Aroid family. Homeland - the island of Madagascar.
Zamioculcas zamielysna zamioculcas zamiifolia is common at home - an evergreen tuberous plant with dark green fleshy leaves pointed at the end. The surface of the sheet is glossy. The stems are thick, the leaves sit symmetrically on them, alternately. The plant is large, grows in an apartment about 1-1.5 meters high. It blooms at home, if provided with appropriate conditions of detention, with white flowers, but at a fairly mature age. Inflorescence ear. The growth rate is medium or slow: about 1-3 leaves per year, flowering is also 1-2 times a year. It is not difficult to grow zamiokulkas at home, it is very unpretentious.
- By the way, what zamiokulkas often call stems, in fact, are not stems at all, these are the axes of the leaf. I.e. its leaf is cirrus - a thick petiole departs from the ground, smoothly turning into the axis of the leaf - this is the so-called rachis, and there are many separate leaves from it, there are an average of 12-24 of them in an adult leaf. The whole leaf is similar in structure to a bird feather.
Zamiokulkas - care at home
Zamioculcas is not so long ago grown at home, so not everyone remembered its name. It should be noted that the plant is unpretentious in care. Of course, if all the requirements are met, the zamiokulkas begins to show itself in all its glory, but there are specimens in offices that stand on the floor 3 meters from the window without much care and dressing and feel pretty good. The only difference is that they grow much slower and do not have as large leaves as their counterparts with proper care.
Temperature
Moderate in summer, optimally in the range of 18-24 ° C, worse tolerates heat above 28 ° C indoors, without ventilation. In winter, a cool content is preferable, about 16-18 ° C, but not lower than 12 ° C. In any case, in the summer, open the windows more often, or move the plant to the balcony.
Lighting
For zamiokulkas, choose a bright place with bright diffused light, where the sun shines only in the morning or evening, after 16 hours. The east and north-west window is ideal, you can grow in the north. In summer, prefers outdoor accommodation - on the balcony, in the garden, under shade. In winter, you will have to rearrange the zamiokulkas closer to the window, from September to the end of January, the zamiokulkas can safely grow on the southern windowsill without shading (in central Russia).
Watering
Moderate from spring to autumn, while water should not remain on the pallet. Approximately water, after the top layer of the earth dries in 2-3 days. In winter, watering is rare, the soil should dry well until the next watering, that is, after the drying of the upper part of the soil, water in about 5-7 days. Zamioculcas is easier to tolerate overdrying than stagnant water in the soil - this can lead to rot of the roots and the formation of rot on the leaves.
- Do not forget that zamiokulkas is a succulent, which means that it needs porous soil with such a frequency of watering that the entire ground in the pot dries out no longer than three to four days.
Fertilizing
From April to August, fertilizers are fed every 2-3 weeks, since zamiokulkas quickly consumes nutrients. Fertilizers for cacti and succulents can be used. Do not use fertilizers with a high dose of nitrogen or highly concentrated organic matter. From excess nitrogen, fleshy roots and leaves become even more watery, crack, bacterial rot and fungal infections occur. If you use ordinary fertilizer for indoor flowers, for example, Fertica, then take a concentration 2-3 times less, from the recommended one.
Air humidity
Zamiokulkas does not require spraying leaves, but periodically it is necessary to arrange washing with a warm shower so that the plant does not dust and does not lose its attractiveness. At the same time, cover the soil from moisture.
Zamiokulkas transplant
Annually in the spring. The soil should be quite nutritious. For young plants - 1 part of the turf land, 1 part of the sheet (or peat) land, 1 part of the sand (fine gravel, fraction 2-3 mm). You can add a little well-rotted humus ground. Transplantation of plants older than 3-4 years is carried out every two years in the spring. The pot for zamiokulkas should be commensurate with the root system, not too spacious. Good drainage is mandatory.
With old, very overgrown plants, difficulties arise when transplanting - the bushes are heavy, it is difficult to put the plant on its side and not break the leaves. Therefore, before transplanting abundantly pour the soil in the pot. Then insert a long knife between the pot wall and the earthen lump and walk around the pot circle. Now you need to gently grasp the bottom of the entire mass of the base of the leaves and pull. I.e. pull out of the pot not for one petiole, but how much you can grab. When transplanting, examine the roots, at the same time you can separate several leaves with tubers and roots for reproduction.
Reproduction of zamioculcas
Zamiokulkas is propagated by dividing the bush during transplantation, leaf, cuttings. It is better to dry the sheet a little before planting, then put it on slightly moist sand or in sphagnum moss.
It is advisable to root cuttings or a leaf with soil heating and using phytohormones for better root formation. Rooting can drag on for up to 2 months.
The cuttings are most easily rooted in moist vermiculite. After the roots appear, zamiokulkas begins to grow a tuber until it grows about the size of a walnut, the growth of a new shoot does not occur. Thus, after planting a rooted handle, it takes quite a long time to wait for a new growth - several months.
But even after landing on the substrate, this representative of aroids grows very slowly. But adult plants, upon reaching 2-3 years, begin to grow very energetically, if it is well cared for and the microclimate is optimal, zamioculcas grows at such a speed that you have to transplant it into a bucket. In height, it reaches a meter, the leaves themselves can be longer - about 1.2 m, but they droop without a garter and the scope of the bush reaches 1.5 meters.
