Hypocyrta

 

Gesnerium family. Homeland - tropical areas of America.

Attention: all Hypocyrts known in floriculture today are assigned to other genera of Gesneria: Neomortonia Neomortonia and Nematanthus Nematanthus. There is only one species left in the genus Hypocyrta: Hypocyrta fritschii - it is not grown at home!

гипоцирта голаяHypocorta glabrous
гипоцирта монетнаяHypocirt coin
  • The brush-shaped nematanthus, Nematanthus strigillosus, is a Hypocyrta glabrata glabra, an epiphytic semi-ampellous plant with few branching shoots. The leaves are evergreen, opposite, on short petioles, elliptical, fleshy, green with a glossy sheen, without pubescence, about 3-4 cm long. Axillary flowers, one at a time, less often up to three together. Corolla with fused petals of bright orange color, swollen in the lower part. Sepals are short, dark orange.
  • Neomortonia nummularia is a Hypocyrta nummularia - an epiphytic ampelous plant with few branching shoots. The leaves are opposite, on short petioles, rounded, town-shaped along the edge, fleshy, light green, about 2 cm long. Stems and leaves are hairy with small dense hairs. The flowers are bright red with a yellow corolla limb. After flowering, the plant sheds its leaves, so watering is very careful. This species is very rare - only in the collections of lovers of gesnerium.

Hypocorta care

As you understand, here is described the care of hypocrites not real (naked or coin), but for nemanthus and neomortonia, so as not to mislead the reader, since many know these plants under old names, we will call them hypocrites for now. Moreover, most gesnerium have almost the same care requirements.

Temperature: normal in summer, around 20-25 ° C. In winter, it is desirable to be a little cooler, about 12-14 ° C - for naked hypocort, 20 ° C - for coin hypocort. Hypocorta is good because it can grow well all year round in normal home conditions. The only thing you need to pay attention to is that in winter it has enough light, and the leaves do not damage the hot air from the batteries.

Lighting: Hypocorta loves bright diffused light, with shading from direct sunlight in spring and summer (lunch to 4 pm). In winter, the lighting should be very good, no shading is needed, additional lighting is possible.

Watering: in summer, abundantly after the top layer of soil dries (provided that the pot is small). With cooling, watering is reduced, and in winter, with cool maintenance, it is watered occasionally, preventing only a complete re-drying of the earthen coma. If hypocorta overwinters in a warm room, then watering is the same as in summer.

Top dressing: regularly from April to August with complex fertilizer for flowering indoor plants at a dosage two times less than recommended. Top dressing is carried out weekly with watering.

Air humidity: in summer, hypocrites need very humid air, so the air is humidified by frequent spraying.

Transplant: annually in the spring, in fresh ground. The pot should not be too big, a little more than the root system. The soil is very light and porous: 3 parts of leafy land (universal peat soil is possible), 1 part of coarse river sand with a particle size of 3-5 mm (can be replaced with vermiculite). Also, chopped pine bark and pieces of charcoal are added to the soil at the rate of 1 liters of finished soil 2 tbsp. tablespoons of bark and 1 teaspoon of coal. You can plant hypocort in store soil for senpoli.

By the way

Hypocyrta (Nematanthus) can bloom very abundantly if it spent a cool wintering and stands in a fairly bright place. It is worth remembering that hypocirt flowers are formed on young shoots. After flowering, its stems are trimmed. Pruning is also needed to give more bushiness. The young plant needs to be pinched several times during the growing season.

Growing problems

  • Brown spots on the leaves - appear when the plant was watered with cold water, if the watering is not regular and the soil is now dry, then too raw.
  • The leaves turn yellow - then overfeeding with fertilizers, if the air is too dry, the plant stands for a long time in direct sunlight.
  • Gray plaque on leaves and flowers - gray rot or powdery mildew, which usually occurs in case of violations of the conditions of detention. Stop spraying, remove affected parts, treat with fungicide.
  • The plant blooms poorly or does not bloom at all - in low light, lack of nutrition in the soil, when the air is too dry or cold, if the wintering was too warm and dark, if the plant was not cut off after the previous flowering, as well as if the hypocort is planted in too heavy clay soil.
  • Pests - hypocorta can more often be attacked by mealybug, shield, spider mite. (see pests).

Reproduction

Hypocorts propagate (like any ampel gesnerium) with stem cuttings in spring and summer. Cut off cuttings 7-12 cm long, remove 3-4 lower leaves and put in water. Hypocirt cuttings take root easily, in 2 weeks. The water should be boiled, you need to change it every other day. They can be planted when the roots grow 5-6 cm in small cups (7-8 cm in diameter).