from Indiana (USA) says that he uses such a mixture for planting all types of Gemantas: Pro-Mix soil (this is a peat mixture with the addition of perlite and vermiculite), sand and fine granite (2-3 mm) in proportion (by volume) 2:1:1. Moreover, the soil that he uses is intended for succulents, it contains a large proportion of perlite. Soil like Jim's is very poor and dries up very quickly, which is very good for bulbs - less likely to rot. But he adds fertilizers with each watering, using fertilizer with the formula NPK 20:10:20, and mentions that nitrogen is necessary in the form of nitrates. Jim Shields advises avoiding fertilizers containing nitrogen in the form of ammonia or urea, and in addition, it is very important to avoid high levels of phosphorus, because most South African plants are adapted for life on soils with low phosphorus content. However, in Russia everything is very bad with soils, in the market of horticultural products you will hardly find an ideal ready-made soil mixture. Therefore, if you want to apply the Jim Shields method, take the 1 part of the Terra Vita universal soil, the 1 part of vermiculite, the 1 part of the sand and the 1 part of the granite crumb. Get the same. Hydroponics fertilizer can be used as weekly fertilizers.
Hemanthus reproduction
One month after planting the leaf in vermiculite.Hemanthus is propagated by seeds, offspring and daughter bulbs. Separated bulbs are planted in the prepared soil mixture in separate pots with a diameter of about 12 cm so that a third of the bulb height remains above the soil surface. With good care, they will bloom in 2-3 years. But good care is painstaking, for example, even during the rest period, the bulbs should not be allowed to dry out, they need to be watered a little from time to time.
A collector of amaryllis BRS tells about the reproduction of hemanthus with a piece of leaf:
Reproduction of evergreen species of hemanthus - albiflos, deformis, paucifolios is possible with a piece of leaf.
The technology is simple and easy: cut off a part of about 4 cm from the sheet, sprinkle the cut with fungicide. You can add root powder to the fungicide. Stick a piece of leaf vertically into the moist vermiculite. Within two weeks, new growth appears. The leaf was old, but the piece was cut off during the period when the old leaves dried out and new ones grew - that is, the phase of active growth of the plant. If a piece of leaf is cut not at the beginning of growth, but at the end or during the rest period, then it can dry out before the onion is tied.
It is also better to sow seeds immediately in separate pots - hemanthus does not tolerate frequent transplantation, picking and any procedures affecting the roots, the size of the pot is about 9-10 cm wide and no more than 12 cm high, large holes at the bottom! Young seedlings especially need the stability of growing conditions. Up to three, and better than four years, it is better not to disturb them - to transplant, rearrange and turn, especially if you get the seeds of rare and complex species. Seeds must be planted in a mixture of universal soil (Terra Vita) vermiculite and sand in equal parts. Constant temperature of 20-21 ° C and light for 16 hours are the necessary conditions for caring for hemanthus seedlings. Watering is regular, but moderate, so that the soil dries quickly, it is better to apply the rule here: a little and more often than a lot, but less often. Add fertilizer regularly to water for irrigation, with an NPK ratio of 4:1:3 and containing additional trace elements. Since the emergence of seedlings for at least a year and a half, seedlings have been growing together under lamps - since natural lighting will clearly not be enough in the autumn-winter period. You can constantly keep them on artificial lighting (fluorescent or LED lamps). After 18-20 months, young plants can be brought up as adults - sent carefully for a period of rest, at the appropriate time. However, bulbs of young plants - delenki or from seedlings cannot be dried too much during the dormant period, they need a little more moisture than old bulbs.
When receiving seeds from your own plant (to obtain fruits, you need two clones of the same species, i.e. two different plants are re-pollinated with a brush), they must be sown directly immediately, after opening the fruit, storage is permissible for 1-2 months at a temperature of about + 4-5 ° C.