General description and types of ivy, tips for breeding heders, watering and the choice of fertilizers, independent reproduction, pests and maintenance difficulties. Ivy (Hedera) belongs to the Araliaceae family, which also includes about 15 species. Prefers to settle in natural conditions in temperate, subtropical and tropical zones of Europe, the Americas, in the northern lands of Africa, in Asia. The name of the plant comes from the word "spit", as it has a very unpleasant taste of leaves and fruits. The plant can take on various forms and has so many species that many flower growers fell in love with it. In many countries of the world, ivy is a symbol of constancy, and in eastern countries it symbolizes longevity. However, in our strip, ivy has earned itself the fame of a plant that, when grown in a house, drives away a representative of the stronger sex and was nicknamed "muzhegon".
This not whimsical plant lives well in urban apartments and gardens. Sometimes you can find ivy called "loach", as its creeping stems are ready to cling to any provided support. The plant finds even small protrusions and attaches to them with the help of an aerial root system; there are small roots (in the form of brushes) on the shoots. Such root shoots provide the plant with nutrients. It can braid with its shoots not only supports that are placed vertically, but also horizontal surfaces are not a problem for the heder (it has the ability to braid even the ceilings in rooms). In the conditions of natural growth, ivy can braid the trunks and branches of trees with its shoots, rising to a height of 15 meters. When the plant grows for a long time, its stems become lignified and become quite thick and curved.
Ivy leaf blades can have three or five lobes. Painted in rich emerald shades, which show through veins of a lighter tone. The leaves are located fairly close to each other on a flexible and long shoot. With age, the plant begins to change the shape of the foliage to oval. Each type of heder differs in the measurements and color of the leaf plates. But most of all, for decorativeness, flower growers value species that differ in mottling on leaves from pastel colors - whitish, cream or with yellowness, and the veins should be well highlighted in color. These varieties require more careful maintenance.
The ivy bloom is completely nondescript. Inflorescences, in which small flowers with a greenish tint are collected, are in the shape of an umbrella. Flowers are formed on shoots that have grown sufficiently. Under the conditions of apartments, this plant does not bloom, but even under conditions of natural growth, flowering occurs only when the ivy reaches the age of 10–12 years.
The flowering process is suspended by the appearance of fruits, berries, centimeter in diameter. From the moment of appearance, the color of the fruit changes from green to black.
The plant has an excellent ability to purify the air from oil vapors and all kinds of burns. It is an amazing green filter of dirty air, while ivy grows rapidly. Ivy also gained popularity in medicine. It is used for its antifungal, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties.
This plant is just a godsend for designers and set makers from flora representatives. Ivy can fill the allotted space and it is possible to create all kinds of living figures from the cheder.
Attention! When caring for ivy, it must be remembered that if the shoots are damaged, it can release poisonous sap, which, when it gets on the skin, tends to cause allergic reactions. This must be remembered when placing the plant in homes with small children or pets.
Creating living conditions for heders indoors
- Lighting. Hedera does not tolerate bright sunlight at all. Rather, the plant will celebrate itself well on windows that the sun rarely looks into. To do this, the ivy pot can be placed on the windows in the north direction, since it perfectly tolerates shading. Even being in the middle of a not too bright room, the hedera will not drop its leaves and wither. However, such conditions are suitable for plants with a rich green color of the leaves, if they differ in a variegated pattern, then the pot must be installed on the windowsills of those windows where the sun looks at sunset or sunrise. If you install a plant on a south window, you will have to do shading with light curtains or gauze curtains. Most of all, ivy does not tolerate when it is moved from place to place. However, in winter, when the level of illumination is significantly reduced, it is necessary to arrange additional lighting for the plant, since in variegated species of heder, the color goes away and in general all species of these plants begin to stretch, losing their decorative attractiveness. It is necessary to supplement the ivy for at least 8 hours a day, placing the pot from the lamps at a distance of approximately half a meter.
- Moisture content … Since the hedera has a large number of leaves, moisture evaporates from their surface very quickly, so frequent spraying is necessary. If the plant is kept in decent moisture levels, then the color of the leaves becomes more saturated. Whitewashed veins begin to show through with better clarity, the branching of the stem begins to increase and a fringe from additional roots appears on the shoots. These roots help the plant to root in the most inappropriate places, bypassing the pot, and when they are removed, the shoots usually break off. For spraying, use settled and softened water, you can filter it. It is also recommended to wipe the sheet plates with a soft cloth or sponge soaked in water. You do not need to use solutions to give the leaves a waxy shine. To raise the humidity, the method of installing the pot on moistened expanded clay or pebbles in a deep container is also used. Many gardeners arrange a light warm shower for ivy, which washes away the dust accumulated on the leaf plates.
- Ivy content temperature. The plant treats heat indicators calmly, it does not like only very high temperatures (above 25 degrees). A cool room with winter rates in the range of 10-15 degrees is best suited, in summer it is desirable that the temperature does not rise more than 23 degrees. It is very useful to take the pot of hedera outdoors when the heat comes. This representative of the green world quite calmly tolerates sharp fluctuations in temperature and is not afraid of possible drafts. You should not install a pot with a plant next to heaters or central heating batteries, from dry air and high temperatures, the leaf plates begin to shrink and the gaps between them increase, which spoils the overall appearance of the plant.
- Watering ivy. The plant is quite hygrophilous. As soon as the air temperature begins to rise (spring-summer), hedera will require abundant and regular soil moisture. The main thing is not to allow the soil to dry out in the pot, it is better that it is always slightly damp. If, with the arrival of cold weather, ivy is kept at temperatures corresponding to room temperatures, then watering does not change, but at lower rates, moisture is reduced and repeated only after a little drying of the top layer of the soil. The main problem is not to flood the plant, since light drying of the substrate is not as dangerous for it as waterlogging. Water for irrigation is taken well-settled, boiled or filtered.
- Fertilizers for heder. In order for ivy to please with the growth of a lush green mass, it is necessary to carry out mandatory feeding. Choosing requires solutions for decorative deciduous or floral plant species. The regularity of fertilization is once every 1, 5–2 weeks in the spring and summer. Hedera also responds well to organic formulations. In winter, the number of dressings is reduced to once every 30 days. But it is important not to overdo it with fertilizers, since in the case of their excess, the size of the leaf plates increases very much, and the plant does not look so beautiful.
- Carrying out pruning for ivy. If the shoots of the plant are ugly bare, then they must be cut off. You will also have to pinch the tops of some of the stems, but it is advisable not to touch the side ones. The cut off shoots can be used as rooting cuttings.
- Ivy transplant and soil selection. It is necessary to change the pot for the cheder if the root system has grown so that it becomes visible through the holes for the outflow of water. But if the bush of the plant has grown enough, then you can not wait for such an effect. Ivy is transplanted annually, but when buying a plant old enough, he does not need a pot change. You can slightly change the old soil on top of the pot to a new substrate. If you want to change the pot for an adult ivy, then this procedure is performed once every 2-3 years. The width of the pot should be greater than its depth, since the roots of the chedera are flatter and do not go deep into the soil. A little small expanded clay is poured into the bottom of the pot so that it absorbs moisture and gradually gives it to the plant. When transplanting, a transshipment method is used - the plant is filled with water, after a short period of time, the entire earthen lump with roots is pulled out and installed in a pot with drainage prepared in advance. After that, it is necessary to add new soil mixture from the sides and water the ivy a little.
Ivy soil should be normal. This plant is not at all picky about substrates. Soil acidity can be weak or neutral. Any all-purpose soil for indoor plants will do. You can also make your own soil mixture based on the following options:
- leafy land, sod land, peat land, river sand (parts of the ingredients are equal to each other);
- sod land, humus land, coarse-grain sand (the proportions for the components are the same).
Reproduction of ivy at home
Heder usually propagates with the help of cuttings, which are cut from the tops of the shoots, side shoots, layers. You can propagate this plant by cuttings, regardless of the season, but it is recommended to perform this operation by the end of the summer months.
When propagating by cuttings, the stem is cut from the top of the branch, at least 10 cm long. The cut is placed in a vessel with water and roots are expected to appear. Then the plant can be planted in a suitable substrate. Once the planting has been completed, to improve branching, young ivy is pinched at the top. If the stalk was planted in the soil mixture right away (it can be made of turf, sand and humus soil), then cover the plants with a glass jar until rooting, and then regularly ventilate and spray.
If propagation is carried out with the help of lateral stems, then the shoot with grown small roots is cut off and laid horizontally in a container filled with slightly moistened sand. There should be at least 8-10 leaves on a branch. The shoot itself deepens by 1, 5–2 cm into the substrate, but so that the leaf plates are on top, not covered with soil. After about 10 days, true underground roots form from small air roots and new leaves begin to grow at the top of the shoot. After 14 days, this stem can be removed, cut into pieces so that each of them has roots and one leaf. Usually planted in 3 copies in one pot.
To propagate the plant with the help of layering, it is necessary to install a smaller one, filled with a prepared substrate, next to the parental ivy pot, and bend a lateral shoot into it from the bottom of the bush, which has aerial roots. The branch is held in a small pot with a stiff wire or hairpin. The place where the stem is bent is sprinkled with soil. The care for the future plant is the same as for the mother ivy. When it becomes clear that the root system of the young hedera has already developed, and the growth of new leaves has begun, it is necessary to carefully separate the shoot from the mother bush.
Difficulties and pests of ivy
Of the difficulties in caring for a heder, the following can be distinguished:
- leaf plates begin to dry, acquire a brown color and subsequently die off when the temperature indicators are too high for ivy, and the humidity is very low, the same can occur from small and irregular soil moisture, it can also characterize a spider mite lesion;
- the leaf plates are small, and the stems are bare and curved - these are signs of insufficient illumination, however, if the leaves are from the very bottom of the branch, then with age they fall off and this is a normal process;
- if the leaves turn yellow, then this indicates insufficient watering;
- if the leaf plates have a variegated color and it began to fade, then it is necessary to move the pot with the plant closer to the light or increase the illumination indicators with phytolamps.
Most of the problems with ivy arise from scale insects, red spider mites, thrips. These pests settle on the back of the leaf plate, which is why the leaves subsequently acquire a yellow color, begin to curl and fall off. You can try to remove these harmful insects mechanically, by treating the stems and leaves of the plant with a soap or oily solution, in which a cotton pad or a piece of gauze is dipped. After that, the ivy bush must be rinsed under a good shower stream, wrapping the pot and the ground with a plastic bag. If this did not give a positive result, then the hedera is sprayed with modern insecticides (Aktellik, Aktara, etc.). The spraying procedure is repeated after three days to consolidate the result.
Ivy species
- Common ivy (Hedera helix). This is the most common type of ivy. May have curly or soil-covering stems. Multiple aerial root shoots can be seen on the shoots. The leaf plates can have 3-5 lobes with a leathery and shiny surface. A network of veins of a lighter color appears on it. But there are varieties that differ in the shape and color of the leaf plates. The flowers are completely inconspicuous in green-yellow tones, the edges are bordered with white or cream, they are collected in inflorescences in the shape of umbrellas. Fruits with blue-black berries.
- Canary ivy (Hedera canariensis). The plant is considered the tallest in appearance. Leaf plates can measure 12 cm in length and 15 cm in width. Their color is deep green with light green veins. They take a triangular shape. Most of all, flower growers value the Variegata variety, in which the color of the leaves is variegated, and the border is white.
- Colchis ivy (Hedera colchida). A shrub with powerful liana-like shoots, which can, leaning on something, reach a height of 30 m. The leaf plates reach a length of 25 cm. The form is solid, very rarely having lobes, emerald color. When rubbed, the leaf smells like musk.
Learn more about ivy in this video:
