Hydrangea home how to care. Indoor flower Hydrangea, description and photo. Why doesn't the flower bloom?

Under natural conditions, this amazing plant really see in the vastness of the American continent, on the territory South-East Asia, China and Japan. This graceful perennial flower in the form of a shrub, flower growers of our country have long loved, decorating their own window sills with it. What does indoor hydrangea look like, what are the conditions for its maintenance, how to correctly transplant, what problems do indoor plant lovers face?

These beautiful flowers can be grown at home by a grower with any practical experience. They live in a pot, having the shape of a shrub. Indoor hydrangea blooms with large inflorescences, visually resembling balls, the diameter of which reaches 35 cm.

Inflorescences are corymbose, umbellate or racemose - depending on the choice of a particular variety that you will keep at home. Fertile flowers are placed in the center, and barren ones are at the edges. The leaves of the plant have a solid size, are dark green in color, look like an egg and are opposite each other. The color of the flowers directly depends on the composition and structure of the soil.

If it has an increased level of acidity, the flowers turn bright blue. Planted on neutral ground, they become white or cream in color. In alkaline soil, the inflorescences turn into pale, colorless flowers. To change the color of hydrangeas at home, connoisseurs of beauty use alum. Plants are watered 2 times a week with a solution at the rate of 8 grams of aluminum alum per 1 liter of water.

This method of changing color can be used at home only for varieties with pink petaloid sepals. Since in species with white color it is not possible to change it. This culture is fruitful - seeds ripen in a multi-seed box. If you take proper care of this plant at home, you can get a pet even up to 1 meter tall.

Hydrangea, also known as hydrangea, is represented by a large number of varieties, each of which has its own flower color. The most popular for keeping at home is large-leaved, the care of which even beginners can do. It is an ornamental perennial with dark green foliage, on the tops of the stems of which large bright inflorescences appear.

Optimal growing conditions

When caring for your beauty, you need to create for her at home certain conditions. These include choosing a place for a flower - it should not be located under the scorching sun. When grown at home, hydrangea is illuminated from 17 - 18 to 22 hours - this way it turns out to bring the flowering period closer. This is done at the rate of 250 - 300 watts per square meter of shelving area. You can use mirror lamps at home - then flowering occurs earlier by 25 - 30, and when using fluorescent lamps - by 18 - 20 days.

In winter, the hydrangea at home inevitably enters a dormant period. It needs to be moved to a cool place with a temperature of 8 - 10 degrees. Why? In this mode at home, your pet will quickly regain strength, he will stay in a new place until February - the onset of the growing season. Flowers can be moved to a warm, bright place when the first buds are visible. Concerning temperature regime, then in late February - early March, the hydrangea should be placed at home in a warm, bright room, where a mode of 13 - 15 degrees Celsius is maintained. Care includes regular watering.

For planting at home, it is recommended to purchase a substrate - the products "Saintpaulia", "Azalea", "Begonia" have proven themselves among flower growers. You can prepare the necessary soil mixture at home yourself. It should include turf and leaf soil, sand and peat - in proportions of 3: 3: 2: 1. Such a beauty grows well if it is rooted in a slightly acidic peat substrate with a pH level of 4 - 5.

The air must be moist - spraying is a mandatory care. The above-ground part should be moistened, and the handsome man himself should be placed away from heating appliances. You can place a bowl of liquid next to the pot, or place the flowerpot on a special tray containing water and pebbles. For such a crop, the soil should never be dry.

Abundant watering of the pet is carried out exclusively in the summer, you will need to use good drainage. In winter, it is advised to do this once every 1.5 months. Settled and soft water is used. In summer, once every 2 weeks, you need to make a mixture mineral fertilizers. 35 grams are mixed in a bucket of water ammonium nitrate, 50 grams of superphosphate and 30 potassium sulfate. Abundant watering and fertilization are necessary until mid-August, after which top dressing is not required, and watering begins minimally.

When caring for a culture, weak shoots and basal shoots must be removed. The pruning procedure is relevant for both hydrangeas that are kept at home, and those that grow in the garden. Why? Shearing indoor plants is carried out in spring and autumn. The purpose of autumn pruning is to prepare flowers for the upcoming winter. To do this, weakened and too thin stems are cut off completely, and old strong ones are shortened by half. Spring pruning when caring for a pet is necessary for cutting elongated shoots and forming a beautifully shaped shrub.

Video "Room hydrangea"

How to transplant a plant

After a certain time, adult specimens grown at home should be transplanted. This procedure takes place over a couple of years and is carried out every year. Why can't you do without a transplant? Because the life cycle plants is 4 years old. Then you need to plant a new one.

