Exotic flowering plant azalea horrible tous from very distant countries. At least, it is called the birthplace of China, and Japan, and North America. In addition to beauty, in Eastern countries, it embodies joy, freedom and peace. However, with the cultivation of this plant there are many difficulties.
Home care for azalea requiresits proper placement in the apartment. She likes bright diffused light or even partial shade, but does not tolerate hot sunlight. Of course, it is good to take the plant to the balcony in the summer, but beware of drafts and sunburn.
The temperature in the room where the azalea containshome conditions should be low: 16–18 degrees of heat in summer, 12–15 degrees in winter. Fans of indoor plants have noticed that at the time of planting and development of flower buds, that is, in the fall, the temperature is best reduced to 8 or even 5 degrees. This means that the azalea for a long time can be kept on a closed loggia, and then moved to the west or north window in the apartment.
Warning for beginner gardeners: if the room is too warm, besides very dry, the flowering time of the plant is reduced, and the azalea drops the leaves.
The flower prefers high humidity, which meansneed to provide it. First, you should place the plant pot on a tray with expanded clay, which should be constantly wet. It is useful to wash the clay from time to time under running water. Secondly, taking care of azalea at home requires its constant spraying. It is advisable to do this daily, and in hot weather - twice a day. During the period of flowering spraying is not necessary so that the flowers do not appear spots.
Watering the plant should be plentiful, but at the same time it should be avoided over-wetting the soil. In the fall, when the budding process is underway, watering should be significantly reduced.
But in the summer can be recommended for azaleasspecial water treatments. Once a month you need to put a flower pot for 3-4 hours in a bucket of water. Then you need to allow the plant to settle, so that the excess liquid is gone, and return the pot to its former place on the windowsill.
Water for irrigation is best to take rain, melt(from melted snow) or distilled. Tap water can only be used after it has settled well (ideally not less than three days), it will be even better if it is boiled. We must not forget that the plant does not like hard water, but prefers, on the contrary, soft water. You can soften the water not only by settling or boiling, but also by adding peat or various chemical preparations that are sold in stores.
Watering conditions must be strictly followed, otherwise you can see how the azalea drops leaves. What to do?
Before proceeding with the transplant, you mustremove all dried flowers along with pedicels. If at this point young shoots appeared on the bush, you have to pinch the tops, and the weak or strongly stretched ones are best cut.
The root system of this flower is locatedhorizontally, so it is best to place the azalea in a wide pot. When loosening the soil you need to be careful not to touch the roots. They are located shallow, because they love good aeration.
To transplant a flower, soil should be bought in the store, since it is a mixture of peat, leaf, heather and coniferous soil, river sand. Drainage must be put on the bottom.
When transplanting the land around the roots, it is advisable not to touch it; you just need to transfer it to a new pot with fresh soil. After damaging the roots, then you have to wonder: "Why do leaves fall off at azaleas?"
Для поддержания нужной кислотности почвы изредка, for example, once every two weeks, plants can be watered with citric acid solution. To do this, dissolve 1 tsp of acid in two liters of water. Another way to acidify the soil - after 3-4 months, water the flower with a solution (0.2%) of sulfuric acid. Each time it should be done only after moistening the soil.
There are special fertilizers used to feed flowering plants. This, for example, "Kemira" or "Ferovit". They are used as a means to prevent various diseases.
Only young shoots are suitable for grafting.not yet stiff. A sharp knife (blade) cuts a stem of 10–15 cm in size under the kidney. It is placed in a container with wet peat and deepened by approximately 5 cm, and the soil around it must be compacted. Then the handle is closed with a jar or plastic. You can also put it in the greenhouse. For rooting to happen faster, high humidity and temperature of +25 degrees is required.
The cuttings do not rot if they are aired and sprayed at least three times a day.
Rooting cuttings will have to wait a long time, up to six months. Then they are transplanted into a pot, to a permanent place.
For breeding, you can still try to rootcuttings of this plant. Under the bud on the side of the shoot, an incision should be made. With a wooden hook, this shoot is pinned to the ground and sprinkled with primer. By the way, there should be at least a few leaves above the kidney.
When rooting of the shoot occurs, carefully separate the layers from the main plant and transfer them to a separate pot.
It's simple. It is necessary to strictly follow all recommendations for the care of the plant, and it will come to life, stop losing leaves and buds.
Однако причина плохого самочувствия цветка бывает much more serious. Dry air and very high temperatures can cause a spider mite to appear on a plant. This is a small pest of red color, which envelops the underside of leaves with thin white cobwebs.
So, due to spider mite, azalea dropsleaves. What to do? To cope with it, you need to wash the leaves, especially their underside, with a special solution - not very strong tobacco extract with soap. For infusion, you can also use onions, garlic, calendula, yarrow. Another way is to pollinate azalea with ground sulfur, always in the open air. Finally, it can be treated with systemic insecticides that are sold in the store. All this will have to be done several times.
In general, azalea - roomplant. But it turns out that she feels good on the street. In spring, when the weather is good, the flower can not only be brought to the loggia or balcony, but even landed in the garden. The main thing is not to forget that azalea does not like hot sunshine, so it is better to place it in shaded places. Outdoors, the plant may be before the onset of cold weather.
