Distinctive features of balsam, indoor cultivation, recommendations for reproduction and transplantation, diseases and pests, the fight against them, interesting facts, species. Balsam (Impatiens), is part of the Balsaminaceae family of the same name. They are widespread in the northern hemisphere of the planet, and in the tropical belt. The genus of this plant is quite large, it includes about 500 representatives, which combine decorative, medicinal and cultural varieties of balsam.
The name balsam is inherited from the Latin word "impatiens", which means sensitive or intolerant of pressure, and the plant is also called "touch-me-not", because if you touch the balsam seed pods, they immediately shoot out. But among the people, for the wonderful flowers, the bush received the names - "light" or "Vanka wet", since with abundant moisture in the soil, droplets of moisture appear on the leaves. In the lands of old England, it is customary to call balsam "Busy Lizzie", and in Germany it bears the name of "zealous Liza" (Fleibiges Lieschen). On the territory of Austria, this flower with delicate buds, compared with a beautiful young girl, was given the name "Beautiful wreaths".
The plant can settle both in shady places and in lighted ones. Most of all, balsam prefers moist and nutritious soils, of which there are many in roadside ditches, on the edges of forests or marshy lands. Some can successfully grow even in weedy places.
Basically, representatives of the genus are annuals, and their flowering stretches from the very beginning of summer until the first frost, but perennials bloom all year round. Regardless of its lifespan, the plant rarely exceeds two meters in height. Stems are fleshy, prone to growing bare from the leaves. Their color is green, yellowish-green and mottling of a pinkish tone may be present. May be branched.
The leaf plates are usually solid, with a shiny glossy surface, with a water-repellent cuticle (a layer of a wax-like substance called cutin that covers the aerial surface of plant parts). It gives the feeling that the leaves are covered with a greasy coating. The color of the upper surface is green or dark emerald, yellowish green. On the reverse side, the leaf blade can be slightly purple or purple-bronze. Their shape is oval-elongated, ovoid, and lanceolate can also be found. There are notches along the edge. The surface of the leaf is fleshy. In length, they can reach 8–12 cm.
Balsam flowers originate from the leaf sinuses. They are located either singly or in several pieces in an inflorescence. For its bright shades of buds, the plant is called "light". The buds can be of five large petals or gather in several rows in a double shape. The colors are very varied, shades of pink or red. To date, many hybrid varieties have been bred that can have amazing tones, there are not only yellow or blue ones.
The fruit ripens in the form of a green box filled with seeds. When it is fully matured, careless touching will cause it to crack and open. The capsule consists of five petals, which, when the fruit opens, twist up in an instant and shoot out with force the seed material. The distance the seeds fly can be up to 2 m.
In care, this plant is quite simple and unpretentious, even a novice florist can handle it.
Agricultural technology when growing balsam, care
- Lighting and location selection. Balsam likes diffused soft light. Windows facing east or west will do. You will have to hang curtains on the south window to create shade, and on the north window you will have to illuminate with lamps.
- Content temperature. For a plant, it is necessary to maintain 18-25 degrees Celsius; at high temperatures, constant ventilation and spraying will be required. With the arrival of autumn, the heat indicators can be lowered, but not lower than 12-15 degrees.
- Air humidity in the room for balsam is not essential, but when the temperature is more than 22 degrees, daily spraying is carried out.
- Watering. The soil is moistened abundantly, but after the top layer of the soil in the pot has dried. With the arrival of autumn, watering is reduced, and moistened only two days after the upper part of the substrate has dried. The water used is soft and warm.
- Fertilizers for balsam, the usual mineral complexes for flowering plants are used, but in half the dose. They are brought in once every 14 days. If the plant blooms in winter, but continue to feed it.
- Transplantation and selection of soil. Transplant-transshipment is carried out in the spring, but balsam blooms better when it is a little cramped in the pot. If the plant is overgrown, then pruning will need to be done so that young shoots appear. Young plants are transplanted annually, but if the bush is more than 3 years old, it will need to be renewed from cuttings. The pot should not be too wide and flat. Holes are made in its bottom to drain moisture and 2–3 cm of expanded clay or pebbles of the middle fraction are laid.
Balsam grows well in soil with an acidity of about pH-6, the main thing is that it is nutritious and loose. When transplanting, you can take soil for indoor flowering plants or compose a substrate yourself from sod, leafy and humus soil, river sand, and the parts should be equal.
Recommendations for breeding "light" at home
Since the plant is prone to overgrowth, it is necessary to renew it periodically. This is done by planting seeds or grafting.
Seeds are planted with the arrival of spring, but if you want to get a flowering bush by May, you will have to carry out this operation in January. For a start, the seeds must be kept for 10 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate (the liquid should be slightly pinkish), and then transferred to clean warm water. The planting substrate is mixed from peat and sand or any soil for flowering indoor plants is taken. It is moistened and seed is planted, the planting depth is equal to the seed itself. A container with crops is wrapped in plastic wrap or placed under a piece of glass. The temperature during germination should not be less than 18–20 degrees. It is necessary to regularly ventilate the seedlings and, if necessary, moisten the soil. Sometimes the seeds are placed in a damp cloth and with regular moisture they germinate, as soon as shoots appear (after 3-4 days), they are planted in sandy-peat soil.
But germination usually takes two weeks. The place is selected bright, but without direct rays of the sun, however, sprouts also successfully appear in some shade. As soon as two true leaves appear on the sprouts, they can be dived into large pots of soil suitable for adult balsams. The care is appropriate. When 5–9 leaf blades grow on a young plant, the top is pinched - this will increase bushiness.
It can be propagated by apical cuttings after pruning balsam. The length of the branch should be only 4–6 cm. The lower leaves should be removed, and if the rest are too large, then they should be cut in half - this will reduce the area of moisture evaporation. You can wait for the roots to appear on the cutting by placing the branches in a vessel with water or planting them in moistened sand (substrate for flowering indoor plants). Rooting occurs very quickly.
If the planting of cuttings was carried out in the spring, then in the summer you can enjoy the appearance of flowers, and if the cuttings were planted in mid-late summer, then the buds will appear with the arrival of autumn, and will delight with flowers all winter. When planting balsam branches in autumn, it will be necessary to provide additional lighting and sufficient heat values of 18-20 degrees. If this is not followed, then the cuttings can easily rot.
When the stalk shows signs of rooting - new leaves appear, then they are transplanted into separate pots with the appropriate size. During growth, you will need to pinch a young balsam - this will help branching.
Problems with growing balsam
The difficulties that arise when growing balsam are associated with a violation of the conditions for its maintenance:
- drooping leaves indicate elevated temperatures or insufficient watering;
- decay of the bases of stems and roots occurs from waterlogging at low temperatures and a lack of illumination;
- buds and flowers crumble when the air is dry and very hot or very cold, insufficient lighting or an excess of fertilizers;
- also the discarding of flowers accompanies overdrying of the earth and low humidity;
- flowers lose color with a lack of light in the room;
- if flowering is weak or growth is slow, then this means a lack of nutrients or too tight a pot;
- with a sharp cold snap, the flowers quickly fly around and flowering stops.
The harmful insects that can infect balsam are aphids, spider mites and whiteflies. When these pests appear, the leaf plates begin to turn yellow and deform, the stems and leaves are covered with a thin cobweb, white dots (pest eggs) are visible on the back of the leaf, green or black bugs appear, and the plant is also covered with whitish small midges. When these symptoms appear, it is necessary to treat with insecticides.
Balsam is susceptible to gray rot when parts of the plant are covered with a fluffy gray coating, while it is necessary to remove the infected parts of the bush, and the plant itself must be treated with fungicides.
Interesting facts about balsam
This delicate flower was brought to European countries at the end of the XIV century (1596). And even in the 19th century it was grown exclusively as an indoor culture.
In some literary works there are direct references to this plant, for example, in the play by A. N. Ostrovsky "For what you go, you will find" the main character bears the surname Balzaminov. But M. F. Dostoevsky's story entitled "Poor People", the letter of the hero Makar Devushkin begins with the words "I see that the corner of the curtain by your window is bent and attached to a pot of balsam …".
Energy experts recognize that balsams, depending on the color of the buds, can affect a person in different ways: white flowers will stimulate spirituality in the owner; balsams with pink flowers will awaken emotionality; lilac shade of buds will stimulate mental abilities; red flowers will help increase physical activity; and orange will awaken and support sexuality. In general, with its energy flows, this plant will activate people who are distinguished by their slowness.
This plant is grown not only for decorative purposes, but is also actively used in folk medicine. Healers of Siberia, the Caucasus and the Urals, as well as in Asia, prepare decoctions and tinctures based on this plant and use them for kidney stones and bladder stones. And fresh balsam leaves are applied as applications for the treatment of ulcers, wounds and hemorrhoids. On the basis of decoctions of the leaves, you can prepare baths and relieve rheumatoid pains. The main thing is not to violate the dosages, as this can lead to poisoning and vomiting.
When balsam flowers bloom, a huge amount of ascorbic acid is released and from this it becomes poisonous.
Types of balsam
- Waller's balsam (Impatiens walleriana). It is also called Waller's Balsam. He is the progenitor of many hybrid varieties. Also included here are Sultanic Balsam (Impatiens sultani), in which the shoots and leaves are painted green, and the type of Balsam Canvas (Impatiens holsti) with leaf plates with a green or brown tone and branches with a reddish color scheme. The height of this plant reaches 60 cm, it is a perennial with a bushy form of growth and it is customary to grow it as an annual. Stems glabrous, juicy and plump, highly branching, covered with thin leaves. The petiole may be longer than the leaf itself. The shape of the leaf plate is ovoid-rhomboid, or broadly oval with a pointed tip at the apex, the base is broadly wedge-shaped. The length of the leaf reaches 4–6 cm. The edge is obtuse-ciliated with small cilia in the grooves between the septa. The flowers are large in size, usually located at the ends of the shoots. They can be opened in simple and terry forms. Their color is the most diverse. The hybrids of this plant are very numerous and they are combined into groups according to height, color and shape of flowers. Only balsam with yellow or blue buds is missing.
- Peters' balsam (Impatiens petersiana). Sometimes it is included in the previous variety. The homeland is considered the western territories of the African continent with a tropical climate. It differs from the previous species in longer petioles of leaves and the leaf blades themselves, in greater height and slightly pubescent shoots. The color of the leaves and branches of a bronze tint. The flower stalks are also slightly longer, and the color of the flowers is fiery red. These two varieties are easily crossed and on their basis many forms with different heights and various shades, both leaves and flowers, have been bred, the latter can be simple or double. The color of the buds goes from white to purple, all colors except blue and yellow, there are even two-color specimens.
- Iron-bone balsam (Impatiens glandulifera). The main habitats are the eastern territories of India and the Himalayas. This variety can go wild easily. It has been cultivated in culture since 1839. It got its name from the glands located at the base of the leaf plate. It is an annual stem that branches easily and is juicy, thick and nodular. It can reach 2 m in height. The leaf blades have ovate-lanceolate outlines and measure 15 cm in length. In general, whorls of three units are collected from them, placed at the top of the shoots. At the very base of the leaf there is a pair of glands. The flowers are simple and large in size, growing on long peduncles. Their color can be white, pink or wine red. From the buds, inflorescences are collected in the form of brushes, located in the leaf axils. The flowering process lasts from June to the beginning of frost. Can be grown in gardens to create hedges, fences or tombstones.
- Niamean balsam (Impatiens niamniansis) or Nianiamean. The homeland is considered to be the lands of Africa. The branches of the plant reach meter indicators. The stems are succulent and have multiple lateral ramifications that densely cover the elongated leaf blades. In the leaf axils, long pedicels grow, on which the buds are located. Green flower petals are inconspicuous in appearance, but all attention goes to the sepal, which has the shape of a jug or horn with a narrow bend. Its color is red or pink, but there is also a two-color form - red-yellow. This combination is in great demand among flower growers.
Although this variety of balsam is a perennial, in European countries it is cultivated as an annual seasonal plant, since it does not withstand frost and dies. If the bush is transferred to a warmer room, it winters well and continues to grow.
How to care for indoor balsam, see here:
