Description of goblet ficus, tips for indoor care, independent reproduction, disease and pest control, facts for the curious, varieties. 3-4 cm of drainage material is placed on the bottom of the new pot so that the substrate in it does not become waterlogged and the flowerpot is more stable. It is recommended to put medium-sized pebbles or expanded clay on the very bottom, and river sand on top.
Fertile and loose soil is suitable for goblet ficus, acidity should be weak or neutral. You can use ready-made soil mixtures intended for ficuses or palms. In this case, a little quartz fine sand or a little pieces of charcoal is added there.
Many growers make up the substrate themselves from:
- turf, leafy soil, river sand in a ratio of 1: 1: 0, 5, with the addition of crushed charcoal;
- equal parts of peat, leafy soil, sod soil, coarse sand.
General care of the cyatistipula ficus will not be a problem, since the plant practically does not need to form a crown. But cutting is carried out only if the owner wants to give the tree some unusual outlines.
How to propagate goblet-leaf ficus at home?
A new bush of ficus cyatistipula is obtained by performing cuttings, rooting of cuttings or by sowing seeds.
Cutting of blanks is carried out from the tops of the shoots. In this case, the length of the cutting should not exceed 8-10 cm. Only a couple of healthy leaves are left on the branch, if there are also leaf plates below, then they are removed. Since all such plants have the property of releasing milky sap at any incision, a similar liquid will ooze from the cutting for some time. It is recommended to rinse it off under running water or wait until it hardens and then remove.
Then the cut of the workpiece is sprinkled with a powder of crushed activated or charcoal and dried for an hour. Planting is carried out in pots filled with peat-sandy substrate or a mixture of earth and river sand. In order for the cuttings to take root better, they are wrapped in a plastic transparent bag or placed under a cut plastic bottle - this will create conditions for a mini-greenhouse with high humidity. Pots with cuttings are transferred to a warm place (average heat is about 25 degrees) with bright diffused lighting.
If you wish, you can put the cut branches in a vessel with boiled water, but you will have to change it every two days. But at the same time, polyethylene shelter is also recommended. When using such an impromptu greenhouse, it is required to carry out daily airing and watering of the drying soil. After the cuttings take root or on those that are in the water, centimeter roots develop, then a transplant should be carried out in a container with a diameter of 10 cm. The first few days, the shelter is left so that young goblet-leaf ficuses adapt.
You can carry out the reproduction of such a plant by sowing seed. It is placed in pots with a peat-perlite or peat-sandy soil composition and covered with a piece of glass (or, like the cuttings, they are wrapped in a plastic bag). Germination is carried out at a temperature of about 25 degrees. Care consists of the same steps as described earlier for rooting cuttings. When unfolding a pair of real leaves on seedlings, they dive, planting in pots with a diameter of 7 cm.
If it is decided to root the air layer, then a long healthy branch is selected for it, on which a cut is made in a circle just below any leaf in order to slightly raise the bark. Then a small pebble is inserted into the incision so that the bark does not grow back and the "wound" is powdered with a hormonal stimulator of root formation. Next, cover the incision site with a layer of sphagnum moss and tie it with a coarse thread so that it does not unwind. Moss is carefully sprayed from a spray bottle and, in order not to dry out, it is wrapped on top with a plastic transparent bag.
After some time, it will be possible to see how the young roots crawled through the moss cover and filled the bag. After that, the cuttings are carefully cut slightly below the formed root bunch and planted in pots with a drainage layer and suitable soil. On the old ficus cyanistipula, the cut should be covered with petroleum jelly, since in this place the formation of lateral branches is possible.
Diseases and pests of goblet ficus
Like other representatives of this genus, goblet-leaf ficus is susceptible to attacks by pests such as:
- Mealybug or felt insect, on indoor plants it manifests itself in the form of whitish formations, since the pest's body has an oval shape and bristles on the sides. High temperature (more than 27 degrees) and dry air contribute to its appearance. This sucking pest ranges in size from 3-7 mm and produces sticky mucus that gives the impression that the leaves and internodes are sprinkled with flour or cotton balls. Due to mucus, gas exchange in the plant decreases and its parts turn pale, turn yellow and die. For the fight, spraying with insecticidal preparations is used.
- Shield has the form of a plaque resembling a "shield", hence the name, while the pest sucks useful substances from the ficus with its mouth apparatus and a speck of yellow tint is formed at the site of suction. Such spotting, if measures are not taken to combat the scabbard, begins to grow and the leaf subsequently curls and falls off. The goblet ficus stops growing, the branches become bare, and then the whole plant dries up and dies. The occurrence of such pests is facilitated by musty indoor air and a decrease in humidity. It is recommended to frequently spray and inspect the foliage. For the fight, Aktaru, Actellik or Phosbecid are used.
- Spider mite. The size of such an insect ranges from 0.3 mm to 0.6 mm. The color of the pest's calf can be shades of green, brown or red. The appearance and rapid reproduction of the spider mite is facilitated by a decrease in humidity and an increase in temperature. Ticks feed on the cellular content of plant parts. Signs of defeat by this pest are the formation of white dots on the back of the foliage and the covering of their thin cobweb. First of all, each ficus leaf is washed on both sides with warm water mixed with grated laundry soap or dishwashing detergent. This will help reduce the number of parasites, but acaricidal or insecticidal preparations are used to completely destroy them.
A big problem with goblet-leaf ficus is:
- foliage falling, which occurs due to a change in the position of the pot with a plant more often than once a month;
- drying out of the tips of the sheet plates if the humidity has dropped too much;
- with inadequate lighting or small doses of dressings in ficus, the shoots become too thinned, the foliage becomes small.
Facts for the curious and photos of goblet ficus
Usually in indoor floriculture, plants of representatives of ficus are grown, which do not exceed two meters in height.
According to Chinese beliefs, if a ficus is grown in a room, it brings comfort to the house and helps to solve all problem situations, and the goblet ficus also cleans the energy of the house from negative emanations. In this case, the plant begins to saturate the air around it with oxygen, absorbing harmful compounds. But in our Slavic beliefs there is no such unambiguity about the content of a representative of ficus in his home. For example, there is one sign according to which the "waxy leaves" of a plant can lead to a dwelling of gossip, envious people or scandalous situations. Often, the ficus is considered a "muzhegon", that is, it pushes the stronger sex away from the dwelling where the tree is kept, but if a person still lives in this house, then his character will not change for the better.
According to another opinion, ficus goblet-leafed leaf is endowed with positive properties: for example, this representative of the flora placed in the kitchen helps to attract prosperity to its "home" and those living in it will never know hungry days. Just like the Chinese, the Slavs believe that the plant will attract good luck to the house and help maintain an atmosphere of sympathy and peace between all members of the family.
Subspecies of goblet ficus
Among these plants are:
- Ficus cyathistipula subsp. cyathistipula found and described at Warburg in 1894 from tropical Africa;
- Ficus cyathistipula subsp. pringsheimiana is a flora endemic to the West African lowland rainforest, described in Berge in 1988.
