Distinctive characteristics of Drimiopsis, tips on keeping Drimiopsis, recommendations for reproduction, difficulties in growing, interesting facts, species. Drimiopsis belongs to the genus of flowering plants belonging to the Asparagaceae family and also belonging to the Hyacinthaceae subfamily. This unpretentious representative of the flora reveres the lands of South and East Africa with its native growing territories. In indoor cultivation, flowering continues year-round with short rest breaks. In conditions of natural growth, there are up to 22 varieties, although only 14 varieties are officially registered in botanical sources. Almost all of them can be found in the wild, and only two species are used for home cultivation: Drimiopsis spotted and Drimiopsis Kirk.
Often people call this plant "Ledeburia" - thus, the name of the botanist Karl Christian Friedrich was immortalized, or as he was called Karl Friedrich Ledebour (1785-1851), who presented this example of the head start to the public. Also, this scientist of German blood was engaged in travel and educational (pedagogical) activities and was in the service of the Russian state. Ledebour is the author of a complete essay on the flora of vascular plants growing on the territory of Russia, he was also the founder of the first school of florists working on the taxonomy of specimens of flora in Russia. Also, people can hear how Drimiopsis is called "scylla".
In a plant, the root has the shape of a bulb, it often has a rounded shape and a whitish tint. Most of this bulbous formation is located above the surface of the substrate. Drimiopsis grows in herbal and shrub form, and its parameters can occasionally approach one and a half meters in height. The leaf plates are attached to long petioles, which differ in size in 15–20 cm. Two or three pairs of leaves appear and in some varieties they are not only painted in a rich green hue, but also a darker emerald speck or speckle appears on the surface. The surface of the leaf plate is leathery, sometimes a pattern of veins clearly appears on it. Leaf sizes can range from 10–25 cm with a width in the widest part of up to 5–8 cm. The shape of the leaves is lanceolate, oval or heart-shaped, there is a smooth narrowing towards the base, and the apex is almost always pointed.
As soon as the autumn months come, the foliage begins to fall off in Drimiopsis, and the color on it becomes dull and sometimes completely disappears. Such metamorphoses should not frighten the owner of the plant, as this is the preparation for "hibernation" in the variegated handsome man. It has been noticed that spots on young leaves look brighter and more saturated, and when their rapid growth is observed, it seems that the whole drimiopsis has acquired a leopard "outfit". However, if you look more closely, you can find leaf plates that have a duller shade.
The flowering process takes place from March to September or October. With the beginning of this action, a flower arrow (flowering stem) appears, which extends to a height of 20–40 cm. It is crowned with a racemose inflorescence, but sometimes it takes a panicle or spike-like shape. The inflorescence is made up of small flowers, the petals of which are painted in whitish, cream or yellowish shades. The number of buds per inflorescence ranges from 10-30 units. The flowers also have a delicate, but weak, pleasant aroma.
If you do not violate the rules for caring for the plant, then it can exist in your home and delight with variegated leaves for up to 10 years, and sometimes more.
Tips for caring for Drimiopsis at home
- Lighting. The plant prefers to bask in diffused, but bright lighting, when direct sunlight at noon does not hit its leaves and flowers. To do this, you need to put the pot on the window sills of windows with an eastern and western location. If drimiopsis stays in direct sunlight for a long time, then it threatens the blanching of the leaf plates and their contours take on rather elongated outlines.
- Content temperature. This shrub or herbaceous representative of the flora will feel most comfortable in conditions when the thermometer readings are in the range of 20-25 units. And from the beginning of the autumn-winter period, you can gradually reduce the temperature, bringing it to a minimum of 14 degrees Celsius. You should also install the pot with the plant in such a place that it is not affected by the influence of a draft.
- Air humidity when growing Drimiopsis is not an important indicator, especially if it is placed indoors. Only when the temperature rises strongly during the summer months is it recommended to spray the foliage.