The scientific name for hydrangea, hydrangea, comes from the Greek word hydra, meaning water. Therefore, hot is rather weak and should always be watered to compensate for the lack of flowers. As a general rule, you shouldn't let hydrangea bushes dry out, but especially in spring, you need to be careful to water these plants well. Then the flower buds form, and if they wither, the hydrangea will not bloom in summer.

However, you don't need to "drown" the hydrangea roots in too much water. The first signal of concern in this regard is the blackening of the leaves. Watering program 2 times a week in spring and summer and once a week in autumn. In cold weather, watering will be carried out daily.

For transplantation, it is important to choose the optimal composition of the earth. Well suited clay, having an increased level of acidity. Most often, a mixture of coniferous and peat soil, humus and sand, taken in equal parts. Hydrangea can and should be transplanted by picking up a large and wide pot. Why? Everything is explained by its horizontally located root system.

It is necessary to carefully carry out the transplant by transshipment of the whole earthen coma. It must not be allowed to fall apart and the root system of the plant is damaged. Previously, a high-quality drainage layer, consisting of expanded clay and pebbles, is laid on the bottom of the tank. The voids that have appeared must be carefully sealed with a nutrient mixture. The root neck should eventually be on the surface of the soil. Peat mulch is required, which will not allow moisture to evaporate quickly.

Indoor hydrangea, for example, large-leaved, can be planted not only at home, but also in the garden. Hydrangeas should be planted in the garden in early spring. If she spent the winter in the ground, land in own garden it is permissible after the last snow has melted. If the plant has overwintered in a greenhouse, you will have to wait until the night frosts are over. It is optimal to choose a place for planting in the garden near the house. It is necessary to choose a place that is not very windy. For hydrangeas in the garden, an area that is not very sunlit and located in partial shade is suitable. Depending on the size of the flowers, holes should be prepared in the garden with a width of 40 by 40 cm - 80 by 80 cm, the depth of which is 40 cm.

The soil for planting in the garden should be normally loosened. The root system must be leveled along the edges of the hole, and the neck is deepened into the ground by no more than 3 cm. After planting in the garden, care provides for abundant watering in order to better root the plant. For hydrangea, when planting in the garden, it is permissible to place clay at the bottom of the hole if the soil is sandy. If there is a risk of falling into a hole ground water, drainage is placed at the bottom. The pit needs to be filled with a mixture of peat, humus, superphosphate, sand, potash fertilizer- at the rate of 50 grams per hole.

Possible difficulties in growing

With incorrect care due to a lack of theoretical base or lack of sufficient practical experience, flower growers sometimes face difficulties. These include diseases and pests. Common illnesses include gray rot- appears due to flooding of the plant and excessive humidity (treatment is carried out Bordeaux mixture); powdery mildew – high humidity and temperature (oily spots appear on the leaves, the fight is carried out copper-containing preparations. If powdery mildew is found, use the proven method - 150 grams of green vitriol is mixed with 15 grams of copper, and then diluted in 10 liters of water.

In addition to the above diseases, hydrangea at home can be attacked by aphid colonies and spider mite. They thrive when the air is dry. It is really possible to help the plants by carrying out a double treatment with Aktellik or a soapy solution. Yellowing of flowers may be observed if there is little light for the culture, not enough nutrients in the ground, or inadequate watering is carried out. If the plant receives little liquid and will be in conditions low level humidity, it may even die. Therefore, monitor all indicators of keeping your pet at each stage of its development.

The hydrangea flower is grown in gardens and at home. The shrub grows to large sizes and blooms in large inflorescences, turning the garden into a real flower bed. We will talk about the specific features of hydrangea, its cultivation in open ground and in a pot in this article.

Bright hydrangea - decoration of any garden.

Hydrangea, also called hydrangea, belongs to the genus of the same name, with more than 70 varieties. Notably, the required containment conditions for different varieties hydrangeas can vary significantly. The homeland of the plant is South and East Asia, North and South America. Often hydrangea can be found in China and Japan, some species grow on Far East in Russia.

Among hydrangeas there are shrubs and miniature trees. All of them have large flowers with four colored sepals. Most varieties of hydrangeas change the shade of flowers depending on the hydrogen composition of the soil. The plant thrives in an acidic environment. blue flowers, in neutral - white or cream, in alkaline - pink or lilac.

Types of hydrangeas

To our climatic conditions 5 types of hydrangea are most adapted. Each of them requires special care in winter period.

Growing hydrangeas

It is important to know how to care for hydrangeas in the garden and at home, because the requirements of plants are similar. Not all garden specimens need shelter for the winter. To provide proper care, you need to know exactly the grade of your beauty.

Site selection and soil

Both indoor and garden hydrangeas require a place with good lighting. In partial shade, its inflorescences will become smaller, growth will slow down. Hydrangea does not like cold, drafts and temperature changes. Optimum temperature its content during the growing season is 20 °C.

In the garden, hydrangea should be planted on open space, avoiding bushes and trees - their roots will take the moisture that the flower will need. The ideal soil for hydrangeas is loose, water and breathable. The optimal mixture consists of equal parts of peat, sand, sod and leaf soil, humus.

Hydrangeas do not grow well in calcareous soil. If the soil is heavy, a little sand is added to it before planting. Acidity should be within 5.5 pH, its actual level can be understood by the shade of the inflorescences. For acidification use aluminum or ammonium sulfate in solution. Prepare it at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. for 1 liter of water.

Planting hydrangeas

AT open ground hydrangea is planted in late spring, and if the plant has a good root system, then in September. Do not fertilize the earth with ash, it is better to add peat with sand or coniferous soil. Make holes 50x50 cm in size, provide drainage at the bottom of each.

Before planting, it is customary to apply fertilizer to the soil. For hydrangeas, "Kemira" or "Asid-plus" are suitable. After planting the seedling, the soil must be shed with water and mulched with sawdust or a peat layer up to 10 cm. If you want to plant bushes in the form of a hedge, keep a distance of 70-100 cm between them.

Potted hydrangeas.

Watering

Both garden and indoor hydrangea love moist soil. In the summer, a houseplant should be watered abundantly, in autumn and spring it should be done moderately, and in the winter dormant period - symbolically. Hydrangea needs constant spraying. In the garden, near the bushes, you can place a container with water. Once a month, the plant is watered with acidified water (5 drops of lemon juice per liter of water).

Hydrangea is demanding on water quality and irrigation technique. It is necessary to use filtered or settled, boiled water. You can use melt or rain. Tap water can cause leaf chlorosis in the plant. Also note that the water should not be very cold, avoid getting it on the flowers and buds, water the plant under the root. When growing in pots, remember to drain the excess from the pan.

When growing hydrangeas in the garden, mulching helps to reduce watering. Sheltering the soil under the bush prevents the rapid evaporation of moisture. For mulch, peat, straw, spruce branches, sawdust are used.

top dressing

It is necessary to fertilize the hydrangea after the beginning of the growing season in the spring. Liquid complex top dressing they bring it under the root (superphosphate, potassium sulfate), and a week and a half later, the hydrangea is fertilized with organic matter. The emphasis at this time is on nitrogen complexes that promote the growth of green mass.

The next application of fertilizer will be needed during the development of the buds. At this time, potassium-phosphorus supplements are needed. Indoor plant fertilize once every 2 weeks during the period of active growth. For potted hydrangea, fertilizers are suitable for flowering plants. In winter, there is no need for top dressing. Do not fertilize sick hydrangeas, as well as those that have just undergone a transplant.

pruning

Both potted and garden hydrangeas need pruning to shape lush bush. It is done in autumn and spring. After the end of the flowering period, weak shoots are removed from room hydrangea under the root, strong shoots are shortened by half. In the spring, too elongated shoots are cut off from the plant, which contributes to the branching of the bush.

In spring or autumn, hydrangeas need pruning.

Garden hydrangea needs spring or autumn pruning depending on which shoots bloom. If the plant blooms on the last year's shoots, pruning should be done in the fall, and in the spring only remove dead branches, dry leaves. Hydrangea, blooming on the shoots of the first year, is pruned with the onset of spring.

Transfer

A garden plant can grow up to 15 years in one place, but a potted hydrangea needs to be transplanted every 3-4 years. She needs a low wide pot, because the root system is horizontal. A layer of drainage is laid at the bottom, and the plant is transplanted by transshipment. Landing root collar must be level with the ground.

Wintering

Garden hydrangea during dry autumn should be watered abundantly - so the plant will more easily endure frosts. Cold-resistant varieties do not require shelter for the winter, but those that tolerate lower temperatures worse need to be insulated as early as the second half of October. For this, the branches of the bush are divided into several bundles, each of which is tied and tilted to the ground, securing it with staples.

From above, the laid branches are covered with any material, which may not even let air through. From above they fall asleep with spruce branches, then with snow. You can do otherwise - collect all the branches of the bush in a bundle and tie, then wrap the plant with a piece of roofing material. Hydrangea will be enclosed in an impromptu pipe.

Spring awakening of the hydrangea bush.

From above it is covered with fallen leaves, needles, spruce branches and additionally covered with material. In the spring, shelter should be removed only with the installation of constant positive temperatures and sunny days. It is better to overexpose a tender variety in a shelter than to open ahead of time and destroy it with unexpected frosts.

At a room hydrangea in winter, the soil is moistened very rarely and little by little. At the same time, in December, weak shoots are cut to the root, strong ones are shortened, after which the pot is placed on its side in a cool, dark room for 2.5 months. In February, you can get a flower on a warm windowsill.

flowering period

Hydrangea blooms from early summer to autumn. inflorescences different shades have a spherical shape. Each bush blooms for about 1.5-2 months and does not tolerate direct Sun rays in this period. indoor hydrangea blooms at the same time. Usually flowering does not provoke the development of allergic reactions.

Flowering varietal hydrangea.

Why hydrangea does not bloom

The lack of flowering can be caused by a number of reasons.

1. No cold winters. Basically it's a problem indoor varieties, which need 70-80 days of rest to gain strength before a new flowering.
2. Lack of fertilizer. Top dressing is necessary for the formation of buds and lush flowering.
3. Unsuitable soil. In sandy, neutral or alkaline soil, it can be difficult to achieve flowering.
4. Defeat by diseases and pests.

Difficulties in growing hydrangeas

Due to care errors, the plant becomes more vulnerable and is attacked by pests and diseases. If a flower dries up and leaves fall off, then it lacks moisture - you need to not only water it, but also spray the plant. Yellowing leaves can indicate a lack of nutrients, too alkaline soil, or insufficient watering.

Hydrangea diseases

Hydrangeas are susceptible to bacterial diseases. The most common are powdery and downy mildew, rust, chlorosis.

Pests

• Hydrangea flowers are often affected by spider mites. He settles on reverse side leaves and feed on plant sap. Heat and low humidity favor its population. As a result, the leaves turn yellow, dry out, fall off, and a cobweb forms on their reverse side. To combat it, chemicals are used.
• Snails often harm hydrangeas. They eat buds and leaves, and pose a danger to wintering bushes, as the first buds begin to eat in the spring. To combat them, preparations with metaldehyde or "Thunderstorm" are poured into cups, which are laid out around the bushes.
• The gall nematode strikes root system young bushes. Thickened areas form on the roots, they gradually die off and the plant dies. Soil treatment with appropriate preparations is needed.

Hydrangeas also infect scale insects, aphids, but much less frequently. You can get rid of them by spraying the flower with appropriate solutions.

Reproduction of hydrangea

Hydrangea can be propagated in several ways: by seeds, cuttings, dividing the bush, layering.

Reproduction by seeds

For sowing seeds, soil is needed - leafy, soddy soil and humus, taken in equal parts, as well as half of the sand and peat. Seeds are sown at the end of winter on the surface of the soil, not sprinkled on top, but simply covered with glass.

The soil should always be moist - as needed, it is sprayed. Glass is opened every day for ventilation. When the first shoots appear, the glass can be removed completely. And after the sprouts have 2 leaves, they can dive into deeper containers. When the hydrangea seedlings get stronger, they are seated in pots with a diameter of 7 cm.

cuttings

Most reliable way which starts in January-February. Cuttings are cut from basal shoots so that each of them has about 3 internodes on a cutting 7-8 cm long. lower leaves from the handle must be removed, the upper ones must be shortened so that moisture evaporates less.

The cut can be treated with a root stimulator or simply planted in a peat-sand mixture. The stalk should be kept in a bright place with a temperature of 20 degrees and an air humidity of 75-80%. To achieve such conditions, the process is covered on top with glass or plastic bottle, glass. The greenhouse is ventilated daily, constantly keeping the soil moist. When the sprout takes root in 3-4 weeks, you can transplant it into a pot with a diameter of up to 9 cm.

Stages of propagation of hydrangea by cuttings.

The division of the bush

The easiest way. To obtain several plants, the mother bush is dug up in the spring and divided in such a way that each part has its own roots. Then, roots and shoots are shortened on each bush, hydrangeas are planted in pots, the soil is mulched with peat. Take care of the standard scheme.

Reproduction by layering

So you can get shoots in spring and autumn. One of the hydrangea branches is tilted to the ground, having previously dug a trench, after which an oblique incision is made on it. A match is inserted into the incision, the branch is placed in the groove and sprinkled with earth. The soil is regularly moistened. Over time, roots will sprout from the incision and a sprout will break through. When a separate stem is formed, the plant can be transplanted into a separate pot.

Blue hydrangea.

Hydrangea is a spectacular and relatively easy-to-care plant that pleases with lush hats of flowers. Its seedlings or grown specimens can be purchased in greenhouses and flower shops. The price starts from 200 rubles per copy and depends on its size and grade.