Differences of this variety of ferns, recommendations for growing didimochlena, methods of pest and disease control, interesting facts. The large family of Pterisaceae (Pteridaceae), or as it is also called Ragifolia (and we are more used to ferns), includes many beautiful evergreen representatives of the flora, which have long been used by flower growers to decorate their apartments or by designers to give a spectacular look to large rooms. We already know such pinnate specimens of the green world as Adiantum and Asplenium, Blehnum and exotic Davallia or Nephrolepis, but not only they can attract the eye with their fronds (as the leaf plates of ferns are called). There are many more similar plants, but less known in the circles of home flora lovers. Today we will talk about Didimochlena, which attracts with its lush openwork foliage. This decorativeness is especially visible if this fern is grown as a mono plant. If you want to meet him in the wild, you will need to go to tropical latitudes, to the lands of America, Polynesia or the African continent. Yes, and there they say that Didimokhlena is a rare guest, most often it can be seen as a soda culture.
Back in the Victorian era, it was customary to grow such lush-leaved bushes in greenhouses or specially designed "flower windows" - built glass showcases to recreate the natural growing conditions for such ferns, but already in speed it became clear that indoor cultivation was possible.
This genus includes only one single species - Didimochlena truncated or, as it is called in Latin, Didimochlena lunulata or Didimochlena trancatula. Because of the stolon shoots, which have clear triangular outlines, the variety of didimochlena is called "truncated" - "truncated".
In its homeland, the plant reaches meters in height, the width of its bush is about the same. The root processes are straight. This fern is considered arboreal because its trunks are formed from downward growing roots. The fronds have triangular outlines, double pinnate, their sizes can vary in the range of 60–150 cm. The segments grow with a porous, leathery surface, curved with ovoid-diamond-shaped contours. The color is dark emerald or greenish brown. Petioles are cast in red-brown color, simple. Leaf segments are small in size and have an opposite arrangement on the rachis (this name has the main axis of a complex leaf plate with a petiole, separate small leaves are attached to it). The plant never sheds leaves if it is healthy and grown in proper conditions. Brownish-rufous sporangia are arranged on the reverse side of the leaf segments in a certain order.
If didymohlena is cultivated indoors, then its height parameters vary within the range of 50–70 cm. This species is the only tree fern that seems to be possible to grow indoors. The growth rate is very slow.
If you choose a place to install a pot with didimochelen, then it is important to remember that the plant does not like too bright lighting and prefers conditions with high humidity; not only a greenhouse, but also a pool or sauna may be suitable here. Since, according to botanists, didimochlena is ranked among the most ancient of the genus of ferns, it is impossible to either hybridize or select it. All this is because the plant grows very slowly, and changes in the configuration of the wai or the general appearance will take neither less nor more, but several centuries, and there is no guarantee that the process will be completed successfully, since all the characteristics were developed by the pinnate beauty for a long period of existence on the planet.
The plant, due to its centuries-old preferences, is considered a very "intractable" culture and such interventions, which are common for many domestic green "pets", such as transplanting, feeding or pruning aging shoots, are perceived differently each time. But thanks to the attractiveness of its strict geometric forms, this tree fern is dearly loved by patient growers.
In its natural habitat, it is precisely because of the spores that the plant can conquer new spaces through the wind. When the sporangia matures, they open and spores, carried away by the wind, "spill out" from there.
Agrotechnics when growing didimochelena, care
- Lighting and location selection. When cultivating this fern, it is necessary to choose a place with partial shade so that direct sunlight does not harm the leaf segments of the wai. Therefore, if you put a pot with a plant on the windowsill, then preference should be given to windows facing east, west and north. If there is no choice, and the windows of the room "look" to the south, then you can put a pot of didimochelen in the back of the room, or hang a curtain made of fabric on the window, which will scatter direct sunlight well.
- Content temperature. In order for the plant to feel comfortable, it will be required that the heat indicators do not go beyond 20-23 degrees in the spring-summer period, and with the arrival of autumn, they can only be slightly lowered - to a mark of 18 degrees, but below 12 the temperature will be destructive for the fern.
- Air humidity when caring for this bush, it is the most important requirement, since in natural nature, he likes to settle in humid and shady forest areas, then in room conditions the level of moisture in the air should not be less than 60-80%. To do this, regular spraying of didimochlena leaves is carried out in the spring-summer period 2 times a day, and if the air temperature is lowered, then mechanical humidifiers are installed next to the pot or, at the worst, just vessels with water. If possible, then the pot with the plant is placed in a deep and wide container, at the bottom of which a little water is poured and a layer of expanded clay or pebbles is poured. Just make sure that the bottom of the flowerpot does not touch the liquid, for this you can put an inverted saucer and only then put a pot of fern on it.
- Watering. The soil in peas with didimochelen should always be slightly moistened, but it is absolutely impossible to fill it. In the spring-summer period, watering is carried out 2-3 times a week, with one glass of water. With the arrival of the autumn-winter period, the regularity of humidification is reduced to 1–2 times a week. Water is used only well-separated, you can use river or rainwater, with room temperature. If the liquid has drained into a pot holder, then after 10-15 minutes, it must be removed immediately, otherwise moisture stagnation can lead to rotting of the root system.
- Fertilizers for didimochelens, they are introduced during the growing season (from early April to October) at regular intervals every 2 weeks. Top dressing is used for ornamental deciduous plants, but the dosage is halved, and the drug is diluted in water for irrigation. With the arrival of November and throughout the winter, the plant is not fed, since an excess of nutrients can lead to diseases.
- Plant transplant and soil selection. If the leaves began to brighten, then it is clear that the root system of the fern has grown, and it's time to change the pot and the soil in it. But even so, transplants are quite rare, since the growth rate is low. The capacity is selected not high and large in width, since the root system of didimochlena tends to grow magnificently. In the bottom of the pot, small holes are made to drain excess moisture and 2-3 cm of drainage material is poured, which can be medium expanded clay or pebbles, broken shards or crushed and sifted bricks. It has been noticed that the plant reacts very negatively to the use of containers made of glass, ceramics or wood; it is better to grow it in plastic pots. The substrate should be slightly acidic and light; the main indicators are its moisture and air permeability. Also, a small amount of perlite is mixed into the soil, which will control the moisture level and help the root system to breathe. You can make a soil mixture yourself by combining sod soil, peat, river coarse-grain sand and perlite in proportions of 2: 1: 1: 0, 5, respectively. It is also recommended to mix a little manure and bone meal, they will help maintain the flexibility and strength of the woody shoots. Some add crushed charcoal and chopped sphagnum moss (the first for disinfection, the second for the looseness of the substrate). It was noticed by flower growers that over time, didimohlena begins to feel a great need for a peat substrate, but if the plant is planted only in a sand-peat mixture, then the color of its leafy vai will change.
- Rest in the winter. If during the winter months didimochlena are kept in conditions with low heat indices, then it is recommended to reduce the level of illumination, if supplementary lighting is carried out with artificial lamps, then they are turned on for only a few hours a day.
- General care. It is required to regularly remove damaged or brown leaves. If the plant has dried up, then it is cut at the root and watered - soon new leaves may hatch.
Diy didimochlena breeding tips
Like many ferns, this plant can be propagated both by dividing an overgrown rhizome, and using spores.
When the spores mature, the surface of the soil can be covered with a clean white cloth onto which they fall, or you can scrape the spores onto a piece of paper with a sharpened knife. Then they can be dried a little and sowed.
It is recommended to put a sandy-peat substrate in a container and moisten it slightly with a spray bottle. Spores are evenly distributed over its surface and lightly powdered with soil. Then you need to arrange the conditions for a mini-greenhouse. To do this, the container is placed in a warm and dark place, and a piece of glass is placed on it or wrapped in plastic wrap. Do not forget to ventilate the crops and, if necessary, moisten the soil with warm, settled water from a finely dispersed spray bottle. The germination temperature is maintained within 21-22 degrees.
It has been noticed that the percentage of spore germination in didimochlena is quite high. As soon as the seedlings appear, and a pair of leaves is formed on them, a pick or thinning is carried out. Over time, young ferns should be transplanted into pots with a diameter of 7-9 cm with a selected substrate for further growth. For greater decorativeness of the bush, several specimens are planted in one container.
If the spores have spilled out and sprouted on their own, then during transplantation, you can carefully separate the young shoots and plant them in separate flowerpots.
In the case of dividing the rhizome, it is worth remembering that even the transplant does not "like" the Didimochlene too much and this is a risky activity (you can lose the entire plant). Usually this operation is combined with the transplanting process, when the bush is removed from the old pot. It is important that the fern has several points of growth (preferably more than 3), and it is necessary to divide it so that the parts of the plant are not very small. To do this, use a well-sharpened and disinfected knife, with which the rhizome is cut. The sections are carefully powdered with crushed activated or charcoal and the cuttings are planted in pre-prepared flowerpots filled with soil and having a layer of drainage material underneath. However, even in this case, there is little chance that parts of the fern will take root.
Disease and pest control methods didimochlena
If the color of the fern leaves began to fade noticeably, then this is a signal for transplanting into a larger pot. This happens because the root system, under constraint conditions, almost instantly changes the process of photosynthesis that occurs in frond leaves.
It is also worth paying attention to the state of the shoots and leaves of didimochlena, which are markers of her well-being. If the stolons begin to dry out, and the leaves turn yellow (like paper) and begin to fall off, then this is a sign that the degree of humidity has decreased significantly or the level of illumination has become very high. Often, the drop of foliage is preceded by a sharp drop in temperature in the rooms or the action of a draft. If this is the case, move the fern pot to a shaded, warmer place and raise the moisture content of the air.
If a fern is healthy, then it is very rarely affected by harmful insects - this is also a matter of evolutionary processes. Most of the pests are very young to try to harm didimochlene. However, if conditions become unsuitable and the fern becomes ill, it becomes a target for scale insects, whiteflies, mealybugs, pseudopods, or spider mites that settle on leaf fronds. Therefore, when an examination is carried out and the following symptoms of the disease are identified, such as:
- sugary sticky bloom (pest secretions) or brown dots on the back of the leaf segments (but due to spores it is not easy to see them);
- there is also a blanching of the color of the foliage, and their deformation for no apparent reason;
- both leaves and stems are wrapped in a light translucent cobweb, or whitish cotton-like lumps will be observed on the back of the leaf segments or in internodes.
Then, in this case, it will be necessary to carry out treatment with folk remedies for pests:
- soap solution, which is prepared on the basis of grated laundry soap or any dishwashing detergent diluted in water (crushed soap is used for 10 liters up to 40 grams);
- an oil solution, for the manufacture of which a few drops of rosemary essential oil are dissolved in 1 liter of water.
In the event that folk sparing remedies do not help, they are sprayed with insecticidal preparations (for example, Aktara or Aktellik).
It is forbidden to use preparations to give gloss to the leaf segments, as well as fertilize in winter, as this will soon lead to didimochlena disease.
If the plant has stopped developing or the root shoots do not grow and the soil is nodding, then immediate transplantation into a lighter substrate will be required.
Interesting facts about didimochlen
Ferns are one of the oldest specimens of flora on the planet. Their origin dates back to the Carboniferous period, which corresponds to the time of 350 million years ago. And the size of tree ferns sometimes exceeded all available heights of modern trees. All over the world, the number of fern plants today varies between 11,000 and 12,000 species, in Europe their number reaches 171, and in its central part there are 101 species.
In prehistoric times, only horsetails and lycopods could compete in height with ferns. Therefore, these ferns are older than all seed plants. The primitive appearance practically did not undergo any changes, apart from the parameters in height. How didimohlena looks like, see here:
