Previously, they could be seen in almost every home.In revolutionary time they were called a symbol of philistinism and began to get rid of them. Now they are once again winning their deserved popularity. We are talking about plants called elastic ficuses, a little demanding, slightly capricious, but always unusually beautiful.
The native land of ficuses is the zone of the tropics:Burma, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, the island of Java, the Northeast part of India. There they grow lush trees up to 40 meters and more. Many species for supplementary feeding and respiration have dozens of rather powerful, aerial roots that fall down to the earth. In India, they even create suspension bridges. In the native spaces all the ficuses bloom and bear fruit. The fruits of some are edible. Room ficuses bloom in rare cases, only if they were provided with all the conditions, and most importantly, they provided enough space. But do not get upset about this, because the flowers (sikonia) of most of them are ungainly pear-shaped formations with a hole, similar to figs. Fruits have approximately the same appearance.
Care of ficuses is simple, but requires compliance with certain rules. There are only six:
1. Lighting. All the ficuses love it, but direct sunlightcan not stand. From this on their leaves there are stains of burns. The best option is to put a pot of flowers near the window, closed with a light curtain. The window itself should also be closed, because drafts do not like ficuses. Once in a blown place, plants begin to lose foliage.
2. Temperature. Despite the fact that the elastics are figs - southerners, they can not endure the heat. The optimum temperature for them is +22 ... +25 aboutWith the summer and +14 ... +16 aboutWith the winter. At lower values, the plants begin to discard the foliage.
3. Watering. It is required regular, but moderate.It is not necessary to fill the plants, but the earth's clump must be moist (except when the ficus is kept at an air temperature below + 12 degrees). Water for irrigation must be defended.
4. Humidity. All elasic ficuses love spraying warmboiled water. If the room is hot, you need to do this daily. In winter, spraying is not carried out. But rubbing the leaves from dust is required all year round.
5. Additional fertilizing. To plants are pleased with beauty, it is desirable to feed them twice a month with complex fertilizers. The break is made only in winter, when the growth of plants ceases.
6. Consistency. Ficus do not like the changes in their lives, that is, turning the pot or moving to a new place. They respond to these actions with a leaf fall.
Since all varieties of ficuses grow rapidly, theiryou need to transplant from time to time. Put a small, just brought from the store plant immediately in a large pot can not. So at it roots will begin to grow intensively to the detriment of the ground part. If there is a need for a transplant, a new pot is chosen only 5 cm wider and 6 cm deeper than the previous one. At the bottom of the required drainage. Grunt either buy a special for ficus, or prepare themselves. To do this, mix equal parts of sand, humus, turf and peat land. In rare cases, ficus transplantation at home is replaced by the addition of soil from above to the pot. If a white coating appears on the earth crust around the plant, it must be cut off and the same soil as the one taken during the transplantation should be added to the pot.
They multiply the elastics in two ways.
1. Cuttings. It is necessary to cut a stalk with several sheets,rinse under running water until the whitish juice stops flowing, and put it in water or stick it into wet ground. In the latter case it is desirable to cover it with a package. In this way, plants with green leaves, for example, Robusta's elastic ficus, are better propagated.
2. By air layers. On the vending stalk you need to make an incision (notmore than 1/3 of the thickness), wrap it with sphagnum moss and a bag or film. When the roots appear, the stem needs to be cut and planted. This method is used to propagate variegated ficuses.
Ficuses of elastics are attacked by scutes, thrips andarachnoid mites. Fight them with special drugs ("Aktara") or folk remedies. The most effective is to wipe off the leaves and stalk of the diseased plant with a soap solution, which is washed off after half an hour. Some growers are advised to spray the ground in the pot with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. All other problems with ficuses (littering, twisting, yellowing of foliage, too elongated bare stalk) are caused by non-compliance with the rules of plant care.
The most popular among the florists is the ficusRobust's elasticity. In most cases, it has one straight stem stretching to the very ceiling. Its leaves are large, oval, up to 30 cm long and about 15 cm wide, saturated green, smooth, glossy, very dense, with a bent tip. It is difficult to force it to grow with a bush. If you cut off this ficus tip, several lateral buds come to life, but usually one grows, giving the same single stem. The remaining buds or their young shoots freeze. But Robust's ficus among his fellows is considered the most patient and undemanding. To force him to release lateral shoots it is possible, not only pruning the tip, but also tilting the stem. Then the upper kidney will develop. When several leaves appear on it, the stem is straightened. Some growers make a puncture on the stalk with a needle (about 1/3 of the thickness). This stimulates the growth of the kidneys.
Another popular type of plant is the ficus elastica -Abidjan. Outwardly, he looks like Robust, only his leaves are much darker, and their tip is pointed, but not bent. If the proper lighting is provided for Abidjan, the foliage color becomes dark beet-colored with red veins. This type of ficus is also rather unpretentious and undemanding.
Ficus of Elanika Melanie (pictured above) is excellentbranches without the efforts of man. Leaflets are smaller than in the two previous species. In length they grow up to 15 cm, and in width - to 7. Their tip is bent. The plant looks very beautiful, as the branches are compact on branches. If you take care of it correctly, you get a neat, lush bush. This kind of a little moody, loves regular spraying, requires fertilizing with fertilizers with nitrogen, does not tolerate drafts, permutations and dust on the leaves.
These include the species of Belize, Brazil, Thineke.These ficuses are quite demanding creatures. They need the right lighting, heat and frequent spraying. Without satisfactory conditions, they shed their leaves or lose their mottled colors. Ficus elastica Tineke has rather large, up to 25 cm long and 15 cm wide, oval leaves. Closer to the central vein (pink or cream), they are green, and around the edges are white, cream or other light tones. Belize is also very spectacular. Its leaves have a more pronounced patchiness and a red central vein. On the edges are white, pink and cream.
Ficus leaf Brazil also variegated, but lightspots on them more. Their color is white, yellow, cream, salad, and the central vein is light. The plant can grow bushes and looks unusually beautiful. In the photo above - ficus Tineke.
The word "mix" in this case means thatsown seeds of several varieties, but several. The ficus of Benjamin's mix is the most common. This species has many varieties, among which there are representatives with both motley and green leaves. Some of them, for example, green Daniel, Exotica have leaves up to 6 cm in length, while Kinky and Ester leaves grow to only 4-5 cm. Monique and Golden Monique are very beautiful, and the edges of the leaves are strongly corrugated.
