Pilea

 

Nettle family. The homeland is the humid tropics of Southeast Asia. About 400 species of representatives of this genus are found in nature. In general, pileas are rather unpretentious, but they differ in rather erratic growth, so young shoots are pinched for greater bushiness, and elongated or bare stems cut off and rejuvenate the plant, planting it again in spring from cuttings.

Пилея

Pilea Cadiei Pilea cadierei - a small bush - up to 40 cm tall, with erect stems. The leaves are opposite, oval in shape, pointed at the end, up to 10 cm long. The top of the sheet may have an indistinct serrated edge. The leaves along the veins are green, silver between the veins. The flowers are small, dioecious - collected in female and male racemose inflorescences .

пилея

Pilea small-leaved Pilea microphylla is a low herbaceous plant - usually up to 20 cm tall, with strongly branching juicy stems. The leaves are opposite, rounded, light green, small - up to 0.5 cm long. The flowers are small, in axillary inflorescences, bisexual or dioecious.

пилея

Peperomiform pilea Pilea peperomoides is a shrub-like plant, up to 45 cm high, almost round leaves, edges slightly bent inward, about 7 cm in diameter, on long petioles.

пилея

Pilea unequal (creeping) Pilea inaequalis - a small bush - up to 25 cm tall, with creeping stems. The leaves are opposite, rounded, with a wavy edge. Leaves up to 2.5 cm long, shiny, dark green in color with a copper tint, the underside of the leaf is purple.

пилея

Pilea wrapped Pilea involucrata is a bush about 30 cm tall, with erect stems. The leaves are opposite, oval in shape, pointed at the end, up to 7 cm long. The surface of the leaf is very tuberous, light green, brown along the veins. This species is the source for many hybrid forms.

Pilea wrapped variety "Norfolk" Pilea involucrata "Norfolk" is a small bush with erect stems. The leaves are opposite, ovate or rounded, with a wavy, velvety surface, up to 5 cm long. The color of the leaves is bright green with a silvery tint, with reddish-brown patterns along the veins (usually two stripes on the sides of the central vein), the reverse side of the leaf is reddish.

Пилея

Pilea wrapped variety "Bronze" Pilea involucrata "Bronze" - bush - about 30 cm tall, with erect stems. The leaves are opposite, oval in shape, pointed at the end, up to 7 cm long. The leaf surface is wrinkled, dark green along the veins, and between them is silver, like a Cadier pilea, or the edges of the leaves are dark green, and along the central vein is a silver stripe.

Pilea care

Temperature: It grows well in warm rooms at 18-22 ° C, preferably not higher than 24 ° C, and in winter it would be nice to survive a decrease in illumination at a temperature of about 16-17 ° C, not lower than 12 ° C. But if you don't have a cool wintering option for plants, figure out how to position lamps next to plants for extra lighting.

Lighting: Bright diffused light, mandatory shading from direct sunlight in spring and summer. All types of pili need good lighting in winter. For many types of saws, their shade tolerance is clearly exaggerated - in a dark room, far from the window, they stretch out and lose their decorativeness.

Watering: Should be regular, without overdrying or waterlogging. Moderate in warm time (spring and summer), rare in winter, when the soil dries thoroughly. The soil should not completely dry out or be too raw. Use soft, boiled or filtered water.

Top dressing: during the period of active growth from March to August in two weeks, complex fertilizer for indoor plants. If there is a lack of nutrients in the soil, then the young leaves grind. The dose of fertilizer is taken according to the instructions.

Humidity: Pileans love regular spraying and do not tolerate dry air well when hygrometer readings are below 40%. If the humidity is about 50%, no spraying is required.

Flight connections

Every year in the spring, pilei are transplanted or rejuvenated, pruning and re-rooting the elongated shoots. The soil is universal: 2 parts of leafy land, 1/2 humus (well-rotted compost), 1 part of pine bark and 1 part of fine gravel (2-2 mm). Don't forget about the drainage at the bottom of the pot.

By the way, pileas look good in compositions planted in the same planter or container with other plants. The most successful are the proximity to small-leaved varieties of ferns (pellea), small-leaved peperomia, fittonia and small-leaved varieties of syngonium. All of them have approximately the same requirements for temperature and irrigation. Do not plant plants with larger leaves and powerful growth in one pot, they will crush the saw.

Reproduction

Pilea breeds in cuttings, which are easily rooted in water, in good light at any time of the year. It is better to plant several cuttings in one pot at once, and for the sake of such a case, it is advisable to carry out cuttings in spring - in April, May - the saw quickly becomes overgrown with young shoots and takes root in just 5-7 days.

By the way

Translated from Latin pileus - means cap, cap. The name of the genus is due to the fact that one of the tepals in most species of pili has a hood shape.

By the way

Pilea is small-leaved, despite all the described miniature, it may well grow to very large sizes. Sometimes spreading bushes reach about 70 cm in diameter and 50 cm in height. True, to achieve such a result, very good care is needed.

Very often, some types of pili are grown in mini greenhouses along with other plants that love high humidity.

In the preparation of such a garden, it is important to select plants with the same growth rate so that they do not clog each other, and with the same requirements for soil humidity, lighting, temperature.

Pilea can be grown together with medium-sized begonias suitable: Imperial Begonia, Begonia Bauer, Begonia Mason.

It is undesirable to plant a saw together with large begonias and philodendrons, they will 'hammer' a more delicate saw.

Growing problems

The leaves shrivel, dry and fall - if the temperature is too high - above 27 ° C, or too cold - below 12 ° C, if the soil is too dry. If it is a small-leaved pilea, then it is possible to be affected by a pest, for example, a shield.

The leaves become lethargic, turn black and fall, there is softening of the stems - with excessive watering, when the soil does not have time to dry out.

The leaves are made sluggish and very pale, somewhat transparent - an excess of lighting.

The leaves lose color, the ends of the leaves or edges are brown and dry, the shoots are stretched, the new leaves are small - lack of lighting.

On the leaves, yellow, then brown spots can be sunburn.

The lower leaves fall - this is characteristic of most species of pili, even with good care, the stems are exposed from below, so it is easier to rejuvenate the plant by cutting cuttings from it and rooted them as a new plant.

Pests of Pilea

Spider mite: appears when the air is too dry, is brought into the apartment with purchased flowers, with the wind when the apartment is ventilated.

It is not possible to detect a tick on variegated leaves immediately, usually when cobwebs appear in the internodes on the stems

But if the leaves began to pale and dry one at a time, examine the back of the leaves - between the veins you can see whitish, dandruff-like tick skins.

Control measures. Wipe the plant with a soap sponge and rinse under a hot shower (40-45 degrees). Regularly sprayed. Repeat the hot shower a week later twice more.

With a very strong lesion, the saw is sprayed with 0.15% actellic solution (1-2 ml per liter of water).

Trips - the appearance is facilitated by high temperature and low humidity, especially in rooms with central heating.

As with a tick lesion, the leaves turn yellow and dry out. If you look closely, silver discolored areas are noticeable on the surface of the leaf, black droplets - pest secretions, and gray molted skins.

The whole plant can be eaten by pests in two to three weeks.

Control measures. The plant should be sprayed 2-3 times, with an interval of 7 days with insecticides - phytoverm, decis, actellic, inta-vir, according to the instructions.

Often, pileas can also be affected by scutes, most often small-leaved pilea suffers, scutes on it are usually found in the stage of mass development. The bad thing is that small leaves dry out and crumble very quickly, the plant loses its decorative attractiveness and disfigures.

The most effective treatment for thrips and shields is simultaneous watering and spraying with actara solution: 1 g of the drug per 2 liters of water.