- Watering. With the arrival of spring and until autumn time, it is required to moisten the substrate in the Drimiopsis pot as the soil dries out from above. The signal for watering and drying the soil is that if you take it into a pinch, the substrate easily crumbles and does not leave marks on your fingers. With the arrival of autumn and, especially in winter, watering is significantly reduced, since the plant enters dormancy. Humidification is rarely carried out, especially if the temperature of the content is low. But the complete drying of the earthen coma cannot be allowed, since the drimiopsist may die. Water for irrigation is used only soft and warm (its temperature should not go beyond 20-23 degrees). If possible, river, melt or rainwater is used, but in urban conditions it is often contaminated, so the easiest way is to use distilled water. You can also pass tap water through a filter, boil and let it stand for several days. Then the resulting liquid is drained from the sediment, carefully, avoiding the ingress of turbidity from the bottom (it is better not to pour all the water into another container, but leave 3-5 cm).
- Fertilizers for Drimiopsis, they are introduced as soon as the plant shows signs of vegetative activity (buds swell) and it is required to carry out such fertilizing until the autumn months. The regularity of the introduction of drugs every two weeks. You can use formulations for bulbous plants or replace them with preparations for cacti.
- Features of care. Since drimiopsis has a pronounced dormant period, which occurs in winter, the heat indicators should be reduced to 14-16 degrees. At the same time, the light level should be high, and watering should be rare. It is also recommended to turn the plant pot 1/3 turn every 7 days - this will help the crown to grow more evenly. Since there are many baby bulbs, they literally push the mother bulb to the surface from the ground, and in this case neither peduncles nor leaf plates can appear from it. If such symptoms are noticed, then an unscheduled transplant is required.
- Transplantation and selection of a substrate. When growing Drimiopsis, young specimens need to change the pot and the soil in it annually, while adults are transplanted only once every 2-3 years, as the baby bulbs grow strongly. It is recommended to take a new container wider than deep, so that there is room for future bulbous formations. Drainage material of about 2–3 cm is placed on the bottom (expanded clay, pebbles or ceramic shards can act as such).
When transplanting, the substrate is selected with good looseness and nutritional value. They make up a soil mixture of sod soil, leaf and humus soil and river sand (all parts must be the same in volume). It is recommended to add crushed charcoal to the soil mixture for disinfection and prevention of putrefactive processes.
How to reproduce Drimiopsis with your own hands?
To get a new plant, it is necessary to carry out cuttings or sowing of seed material. Only with the latter method, the results will take a very long time to wait, since the seeds very quickly lose their germination and there is difficulty in collecting them, therefore, the vegetative method is used.
However, if a decision is made to sow seeds, then they are placed on a moistened sandy-peat soil poured into a container. The container must be covered with plastic wrap or a piece of glass. The germination temperature is maintained within 22-25 degrees. The container should be placed in a lightened place, but protected from direct streams of ultraviolet radiation. After 7–21 days, the first shoots will appear. It is necessary not to forget to ventilate the crops and moisten the soil in the container if necessary. As soon as the seeds hatch together, the shelter is removed and the care continues. Seedlings will quickly grow green mass and after 2-3 weeks you can transplant in separate containers with selected soil.
The easiest way is grafting - the separation of young baby bulbs. Since Drimiopsis has the ability to grow rapidly, in just one year it can double in size. The separation of the bulbs is best combined with the transplanting process when the plant is removed from the pot. The children should be carefully separated from the mother bush and the cuts on them and on the parent drimiopsis are sprinkled with activated or charcoal crushed into powder for disinfection and prevention of decay. Then the children need to be planted in previously prepared containers, their diameter should be no more than 10-12 cm, the pots are filled with drainage (at the bottom) and suitable soil. Bulbs in containers are placed singly or in groups, but then you need to take a large container, since the plant will actively add in volume.
Cuttings are also used, while using strong sheet plates. They should be cut off at the very base and rooting should be carried out. You can put it in a vessel with water for a couple of days, sometimes a root-forming agent is added to it. Or the cutting is planted in a container with a loose and moist peat-sandy substrate. The germination temperature is maintained at about 22 degrees. The cuttings are placed in a well-lit place, devoid of direct solar streams. After they have their own roots, you can transplant into containers filled with more fertile soil.
Diseases and pests of Drimiopsis and methods of dealing with them
Drimiopsis is quite resistant to various diseases, but it can be affected by rot or fungal diseases of the bulbs. These troubles occur if the soil is constantly in a waterlogged state, and the temperature in the room is lowered. Antifungal drugs are used to combat, and the pot and substrate are changed to the plant.
It happens that a spider mite or scale insect attacks a bush. In the second case, small brown spots appear on the back of the leaf plates, and then, if you do not take any measures, then all the foliage will be covered with a sticky sugary bloom - secretions of scale insects, which will further provoke the appearance of a sooty fungus. The spider mite does not manifest itself so clearly, but the leaves begin to turn yellow, deform and fall off, and a whitish cobweb becomes noticeable on the back of the leaf and in internodes and shoots.
To get rid of "unwanted guests", it is necessary to increase the humidity in the room, and rinse the drimiopsis itself under warm shower jets and treat its foliage with soap, oil or alcohol solutions:
- dissolve 10 g in 1 liter of water. grated laundry soap or any dishwashing detergent;
- 2-3 drops of rosemary essential oil are dripped into a liter jar of water;
- use a pharmacy tincture of calendula.
To consolidate the result, you can spray with insecticidal preparations (for example, Confidor or Aktara).
If, with the arrival of the winter period, part of the foliage falls off, then you should not worry, since this is a natural process for this plant.
With insufficient lighting, drimiopsis loses its decorative effect, since the foliage spotting disappears, it becomes a monochromatic green color and turns pale, and the leaf petioles will begin to stretch unaesthetically, striving closer to the light source.
Interesting facts about Drimiopsis
The plant can be placed in children's rooms, as it does not cause harm in the form of allergic reactions. Drimiopis is also safe for pets, so foliage can become a "victim" of the teeth of puppies and cats.
Types of Drimiopsis
Drimiopsis maculata can be found under the synonymous name - Ledebouria petiolata. The native territories of growth fall on the lands of South Africa, from Natal to the Cape. The plant has a long life cycle and bulbous roots. It grows in the form of a shrub, during the year the deciduous mass falls off. Leaf plates with heart-oval outlines and in length can reach 10–12 cm with a width of up to 5–7 cm (in the widest part of the leaf), are painted in a pleasant green color, on the surface there is a speck of a dark emerald hue. When the pre-myopsis is placed in a sunny place, then this pattern appears even more, in shading the leaf becomes completely monochromatic (green). The leaf is attached to a long petiole that can stretch up to 15 cm.
When blooming, buds are formed with white, cream or yellowish petals and small sizes. From the flowers, racemose or panicle inflorescences are collected, which crown a thin elongated flowering stem (it resembles a flower arrow). The flowering process takes place from mid-spring to July. When the plant is in a dormant period, foliage begins to drop. Prefers room heat when grown indoors.
Drimiopsis Kirkii (Drimiopsis kirkii) also has a synonymous name - Ledebouria botryoides. The areas of common growth are in the regions of East Africa, where a tropical climate prevails - these are the regions of Zanzibar and Kenya. This plant, unlike the previous one, is evergreen and, although it does not lose its leaves, the growth of shoots stops. Also has bulbous roots. These bulbous formations are small in size and rounded outlines, their color is whitish. The shrub differs from its previous "brother" in larger sizes, which reach half a meter.
The leaf plates have lanceolate, elliptical or heart-shaped contours and can reach 40 cm in length and up to 5 cm in width (in the widest part of the leaf). There is a narrowing to the base, and the apex is pointed. The color is light greenish, and on the surface there is a dark emerald spot, on the reverse side the leaf is grayish-green. Also, relief venation is visible on the surface, leathery leaf to the touch. Leaves are attached to the branches with elongated petioles.
In the process of flowering, a flowering arrow appears, reaching a length of 20–40 cm. The flowers are small with white petals. It blooms from March to early autumn. More about Drimiopsis in the following video:
