Stefanotis

Cootra family, flipper subfamily. Homeland Africa, Madagascar and Pacific Islands, Asia, Cuba. About 15 species are common in nature.

• Stephanotis floribunda is an evergreen vine whose shoots become woody over time and reach 5-6 m in length. The leaves are oppositely arranged, oval in shape, at the end a small sharpening, dark green in color, on short petioles. The leaves are dense, juicy, about 10 cm long and 5 cm wide, slightly bent along the central vein. Inflorescences - axillary scutes, carry 8-10 fragrant flowers. The corolla of the flower is funnel-shaped, five-petalled, white or cream, 3-4 cm in diameter, the tube is elongated, about 3 cm long.

For pollination, the second plant is not required, although it is difficult, you can try to get ovaries by pollinating the flowers with a small brush. The fruit is a berry, reminiscent of a mango fruit, about 10 cm long. At first, the fruit is green when it is fully ripe (about 9 months), becomes yellow and shrunken and is suitable for seeds. Stefanotis seeds are thin, cylindrical, fluffy (in one fruit there are up to 100 of them), in nature they are carried by the wind. Stefanotis flowers are kept in cut for 1-2 days, in the USA it is the most popular flower in the bride's bouquet.

Stefanotis - Care and Cultivation

Adult stephanotis is formed by pruning at the end of winter, to stimulate new growth, and tying branches to supports. Without pruning at home, stephanotis shoots can reach a length of several meters. Therefore, one of the fixation options is to several trellises stuck in the pot. A common situation is when buying blooming stephanotis, which looks healthy, with many buds, at home it begins to lose color, dry out buds. The fact is that stephanotis does not tolerate changing places, rearrangement, transportation at the beginning and during flowering, just be prepared for the fact that the flowering will end quickly, and in order to achieve a second one, you will have to take good care of the plant, choose the right place, make up the soil for transplantation, guess with fertilizer, etc.

Temperature: In summer, the usual indoor, optimally within 18-24 ° C, in closed unventilated rooms does not tolerate heat above 30 ° C (flowering ends quickly, sometimes the lower leaves dry). In winter, a cool content is required, at a temperature between 13-16 ° C, but not lower than 12 ° C. Stefanotis suffers especially in winter in heated houses in low light.

Lighting: Stefanotis prefers a sunny place, but he only benefits from the sun before noon, in the afternoon it is too hot on a sunny windowsill. Therefore, if you have south or south-west windows (not shaded by trees and houses from the street), keep a pot of stephanotis from September to February on the windowsill, and from February to August near the window, under the shade of a tulle curtain. In low light, the shoots stretch, the stephanotis does not bloom, so you will not get the long-awaited colors on the windows of the northern orientation.

Watering: Moderate in spring and summer, the soil should dry well for the next watering. In winter, watering is limited, depending on the temperature, the ground should dry out very well. Water for irrigation is used soft, persistent. Like hoyas, stephanotis tolerate some soil overfilling more easily than excess watering. Remember - waterlogging of the ground is destructive!

Humidity: Stephanotis loves high humidity. They are sprayed on very dry and hot days or put a pot on a tray of water when the plants do not need moisture within 50% and above. In winter, stephanotis must be protected from the directed hot air of the batteries, if it is not possible to ensure a cool wintering, you need to cover the batteries with damp sheets.

Fertilizer: From March to September, i.e. during the period of active growth, stephanotis needs top dressing. However, not everything is so simple - this flower is not without reason considered capricious, at the beginning of the growth of green mass it must be fed with fertilizer containing nitrogen and preferably a set of necessary macro and microelements. Pocon, Bona Forte, Etisso, Ava, Good Power will do - any for decorative and deciduous, not for blooming. It is necessary to carry out such feeding only 1-1.5 months after transplanting 2-3 feeding with an interval of 2 weeks, according to the instructions. If humus soil was added to the soil, then feeding should be carried out in a lower concentration. The same applies to those who use fatty chernozem soil to plant flowers.

So, after feeding nitrogen fertilizers at the start of growth, they are no longer needed, then use nitrogen-free fertilizers. Ideally, from the moment the buds appear, you need a fertilizer with the formula NPK 0-10-10, i.e. do without nitrogen, but a lot of phosphorus and potassium. Russian industry produces few such fertilizers (complex), but you can find them. Exempli gratia:

• AVA - complex nitrogen-free, phosphorus (P) 49-55%, potassium (K) 17-19%, calcium (Ca) 12-14%, magnesium (Mn) 4-5%, silicon (Si) 3-4%, boron (B) 1-1.5%, in addition manganese, sulfur, copper, cobalt, iron, molybdenum: 0.1 each - 0.2%, selenium - about 0.005%. This fertilizer does not dissolve very well in water, it makes sense to pour it with water (according to the instructions) and wait a day or two until it is completely dissolved, or put the granules directly into the soil .
• Agrecol is a granular fertilizer for garden plants, it is quite possible to use on indoor ones. It does not contain nitrogen, phosphorus (P) - 13%, potassium (K) - 27%, additionally magnesium and trace elements.
• If there are no similar ones, you can use fertilizers for orchids (feeding weekly), as well as Fertica Lux, Agricola for blooms, etc., where there is a little nitrogen.

Continue feeding until October, then do not feed until spring. In some cases, if a noticeable increase begins in February, you can feed at the end of winter, or carry out a transplant. Stefanotis is sensitive to a lack of magnesium and iron in the soil. Therefore, if you notice chlorosis on the leaves (excluding the tick and other pests), then think, perhaps your soil is latched from the wrong fertilizer or the ground turns sour from excess irrigation.

Stephanotis transplant

Plants are transplanted annually into well-drained, nutritious soil, and if necessary (with salinity), you need to change the top layer of the earth to fresh. Stefanotis prefers a slightly acidic reaction soil of pH 5.6-6.5. The following mixture is suitable for planting: 1 part of the turf land, 1 part of the leaf land, 1 part of the sand and 1 part of the pine bark. Good drainage must be done, and drainage can not only be placed on the bottom of the pot (large expanded clay), but also add vermiculite to the ground, replacing part of the sand with it.

Better, more evenly wetted soil, which added pine bark, coconut chips (from briquettes) or zeolite granules (from the filler for the cat toilet type "Barsik"). However, if the bark acidifies the soil, then zeolite or coconut briquettes can increase the alkalinity of the soil, so it is better to check the mixture with litmus tests. If it is not there, then it is not bad to acidify the water for watering stephanotis: add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of apple cider vinegar for 1 liters of water.

Stephanotis roots are fleshy, juicy and fragile, so to avoid decay after transplantation, refrain from watering for two days, but never transplant on hot days. If, when transplanting stephanotis purchased in a store, you saw a mesh or fabric wrap around the roots, you do not need to remove it, it does not interfere with the roots, but attempts to tear off inevitably injure the roots.

Which stefanotis pot is best: definitely not too spacious, with many holes at the bottom. Take about 2-3 cm larger in diameter than the previous one, provided that the roots strongly filled the entire space. Tentatively, an adult plant usually needs a pot about 15-20 cm in diameter. Stefanotis is a vine that requires support, but at the same time it should not be planted in suspended planters - the stems are too heavy, the leaf mass hanging down pulls roots from the ground, injuries are inevitable.

If during the transplant you found that the roots either rotted or grew weakly and did not mourn the entire earthen lump, then cut off the damaged roots (sprinkle all juicy breaks and cuts with birch charcoal) and plant them in an old pot in fresh ground. It is very important, especially for plastic pots, that the holes at the bottom are large - not 2-3 mm, but about 1 cm, and drainage is required to the bottom. As drainage, foam, brick crumb, even better broken into shards of coconut shell. You need to put it so that the pieces lie convex side up - it is important for us that the drain holes are not clogged with earth, pebbles or expanded clay! The roots of stephanotis should not be in constant dampness.

Reproduction of stephanotis

Propagate this wonderful plant vegetatively - stem cuttings and seeds. Best time of year for stephanotis to breed: Spring is early summer. Cuttings about 10 cm long are cut from last year's shoots, with one or two sheets (you do not need to cut cuttings from the shoots of the current year, because young shoots should bloom). For faster rooting, which averages about 1.5 months, you can cut off the top half of each leaf by dusting the cut with crushed coal. You can root cuttings in water or in an earthen mixture consisting of equal parts of universal soil and perlite. Everything is clear with water - just cut off a stalk 10-15 cm long, 1 sheet is enough and put it in a glass of water in a warm and bright place - at least 25 ° C. It is advisable to change the water every other day so as not to bloom.

Cuttings take root well in a zip bag. To do this, pour universal earth in half with vermiculite on the bottom of the zip bag (the mixture must be sterilized), the soil humidity is moderate, without dampness (spray 2-3 times from the spray bottle). In the package you need to place the handle, so that the lower node is in the ground. Close the zip pack tightly and hang it on the window, in a bright place (it can burn on the west and south), best on the southeast side. Usually you don't even need to spray additionally - the humidity inside the bag is about 90%. When the roots appear, and it can take 1.5-2 months, you will see them through the package. Here it is important that the soil is rid of pathogenic bacteria, 30-60 seconds in the microwave is enough to treat the substrate. When rooting, root formation stimulants (heteroauxin, zircon, root) can be used.

After the cutting takes root, it is planted in a small pot, up to 10 cm in diameter. But greenhouse conditions must be preserved, otherwise the rooted stalk may die. To do this, the pot can be placed in a transparent bag, straighten its edges, but not tie. Make sure there is enough heat and light. The rooted handle can spend the first winter warm. And only when the young leaves begin to grow vigorously can the pot be freed from the bag and cared for as usual.

Stephanotis of seeds

If you did not buy seeds, but received them from your fruit, they need to be dried within 24 hours before planting. By the way, if the fruit of Stephanotis is ripening, and you do not want to pick it ahead of time, but are afraid that you will lose the seeds, then you can put a bag of transparent capron tights on the fruit, then if the fruit bursts, the seeds will not scatter.

When planting in a mixture of perlite (vermiculite) and peat, the seeds are not buried, but only slightly pressed into the soil with a finger, covered with glass from above. The substrate must be sterilized, the seeds must be pre-soaked for 2 days in water. If you have the opportunity to collect loose leaf humus in the forest - this is the best substrate for sowing seeds, it is enough to warm it in the microwave for 1-1.5 minutes.

Place the plate with seeds in a bright sunny place, if necessary for heating, the temperature should be at least 26 ° C. Germination takes from 4 weeks to 2 months. It is important to prevent waterlogging of the soil, but the air around the crops should be very humid. The soil should become almost dry before it is moistened (better by spraying than watering), at the same time, you need to open the glass or film, wash the condensate and ventilate the crops. Dive into individual pots about 5 cm in diameter, no more when the first pair of real leaves opens. Remove the film or bag from the seedlings, 3-4 days after germination of the seeds. It is important here that seedlings have enough light and humidity, since the film has been removed, it is necessary to periodically spray the seedlings. Seed caps usually peel off themselves, if they do not want to, you need to help - wet the cap and carefully try to remove it with a toothpick. Lighting, if necessary, with fluorescent or LED lamps so that daylight hours are at least 14 hours.

Stefanotis does not bloom

The plant blooms sparsely or does not bloom for several reasons :

• if he was not given a cool rest period - about 14 ° C (above 18 ° C is already bad
);
• if the transplant is not performed on time (at the time of budding);
• if the pot is too big, all the power goes to root formation;
• if fertilizer is incorrectly selected (with a large proportion of nitrogen, and not phosphorus-potassium, as for flowering);
• if stephanotis was planted in too fatty, organic-rich soil;
• if there is not enough light (on the northern windowsill or another window where there is little sunlight);
• if the pot changes location or the flower is turned on the windowsill;