What is this houseplant Azalea, as well as the rules for caring for it. Rules for transplanting, pruning, watering and processing a flower. Everything you need to know the owner of this home flower Azalea (Azalea) - a very spectacular houseplant, azalea flowers are extraordinarily beautiful, their flowering period is quite long. However, this is a very capricious plant that requires careful maintenance.
Azalea is a shrub with highly branched branches and evergreen oval-shaped leaves. The flowers of the hybrids are double, their shape resembles a bell. Shades of color from bright red to pale pink and snow-white. If you have several plants that differ in flowering time, then they will delight the eye with their beautiful flowers for six months. In the east, azalea is associated with feminine beauty and grace, as well as great creativity.
According to legend, the ancient Greeks, having captured Colchis (the territory of Georgia), celebrating the victory, ate delicious intoxicating honey and fainted. Azalea is very melliferous, but the smell of its honey intoxicates, and honey itself affects the brain, disrupting its activity.
Flower care rules
Many are interested in the question - How to care for an Azalea flower? ”, To be honest, not easy, but worth it. The azalea flower does not tolerate direct sunlight, so it should stand in a bright or dark place with diffused light. In the warm season, this houseplant is recommended to be taken out into the street, you can dig it with a pot in a flower bed.
If the plant remains in the apartment for the summer, then it must be watered and sprayed daily in the morning. Air humidity should be increased. However, waterlogging of the soil or the presence of water in the pan is unacceptable and detrimental to the plant. Do not water the plant with tap water; rainwater or well-settled water is considered the best. At the onset of autumn, the level of watering is reduced, and spraying is carried out very rarely. During the heating season, when the air in the apartment is dry enough, spraying is resumed, but carried out only on sunny days. Once every two weeks, azaleas need fertilizing with mineral fertilizers, without chlorine in the composition. During the period of bud formation, feeding with superphosphate is recommended, 15 g of fertilizer are diluted in 10 liters of water.
In the summer heat, you can put the azalea in the refrigerator, as it cannot withstand the heat. In autumn and winter, the optimum temperature for growth is 12-14 ° C, but with careful observance of all the rules for caring for the plant, azalea grows at a temperature of 20-22 ° C. Immediately after the end of flowering, it is imperative to prune the stems of the plant. Both weak and overgrown shoots are subject to removal. Young shoots are pinched at the level of the remaining 4-5 leaves.
The azalea flower prefers acidic soil, heather soil works well, or you can use a mixture of coniferous and peaty in a 2: 1 ratio, be sure to add a little river sand.
At the end of the flowering period, a transplant is carried out, a young plant is transplanted every year, and an adult every 2-3 years. This houseplant has a shallow root system and is therefore only planted in flat pots.
Caring for a diseased azalea flower
Young tender leaves are affected by greenhouse aphids. Treat the plant with soapy water every 3-4 days. The azalea moth - caterpillars 7-12 mm in size - severely damages the leaves, they must be collected and destroyed. Such a plant is treated twice a season with actellik or phosbecide. If the leaves fall off quickly, then the plant is infected with a septoria fungus. Treatment with bayleton or foundation is required.
Azalea photo
Azalea bright red
Azalea purple
Azalea garden
