General features and types of zeanotus, recommendations for transplanting, soil selection and reproduction of the red root, difficulties in growing, interesting facts. Ceanotus (Ceanothus) belongs to the genus of representatives of the flora of the planet of the Rhamnaceae family, which are dicotyledonous plants (the embryo of their seed is divided into two lobes located opposite each other). This family contains up to 900 species of Rosaceae (Rosales), they easily interbreed with each other, forming a large number of highly fertile hybrids. The genus itself combines 80 species, the home of which is considered to be the territory of North America.
The name tseanotus is from the translation of the word "cyaneus" - blue, since the flowers growing on it are mostly painted in pale blue and blue shades. The plant is also found under the name Red Roof (in English transcription Red Roof), as its root contains a dye that gives a blood red hue. The aerial part makes it possible to obtain a yellow-brown dye, and the flowers will help to dye the fabrics in green tones.
The plant grows in the form of a bush, trees are very rare. The crown is both deciduous and evergreen. Branches are rod-shaped, they can be covered with thorns, but most often the shoots are smooth. The leaf plates are located on the stems in the next sequence or opposite each other (opposite). For the most part, the leaves are attached to the petioles. The length of the leaf varies from one to five centimeters. In shape, they can take a simple form, be elliptical or ovoid. There is a slight serration along the edge. Stipules usually fall off.
On the tseanotus, the flowers are small, and on one bush there can be both female and male (bisexual plant - dioecious). The petals of the flower are longer than its sepals and are distinguished by their bucket shape. Calyx with thin lobes, elongated triangular outlines. Corolla consists of five petal segments. Lush paniculate inflorescences are collected from the flowers. The color of the flowers is very diverse, there are: snow-white, greenish-white, all kinds of shades of blue and blue, light purple or pinkish. The length of the inflorescences can be up to 10 cm. The flowering process takes the period from the middle of the summer month to September.
After the krasnokornnik fades, the fruits of a rounded shape ripen. They are covered with a thin pericarp. When dry, it breaks up into three parts, each of which contains one seed. Often this interesting bush is grown in curbs, containers or flower beds, mainly growing outdoors, if the growing environment allows.
Recommendations for planting and growing Zeanotus
- Lighting and location. He is very fond of bright sunlight, such a sun worshiper. The place where the decision was made to plant the red root must be protected from gusts of wind and drafts. He really does not like stagnation of moisture in the soil, so you should not plant it in lowlands, near drains or next to tall trees. In the shade, the flowering will be weak or not at all possible. If the plant is grown indoors, then south, east and west windows are suitable. However, when growing it in a room in a northern location, flowering may not occur due to a lack of illumination, you will have to supplement it with phytolamps.
- Watering the plant. Tseanotus does not differ in love of abundant moisture, but requires frequent watering 2-3 times a week. If the weather is hot, you will have to moisten the soil more often. 8-10 liters of water are added under the bush. Once every two weeks, water is necessarily acidified to moisten the soil. If the plant is grown as a pot culture, then water it only after the top layer of the substrate in the flowerpot has dried.
- Transplantation and selection of a substrate. After the seedling is brought home, it must be thoroughly moistened in order to be removed from the container. Plants are best planted with the arrival of April. The planting site should be selected with the calculation of the soil, the Krasnokorennik prefers sandy or loamy soil, loose, fertile and well-drained. The acidity should be neutral, within pH 6, 2–6, 8. It is necessary to dig a half-meter depression with a diameter of slightly less than 60 cm. A layer of drainage material (fine expanded clay or river pebbles) is laid at the bottom of the hole. The soil mixture is prepared on the basis of the following components: 2 parts of compost, 2 parts of sod land, part of river sand and half of part of peat soil. Purchased garden land can be used. The seedling is installed in a hole so that the earthen ball is flush with the soil surface. The ground is slightly pressed around the root system, moistened and mulched with a peat substrate around a radius of half a meter. The distance between the planting of seedlings should not exceed 60–70 cm. The plant does not take root well in calcareous soils and a regular check of the acidity of the soil is required.
