Selaginella

 

Plaunov family. Homeland of the Tropics of America. This is a rather delicate and demanding plant that does not tolerate drafts and dry air of rooms, nevertheless, it is successfully grown by lovers of indoor plants.

Селагинелла
  • Selaginella Martensa Selaginella martensii is a bush with erect stems, up to 30 cm tall. With age, the stems become receding and aerial roots appear. The branches are similar to fern wai with small, thin green leaves. There are varieties with silver-white stem tips.
  • Selaginella scaly Selaginella lepidophylla - a funny plant that can be found on sale in dry form - is something like a wrinkled light ball of dry leaves, but watered and placed in a humid environment, it opens and forms a small bush with small green leaves.
    • On
  • sale you can still find species - Selaginella legless Selaginella apoda - ampelee, very similar to fern with light green leaves; The hooked selaginella "Selaginella uncinata" is a small ampellous plant with bluish stems and leaves; Emmel's selaginella "Selaginella emmeliana" is a small shrub with very small leaflets, similar to cypress; Selaginella Kraussa Selaginella kraussiana - with creeping stems and filigree yellow-green leaves.

Care for Selaginella

Temperature: Moderate, it is rather a plant for a cool room - the optimal temperature is 20-21 ° C, does not tolerate heat above 24-25 ° C, in winter it is even colder 16-18 ° C, the lower limit is 10-12 ° C. At home, with heating turned on in winter, selaginella will survive only to the terrarium in daylight and preferably with good ventilation.

Lighting: From late winter to August, selaginella prefers a moderately lit place, light partial shade. It grows well on the northern windows, on the eastern ones. In too shaded a place, the plant will grow poorly and lose its decorative attractiveness. For the winter period, many plants in the house lack light, and if you put a pot of selaginella in a mini-oven, it will grow well under artificial lighting (LED lamps are also suitable). You can put a pot for the winter period on the southern or southwestern side - in central Russia, the sun in winter is completely non-aggressive.

Watering: Abundant in spring and summer, moderate in winter. Water for irrigation is used only soft, if in your area tap water is hard, the content of chlorine or fluoride is increased, even boiling will not improve its qualities, it is better to use melted water, butylated. It is believed that selaginella is very moisture-loving, which means that you need to water after drying the soil in the upper part of the pot.

Fertilizer: In the period from March to August, selaginella is fed every 2 weeks with complex fertilizer for deciduous plants, the dose is taken half the recommended one.

Air humidity: Selaginella requires very high air humidity - about 70-80% constantly. It is sprayed several times a day with warm soft water, or placed on a wide tray of water. Selaginella is suitable for growing in bottle gardens and terrariums. According to the conditions of care, it is closest to fittonias, nerter or ficus pumila. All of them need high humidity, but excessive watering does not compensate for its lack!

Transplantation: Annually into light, porous soil of weakly acidic reaction. The pot is wide enough, but shallow. Approximate soil composition: 1 part of peat land, 1 part of leaf humus, 1 part of sand, 1 part of pine needles or chopped bark. During transplantation, the earth is not compacted or tamped, it should not lose looseness and pass air well. Do not forget about the drainage holes on the bottom, which can be covered with a layer of clay shards or pieces of coconut shell.

Reproduction: Selaginella reproduces by dividing the bush with roots, as well as stem cuttings in spring and summer. Rooting only in a greenhouse, with regular ventilation.

By the way

Selaginella lives little in ordinary home conditions - not enough humidity.

To succeed in growing this plant, you just need to place it in a terrarium, providing good ventilation - ventilate the room so that air flows do not enter the plant.

If you plant selaginella in a round aquarium or a large glass (there are special floristic glasses with a capacity of 3-5 liters), then be sure to pour at least 5 cm high drainage on the bottom. As drainage, you can use not only expanded clay, but also colored pebbles, river pebbles.

With high humidity, selaginella grows so vigorously that you will have to periodically cut off the bush!

Growing problems

The ends of the stems dry, shrivel and die - if the room is very dry air or watering less often than required.

The plant does not grow well, the stems stretch out, and the leaves are too pale - a lack of nutrients in the soil, and perhaps the plant is too dark .

The ends of the stems dry out and gradually brown - if the plant stands under the influence of direct sun.

Stems and leaves brown, curl and die - if the air temperature is too high. Most often, selaginella suffers precisely because of the heat - above 25 ° C it is already difficult for it, especially if there is standing air, poor soil aeration and no influx of fresh air.

The plant is lethargic, the shoots are soft and lifeless to the touch - if the soil is too dense, watering too much, the roots of the plant do not breathe and rot. This happens when overfeeding with fertilizers.