Indoor flower aphelander came to us from the tropical forests of South America. The plant is an evergreen shrub, short-footed and with very beautiful leaves. At home, with good care, the aphelandra grows to 60 cm in height. The plant is appreciated for its colorful leaves: stiff and corrugated, they have a very rich green color with bright yellow veins.
How to care for the aphelandra?
The plant can be attributed to the most capricious room colors. It is very important to ensure good lighting, high humidity and a warm place. In this case, the flower does not like direct sunlight, so the ideal solution can be considered the location of the flower on the southern window, but with periodic shading in the interval from 11 to 17 hours.
Watch the moisture of the soil, do not allow it to dry out. At the same time excessive overmoistening is not advisable, roots can decay. From the beginning of spring to the end of autumn, watering should be abundant, and during the rest period it is necessary to switch to moderate watering. The water temperature should be at room temperature.
The flower is very fond of high humidity. Constantly spray aphelandra from the spray gun. It is permissible to place the pot in a tray of water.
During active growth or flowering, the plant needs to be fed. Each week fertilize the flower with mineral fertilizers. But during the rest period it is better to stop feeding.
Afelandra: Reproduction
This plant has two ways of reproduction: seeds or apical cuttings. If you decide to grow a flower from seeds, then you need to start immediately the field of their collection. In February-March, a substrate is prepared: a mixture of leaf earth and sand in a ratio of 1: 0.25. Reproduction of the aphelandra with seeds requires a constant temperature of about 22 ° C. If you use a small greenhouse or a lower heating of the soil, things will go faster. Shoots are transplanted into another mixture: in equal proportions take deciduous and soddy ground, add a bit more sand.
To grow a flower by cuttings, take annual shoots about 15 cm in height. Shoots should be with a couple of leaves, cut them in the period from March to May. Cuttings must be treated with growth stimulators, provide lower heating. Root cuttings should be in a soil mixture of the following composition: wet sand or a mixture of peat with sand. If at home to ensure proper care for cuttings afelandra, then within a month they form roots. And after a couple of months you can transplant plants into a mixture of leaf and peat land with the addition of sand and humus. We take all the ingredients in equal proportions, only half the sand.
Transplanting the aphelanders
The transplant should be done every spring. For this, it is necessary to prepare a sufficiently loose and light, moisture-permeable soil. For this purpose, the mixture used for propagation by cuttings is well suited: deciduous land, humus, peat and sand.
Afelandra: Diseases
Care for the flower aphelandra should be carefully, since lack of care provokes diseases and the appearance of pests. Over time, there may appear a soft or hemispherical scab, the worms. The leaves or stems may be soft
Another disease, the afhelandra, which can weaken it, is called "verticillium wilting." In this case, you will notice the discoloration and wilting of the lower leaves and then the upper leaves. This occurs as a result of blockage of the vessels with a fungus, there is no cure for this disease.