- Shrub pruning. After winter, especially if there were severe frosts, then thin young twigs suffer the most in Krasnokornnik. It is necessary at the end of the first month of spring or in mid-April at the most, to prune the branches, leaving up to 10 cm of last year's growth on the flowering shoots. This will help to give the necessary shape to the crown and, accordingly, remove the frozen parts. If the bush needs to be radically rejuvenated, then it is worth cutting the plant almost to the very base, leaving only 4–6 cm above the soil level, so to speak, cutting “under the stump”.
- Shelter for the winter tseanotus. The plant is quite frost-resistant, and according to some reports, it can tolerate frosts of -23 degrees. In the middle of autumn, in order to protect the bush grown in the open field, it is necessary to mulch the soil around the red root plant within a radius of 1 m with fine sawdust or peat. The thickness of the layer should be about 10 cm. The bush is wrapped in foam rubber (20 mm), with burlap on top.
Top dressing is recommended in late March or early April. You should use the following components to choose from:
- mullein solution (in a ratio of 1:10);
- 1 tbsp sodium humate per 10 liters of a bucket of water, up to 5 liters per bush;
- nitrogen mineral fertilizer.
As soon as the zeanotus has buds and flowering begins, the following fertilizers are applied:
- complex potassium phosphate solutions;
- mineral complex fertilizers for flowering plants.
At the end of August, any feeding stops, since the red-root plant will begin to grow deciduous mass and will not have time to prepare for the winter period.
Tips for self-propagation of Zeatonus
The plant reproduces successfully with seeds, layering and dividing the bush or cuttings.
To plant the seed, it must be stratified in the refrigerator for 3 months at a temperature of 1-5 degrees. Then the seeds are soaked in boiling water, they are left there until they cool completely. After that, the seed is transferred to sulfuric acid, keeping there for an hour. After 5-6 times, rinse in running water. Further, the stratification is repeated within a month at 0–2 degrees. After that, the seeds are placed for 3 hours in a solution of any phytostimulant of growth, and after that they should be dried for 4 days at room temperature. After processing with a 3% solution of trior, planting is carried out in pots with soil for seedlings.
Zeanotus seeds are buried half a centimeter into the soil. The container with crops is wrapped in polyethylene or placed under glass. It is necessary to ventilate the seedlings daily 4 times a day. The temperature is maintained at 17-24 degrees. After the appearance of 2-3 leaves, a dive is made in separate containers. At the end of April, when there is no chance of frost, you can land in the ground. When propagated using layering, a lateral shoot is selected from the plant and pressed against a previously dug depression in the soil. The branch should be attached to the ground, and its upper part should be fixed at a peg driven into the ground. The shoot is covered with earth at the point of attachment in the hole and mulched with humus to a thickness of 5–6 cm. The soil is moistened, and then they try not to let the soil dry out. After 2 months, roots will appear, and it will be possible to separate the branch from the maternal zeanotus.
When dividing a bush, a healthy plant is dug up in March and carefully divided into 2 parts. You must try not to injure the roots. Delenki are immediately planted in open ground. When grafting, the tops of the shoots are cut with a length of at least 10 cm at the beginning or middle of summer, the lower leaves must be removed. The twigs can be put in a solution of any phytostimulant for half an hour. Then the cuttings should be planted in peat pots with a size of 12x20 cm, peat-sandy soil is poured into them. They need to be buried 3-4 cm. Plants should be kept in fresh air under soft diffused lighting. Fertilization with complex mineral solutions can be carried out every 2 weeks. After a month, the cuttings should take root.
In mid-September, the cuttings need to be moved to a room where the heat indicators fluctuate between 20-24 degrees, where they overwinter. In mid-spring, the plants are planted in open ground, leaving the distance between young tseanotus no more than half a meter. Once every 10 days, they need to be fed.
Problems in the cultivation of red root
The plant is quite resistant to harmful insects and diseases, but difficulties can arise.
Iron chlorosis occurs when there is not enough iron compounds in the soil or in the plant itself. At the same time, young leaves turn yellow, and their veins of a darker shade are clearly visible on the surface, the edges of the leaf begin to curl and deform, the shape of the leaf plate changes, the leaves and buds begin to drop, the tops of the shoots begin to dry out, the root system does not develop well and begins to die off.
In order to solve this problem, you must:
- Choose the right substrate for planting cyanotus, it should be lightweight and with good air and water permeability. If the soil becomes too dense, then it retains moisture and quickly becomes alkaline - this becomes the main cause of chlorosis.
- Water the plant with acidified water, the acidity of tap water is approximately equal to pH 7, 0, so that the red root plant feels normal, a little lemon juice or citric acid should be added to the water (citric acid taken from the tip of a knife is diluted in one liter of water). Moistening with such water must be carried out every 7 days.
Of course, the easiest way at the moment is to buy iron chelate in specialized flower shops, for example, the drug Ferovit or Ferrylen, but you can also prepare it at home:
- Dissolve half a teaspoon of citric acid in a liter of cold filtered and boiled water and add two and a half grams of copper sulfate.
- In a liter can of water, 10 grams are diluted. ferrous sulfate and then mixed with about 20 gr. ascorbic acid.
These solutions not only moisten the soil, but also spray the zeanotus bush. The shelf life of these funds is 14 days.
Interesting facts about tseanotus
Tseanotus is interesting in that it not only serves to obtain interesting dyes from different parts, but also for use in medicine.
Dried leaves of this plant are actively used for diseases of the spleen and its tumors. Helps to solve some of the problems of female diseases. It can be used for skin diseases and inflammation of the respiratory tract.
In ancient times, healers used Ceanothus integerrimus for severe labor. And in the leaves of velvety ceanotus (Ceanothus velutinus), the contained alkaloids will help lower blood pressure and get rid of problems with the lymphatic system.
Also, the last variety was used by the Indians to prepare a refreshing drink, and the first settlers to the continent of America from Europe were used as a substitute for tea.
If you combine the plant with the American endemic monarda, you will get a wonderful drink, which in its characteristics is equal to the famous Earl Gray tea. A species of American ceanotus (Ceanothus americanus) was used here, it was even called New Jersey Tea.
Types of zeanotus
The plant zeanotus is widely used for decoration of premises, and most importantly gardens in countries where climatic conditions permit. Some species can be cultivated in central Russia, but some problems arise.
American ceanotus (Ceanothus americanus). The plant is also called the American red root. This representative loves to settle in dry forests in the north of America, located in mountainous regions. It has a bushy form of growth with a dense deciduous crown, reaches a height of 0.5 m to one meter. Leaf plates measure 7 cm in length, White flowers are collected in spherical inflorescences, growing up to 5 cm in length. The flowering process stretches from mid-summer to September. This species has been cultivated since the beginning of the 18th century (from about 1713). Today, a large number of hybrids and varieties are cultivated in the countries of North America and Europe, which are created on the basis of this flower:
- pale tseanotus (Ceanothus americanus x pallidus) characterized by inflorescences of a pale sky-blue color;
- Marie Simon has pink flowers;
- in the species Gloire de Versailles, the buds are painted in lilac colors;
- the bush of the Topaz variety of tseanotus is decorated with inflorescences of a rich bright blue color;
- Trewithen Blue has fragrant flowers with a deep blue tint.
Plants of these hybrid and other varieties are often found in gardens and park zones of Belarus, Ukraine, Central and Black Earth belts of Russia. There, the red-root plant has a long flowering and even bears fruit. If the winter is too harsh, then the bush can be significantly damaged, but with the arrival of spring heat it quickly recovers. If you cultivate it in a strip of Moscow or St. Petersburg, then the tseanotus can freeze every year, but it does not show bad flowering.
Ceanotus pyramidal (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus). Under natural conditions, it grows in California. A shrub with evergreen foliage can grow to a height of about 6 m. It is listed in chaparral (a community of difficult-to-pass shrubs that grow in a Mediterranean climate). Blossoming occurs in buds of various shades of blue, but sometimes white colors appear.
When growing, such varieties are widely used as:
- Skylark, a shrub with blue flowers;
- The Snow Flurry bush is large and blooms with snow-white buds;
- Repens Victoria has creeping branches, emerging flowers of blue hues, is a ground cover;
- E1 Dorado is a very decorative plant due to leaf plates with a golden border around the edge, blooming with blue shades of buds.
More information about Zeanotus in this video:
