Pandan family. The genus has about 700 species distributed in tropical countries, mainly in Africa and Madagascar. The habitat is quite wide, but mainly coastal areas, tropical swamps, drained lowlands, even coral reefs, less often savannas, rocky slopes and mountain forests.
Pandanus tectorius is common in culture - it has many varieties and subspecies. For example, Pandanus tectorius Parkinson ex Du Roi we know by the obsolete names Pandanus Veitchii and Pandanus Sandera Pandanus sanderi. It is native to Australia from Cape York to Port Macquarie, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands.
General description of the species: in nature, these are trees from 4 to 12 m in height with a spiky trunk and many aerial roots that support the plant trunk like props. The leaves are belt-like, from 90 to 150 cm in length, in apartment conditions at least 60 cm in an adult plant. They have sharp serrations at the edges, scratching the skin. Flowers are dioecious: male - small, fragrant, bloom for only one day. Female flowers are collected in cobs, fragrant, form large (up to 20 cm) spherical fruits resembling pineapples. In nature, the roofing pandanus grows along rivers, its seeds are adapted for long (many months) swimming in water until they are beaten by the current to fertile soil, or crabs are pulled away. Another of the adaptations of this amazing plant to life in the coastal zone or on reefs - in adult trees, the lower part of the trunk dies over time, only long roots remain - stilts, allowing you to stand "knee-deep" in the water in the literal sense.
The pandanus in the apartment requires a lot of space and looks impressive only as a single plant. In culture, variegated forms with cream or white stripes are most common.
Pandanus Care
Temperature: In the warm season, the usual, optimal for growth is about 20-24 ° C. In winter, the pandanus grows perfectly in normal room conditions, but feels better in the cool - optimally 15-16 ° C, at least 12 ° C. When the temperature drops, the watering decreases!
Lighting: Pandanus loves a bright place with bright diffused light and protection from direct sunlight during midday hours. In winter, when kept in a warm room, the lighting should also be very good. Due to the fact that the dimensions do not always allow this plant to be placed on the windowsill, it needs to be illuminated with lamps in the room.
Watering: Plentiful in spring and summer, but the soil should have time to dry out, in the upper half of the pot. Since autumn, watering is reduced depending on the temperature, the soil in the pot should dry out almost completely. Poorly, the pandanus tolerates excess water, especially in winter, during the dormant period, with cool maintenance. Water for watering is needed soft, boiled or filtered. The paradox of the pandanas in the apartment is that strong stilt roots resistant to high soil humidity do not have time to form. Only large old plants are able to tolerate high dampness. In addition, roots enclosed in a pot are poorly supplied with oxygen in a constantly damp environment, and therefore can rot.
Another problem - pandanus refers to the few plants that critically perceive excess fluoride in the water - dry brown spots form along the edges of the leaves, which are sometimes mistaken for the result of low air humidity. If spraying does not help, it is worth thinking about the quality of the water.
Fertilizer: liquid fertilization for indoor plants from March to August every two weeks.
Air humidity: Optimal humidity is at least 60%, ideally about 80%. The main problem in apartments is the inability to create such high humidity. Spraying does not help, the ends of the leaves dry from dryness. You can place the pot on a wide tray with wet pebbles or expanded clay, turn on the humidifier during the heating season and ventilate the room more often.
Transplantation: Young plants are transplanted annually, adults two years later in the spring. The soil is the 1 part of the turf land, the 1 part of the peat (or leaf), the 1 part of the humus and the 1 part of the sand. Good drainage is mandatory at the bottom of the pot. The soil itself should be loose, so baking powder is added to it: 1 part of vermiculite or 1 part of coconut chips, you can use small expanded clay 2-3 mm, cut coconut fiber, small pieces of foam.
Reproduction: Daughter rosettes, when they grow about 10-12 cm, rooting is quite difficult, so it is better to use root formation stimulants, for example, heteroauxin (see drugs). In order for daughter offspring to be guaranteed to take root, they need to be cut off from the mother plant when they grow about 15-17 cm tall.
