How to grow an azalea at home and care for a flower?

Growing and caring for an azalea at home is not easy. This very whimsical plant requires a special attitude towards itself and compliance with special conditions of detention. However, all your efforts will be rewarded. Azalea blooms very beautifully and luxuriantly, it is distinguished by a variety of appearance of inflorescences and a wealth of colors and shades.

Description

Azalea belongs to the subspecies of rhododendrons. Growing at home can be done in any part of the world with the necessary care. Asian countries (the southeastern part of Asia, Japan, China) are considered its homeland, but you can find this flower in the north of America and southern Europe.

Azalea means "rosewood" in Greek. This is almost the most beautiful of all ornamental indoor plants. It blooms during cold and frosty periods, when the rest of the flowers are resting. The flowering is lush and long lasting, the variety of shades is impressive. The leaves are rounded oblong. The plant looks like a small shrub, has a large varietal variety.

Advice

Be careful when handling the flower at home and in the garden. Keep it away from pets and small children, as azalea is quite poisonous.

Growing azaleas is possible both on the window of the room, and in the country in the open land. Indian azalea is suitable for home, it is easiest to grow it here.

A beautiful flower is often bought at a flower shop in winter as a gift. But, as a rule, such a gift does not serve as a home decoration for long, the azalea quickly crumbles. Why? Adequate care of a sensitive, pampered plant is not followed.

Conditions for growing azaleas

The main rule is that the entire content of a capricious flower should be as close as possible to the natural conditions of life in nature. This requires special care.

Azalea naturally grows in cool climates where there is plenty of light, but not in direct sunlight. She loves water and a constant supply of fresh, moist air. Dryness and heat are destructive for her.

Based on the named natural needs of the decorative culture, a number of basic conditions can be distinguished under which the azalea will be successfully grown in an apartment.

• Air temperature.

Ideally, it should be just below twenty degrees or one to two degrees higher. In October, it is desirable to maintain a special temperature regime (about five degrees above zero). This is necessary for the buds of future flowers to form. When the time for flowering approaches, raise the thermometer to +15. During the period of opening of flowers, set a constant temperature up to +18 degrees. You can create cold for the azalea artificially: cover the flower with pieces of ice, watering is done with cold water, like spraying. If there is no frost outside, you can keep the plant at an open window or put it on a glazed loggia.

• Watering and humidifying the air.

You can moisten the air and dried soil by regular spraying and watering through the pallet (put the box in a pallet filled with water for several hours). Water will saturate the earth and make the air moist by evaporating. Regular watering alternates with sump watering. In the summer, in the heat, you need to water the azalea twice a day and spray more often. It is recommended to take water for irrigation and spraying after rain or snow melt. You can water it with boiled cool water, but it must first be defended. To acidify the soil (this flower loves exactly acidic soils), you can sometimes water the plant with water with the addition of a teaspoon of citric acid (two liters).

• Lighting mode.

There should be plenty of light, but don't let it be in direct sunlight. Protect the azalea from the scorching sun, it will ruin it. If necessary, create an additional light source, especially during the winter months when there is so little sun outside.

• Earth.

Sufficiently acidified is taken, consists of a peat layer, leafy, heather land and earth with needles, you can add a little river sand. It is better to buy a special soil composition in the store, there will be everything you need for azaleas. The bottom of the box should have holes to drain excess water.

• Top dressing.

Azalea care involves regular feeding. It should be carried out two decades later throughout the summer and spring with a special complex of mineral fertilizers (ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, potassium sulfite and superphosphate). Continue fertilize azalea until the November cold. In the period leading up to flower formation, select a phosphate fertilizer (superphosphate) for soil application to improve the quality of flowering buds.

How to propagate an azalea?

Growing can be done by seeds, cuttings, dividing bushes, and also by grafting.

The seed method is used to breed new subspecies, it is very laborious and suitable only for specialists. It is necessary to plant seeds in early spring in the soil from a peat substrate and a layer of fallen needles. Planting should be shallow, cover the seeds with a polyethylene film. The container with future seedlings is placed in a bright place.

Tips

• Keeping the planting container clean is essential. To do this, you need to disinfect it with bleach or potassium permanganate.
• The soil for planting must be disinfected in a water bath or in an oven.
• Place the seed containers in a pan of water to maintain constant moisture.
• Waterlogging should not be allowed, otherwise mold will start. To do this, ventilate the seed containers.
• After 21 days, the sprouts that appear must be fed (a mixture of ammonium sulfate, potassium plus superphosphate).
• Seedlings dive twice: when two weeks have passed after planting and the second time in August.
• Care: watering, weeding, loosening the soil.

At home, it is easier to breed azaleas with cuttings. You need to choose a half-stiff stalk about 10 cm, cut it off (this is done in the middle of winter or from March to June). Next, root the shoot in the soil with coniferous or peat soil. The cutting should take root in a warm place (temperature +25) for a month. Care must be appropriate. To maintain heat, the seedlings are covered, but regularly sprayed and ventilated. When the azalea grows up to 4-5 cm at home, it is transplanted into coniferous soil. After three months, the plant is pinched to form a crown, it is not allowed to bloom, removing the buds. With the arrival of spring, young seedlings are transplanted to a permanent place. The transplant is carried out by transshipment together with a lump of earth in order to protect the roots.

A four-year-old azalea bush can be divided. This must be done carefully, without damaging the roots.

How to prune and transplant an azalea?

Pruning and replanting is also caring for a plant. To get a good flowering azalea, it must be pruned. To do this, the stems that have already bloomed are cut off, and the tops of fresh shoots must be pinched. Weakened stems are removed. Cut off brown leaves, as well as flowers that have dried up and did not fall off after flowering.

Pruning is done after the next transplant of the azalea. It is necessary to transplant it every year. Adults at home are transplanted less often. In this procedure, overly long roots must be cut. The transplant container should not be deep, have drainage holes. The land is selected sour from peat and coniferous layer. Of course, it is necessary to continue proper care of the young transplanted azalea: to make timely watering and feeding.

If the transplant is not done on time, the roots will grow, forming stagnant moisture and causing soil rot.As a result, diseases and various parasites will appear.

Caring for an azalea at home is very laborious, but if you are ardent fans of it and dream of having it on your windowsill, then this should not stop you.

Create conditions for the plant that are similar to their natural habitat, and you can get long and colorful bloom.