Calceolaria - "flowers-shoes". Advices on care and cultivation

By spring holidays in flower markets often there are plants with beautiful and unusual flowers called calceolaria, or in common parlance "shoe". Having bought such a plant, after the end of flowering, people often throw it away, believing that it is an annual, and there is nothing more to expect from it. However, after continuing to care for him, you can and the next year to enjoy its flowering. The flower of the calceolaria is easy to clean and will suit even the beginner-floriculturist. It is enough to follow simple rules - and the plant will thank the stormy and long flowering.

We get acquainted: calceolaria

Calceolaria - flowers grown as an annual, biennial or perennial plant. Can be cultivated as a room culture or used to decorate flower beds and alpine hills. Quite unpretentious in the care and very effective. It is a flowering plant, which is valued precisely for the shape of its inflorescences. The flower of the calceolaria is unusual in its shape and color. In the people it is called a "shoe" for the fact that its petals resemble a female slipper in shape. Flowers are monochrome, but they can have different spots, stripes that give a more decorative and interesting look. This plant can be either a small shrub or a low herbaceous plant. Leaves densely pubescent, can have both rounded shape, and be deeply cut.

Varieties

Among the calceolarians there are about 300 varieties, however the most widespread are:

• Calceolorium is tender. Appreciated for its decorative appearance, since it has yellow inflorescences, densely decorated with red specks. This small plant, not exceeding 15 centimeters in height, is grown as a room culture, but in summer it is easy to tolerate street conditions. On the windowsills is grown as perennial.
• Calceolorium wrinkled - this is another representative of perennials. It grows in the form of a bush, about 1 meter high. In places where winters are not too harsh, it is grown as perennial on the flowerbed.
• Calceolaria thin - a kind of medium size, reaching up to 40 centimeters and is intended for growing on flower beds in the open ground. Has light gently lemon flowers.
• Calceolaria multicuspid - a kind of creeping perennial plants. Such a subspecies is grown as a room culture and as an ornament for a flower bed in the open ground.
• Calceolaria hybrid - this is the widest of representatives of the species. Since under this name are combined numerous varieties of different colors with one common property - it is a room culture, low, having wide, round, strongly fluffy leaves, having large and original in form flowers. It has a very long flowering period, which is about 6-8 weeks. Height does not exceed 15 centimeters, while flowers can reach a diameter of 5 centimeters.

Temperature conditions

Calceolaria - flowers are thermophilic. They do not tolerate frosty winters, that's why they are most often grown as a room culture, or, during wintering, they are transplanted into pots and put into the house. It is easy to tolerate high temperatures, but die at 10 degrees of heat and below.

Lighting

Calceolaria - flowers are southern, so they are very photophilous. However, they are a little pritenyat from the summer scorching sun. Under direct rays, leaves can get burns, but with a strong dimming, the plant loses its ornamentality and ceases to bloom.

Watering and top dressing

Indoor flowers of calceolaria do not tolerate drying out of the soil, therefore it is necessary to carefully monitor that they are all the time moistened. The higher the air temperature, the more abundant and frequent the watering should become. Sprinkle calceolaria as well as gentle violets and senpolia, - gently along the edge of the pot, not touching the leaves and root shoots. But the most safe and effective way is watering through a pallet. Calceolaria very much loves moistened soil and does not tolerate drying, but with overflow or stagnant water, the plant instantly dies. Therefore, you need to take care of a small, but often watering and the presence of good drainage in the pot.

The plant is protected from water on the leaves. In no case do they use spraying. This can lead to decay of the leaves and death of the flower.

To fertilize a universal fertilizer suitable for flowering plants, which is bred in accordance with the instructions on the package.

Flower of calceolaria: how to care for

It is necessary to remove faded and faded inflorescences and yellowed leaves. If you do not remove the old peduncles, then new ones will cease to form, therefore, for regular flowering, regular pruning is mandatory. Varieties such as calceolaria are wrinkled, subjected to spring formation of the bush, which helps in the formation of a more compact plant with a large number of peduncles. Potted varieties "shoe" pleases with its flowering from spring until autumn.

Quite unpretentious in growing flowers are calceolaria. Care is the timely transplantation of perennial varieties, which is produced every two years, in the middle of spring. When the size of the pot for transplantation reaches in diameter of 20 centimeters, in the future the plant is no longer transplanted into a large container, but only the soil is replaced. With the use of broader pots, rotting of roots and death of plants is very likely.

When planting indoor plants and the need to create compact plants even at the stage of the appearance of 6 leaves, the flower is pricked, thereby forming a small bush with a lot of peduncles. After the end of flowering, the plant must be cut off, wilted flower stalks are removed.

Reproduction

Calceolaria - flowers that reproduce with seeds that have very good germination. When sowing in the soil, seeds are scattered over the surface of the soil and do not pour down from above, after which they are abundantly watered and covered with polyethylene or glass to create the effect of the greenhouse. Periodically the glass rises and the condensate is removed, and after the formation of 6 leaves, the calceolaria is transplanted into separate pots for further growth. Seeds best germinate at a temperature of about 20 degrees. They are sown in the period from May to July, the first shoots appear within two weeks later. And in a month they can be dived into separate pots. Blooms calceolaria after 8-10 months after the appearance of the first shoots.

A variant of propagation by cuttings is also possible. This method is suitable for medium and tall varieties, which are periodically cropped, forming more lush bushes with a large number of new peduncles. Crop shoots take root in the soil.

When planting, a universal primer for indoor plants or soils suitable for growing violets and senpolia is used. When self-made soil mixture must make the composition:

• Sod - 2 parts.
• Leafy ground - 2 parts.
• Peat - 1 part.
• The sand is ½.

In flower shops, flowers of calceolaria are sold, the average price is 500 rubles per plant.

Diseases and pests

The main dangers of growing calceolaria are diseases such as phytophthora and pithium. These are varieties of fungi that can cause rotting and death of young shoots. To eliminate such a problem before landing in the ground, it is calcined or treated with poison fungicides. Also, due to the need for permanent moistening of the soil, gray rot may appear. It is formed when water falls on the delicate leaves of plants. Calceolaria - a room flower, often attacked by pests such as aphids, whitefly and nematodes. At the first signs of emergence, special preparations must be used to destroy them.

A fairly unpretentious plant, which will always please with its magnificent flowering and unusualness, is a flower of calceolaria. How to care and grow, even the most inexperienced florist can master. But calcaceolaria is one of the very first blooms in the spring on the windowsill.