Characteristics of the stachis plant, how to plant and care in the open field, advice on breeding, methods of combating diseases and pests, interesting notes for gardeners, species and varieties, photos.
Stachys (Stachys) often bears the synonymous name Chistets. The plant belongs to the botanical classification of the Lamiaceae family. This genus contains more than three hundred different species, the distribution area of which covers all areas of the planet, excluding only the Australian continent and the New Zealand islands. On the territory of the former USSR, there are fifty varieties, while the European part of Russia can represent nine, and the West Siberian regions only seven species of stakhtis. If we talk about the southern and middle Russian regions, then most often one-year-old stachis (Stachys annua) and straight (Stachys recta) grow there, and forest (Stachys sylvatica) and marsh (Stachys palustris), which grow in all regions of Russia.
| Family name | Lamiaceae |
| Growth time | Perennial or one-year |
| Vegetation form | Herbaceous or semi-shrub |
| Breeds | Seed method or in rare cases vegetative (cuttings or tubers) |
| Open ground transplant terms | In spring or autumn |
| Landing scheme | Not closer than 30-40 cm from each other, row spacing 40 cm |
| Priming | Nutritious and drained |
| Soil acidity values, pH | 6, 5-7 (normal) or higher 7 (slightly alkaline) |
| Illumination level | Well-lit place or partial shade |
| Humidity level | Regular and abundant watering, but allow the soil to dry out, frequent in the heat |
| Special care rules | It is required to use top dressing |
| Height options | Up to 1-1.1 m |
| Flowering time | June-September |
| Type of inflorescences or flowers | Spike inflorescences from false whorls |
| Color of flowers | White or yellow, pinkish, lilac or crimson |
| Fruit type | Triangular, ovoid or oblong nut |
| Fruit color | Brown |
| The timing of fruit ripening | Aug. Sept |
| Decorative phases | Summer-autumn |
| Use in landscape design | In flower beds, on lawns, in mixborders, as a vegetable or medicinal crop, for bouquets |
| USDA zone | 3–9 |
The plant received its scientific name back in time immemorial, since people paid attention to the inflorescence, characterized by spike-shaped outlines. This is where the name "Stachys" comes from, which translates as "ear". This term was also used to refer to various species of representatives of the family Labiata. People call the verse "sheep's ears" because of the type of leaves.
Almost all species of chisel are close to one meter in height, sometimes reaching 110 cm. Among them there are both annual representatives of the genus and perennials. Basically, the form of vegetation in stachis is herbaceous, but some specimens can take the shape of dwarf shrubs. Branched stems with a rectangular cross-section, most often have a pubescent surface. The leaf plates of the chasteum are arranged in opposite order on them, attaching to the stems with short petioles. They are solid or serrated. The stachis foliage is painted in a dark green color, but due to the fact that the surface is covered with pubescence formed by long fluffy hairs (which give the foliage the appearance of covered with wool or fibers), it seems bluish.
The roots of the chisel have the property of penetrating into the ground to a depth of 35–40 cm, but the bulk of them is not deeper than 10–20 cm. A feature of stachis is the formation of tubers in autumn, which appear on stolons in the same way as in potatoes. They spread in a horizontal plane, under the surface of the soil, departing from the main root by 50-60 cm. Tubers are represented by a modified stem, which can be located both underground and above it, originating from their thick root. That is, the stachis stolon is an elongated shoot that dies off rather quickly, has lengthened distances between the nodes, has underdeveloped foliage and axillary buds. On it, the development of shortened shoots, which are tubers in the purse, takes place.
In length, the nodules reach 7 cm with a width of about 2 cm. The weight of each of them varies from 1 to 8 grams. The outlines of the tubers resemble shells, characterized by a mother-of-pearl color. If stachis is grown on black soil or peat bogs, then the color of the tubers takes on a yellowish tint. These parts of the "sheep's ears" contain a large amount of carbohydrates, proteins and amides, they also contain a lot of fat and dry matter, and the vitamin C content exceeds 10 mg. Tubers of "sheep's ears" contain such an element as selenium, which has a beneficial effect on the human body and its content in 1 kg is 7 μg.
During flowering, which stretches from June to September, erect spike-shaped inflorescences are formed on the tops of the stachis stems, formed from false whorls composed of small flowers. The color of the petals in them can take on white or yellow, pinkish, lilac, crimson or purple-lilac shades. The calyx has bell-shaped or tubular-bell-shaped outlines. It is characterized by five protruding teeth with pointed tips. Its surface is covered with glandular hairs. In the corolla of the stachis flower, the upper lip, as usual, has a concavity or takes on a helmet-like contour, the lower one is divided into three lobes, of which the central one is larger. Inside the flower, you can count two pairs of stamens, which, after flowering ends, begin to bend over to the sides. The pillar has two blades, and the anthers have two cavities.
The stachis fruit takes the form of a nut, which has an ovoid or oblong shape. There are three faces on the surface, the color of the fruit is brown. Fruiting is extended from August to September. There are varieties that are usually grown as an ornamental crop, while others have long been used for medicinal or culinary purposes. The plant is not capricious and has a spectacular flowering, tubers that can be used for food, so you can start growing it in your garden plot.
Stakhis: how to plant and care in the open field
- Landing place It is recommended to pick up the cleanser with good illumination from all sides by the sun's rays. In this case, protection from drafts and gusts of wind is important. But if there is no choice, then a semi-shaded location will do. If the shade is very thick, then the flowering will not be splendid.
- Stachis soil it is recommended to select with slightly alkaline (pH 7-8) or neutral (pH 6, 5-7) acidity values. The soil should be loose and nutritious. You should not plant on a poorly drained, waterlogged or heavy substrate, as tubers can rot in this composition.
- Planting stachis is held in the last week of May, when the weather becomes stable and recurrent frosts will not return. On the site where it is planned to plant a purse, it is necessary to add some organic fertilizers (humus, peat crumbs or compost) to the soil. The holes should be at least 20 cm apart. Then a small layer of drainage material (expanded clay, crushed stone, small pebbles or broken brick) is placed in the dug hole. A small amount of soil mixture is poured over the drainage so that it completely covers it. Stachis seedlings are located on a soil mound in a hole, on the sides, all the empty space is filled with a substrate. After that, a small amount of organic matter (for example, humus) is scattered on the site, and only then abundant watering is performed.
- Watering when growing stachis, timely is required. However, it is necessary to ensure that the substrate does not become waterlogged, otherwise it can provoke the onset of fungal diseases. During dry and hot seasons, the frequency of watering should increase. It is recommended to keep the soil in a moderately moist state; complete drying is not encouraged.
- General advice on care. It is important to remember that the difference between stachis and the same plant with underground tubers, like Jerusalem artichoke, is that if the main stem is cut in the spring or summer, this will cause the permanent death of the entire bush, since such a stem is the only one in the puree. When growing, after each rain or watering, it is necessary to carefully loosen the soil next to the "sheep's ears" bushes and combine this operation with weeding, although the plant may even clog them on its own. Before flowering, stachis bushes need to be spud. If the shoots of the plant began to creep outside the territory allocated to the plant, then they are pruned, since this representative of the flora is distinguished by the property of "aggressive capture" of nearby territories. Once every 4–5 years, it is necessary to rejuvenate the bush, as it grows old, tends to lose its decorative qualities and "go bald" in the central part. One young leaf outlet can be planted in this place. For the winter period, you should provide the bushes with a shelter from fallen leaves, spruce branches, or use agrofibre (for example, spunbond).
- Fertilizers when growing stachis, it is recommended to apply it once per growing season. The best choice would be organic - well-rotted compost. Mineral dressings are also used. In the autumn, the soil is dug up and organic preparations (manure or compost) are embedded in it at the rate of 5–7 kg per 1 m2. The substrate is dug up to a depth of 30–40 cm. With the arrival of spring, when the snow melts on the same area of the site, 30–60 grams of complex mineral products, such as azofosk or nitroammofosk, are added. The dosage is the same as for growing potatoes - on average, about 40 grams are used per 1 m2.
- Blank stachis tubers are held after the first decade of October. Then, the entire plot where the chase was growing will need to be dug to a depth of at least 20–27 cm. Wood ash, peat chips or rotted manure are laid out on top, and then all components are embedded in the soil. It is important to correctly determine the time of harvesting the tubers, since if you harvest too early, the yield may decrease, if you harvest it too late, the soil freezes up, and it will be difficult to do this.
- The use of stachis in landscape design. Although the plant can be used as a vegetable crop, it can also be used to decorate the corners of the garden. Low-growing varieties can be used as ground covers, which cover the soil with their foliage. Due to the silvery shade of the leaf plates, the chisel is able to create beneficial contrasts. The best neighbors are usually a chickweed or a two-colored rosewort, lavender and ageratum bushes; Carpathian bells will look good next to it. To create contrasting combinations, you can place the cuff and cypress euphorbia side by side, creating unique combinations with stachis of whitish fluffiness and glossy green leaves. Due to the fact that the scrub can grow in the form of carpet sods, borders for flower beds or flower beds are formed with it, or you can simply fill with such bushes the voids in rockeries and rock gardens between the stones. However, you should not plant stachis in close proximity to the stones, since, growing, it will simply cover their entire surface with its shoots and foliage. If you dry the stachis stems, they will not lose their silvery hue and can become an effective addition to any bouquet. At the same time, the latter acquires splendor and a pleasant cozy flavor.
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Stachis breeding rules
The seed method is usually used to get young plants, but in rare cases the vegetative method is also suitable, which involves rooting cuttings or planting tubers.
Reproduction of stachis using seeds
Seeding material can be purchased at any flower shop, while it is important that the seeds are healthy and there should be no defects on their surface in the form of darkening or putrefactive traces. After that, it is recommended to carry out stratification (holding for a long time (1-2 months) of the seed in cold conditions at a temperature of 0-5 degrees) and hardening. For planting, seedling boxes are used, which are filled with nutritious and loose soil mixture, it is made up of equal parts of peat and river sand. Sowing of stachis seeds is carried out at the end of winter. After sowing, the seedling containers are placed in a warm place (with heat values of 20-24 degrees). Crop care involves regular moistening of the soil when it dries out.
If the room where germination is carried out is cold, then a piece of glass must be placed on the seedling boxes or wrapped in plastic transparent wrap. Then every day it will be necessary to air the stachis crops in order to get rid of the collected condensate. After 20-30 days from the moment of sowing, you can see the first shoots. When a pair of leaf plates unfold on the seedlings, it is recommended to dive into separate pots using the same nutrient substrate.
When the temperature stabilizes, and recurrent frosts will no longer threaten the seedlings of the chanterelle, it is planted in open ground, but before that it is necessary to harden it for 2-3 weeks. Stachis seedlings in pots are taken out into the open air for 10-15 minutes at first, slightly increasing the time spent outdoors every day, gradually bringing it to around the clock.
Reproduction of stachis by cuttings
In order to cut the cuttings from the bush, for this, after the end of flowering, healthy branches are selected. The length of the cutting should be 8–10 cm. The workpieces are planted in pots filled with a peat-nutrient mixture and placed under a glass or plastic container. Caring for stachis cuttings consists in airing and watering the soil when its surface is a little dry. The rooting place should be with good lighting, but shaded from direct sunlight and warm (approximate temperatures are 20-24 degrees). When root shoots form on the cuttings and buds begin to bloom, this will be a sign that rooting has been completed successfully. When the time is right, you can plant the seedlings of the cleaver in a prepared place in the garden.
Reproduction of stachis with tubers
Usually, planting material is purchased in specialized stores, or if there are bushes in the garden, then they simply dig out the available ones. Tubers are planted in the spring or autumn. Planting holes are placed no closer than 30 cm, and if the tubers are planted in rows, then 40 cm are left between them. The depth of the backlog should not exceed 5-8 cm, but this indicator directly depends on the density of the soil on the site. After planting stachis tubers, abundant watering is recommended. It is noted that after planting, the germination rate of tubers is very low. When growing, weeding is carried out a couple of times throughout the growing season, in the period from August to September, the hilling of the bushes is carried out. This action will help the formation of more tubers on stolon stems that are underground.
Stachis: how to deal with diseases and pests when growing
When growing chitosene, you can rejoice that when all the rules of agricultural technology are followed, the plant is only rarely affected by pests and any diseases. However, regular violations lead to the emergence of problems, among which are:
- White rot the signs of which are the formation of a whitish bloom on the leaf plates of the stachis. For the fight, it is recommended to use the fungicidal preparation Topsin, made by the Japanese manufacturer Summit-Agro, which is not only a drug, but also a prophylactic agent. A Topsin-based solution is prepared by diluting 10 grams of the product in 5 liters of water. After a week or nine days, treatment with Horus is carried out, which counteracts the germination of mushroom vultures in newly unfolded young leaves. This product is used for the same volume of water 5 grams.
- Root rot arising from the following negative factors: excessive soil moisture and stagnation of moisture at the root system; infected substrate at the planting site; contaminated seed; improper care of stachis. Usually the disease is manifested by darkening of the stems near the surface of the soil, drooping foliage and shoots. For the fight, it is recommended to use such fungicidal agents as Gamair, Pseudobacterin-2 or Planriz.
Interesting notes for gardeners about stachis
It is customary to use the plant not only as a decorative one, it has long been known about it in the vastness of European countries: England, Switzerland and France. There, the Stachys affinis species, which is called the Chinese artichoke, is often cultivated there. But a variety of forest stachis (Stachys Sylvatica) was used by both folk healers and official medicine in the field of gynecology and obstetrics to eliminate the consequences of childbirth and in the postpartum period. An alcoholic tincture made on its basis is used because of its pronounced sedative and hypotensive effect (to lower blood pressure). If we talk about the sedative effect on the human psyche and the central nervous system, then the woodwort surpasses even the well-known motherwort in its action.
Such a species as marsh stachis (Stachys palustris) also does not lag behind the above species with its medicinal properties. Preparations based on it are recommended to be used to provide a choleretic and diuretic effect, eliminate inflammation of any nature and bronchospasm (has an antiexudative effect). Well, pharmacy stachis (Stachys officinalis) has long been known for its actitoxic, anti-inflammatory and choleretic properties.
If we talk about decorative properties, then they are recognized as the greatest in the varieties of the Byzantine purse (Stachys byzantina) or woolly (Stachys lanata) due to their color of leaves, which have a silvery sheen, due to the pubescent surface.
Stachis bushes are somewhat similar to mint vegetation, but the roots have a shell-like shape, which is why they are used for food. If boiled, these tubers will taste like cauliflower, but to some it resembles asparagus or young corn. But not only cooking is limited to the culinary use of the chisel - it is combined with fried meat, and also salted and pickled. Add to vegetable stews or as a side dish for meat dishes. Children are very fond of eating such stachis tubers raw.
It is noteworthy that the tubers of the chanterelle do not contain starch, so they can be consumed by patients with diabetes mellitus, since they have a pronounced insulin-like effect, and also helps to lower cholesterol levels.
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Types and varieties of stachis
Woolly Stachis (Stachys lanata)
sometimes referred to Byzantine Stachys (Stachys byzantina) or Byzantine chastetz … The native lands of growth are in Turkey, Iran, as well as the Transcaucasus; this species is found in the southern regions of Russia. It is a perennial that resembles a shrub. Its shoots will be able to reach up to 0.5-0.6 m in height. Moreover, they are characterized by erect outlines, in rare cases leafy. The rhizome has a powerful appearance and branching. During flowering, spikelet inflorescences are formed by small flowers, the diameter of which does not exceed 3 cm. The color of the petals in them is usually whitish or pinkish.
Among the most popular among gardeners from varieties of woolly stachis are:
- Silver Carpet or Silver carpet, with low height parameters, while the stems do not grow more than 15 cm. The plant can form a compacted turf, resembling a silver carpet. No flowers are formed.
- Sheep ears or Sheep ears characterized by a stem height of almost 0.3 m. Flowers have a pinkish-lilac color of the petals.
- Striped Phantom or Striped phantom - a variety of woolly stachis, in which leaf plates have a variegated color.
- Cotton Boll or Cotton box during flowering, inflorescences of whorls are formed, which resemble cotton bolls.
- Primrose Heron or Primrose heron, decorates the flower garden, as the buds open during flowering, which has spring bright yellow foliage and pink petals in flowers.
- Big Ears or Big ears, this variety of woolly stachis is characterized by rather large leaf plates, reaching 25 cm in length.
Sheila Macqueen
is a low-growing plant that does not have flowers.
Stachis annual (Stachys annua)
or One-year-old cleanser … The most commonly grown crop, both in European territory and in Siberia. It is characterized by low-growing outlines, while the stems can grow only 20 cm in height. An annual, the flowers of which are painted in a white or yellowish tint. This plant is recognized as a very good honey plant.
Forest Stachis (Stachys sylvatica)
or Forest scrub. The natural area of distribution covers the southern and southeastern Asian territories, as well as the east of Russia, this also includes China and the Caucasus. The height of the stems is close to 120 cm. Their shape is straight and ascending, the surface is covered with soft hairs. The outlines of the oblong leaf plates are quite interesting. Those that grow on stems are attached to them using cuttings. At the top of the stem leaves of forest stachis, sharpening occurs, and those that grow at the very ends of the shoots have an entire-edged and elongated shape. The upper surface of the leaves has a light green tint, while on the back they are grayish green. In an elongated spike-shaped inflorescence, there are 3-4 pairs of flowers.
Stachys Sieboldii
or Siebold's purist. The stems of this variety in height do not exceed 0.4 m. During flowering, the inflorescences are formed by large flowers, the petals of which are painted in snow-white, yellowish or pink colors.
Stachis marsh (Stachys palustris)
or Marsh chase, but among the people you can hear how they call him The grate or Chernozyablennik, Kalyutik or Tenacious … The area of its natural growth falls on the lands of all of Europe and Asia, in those regions where a temperate climate prevails. The stems of the plant can stretch up to 130 cm. The surface of the shoots has pubescence of elongated rough hairs. The foliage in the lower part of the stems at the base is characterized by a rounded or heart-shaped shape, there are small denticles on the edge. The leaf plates of the marsh stachis growing in the upper part on the stems are whole-edged, devoid of petioles, characterized by an elongated sharpening to the apex.
The inflorescence formed during the flowering process takes on a spike-like shape. It has 3-5 pairs of flowers. The color can be varied, but most often there are specimens in which the flower petals have a lilac-crimson hue.
Stachis large-flowered (Stachys macrantha)
or Large-flowered chisel, honors the territories of the Caucasus and Central Asia with his native lands. A perennial whose stems do not exceed 0.3 m in height. The leaf plates take rounded or heart-shaped outlines, and crenation is present along the edge. In the summer, the resulting flowers are large in size, gather in capitate inflorescences.
Today there are the following garden forms of this variety:
- Alba when flowering, buds with snow-white petals open;
- Superba characterized by a color of flowers ranging from pinkish to deep crimson hue.
Stachis officinalis (Stachys officinalis)
also referred to as Vegetable stachis or Vegetable peel. It is found in almost all Eurasian territories. In height, the shoots can reach a meter. On their tops in the summer, the formation of spike-shaped inflorescences, composed of flowers of a dark pinkish tone, occurs. Their surface has a pubescence of small hairs.
In addition to all the species presented, the following can also be grown in the garden - Field Stachis (Stachys atherocalyx) and German Stachis (Stachys germanica), straight (Stachys recta) and Cretan (Stachys cretica) and many others.
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Video about growing stachis on a personal plot:
