Tea family. The homeland is China, India, Indonesia and Japan, mainly branched shrubs and small trees, more than 80 species in total.
- The most famous Japanese Camellia japonica is an evergreen shrub, in nature up to 3 m in height, in room conditions it grows on average up to 80-100 cm. Leaves are oblong-ovate, leathery, with a serrated edge, pointed at the end. They sit on branches again, on short petioles. Camellia stems are woody, young shoots are purplish-brown, old with gray-brown bark.
Over the centuries-old history of cultural cultivation, camellias have developed many forms and varieties. There are with simple flowers, half-double, anemoniform, peony, rose shapes and others. Japanese camellia is relatively winter-hardy, grows well in the 7-9 climatic zone. Most types of camellias are greenhouse and garden plants, they do not like heat either in winter or in summer. In nature, they grow at an altitude of about 400-1000 m above sea level, which means relative coolness and high humidity.
Camellia care
Camellia is a very demanding plant, does not tolerate salinity of the soil (hard water), requires a cool and well-ventilated room. It can only be grown by patient and experienced florists who have the opportunity to ensure wintering on an insulated balcony. The plant prefers acidic soils with a pH of 4.5 to 5.5 Check the acidity of the soil and, if necessary, correct it with special additives or transplant the plant into a suitable substrate, for example, for azaleas and rhododendrons.
Temperature: coolness is required - in summer it is optimal from 20 to 24 ° С during the day, 16-18 ° С at night. Camellias tolerate heat above 27 ° C very poorly. In winter (from October to February) 8-10 ° С with very rare watering, the permissible limit in winter is slightly above zero (theoretically, it is possible to minus 3 ° С (with pot insulation and dryness). Already at a temperature of 12 ° C, camellias drop flowers and buds.
How to keep a camellia in winter: if you do not have an insulated loggia or a winter garden, the only way to keep a camellia at home is to fence it off from the warm air of the room on the window. In this regard, wooden frames are preferable to plastic windows. Along the edge of the windowsill, you need to install a plexiglass sheet, see how you can do this in the forum topic Placing plants on windowsills in winter. If the frames are wooden, the temperature on the windowsill remains + 5-12 ° С, if the windows are plastic, then from 12 to 20 ° С, you can leave slotted ventilation. If there is no plexiglass, use greenhouse film.
Lighting: bright diffused lighting, with shade from direct sunlight from March to August in the afternoon, the morning sun is the best. In summer, it feels good outdoors in a semi-shady place. Rearranging camellias, changing position to a light source is difficult. The west window is not suitable for camellias - it is very hot, although the light is good. It will not bloom in partial shade.
Watering: moderate, after drying the upper part of the soil at temperatures up to 20 ° C, at a higher temperature - by the rate of drying of the soil, if it is hot, then you need to water the camellia abundantly and often, but the soil should remain loose! Avoid waterlogging the soil - when the ground on the surface of the pot dries for more than 2 days. At temperatures from 12 ° C and below, watering very careful, touch your finger - until the middle of the pot, the earth should have time to dry.
- What water to pour on camellias: soft, without impurities of salts, especially iron and calcium and warm: 3-4 degrees warmer than air temperature. Water must be allowed to stand for at least 12 hours, it is better to use filtered water.
Air humidity: camellias love at least 50%, preferably 60-65%, so they require frequent spraying of leaves. When blooming flowers, spraying is stopped, but you can moisten the air if you put wet sphagnum moss around the pot. Moreover, raw moss should not lie on the surface of the earth at the camellia trunk, but outside the pot (on a wide pallet).
Top dressing: since the growth of new shoots with fertilizers for deciduous plants, with a sufficient dose of nitrogen. After the first 2-3 feeding with an interval of 2 weeks, you can feed fertilizers for blooms - with a high dose of potassium, phosphorus and a low nitrogen content. If a transplant is carried out in the spring, then with top dressing you need to wait 1.5 months, then immediately use mineral fertilizers for flowering plants. Ideally, the fertilizer formula for camellias should be NPK 10:10:10.
Transplantation: at the end of the first growth in June-July, young plants are transplanted annually, adults after 2-3 years. When planting near the camellia, it is unacceptable to bury (cover with earth) the root neck. Camellias prefer acidic soils. You can make such soil for camellias: 1 parts of leaf, 1 parts of coniferous (or pine bark), 1 part of universal peat soil (or garden humus) and 1 part of small gravel (zeolite granules). For adult and old plants, part of the turf soil is added to this soil. When buying land for camellias, soil mixtures for rhododendrons are best suited. The pot is wide with a margin for a high layer of drainage. Camellias are formed by pruning and cutting weak shoots.
Camellia - legends, myths, reality.
Reproduction: cuttings in summer using phytohormones and bottom heating of the soil to 25 ° C. Rooting lasts about 2 months, it is better to use a mini-greenhouse.
From personal experience, Elena Kulikova: My camellia stands on the western window on the loggia, with constant ventilation, watering with acidified water as soon as the upper layer dries quite slightly. But she has very good drainage! Camellia can't stand the hot weather and stagnant air. The temperature is about 17-22 ° C and fresh air is the very thing. Above 25 ° C begins to feel bad. In winter, the camellia sleeps, so it can be turned and trimmed.
Camellia blossom
Camellia has two growth periods.
- The first comes in February: new leaves appear and young shoots start growing. In early spring, many buds appear, which fall if the plant is rearranged, as well as with a sharp change in air temperature or soil moisture.
- The second period is summer, when flower buds form, which will grow in late winter or early March.
Camellia flowering duration from 28 to 70 days. It blooms better and more abundantly in cool and lighted rooms at a temperature of 6-8 ° C. Camellias bought in the store are usually all covered with buds and flowers (which is achieved in greenhouses with the help of appropriate agricultural technology, stimulants and precisely extinct top dressing). But to achieve such a flowering in six months or a year in your own apartment is not an easy task.
For camellias, a period of rest is required, for this, after flowering, it is necessary to reduce watering, and stop fertilizing completely.
Another important point, if during winter there was suddenly warming and the temperature rose above the prescribed 10-12 ° C, on sunny days the camellia may decide that spring has come and it is premature to start growing and forming buds. We know that winter will return, but the gaining color greatly weakens the plant, so growing shoots need to be plucked.
If camellia sheds leaves
Consider the possible causes of leaf loss by camellia:
- Temperature: Camellias do not tolerate sudden temperature changes and prefer cool conditions in winter (10-15 ° C). Try to place it in a cool room, protected from drafts and sudden changes in temperature .
- Watering: Lack or excess of water is a common cause of leaf dumping. Water the camellia regularly to keep the earthen lump moderately wet. Avoid stagnation of water - the soil should drain well, and the water should not remain in the pallet.
- If the air is too dry, especially in winter in a heated room, place an air humidifier or a tray with wet pebbles next to it. It is also possible to spray the plant with room temperature water.
- Transplantation: If the camellia has not been transplanted for a long time, this can deplete the soil. Transplant it in spring into a fresh, slightly acidic substrate suitable for heather plants .
- Nutrients: in winter, feeding should be reduced, as excess fertilizer can damage the roots and lead to leaf fall. In spring and summer, use fertilizer for acid-loving plants, but keep the dosage.