Nightshade

 
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Nightshade family. Originally from South America. In nature, there are more than 1,500 species of representatives of this genus. Only two of them have spread in culture. In spring, they bloom with nondescript flowers, and by winter they are covered with orange-red fruits, pleasing the eye no worse than the New Year tree. In general, an ornamental nightshade is an unpretentious plant for the house, if it is provided with a cool wintering.

When keeping nightshade in a house where there are small children, precautions are needed - bright and beautiful berries that the baby can taste can cause severe poisoning.

  • Solanum pseudocapsicum is an evergreen shrub, up to 1.5 m in height, the leaves sit on short petioles, lanceolate in shape, slightly wavy, up to 10 cm long. The flowers are small, white, solitary or collected in racemose inflorescences. The fruits are rounded, red or yellow, approximately 1.5-2 cm in diameter.
  • The peppercorn nightshade, "Solanum capsicastrum," is an evergreen shrub similar to the previous species, growing about 1 m tall. The main difference is that young branches of peppery nightshade are covered with thin silver pubescence, and the fruits are much smaller - about 1.5 cm in diameter.

Nightshade care

Temperature: Moderate in summer, preferably no higher than 24 ° C. In winter, nightshades are kept in cool conditions at about 12-16 ° C, at least 8 ° C. When kept in a room with a temperature above 26 ° C, nightshade leaves turn yellow and fly around, berries also shrivel and fall. While with a cool wintering, the berries last for several months.

Lighting: Nightshade is photophilous, grows well in bright light, shading is required only during the hottest hours of the day in spring and summer. The southeast window is perfect. If the plant is dark, then there are few leaves on it, it blooms poorly and bears fruit. In general, intensive growth requires at least 12-14 hours of daylight.

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Watering: During the period of active growth, the ground should be slightly moist all the time in the depths of the pot. That is, when the temperature is above 20 ° C, after watering, wait for the ground in the pot to dry out from above, and water in 2-3 days. If the temperature is below 20 ° C, especially in autumn and winter, water much less often, after drying the soil after 7-10 days. Slight drooping of leaflets from overdrying is allowed, but not strong wilting. Severe overdraft is destructive! Overflowing nightshade is also poorly tolerated - rot and spotting develop easily. The frequency of irrigation directly depends on the density and drainage of the soil.

Top dressing: From May to September, nightshades are fed with complex fertilizer for flowering indoor plants (a little nitrogen, enough potassium and phosphorus, plus a set of trace elements), every week at a dose two times less than recommended. You can use Fertica Lux, Pocon or Agricola for blooms, as well as fertilizers for tomatoes or vegetables.

  • Air humidity: Decorative nightshade needs spraying if humidity is below 40%. If in winter there is no possibility of cool content, then it is better to put a pot of nightshade on a tray with sphagnum moss.

Transplant: Annually in February-March. Approximate soil composition: 2 part of sod, 1 part of humus, 1 part of sheet earth and 1 part of fine gravel, 1/2 part of vermiculite (or pine needles, bark). Do not forget about the drainage at the bottom. The pot is the usual size, deep enough. There is no need to make a stock in a pot - it is easy to fill the plant. If necessary, you can transfer to a larger pot in the summer. Be sure to replace the top layer of soil if it is covered with a salt deposit (yellow or gray lime effusion). Loosen the soil after copious watering.

The roots of nightshade are quite powerful, they grow strongly both in width and in height, therefore, when transplanting old plants, pruning is required, both the crown and roots.

Reproduction: Stem cuttings in March - April, as well as seeds. It is better to root cuttings in moist vermiculite in a mini-greenhouse.

Nightshade blossom

Usually nightshade appears on sale in flower shops in late autumn or winter, when bright berries are already ripening on it, they hold on until February - March.

At the end of winter, after the nightshade berries are ripe and the leaves begin to turn yellow, the plant is heavily pruned and transplanted into fresh ground. But in the fall, it is necessary to pinch the tips of non-flowering shoots .

Nightshade ties fruit well after artificial pollination with an artistic brush or cotton bud.

But it is better, more correct, to expose the plant to fresh air from the end of spring. A small breeze is enough for pollination.

If after flowering on your nightshade the fruits did not start, then this is most likely because pollination did not occur.

Nightshade from seeds

Nightshades can be grown from store-bought seeds or harvested from their fruiting tree.

  • Let the berries dry right on the bush, until shriveled, then open them and collect the seeds.
  • Take off the berries that have not yet wilted, if there are too many on the bush, cut, remove the flesh, rinse and dry

You need to germinate seeds in the same way as ordinary tomatoes - soak them in water for a day, then sow them in a mixture of peat land and vermiculite, taken in equal parts. Embedment depth - not more than 5 mm.

Keep the substrate evenly moist, ventilate the crops. When sprouts appear, you need a lot of light, if necessary, do additional light.

You can plant nightshades in pots when two pairs of real leaves grow up. Almost immediately, you need to start forming a crown - pinching the tip of the shoot when the height of the plant is about 10 cm.

You can form nightshades with wire. There are many styles of formation - for your taste, for example, in the style of shakan (inclined tree). It can also be a rod tree.