Distinctive features of hamedorea, cultivation at home, choice of fertilizers, transplantation and reproduction, problems in cultivation and ways to solve them, interesting facts, types. Hamedorea (Chamaedorea) belongs to the family of Palm (Arecaceae), the genus of flowering representatives of flora - plants that have a flower as an organ of sexual reproduction and containing a closed receptacle of the ovule, therefore the genus is called Angiosperms. This large family includes more than 100 species of plants that have a woody form of growth, and are distinguished by their short stature. The homeland of Hamedorei is considered to be the regions of America located in the center and in the south. Likes to settle in wet woodlands or foothills. Usually you can find it under the spreading trees in their shade, this can explain such a shade tolerance of a palm tree. The plant also has a synonym name - Neanta, Collinia, "mountain palm", "reed palm" or "bamboo palm". However, the name in Latin came from the merger of two words: "Chamai" - which means dwarf, low, small and "Dorea" - translated as a gift, a gift, and people associated this with the availability of the fruits of this short representative of palm trees, which were located not too high above earth.
Hamedorea is a plant that rarely exceeds a meter or one and a half meter height, if cultivated in pots, in natural conditions neanta can reach 3-5 m. liana-like forms. It has thin stems. The rhizome of this plant forms multiple thin, like bamboo or reed stems. Their surface is covered with ring-shaped marks - marks from fallen leaves.
The leaf plates are attached to long petioles, they are rounded, grooved. The length of the plate is more than half a meter. They are distinguished by featheriness and inclination in the form of an arc in the ground. When dissecting, up to 8-15 pairs of leaf lobes are formed, which are linear and lanceolate or crescent-shaped. There is a sharpening at the top. The shade of the leaves can be rich and light green. There are species in which the leaf plate is solid or has a bifurcation in the upper part.
The flowers of the chamedorea are completely nondescript and somewhat resemble bunches of mimosa - bright yellow, light yellow or orange-red and slightly velvety. From them are collected axillary inflorescences in the form of panicles. The plant is dioecious - there are both female and male flowers on one bush. Male flowers are fragrant and it is they that form inflorescences, and their shades with yellow tones. Female flowers - located one by one, painted in orange or bright red shades. The flower petals are fused. The peculiarity of this type of palm is that flowering can already occur when the colline height does not exceed 30 cm. The flowering process takes place at any time of the year. Many flower growers recommend cutting off all this delicate beauty so that flowering does not weaken the neanthus, especially in the first years of its growth. Although many simply increase the rate of feeding and help the palm tree survive this period. Opinions here are ambiguous and the owner of the "mountain palm" must make a decision.
Chemedorea bears fruit with spherical fruit-berries, which reach only 6 mm in diameter. When they ripen, they turn black, and the stalk is shaded with orange colors. Each berry contains one seed.
The growth rate of this representative of palm trees is very slow, only 2-3 leaves are stretched per year, the length of which is always longer than the previous ones.
Recommendations for caring for chamedorea at home
Lighting and location. The plant is good at tolerating shade and partial shade, therefore, the palm tree will feel comfortable on the window sills of windows with a northern, eastern and western orientation, but in rooms where the windows face south, you should arrange shading or stir a pot of neante in the back of the room.
- Content temperature. In the spring-summer period, it is worth keeping the indicators at 16-23 degrees, and with the arrival of autumn, lower the temperature to 15-18 degrees. They should not fall below 12.
- Air humidity should be increased so as not to provoke pest infestation. Therefore, frequent spraying, wiping the leaves with a damp sponge or shower procedures are recommended.
- Watering hamedorea it follows abundantly in the summer, and with a decrease in temperatures, humidification decreases, but if wintering takes place at increased heat indicators, then watering is the same as in the summer months.
- Fertilizers for neanta it is necessary to apply from March to autumn 2-3 times a month, but in winter, feeding is carried out only once a month or not at all. If the plant has just been transplanted, there is no need to feed it, the homedoria grows very slowly, and it will have enough of those nutrients that are in the new substrate. It is recommended to use complex preparations or special liquid fertilizers for palms.
