General characteristics of the distinctive features of koleriya, agricultural technology during cultivation, reproduction, difficulties in care, facts, varieties and types. Coleria (Kohleria) belongs to the genus of plants that are part of the Gesneriaceae family and have a herbaceous form of growth. They can grow for more than one year, delighting the world around them with delicate flowers. This genus also includes up to 65 varieties, which are mainly found in lands ranging from Central America to the Mexican territories, you can admire such flowers on the island of Trinidad and in Colombia. Since the plant is not very demanding on the indicators of humidity and heat, then it is easier to care for it than for other representatives of this family.
Coleria can occur naturally as a shrub or a herbaceous specimen of the green world. The root tuber is completely covered with scales. The arrangement of the leaves is opposite, their shape is ovoid, the surface of the leaves is densely covered with hairy pubescence. The length of the leaf blade can reach 15 cm with a width of about 8 cm. There are varieties in which reddish veins are present against the general background of dark green, and other species with a dark olive tint of a general tone, on which a central vein appears of a lighter color. The surface of the leaf can be either ribbed or shiny, the villi covering the leaf plate are shaded with a whitish tone or take on a reddish color. If the variety is hybrid, then the color of the leaves can cast not only bronze, but also silver.
One or more buds are often formed on the axillary flowering stem. The length of the tubular corolla can be measured 5 cm and there is a narrowing towards the throat, but expansion goes to the bottom, the contours of the corollas are often bell-shaped. The outlines of the pharynx are wide open, it includes 5 lobes with a blunt apex. The surface of these lobes is decorated with a mottled, speckled or streaked pattern. In the conditions of the natural growing environment, the flowers of the coleria can take on a wide variety of colors: red-orange buds with dark red spots on the throat of a bright yellow color, pinkish flowers with dark red spots on a snow-white throat or a brown corolla with whitish dots, as well as white buds with a pinkish pattern. The flowering period stretches from the beginning of summer days to September.
In the conditions of rooms, after all, the advantage is given to hybrid varieties, since it is these plants that delight the owners with abundant flowering.
Requirements for growing koleria, home care
- Lighting. Since the plant prefers bright, but diffused light in conditions of natural growth, then in rooms it is most suitable for a place on the windowsill of east or west windows.
- Content temperature. In the spring and summer months, it is recommended to maintain heat within 22-26 degrees, with the arrival of autumn, the indicators gradually decrease to 16 units.
- Air humidity. Coleria, when grown in rooms, copes well with dry indoor air, however, with a more humid content, it develops much better and faster. Since the plant is pubescent, spraying should not be carried out, since drops of moisture can provoke decay or can deprive flowers and leaves of decorativeness. Therefore, the humidity is increased in other ways: they put air humidifiers or a vessel with water next to the koleria, the flower pot is placed in a deep tray with expanded clay poured onto the bottom and a small amount of water.
- Watering. In the spring-summer period, it is recommended to water the koleriya, focusing on the state of the topsoil in the pot. As soon as it dries up, it is moistened with well-settled water. It is required that the clod of earth does not dry out. Also, experts recommend using bottom watering, when the liquid is poured into a stand under the flowerpot, and after 15–20 minutes, the leftovers are drained. All this is due to the fact that almost all parts of the plant are covered with hairs.
- Fertilizer. From April to mid-autumn, the color should be fed using formulations for flowering indoor plants. The regularity of such fertilizers once a week. In the winter months and the remainder of the fall, feeding is not used.
- Transfer koleriya is carried out when the roots have completely mastered all the soil in the pot. And transshipment is performed so as not to injure the root system. A drainage layer is placed on the bottom of the new pot.
The substrate is made up of the following options:
- leafy soil, light turf soil, river sand (ratio 2: 1: 0, 5);
- humus soil, light turf soil, leafy soil, coarse sand (in a ratio of 1: 3: 2: 1).
So that moisture does not stagnate in the soil mixture, a little crushed charcoal is mixed into it. For young plants, the sod substrate is not supplemented.
Do-it-yourself methods for breeding koleria
To obtain a delicate flower with pubescent buds, you can sow seeds, plant cuttings or divide an overgrown bush.
Seed should be sown from mid to late winter. Seeds should be embedded in a sandy-leafy mixture (ratio 1: 2), poured into bowls. When the seeds are sown, they are watered through a strainer or moistened with a fine spray bottle. Then the bowl is wrapped in polyethylene or placed under glass. Until the shoots appear, the shelter should be removed every day for 20-30 minutes for airing.
The germination temperature is maintained in the range of 20-24 degrees. After the seedlings grow up, and a couple of leaves appear on them, they dive through containers with the same soil, but the distance between the plants is kept up to 2 cm from each other. After a lapse of 1, 5–2 months, the already strengthened colerias are transplanted again, but they are planted at a distance of up to 3 cm. The transplant is carried out by the transshipment method - try not to destroy the earthen lump around the roots. When the seedlings are already sufficiently developed and grow up, they are transplanted into separate pots with a diameter of about 7 cm. The substrate is composed of light turf soil, deciduous soil, peat and river sand in a ratio of 0.5: 2: 1: 1.
If the decision is made to propagate by cuttings. In this case, the upper part of the shoot should be cut off, and the workpiece is planted in sand or a mixture of equal parts of deciduous soil and sand. Before planting, it is recommended to treat the slices with a rooting stimulator. Then the cuttings are covered with a glass cover or covered with polyethylene. Germination temperature should be room temperature and bottom heating of the soil is required. It is important to ventilate the branches daily so that excess moisture does not lead to their rotting. After 14 days, the cuttings are usually already rooted. After that, the shelter is removed, and young colerias are transplanted into separate pots with a substrate suitable for growing adult specimens.
You can put the cuttings after cutting in a vessel with water and so wait for the formation of root processes. Then they are planted as described in the previous case.
One simple breeding method is to divide the overgrown rhizome. This process is usually combined with a transplant. Coleria is taken out of the pot and its scaly tuberous rhizome - rhizome - is divided into 1-3 parts with a sharp sterile knife. Each of the sections is planted in a separate flowerpot to a depth of no more than 1-2 cm and the soil is regularly moistened. Each of these scales, with proper care, will give a new plant.
Difficulties in growing coleria
Naturally, every florist is upset when troubles happen to his beloved "green pet", so here are the most common problems that arise when growing koleria:
- The appearance of brown spots on the foliage indicates watering with cold water, its temperature should be in the range of 20-24 degrees.
- Pale leaves indicate sunburn, which occurred due to the fact that direct rays of the sun fell on the plant in the midday heat, or there was an overdose of fertilizers, from which even yellow spots may appear.
- A gray bloom on the leaf plates of koleria begins to form when the plant has become a victim of a fungal disease (possibly powdery mildew), which appears with increased humidity in the air and soil. The affected areas are removed with a sharp disinfected knife and the sections are treated with a fungicide.
- When the foliage curls, this indicates a lack of moisture in the air, which should be increased by spraying the air next to the bush with water at room temperature, but you should not get on the foliage due to pubescence.
- If the coleria does not release buds for a long time or their number is very small, then there may be several reasons: small doses of dressings, the air temperature is too low or too high during the dormant period, lack of illumination, humidity indicators are too low.
- Foliage withering indicates a lack of lighting during the winter months.
- When the buds and flowers of koleria fall, urgent feeding with mineral and organic preparations is required, but this also happens when the root-tuber is damaged.
- Shoots stretch out, lose color and become bare if there is not enough light for the plant.
Spider mites, mealybugs, as well as thrips, whitefly and scale insects are isolated from pests. If harmful insects or their waste products are visible on the koleria, then an insecticide treatment is required.
Coleria facts for the curious
The genus of these velvety flowers got its name thanks to the teacher of natural sciences living in Zurich in the 19th century - Michael Kohler.
It happens that the plant is called Isola or Tidea, however, although they are similar to each other, they are different representatives of the Gesneriev family. All the differences in color, the color does not have a purple or blue tint of flowers. And the coleria has a rhizome, in contrast to the tuber of the above-named Gesneriaceae.
Types and varieties of koleria
- Koleria bogotensis (Kohleria bogotensis) is a perennial herbaceous form of growth that prefers to settle on rocky substrates in the forests of Colombia. Plants can reach 60 cm in height. Shoots do not have branching and grow straight, on their surface there is pubescence with hairs of red and white colors. The leaf plates can take both ovate-wide and oval-heart-shaped outlines. Their length reaches 7.5 cm with a width of up to 3.5 cm. There is a serration along the edge, the apex is pointed, the color is dark green on the upper side and there is pubescence along the veins with hairs of a variegated whitish tone. When blooming, drooping flowers are formed, originating in the leaf axils, they can be located both in pairs and grow alone. The buds are crowned with pubescent pedicels reaching a length of 5 cm. The corolla tube is measured at a length of 2.5 cm. It is shaded from the outside with a reddish color scheme and also with pubescence, and going down to the bottom, the color changes to reddish-orange, with a pattern of red stripes and specks inside the yellowish pharynx. The flowering process stretches from mid-summer to early autumn.
- Coleria majestic (Kohleria magnifica) has a stem covered with hairs of a red tone, the leaf plates are very reminiscent of quilted fabric, the surface is shiny, there is pubescence with whitish hairs. The flowers are large in size, with a red-orange color scheme, dark streaks seem to be drawn on them, which go directly into the throat itself.
- Hairy coleria (Kohleria hirsuta) differs in sheet plates of bronze color. When blooming, flowers appear with a tubular corolla, painted in a red tone on the outside, with a yellow throat, completely covered with a speck of bright red color.
- Coleria spicata (Kohleria spicata) grows in Mexico and is very small in size. Elongated sheet plates. The color of the flowers is red, and the throat is shaded with orange color. Flowers are crowned with long flowering stems.
- Coleria Linden (Kohleria lindeniana). The territory of distribution falls on the mountainous regions of Ecuador. The plant is a perennial with a herbaceous form of growth, the shoots have pubescence of whitish hairs. The plant can reach 30 cm in height. The leaf plate has an ovoid shape and can grow up to 7 cm in length and up to 2 cm in width. The color is green with a pinkish tint on the back, and the top has a dark green background, which is decorated with white-silver light green streaks. The flower-bearing stem can reach 6 cm in height, it is crowned with one or more axillary buds. The corolla with its outlines is very reminiscent of a bell, in length, both the tube and the petals of the flower do not exceed 1 cm. The entire surface of the tube has a pubescence of whitish hairs, its interior is painted in a pure yellow shade, the pharynx has a pattern of brown mottling. It has a snow-white color on the outside, and purple stripes dot the bend. The flowering period of this variety occurs in early or mid-autumn.
- Coleria digitalis (Kohleria digitaliflora). The native habitat is mainly in the forests of Colombia. Perennial with herbaceous growth. The plant densely covers the dense pubescence with whitish hairs, the shoots grow straight. Elliptical leaf plates are ovoid or lanceolate. Their length can vary from 18–20 cm with a width of up to 10–12 cm. The leaf plates are colored green and attached to short petioles. On the reverse side, the leaf is covered with hairs more densely than on top. When flowering, axillary inflorescences appear, which contain up to 5 buds. The tube at the corolla of the flower is white with a pinkish tint in its upper part, while the length reaches 3 cm. The fold of the green corolla is decorated with purple specks. The time of the most abundant flowering falls on the period from late summer or early autumn.
- Coleria uneven (Kohleria inaequalis). The size of the plant is medium, the pubescence of all parts is insignificant. The flowers have a red-orange color scheme, the lobes of the limb are shaded with a light red tone and dark dots cover it.
- Coleria is pleasant (Kohleria amabilis). The native habitat is in the mountainous regions of Colombia, located at an altitude of 800 meters above sea level. It is a perennial herbaceous specimen of Gesneriaceae with reddish or green shoots. They are completely covered with whitish hairs. The height of this variety reaches 60 cm. The leaf stalks are equal to 2, 5 cm. The leaf plates are arranged in opposite order and take an ovoid shape and grow up to 7 cm wide and no more than 10 cm in length. The color of the leaves is green or dark green on the upper side, and the reverse has white-silver lines and veins of a red-brown color scheme. The flowers are pubescent on the outside, axillary. The corolla tube is pinkish, and the pharynx is pure white or white with purple spots. The flowering process is almost year-round.
For more on caring for koleria, see this video:
