Proper care for the gerbera at home

What amateur florist does not know these bright, chamomile-like flowers! The homeland of the gerbera is South Africa, and the beginning of the variety of varieties that exist at the moment gave two species, most beloved by the breeders, Gerber Jameson and Gerber the Green-leaved. The plant is thermophilic, but we have it successfully grown both in flower farms and in room conditions.

Most often, lovers of domestic plants acquire new copies in flower shops. In order to care for the gerbera at home was successful, you must follow some general rules: to monitor the light and temperature regimes of the flower, as well as take care of its proper nutrition and timely watering. Bring it from the store gerber to a well-lit place, better on the windowsill, as this light-loving plant. He should get used to his new habitat, so it's best not to disturb him for a while. Let it calmly flow away, occasionally pouring water at room temperature. It is not necessary to moisten the soil very much, and if water seeps into the pan, it must be drained.

About a month or a little earlier, you can proceed to a flower transplant into a "native" land. To do this, prepare a mixture of ¼ peat, ¼ sand and ½ sheet humus or garden soil. Put a drain on the bottom of the new pot, pour the earth mixture around two-thirds, then proceed with the transplant. And although care for the gerbera at home is not complicated, all the same remember that this plant does not like the abundance of organic, so do not overdo it with fertilizers during transplantation! Leave the root neck of the plant above the surface of the soil. Ideal temperatures for gerberas are 15-20C, so try to ventilate the room where you keep these flowers more often, gerbera drafts are easy to tolerate, and to the fresh air they thankfully thank their blossoming views.

Even flower growers should remember that growing gerbera at home in winter requires additional lighting if you want them to bloom. The minimum light day for gerberas should be 14 hours. If you do not maintain such a light regime, the plants in winter will fall into a state of rest and wake up will only begin with an increase in daylight hours. During this period, it is well to feed them with mineral fertilizers. In general, a little more careful care of the gerbera at home allows you to achieve flowering twice a year - in winter and summer, or in spring and autumn.

Propagate gerberas and seeds, and vegetatively. Seeds of hybrids are purchased in stores, but it should be borne in mind that they do not last long to germinate, and they can be sown and needed immediately after purchase. Lightweight peat mixtures are suitable for sowing seeds. Seeds rise at room temperature for 7-8 days. As soon as young plants have real leaves, they are treated as with any other seedling - they are dived into separate cups and give a good root. After that, they can be transplanted into permanent pots, but always remember the basal neck of the gerbera, which can not be drowned in the ground.

It is not necessary to hope very much that in the next six months the same gerberas will bloom as on a pack of seeds. If you want to have exactly the same flower as, for example, the neighbors, then it's best to ask them to divide the flower bush into parts when transplanting. This will be a vegetative mode of reproduction, which guarantees the production of such a plant. When dividing the bush on each of its parts, several growth points are left, the roots are cut off a little, the peduncles are removed, all sections are thoroughly disinfected with a pink solution of potassium permanganate and each part is planted in a separate container, then the gerbera is kept at home as described above. This flower loves sprinkling of leaves from the spray, especially during the heating season, when the air in the apartment is overdone, and the gerber needs your care and love.

To flower diseases gerberas are more or less stable, - to keep gerberas at home can be without special problems, but it should not be abandoned to the mercy of fate, since a flower, like any living organism, can get sick from lack of attention.