- Pruning palm trees. It is necessary to clean the chamedorea annually - it is required to cut off the leaf plates that have aged, turned yellow and withered, as well as those parts of the leaves that protrude strongly from the crown of the plant. For pruning, it is recommended to use a special garden pruner, which is wiped with isopropyl alcohol. The leaf is cut as close to the stem as possible, and the wound site should be treated immediately with a fungicide.
- Transplantation and choice of substrate. When the plant is young, then it needs to change the soil and capacity annually with the arrival of spring. Adult specimens do not bother unnecessarily, a transplant will be needed only when the root system has completely mastered all the soil provided to it and the roots begin to crawl out through the drainage holes and, so to speak, "raise" the chamedorrhea above the container. The new container should be only slightly larger than the previous one and it is better that it be deeper than wide. At the bottom of the pot, it is necessary to make drainage holes for water that has not been absorbed by the root system of the palm tree and a layer of drainage material is poured into the flowerpot - a fine fraction of expanded clay or pebbles can act on it, but it should be such that it does not fall out into the drainage holes.
When transplanting, if the root system of the plant is healthy, then it is better not to disturb it much and carry out the operation by the transshipment method - when the earthen lump remains intact. If rotten roots are visible, then with the help of a disinfected pruner, cut off all the spoiled parts and sprinkle the cuts with crushed activated carbon or ash.
As a substrate, you can use commercially available mixtures for palm trees. And also make up the soil mixture yourself, choosing from the following options:
- sod soil, humus soil, peat and river sand (in proportions 2: 2: 2: 1);
- coniferous earth, humus, leaf (parts are equal) and a little vermiculite.
Tips for self-breeding neanta
You can get a new decorative home palm by planting seeds, dividing a bush or basal processes.
If reproduction is carried out by planting seed material, then it will take more than six months to expect seedlings, if the seeds are purchased, if they are obtained during home cultivation, then the period decreases from a month to forty days. The seeds must be soaked for 5 days in a zircon solution. Further, in order for the seedlings to germinate faster, the upper dense shell is carefully removed from them. Seed material must be planted in prepared soil, deepening by approximately 1 cm. Germination is carried out at a constant temperature of 22-25 degrees. The soil in the container should be constantly moist and it is better to wrap the planting with polyethylene to maintain moisture and heat. Seedlings must be ventilated daily and the substrate should be moistened with a spray bottle. When the first true leaf of the seedlings reaches a size of 2–4 cm, then the plants can be dived into separate pots. The substrate can be taken as usual for palm plants.
By dividing the "mountain palm" it is better to propagate during transplantation, for this end of spring is suitable. In this case, the mother plant is removed from the pot, the substrate is removed, and the roots are washed gently with water. If rotten or damaged root shoots are visible, they must be removed with a sharp, disinfected pruner. Further, the root system is divided into several parts, it is important that each of them has a sufficient number of root processes and a well-formed shoot. Delenders are planted in separate pots of a suitable size, with soil for further growth. Then the plants are thoroughly moistened and exhibited in a shaded place with a high level of humidity. Young neants need to be sprayed several times a day and usually rooting occurs after 2-3 weeks.
Hamedoria differs in that the mother plant has daughter plants - basal processes. They must be carefully separated from the adult specimen and planted in a separate pot. Further, the care is the same as in the above described method.
Difficulties in growing "mountain palm"
When cultivating chamedorea, the following problems may occur:
- Leaves become stained if they were sprayed in sunlight or in high light conditions, as well as watering with too hard water.
- If there is no good drainage in the pot or the soil has been flooded, then this can lead to rotting of the roots.
- If the palm tree stood in a room where heating devices work or the pot with it was near the central heating batteries, then the leaf lobes may dry out, and their ends acquire a brown tint, this also happens if the air in the room is very dry.
- The yellowing of the leaves provokes a low temperature of the content, the flooding of the soil.
- If the leaves from the bottom of the trunks (trunk) began to dry out and die off, then this is evidence of their natural aging process. But it is not recommended to immediately remove the leaf, since the next one will immediately begin to dry out.
If the plant was exposed to frequent waterlogging of the soil, and was kept at low temperatures, then these factors can provoke the occurrence of fungal diseases, such as pitya, late blight or fusarium. These diseases cause drying of fruits and leaf plates of a palm tree or root rot. To solve such problems, it is required to carry out treatment with fungicides every ten days. The affected part is removed, treatment with the drug is carried out and subsequent transplantation into a new container with a new substrate, it is also recommended to change the conditions of detention.
Of the harmful insects, mealybugs, aphids, scale insects and spider mites can be distinguished. The mealybug, piercing the surface of the leaf with its proboscis, sucks out the nutritious juices of the plant, and the growth of the palm tree slows down. Signs of damage are: cracked bark of stems, discharge of ovaries and fruits of chamedorea, the appearance of sticky sugary secretions (product of the pest's vital activity). When the scabbard is affected, sticky secretions also appear and brown specks are visible on the back of the leaf - these are insect eggs. The spider mite likes to settle on the stems and the back of the leaf, its signs are drying and shedding of leaves, covering them with cobwebs, the appearance of a light spot, which later darkens. The mealybug is also visible by the secretions in the form of cotton wool lumps, which cover the internodes and leaves of the neanta. Aphids are clearly visible to the naked eye in the form of bugs covering all leaves and trunks and also a sticky plaque.
If the listed symptoms are found, then it is worth treating the plant with soap, oil or alcohol solutions, which are sprayed on the leaves and stems or applied to a cotton pad and the pests are removed manually. If sparing drugs do not help, then you need to apply insecticides (also spray all parts of the palm tree).
Interesting facts about hamedorea
The plant is an excellent filter, it helps purify the air by 8, 4 points on a 10-point scale. It also improves the indoor climate. It is so strong that it can absorb harmful compounds: formaldehyde, benzene and trichlorethylene.
It is recommended to keep this plant in houses that are located near highways, as hamedorea can neutralize toxic substances in exhaust gases that penetrate into apartments and offices from the street.
Locals in the American regions where the bamboo palm grows eat the unopened male inflorescences of the Chamaedorea tepejilote variety, which are called pacaya. Basically, salads are prepared from it.
Types of hamedorea
- Hamedorea graceful (Chamaedorea elegans). It is a variegated palm tree that stretches to a height of one and a half or two meters, with a diameter of only 3 cm. The trunks grown in culture are not very numerous and they have 7-10 leaves on long petioles. The shape of the leaf plate is pinnate, curved in an arc with a length of 40 to 100 cm. The leaf parts are painted in light green shades of an elongated lanceolate shape. Usually there are 8 to 10 pairs of them on a sheet. The palm tree grows well in the house and often blooms, yellow flowers gather in paniculate inflorescences. Later, black berries bear fruit.
- Hamedorea high (Chamaedorea elatior). The plant takes on a bushy form of growth, every year new trunks are extended from the rhizome itself, measuring 3-5 m in height. In shape, they resemble bamboo stems - thin and very graceful, rings from fallen old leaves are clearly visible on them. Each stem bears 4–6 leaves. Their shape is feathery, bowed to the ground, the color is dark emerald, the lobes of the leaves are lanceolate-elongated with a pointed tip at the very top. Long petioles are rounded. This species blooms with bright orange buds, from which panicle inflorescences are collected.
- Hamedorea Ernest-August (Chamaedorea ernesri-augusti). The difference between this species of neanta is that root shoots appear on the nodes of its stems, and it can reproduce vegetatively. The stem itself is the only one. And another feature of it is that the leaf plates do not have a division into shares, they are solid in the form of pointed ovals, painted in a dark green color scheme. There is a slight bifurcation at the end. This palm tree blooms with flowers of a red hue.
- Hamedorea metal (Chamaedorea metallica) is similar in structure to the previous species, however, in the color of its leaves, metallic shades are mixed with green. The leaves of this variety are wide, leathery, as if covered with wrinkles. The trunk of a mountain palm tree is only one and over time it lignifies and becomes thick. Its height is two or more meters. The species tolerates partial shade and shade well, and can be grown in rooms with small window openings.
- Chamaedorea Seifrizii. A plant that takes a bushy form and has multiple shoots, on which bright, spreading leaf plates are located. Likes lighter rooms than other types of "mountain palm".
More information about hamedorea in this video:
