A general description of the kochia plant, tips for growing in the garden, how to properly reproduce, difficulties in the cultivation process and ways to solve them, facts to note, species and varieties.
Kochia (Kochia) is a representative of the Amaranthaceae family, previously belonging to the genus of semi-shrubs with a one-year or long-term growth cycle. Today, it is customary to include all its varieties in several other genera attributed to the subfamily Chenopodioideae, and a large number of species that come from Eurasian territories have been transferred to the genus Bassia and bear the same name. Scientists have found that the natural distribution area of all kochia covers the steppe and desert regions of Eurasia, the African continent and North America. Although the true homeland of these plants is considered to be the lands of China. The genus includes up to 80 different types of kochii.
| Family name | Amaranth |
| Growth cycle | Perennial or one-year |
| Growth form | Herbaceous |
| Breeding type | In our latitudes seed |
| Transplant time to the garden | From early May to mid-summer |
| Disembarkation scheme | Keep a distance of at least 0.3 m between seedlings |
| Priming | Lightweight and nutritious |
| Indicators of soil acidity, pH | Neutral (6, 5-7) |
| Lighting level | Sunny location |
| Recommended humidity | Drought tolerant |
| Special Requirements | Very unpretentious |
| Height indicators | 1.5 m |
| Foliage color | Bright green, changing to crimson, carmine red or crimson in autumn |
| Inflorescences or type of flowers | Flowers are solitary, small and inconspicuous |
| Flower color | Whitish |
| Decorative period | Spring-autumn |
| Places of application | In decorating flower beds, the formation of borders and low hedges, in rabatkas and mixborders |
| USDA zone | 4–9 |
This representative of the green world of the planet received its scientific name in honor of the German botanist Wilhelm Daniel Joseph Koch (1771–1849), who served for a long period of time as director of the botanical garden located in the city of Erlangen. Due to the fact that many species are attributed to a different genus, in many botanical sources they can be found under the name Bassia, and because of the outlines of the people, this bush was called summer cypress, passion, annual cypress broom grass or broom. The last two terms appeared because good brooms can be made from shoots with foliage. The people have such nicknames as prutnyak or izen.
Although there are perennials among the varieties, it is customary to grow kohija in our territories as an annual crop. In natural growing conditions, it is an evergreen plant. The growth rate of these half-shrubs is quite high and in just a season their height can be almost one and a half meters. At the same time, in just two months the bass acquires its size and begins to delight the eye. The shoots of the plant are distinguished by dense branching. The shape of the bush has clarity and a pyramidal or rounded-elongated contour (for which it is nicknamed the summer cypress).
But this is where the similarity ends, since only by touching the bush you can understand what is the matter here. The leaf plates are not at all hard to the touch, like that of cypress, they are soft, thin, small in size. The color of the foliage is bright green, saturated, but at the same time there is a property in some species with the arrival of autumn to change this color to a bright carmine, crimson or crimson color scheme, from which the effectiveness of bassia increases.
The flowers of the broom grass are inexpressive and do not attract attention, but they are not the decoration of the plant, but its thin foliage. The flowers are located in the leaf sinuses, but at the same time they are rarely seen. The seeds still ripen and have a rounded shape and brown color. Their germination capacity is not lost for about two years, while most often in nature the plant reproduces by self-sowing.
Because of its beauty and unpretentiousness, garden designers have long fallen in love with summer cypress. It turned out to be an excellent culture for landscaping suburban and urban gardens, and they actively use prutnyak in decorating landscapes. This is because the plant easily adapted to the climate of the middle zone and copes with the gas pollution of cities.
Cochia Grow Tips - Outdoor Planting and Care
- Landing place broom grass should be well lit, as this will have a very positive effect on the color of the foliage. The plant can only stand penumbra for a couple of hours a day. The close location of groundwater is unacceptable, since it may cause rotting of the root system. It is important that water does not accumulate in such a place even after precipitation. The rod is afraid of the cold wind and draft.
- Summer cypress planting soil pick up nutrient-rich, lightweight and with good air and water carrying capacity. If the acidity of the soil on the site is high, then it will need to be limed by adding slaked lime. All due to the fact that the flooded and acidic substrate harm the shrub. When planting is carried out, it is recommended to mix the soil with mineral fertilizers and humus. If the substrate is too heavy, then river sand is added to it.
- Planting kochii. Since the plant does not tolerate even a short-term drop in temperature at a young age, if it is grown in the form of seedlings, then it is moved to the garden only when May or the beginning of summer comes, so that the threat of return frosts passes. Since shrubs of all types of twig in nature are sparsely located, similar requirements should be observed when placed in the garden. The distance between the bassia seedlings should be at least 30 cm. If this rule is violated, then the broom grass begins to stretch too high, its foliage becomes smaller and, in the end, instead of a luxurious crown, a “broom” will be grown with half-dried shoots and dull, ineffective foliage. The hole is dug out a little more than the earthen lump of the seedling, which they try not to destroy during transplantation. If the soil on the site is wet, it is recommended to pour a layer of drainage material (expanded clay or pebbles) on the bottom of the hole. If necessary, young, only planted plants are first covered with non-woven material (they can be lutrasil or spunbond) or with a film. In the event that the site is open to all winds (which Kokhia is very afraid of), the plants should be placed closer, then they can support each other and serve as protection.
- Watering the kohija. The plant can easily survive for a long time without watering and rainfall. But on hot sunny days, it is important to humidify once a week (Saturday or Sunday). You can often hear how the summer cypress is called "the plant of the day", since all the care is timed to the weekend. It is important to remember that if the plant does not have enough moisture, then its foliage will begin to droop.
- General advice on care. In order for the kochia to delight the eye with a chic crown, it is recommended that after each watering or rain, loosen the soil and regularly weed.
- Fertilizers for kohija it is required to make it throughout the growing season. Complete mineral complexes will be needed twice a season, such as Kemira Universal or Fertika Plus. The first time the twig is fed after ten days from the moment of planting in open ground, the second feeding will be required after 30 days. When there is a surge in growth activation in the bass and immediately after the haircut has been carried out, it is necessary to support the plant by introducing nitrogen-containing preparations, such as urea or nitroammofosk, following the manufacturer's recommendations. It is best to choose products that are released in liquid form and then dissolve them in water for irrigation. In principle, the plant can easily do without fertilizing, but then you should not be surprised that the color of the foliage has faded and it takes on an unhealthy look.
- Trimming kochia bushes held every 14 days, while the gardener can use ordinary garden shears and give the bush any shape: an ellipse, pyramid, cube or column. After planting, it is necessary to periodically pinch the shoots, which will stimulate subsequent branching.
- The use of kochia in landscape design. Although the broom grass is native to desert lands, it is perfectly acclimatized in all climates. For a long time, brooms and brooms of various shapes and sizes were made from the shoots of the plant, not noticing their beauty. But since not today, thanks to the efforts of breeders, twigs with various forms of bushes, as well as flaunting more expressive shades of flowers: purple, dark green and others, appeared, the plant began to be grown to decorate garden and park plots. From a distance, the summer cypress resembles a coniferous plant in its outlines, but only when you come close to it, and also touch the foliage, you understand the mistake. Cochia bushes are usually grown both in group plantings and as a tapeworm plant. An incredible shade of foliage is used by landscape designers to create a spectacular backdrop in flower beds, next to flowering flora. You can plant twig bushes in rockeries and rock gardens, filling them in the gaps between the stones. This undoubted beauty can perfectly emphasize flower beds with pronounced individual elements. So, for example, narrow-shaped garden "labyrinths" are created, in which pavonia and acidantera (Floating Fairy) will coexist next to kochia, and Allamanda and Mandeville also look good. In order to favorably emphasize the edge of garden or park paths, marigolds and argentums are planted in parallel with broom grass bushes, calceolaria and gatsania and similar plants are suitable.
Read also tips for keeping alternantera in a pot or home aquarium.
How to reproduce kochia correctly?
Since in our latitudes, bassia is mainly grown as an annual, only the seed method is used, while sowing can be carried out directly into the ground or seedlings are grown. Plant seed germination is not lost for two years.
- Sowing Cochia Seeds in the soil is carried out from the beginning of May days until mid-summer. You can directly sow seeds in the place where the bushes will be, since over the summer they have time to develop and you should not be engaged in transplanting. The seeds are distributed shallowly in the soil, after which careful watering is carried out.
- Seedling breeding method of kochia. If you have the opportunity and desire, then you can start growing seedlings of broom grass. For this, sowing of seed is carried out in March-April. Seedling boxes are used, which are filled with peat-sandy soil. The seeds are distributed over the surface of the substrate, while they are not sprinkled with soil mixture, but only easily pressed into it with a palm or a plate. The maximum embedding depth should not exceed 1 cm. Successful germination requires a temperature of about 16-18 degrees and good lighting. A bush of glass is placed on the planting container or it is wrapped in plastic wrap to create the effect of a greenhouse. Young cochia sprouts will appear after 7-10 days from the moment of sowing the seeds. Watering the crops is not carried out, since due to waterlogging, the seeds may die, if the soil dries up a little, it should be sprayed from a fine-dispersed spray bottle. After the seedlings grow up (this process is slow and not very good for them), then they are transplanted into open ground only when the threat of return frosts has completely passed (late May or early June). This is due to the fact that young unhardened cannabis seedlings will not be able to survive a drop in temperature, unlike plants grown immediately in the open field. It has been noticed that summer cypress is easily propagated by self-sowing.
See also tips for breeding a bird.
Difficulties in the process of cultivating kochii and ways to solve them
Gardeners can be pleased that summer cypress is not only a drought-resistant and frost-resistant plant, but if all the rules of agricultural technology are followed, then there are no problems with its cultivation. Of the pests that can harm the bass, only spider mites are isolated. If the shoots and leaves turn yellow, begin to fly around, or a thin whitish cobweb covers the stelae with foliage, then most likely the planting of broom grass has become a victim of this pest.
For a cure, you can first treat with folk remedies that are not too aggressive. In their capacity, tincture on laundry soap can act - dissolve 300 g of grated soap in a bucket of water and leave to infuse for a couple of days. Then strain the solution and process the bushes. Tincture on tobacco, onion peel can have the same effect.
In the event that such sparing agents do not give the desired result, then it is necessary to apply special insecticides, for example, Aktaru, Aktellik, Fitoverm or Neoron, following the manufacturer's instructions. So, for example, the last remedy in a liter jar of water is diluted with only 1 ml and the resulting mixture is sprayed with prutnyak shrubs. After two weeks, the treatment is repeated to destroy all newly hatched pests and remaining eggs.
Facts to note about kochii
The first mention of broom grass in China dates back to the 17th century. It is curious that the bushes of summer cypress look good not only in flower beds and flower beds, if you dry the shoots of the plant, you can form dry phytocompositions or make the most trivial broom. Florists, for example, also use live branches in bouquets, which will give the entire collection an airy outline. It happens that craftsmen not only dry the twig shoots with leaves, but also paint them in various shades with special paints, from which they become even more spectacular and dry bouquets only benefit from this.
Even ancient Chinese healers studied the properties of the rod and found that drugs based on it can help with skin diseases (namely, eczema or erysipelas of the skin). Cochia preparations are used for problems with the bladder and urinary tract, relieve the manifestations of rheumatism and edema.
Also, the medicinal product that is prepared from the aerial part of the plant is credited with the properties of toning the body, cardiac stimulation, they help with perspiration and as diuretics and laxatives. If an ointment was made, then it was recommended for diseases of the skin and nails.
It is noteworthy that the fresh foliage of the broom grass is edible, it is customary to add it to soups. But at the same time, leafy shoots were used to feed livestock or as food for silkworm caterpillars.
It is curious that the plant, for all its capriciousness, is not grown at all in pots and at home.
Types and varieties of kohija
Cochia broom (Kochia scoparia)
The most popular variety that has been cultivated as a crop since 1629. Gardeners fell in love with the variety for its densely branched and leafy shoots. Usually there is a division of this variety into two - childs cochia and hairy cochia.
Hairy cochia (Kochia scoparia f.trichophylla)
or Bassia hairy (Bassia scoparia f. Trichophylla) … The height of this shrub is 120 cm with a diameter of about 70 cm. The crown of the plant is spectacular, oblong. The foliage is bright green, changing its hue with the arrival of autumn cold weather to a dark pink, purple or carmine red color scheme. The most popular varieties are:
- Sultan with rounded outlines of the crown, the height of which can vary in the range of 70-100 cm. The color of the leaves from emerald color with the arrival of autumn becomes bright red.
- Jade (Nephritis) can be extended by shoots up to a meter in height. It perfectly tolerates any pruning of branches, is used in landscape design to form phytocompositions of any configuration.
- Flame the outlines of the crown of the half-shrub are oblong, the height can vary within 80–100 cm. The leaves turn purple with the beginning of autumn. This variety shows increased frost resistance.
- Shilsi can reach a height of 1 meter with a bush diameter of up to 60 cm. The crown of the plant is dense, has ideal oblong outlines, while its formation does not require a haircut and close care from the gardener. The leaves are bright green in summer, and turn crimson-pink in autumn.
- Green Leis are characterized by a regular crown with an elongated contour, the color of the openwork leaves is emerald. With the arrival of cold weather in autumn days, the deciduous mass takes on a bright red color. Perfectly tolerates a haircut intended for crown molding.
Kochia scoparia var.childsii
remains with a consistently green deciduous mass, but its shade is slightly lighter than that of the previous species, and it remains the same all year round. The shape of the crown is barrel-shaped, while the height does not exceed half a meter.
The following types of broom grass are in slightly less demand:
- Kochia prostrata (Kochia prostrata), the owner of semi-shrub outlines of a squat appearance, the height can vary within 1–5 cm. Shoots at the base are characterized by strong branching. Under natural conditions, it occurs on rocky slopes and in sandy steppe regions.
- Cochia woolly-flowered (Kochia laniflora). Annual, which can measure 10-60 cm in height. The color of the stems is yellowish-green, but sometimes they are reddish. They are covered with small curly hairs. In nature, it grows on sandy substrates in the steppes or along the banks of river arteries.
- Cochia dense-flowered (Kochia densiflora). It is characterized by a one-year life cycle and significant values of height - 130 cm. Shoots grow in a horizontal plane and only their tops are directed upward. At the base of the flowers, you can see a large number of whitish elongated hairs, which is why the bush takes on a shaggy shape. Prefers in natural conditions roadside, gravel and sandy coastal substrate.
Read also about the types and varieties of nasturtium.
Video about growing cochia in the garden:
