Large-leaved hydrangea in a pot, home care. How to care for hydrangea at home, propagation and cultivation

Caring for home hydrangea in winter

Winter care for indoor hydrangea is to create optimal conditions for peace in the house. All manipulations with the flower stop. If the plant does not rest enough, this will affect the quality of flowering, or there will be no flowering at all.

Did you know? In Japan, wherehydrangea native, flowercalled "ajisai", which translates to "purple sun flower".

Rest period

For sufficient rest, hydrangea will need more than 2 months (70–80 winter days). The slowing down of the plant’s life processes begins after flowering and leaf fall, so you can send the flower for winter in December, and awaken it in February.

Light mode

Hydrangea has no special lighting requirements. The main thing is that it should not be exposed to direct sunlight. During the dormant period, it is advisable to put the plant in a dark room or shade it so that it can fully rest. If there is no dark place in the apartment, it will be enough to place the pot in the darkest corner, away from the window. During winter dormancy, lighting is not particularly important.

Temperature

Much more important than lighting is maintaining the temperature regime. The room temperature should vary according to seasonal changes. In the warm season, the room should be warm (+19...+22°C), and in the winter - cool (+5...+12°C). It is best to put the pot with a sleeping plant in the dry and coolest place in the house: in the cellar, basement or on a glazed loggia. An unheated room will also work. At the end of winter rest, in February, to awaken the flower, you need to move it to a warmer room, gradually increasing the temperature in it.

Watering

During the dormant period, hydrangea moisture is kept to a minimum. In the basement and cellar, watering stops completely. If the flower remains in a room where the air is drier for the winter, you need to control the humidity level in the pot. If the soil is dry, it needs to be slightly wetted. The earthen clod must not be allowed to dry out.

How to store in a pot until spring

To do this you need to follow a simple scheme:

• in the fall, complete all the preparatory steps: gradually reduce watering, stop fertilizing, trim the plant and replant it in a new pot;
• create optimal conditions for wintering: store the pot in a cool, dry and dark place.

Many gardeners have learned from their own experience that growing homemade hydrangea is not at all difficult. It is important to understand how much winter dormancy is necessary for the plant. With a caring and attentive owner, the grateful plant will bloom until late autumn.

Indoor hydrangea can decorate any home. This plant can grow up to 1.5 meters in height and has red, pink, white, light blue or blue inflorescences. The flowering period can last from spring until late autumn, and in winter it rests and gains new strength, so that next spring it can again delight others with its unique flowers.

It can grow both in the garden and at home. Large-leaved hydrangea is better suited for home cultivation.

Lighting

If you properly care for hydrangea, it will delight everyone with lush and bright flowering throughout this period. The main thing here is to choose the right place so that there is enough light, but direct sunlight does not fall on it. This place can be located at a distance of 3 or 4 meters from the window, where she will feel great.

Temperature

Room temperature, which is in the range of +18-+22°C, is most suitable for hydrangea, while drafts have a negative effect on it.

For the winter, this plant should be placed in a room where the temperature fluctuates between +7-+9°C. At the same time, we must not forget about watering, although very rare, as needed. After buds begin to appear on it, it can be taken into the apartment. If it does not overwinter in these temperatures, it will not bloom in the spring as usual. Most likely, this will happen only next winter.

Watering

This plant has another, very significant name - it is hydrangea or “barrel of water”, literally translated. This means that hydrangea is a very moisture-loving plant. For irrigation, settled water at room temperature is used. In the summer, it is watered regularly, but not abundantly, but in winter it is better not to water it, so as not to over-moisten the soil, otherwise the plant will begin to rot.

If the hydrangea leaves begin to turn yellow, it means it lacks acid. To prevent this from happening, it should be watered with slightly acidified water from time to time: 5 drops of lemon juice are diluted in 1 liter of water. The air should not be allowed to become too dry. Hydrangea loves to be sprayed. This must be done as often as possible.

Top dressing

In the summer, when hydrangea is very active, it needs feeding with mineral and organic fertilizers. If you don't feed it, it will stop developing and blooming. When watering, it is advisable to add a little potassium permanganate to the water. During the wintering period, the plant does not need.

If you spray it with a solution of gibberellin (0.1 g per 1 liter of water), then the hydrangea can bloom much faster, and the inflorescences will have a more attractive appearance.

Hydrangea blooms regularly, thanks to annual replanting, which is carried out in the fall, after it has finished blooming. To do this, you need to prepare a substrate in the ratio: 0.5 parts sand, 1 part peat, 1 part leaf soil and 2 parts turf soil. Do not use humus during transplantation. Each subsequent pot should be 1.5 times larger than the previous one. The pots should be wide, as the hydrangea roots grow wider. All pots must be equipped with drainage.

Hydrangea can be propagated by dividing the bush or cuttings. Lower or apical, always young shoots, 5-6 cm long, are used as cuttings. In this case, it is better not to cut, but to break off, after which the broken area is treated with “Kornevin”. Then the cutting is placed in damp sand and covered with a jar. It should remain in this state for at least half a month.

Plant pruning

To make hydrangea pleasing to the eye and have an attractive appearance, it should be pruned, removing weak stems. The top is also trimmed. This will make it possible to get fresh shoots and form a lush hydrangea.

This plant may be affected by a stem nematode, and aphids or spider mites may appear on the bush. If the bush is damaged by a stem nematode, then this unique plant will have to be thrown away, but other pests can be controlled. If aphids are detected, the bush can be treated with a soap solution or karbofos solution. It is possible to use Actellicom solution.

If ticks are detected, the bush is treated with acarin or actellik. To prevent it from appearing on hydrangeas, the plant should be sprayed as often as possible.

The plant may be affected by chlorosis, powdery mildew or gray rot. If the leaves of a hydrangea begin to discolor, it means it is losing chlorophyll as a result of damage from chlorosis. If you add iron sulfate (10 g per 1 liter of water) or iron sulfate (2 g per 1 liter of water) to the water for irrigation, you can return the green color to the plant, or rather its leaves.

If affected by powdery mildew, the plant should be treated with a mixture of copper sulfate (15g) and green soap (150g), diluted in 1 liter of water.

A solution of Bordeaux mixture will help get rid of gray rot.

In order for a plant to constantly please others, it is necessary to adhere to 3 conditions:

• Regular watering.
• Protection from direct sunlight.
• Timely and correct transplantation.

Only in this case will such a unique plant be able to grow and develop correctly.

This plant has a unique property: its inflorescences can be painted in different colors, depending on the soil in which it grows and develops. To get blue flowers, you should take acidic soil, alkaline soil will turn the flowers pink, if you use neutral soil, the flowers will be white or pale beige.

It is able to change its color due to the fact that it can accumulate aluminum. Using this property of hydrangea, you can change the color of the petals. If lime is added to the soil, the flowers will turn pink; if aluminum sulfate is added, they will turn blue. By changing the composition of the soil, increasing or decreasing the concentrations of various additives, you can change the color from pale to bright. To get blue flowering, before watering, add potassium alum to the water (7-8 g per 1 liter of water) or spray the plant with aluminum citrate added to the water (50 g per 1 liter of water).

At the same time, it should be borne in mind that white flowers do not change color, only blue and pink.

The hydrangea plant, also called Hydrangea macrophila, belongs to the genus of flowering plants in the Hydrangeaceae family, which has about 80 species. Among them there are shrubs and small trees. It grows in the wild in America, Japan, China and other countries of South and East Asia. Breeders do not stop their experiments in developing new varieties and varieties of hydrangea. Today it can be found in a pot on the balcony, terrace, veranda, and also in the garden.

Description of the plant

Home hydrangea is a perennial subshrub with large and serrated ovoid leaves. Its ball inflorescences are also large, reaching a diameter of 35 cm, and they consist of two types of flowers: large at the edges of the inflorescence and small in its middle.

Depending on the pH value of the soil, the color of the inflorescences also changes: if the soil is acidic, then they acquire a blue tint, alkaline - pink or lilac, neutral - cream or white. The fruit of hydrangea is a multi-seeded capsule. At home, it can reach a height of about one meter.

Gallery: indoor hydrangea (25 photos)

Features of cultivation and care

Indoor hydrangea should be grown in a spacious, bright place, which should be protected from direct sunlight. The most comfortable temperature required for its proper growth and development is 20 degrees. Drafts and sudden temperature changes should not be allowed.

During the dormant period, which begins immediately after flowering, the plant should be moved to a dark, cool place with a temperature of +7–10 degrees and left there until the buds begin to wake up in February, after which it is returned to its usual conditions. Thanks to wintering in a dark room, hydrangea well restores the energy that was spent on flowering, and if this requirement is not met, the next flowering occurs only after a year.

Hydrangea is a charming plant that is so loved by gardeners and landscape designers. Its lush color, incredible aroma, and variety of varieties also appeal to those who want to decorate their home with a beautiful guest from Japan. That is why today hydrangea can be seen in a pot on terraces, balconies or simply on the windowsills of residential buildings.

Ball-shaped panicles with white, cream or pink flowers add a special charm to the room, emitting a pleasant aroma. At home, usually only one type of this crop takes root quite well - large-leaved hydrangea.

In the garden, the bush can grow up to 4 meters in height, but in a pot this plant reaches a maximum of 60 centimeters. This plant is finicky, moisture-loving, and not everyone can cope with growing it in a pot. But if you follow all the rules for caring for hydrangea indoors, then your efforts will give the best results.

How to properly care for hydrangea in a pot at home

Traditionally, indoor hydrangea is not large in size compared to its garden relatives. But with proper care, it will delight you not only with large flowers, but also with frequent flowering.

Worth providingconstant conditions of detention - favorable temperature, lighting, air humidity:

1. Temperature. The culture does not like heat and tolerates open air well. With the onset of summer, give it a cool place in the shade in the fresh air. In winter, spring or autumn, the house should not have very high temperatures (no more than 20 degrees) and drafts - this will have a detrimental effect on the leaves. And also, under no circumstances place a pot with a bush near heating appliances.
2. Illumination. When the buds begin to form, the hydrangea pot should be placed in well-lit areas of the house, where scattered sunlight will fall. The rest of the time she needs to be provided with partial shade.
3. Humidity. This representative of the flora comes from places where a humid climate prevails, so it loves a high level of indoor air humidity.

Watering

The second name for hydrangea is hydrangia, and this word translates as “barrel filled with water.” Consequently, she loves moisture and abundant watering.

• Water for irrigation should be soft boiled, melted, settled or rain. During warm days, water the plant frequently at the root or place the pot in a container filled with water. room temperature, until the soil is completely moistened.
• The soil around the plant should be constantly moist, but the top layer should have time to dry, then the roots will not rot and the plant will not get sick.
• At the same time, provide a potty good drainage so that the roots do not rot due to stagnant liquid.
• In winter during the dormant period the amount of watering needs to be reduced, since hydrangea reduces its activity . Just check the dryness of the soil, and use small amounts of water if necessary.
• When new leaves begin to appear on the bush, water gradually increase.

Top dressing

Large-leaved hydrangea, both in gardens and at home, is not particularly demanding on soil nutrition, despite the fact that it blooms profusely and is large in size.

When growing indoors, feeding the plant will not cause much trouble; you just need to pay attention to the main points of this process.

In winter there is practically no need for nutrition. In the spring, nitrogen fertilizer is applied at intervals of once every two weeks. When budding and flowering begin, it is better to use fertilizer with the addition of potassium and phosphorus (at the rate of 30 g of potassium sulfate, 40 g of superphosphate per 10 liters of water).

Attention: apply all fertilizing after moistening the soil with clean water.

For this, it is better to purchase ready-made mineral mixtures in specialized stores that are intended for hydrangeas and other similar crops.

By the way, if you wish, you can change the color of the flowers of this representative of the flora in a pot. To do this, you need to take fertilizers for acidic and alkaline soil, adding them to different sides of the pot. This way you can get a bush that will simultaneously have pink or lilac flowers on one side of the pot, blue or purple on the other..

Diseases and pests

Hydrangea rarely manages to completely avoid diseases or attacks from insect pests. Aphids and spider mites are the most frequent “visitors” of the plant.

To get rid of them, you can use traditional methods, for example, treating the bush with a soap solution or infusion of onion peels, spraying with water, or using the necessary insecticides.

There may be cases of various diseases to which indoor hydrangea is susceptible.

Let's look at the most common problems and how to treat them:

• Gray rot– at the initial appearance of wet spots on leaves and stems, immediate action must be taken to prevent the disease from developing. Treatment with Bordeaux mixture is best for this, and damaged leaves need to be removed.
• Stem nematode– its signs are the rapid loss of decorativeness. Unfortunately, the only method of control is to eliminate the plant affected by the disease.
• Powdery mildew– scattered white spots on the leaves of the bush turning into a dark color over time. Fertilizing with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers will help avoid or eliminate this problem.

Reproduction

Propagation of large-leaved hydrangea at home is possible in three ways:

• cuttings;
• dividing the bush;
• from seeds.

The first two methods are considered easier. Propagation by cuttings is most popular.

• Cuttings – To do this, in winter you need to cut cuttings 7-8 cm long from the root shoots, they must have at least three internodes, remove the lower leaves, shorten the upper ones by half, treat the cut with a root formation stimulator, place it in a substrate consisting of a mixture of peat and sand, moisten it well, cover with a plastic bag or plastic bottle without a bottom, place in a bright place with a low temperature (no more than 20 degrees). Monitor the soil moisture, ventilate every day for 15-20 minutes. When new leaves appear, after about a month, transplant the cuttings into small pots.
• Dividing the bush carried out during the annual transplant, but you need to be careful when dividing the bush. Each division must have a sufficient number of roots and a growing point. Having shortened the shoots and roots of the divisions, the plant is distributed into different pots and watered.
• Seeds Hydrangea is propagated at the end of winter. The soil for sowing should be loose and nutritious, consisting of humus, turf soil and peat (1:1:1). Spread the seeds over the surface without deepening them, moisten them with a spray bottle and cover with a plastic bag. Every day, the crops need to be ventilated and moistened with a sprayer, making sure that the soil never dries out. As soon as the first shoots appear, the shelter must be removed. After two true leaves appear on the plants, they need to be transplanted into a deeper container. When the seedlings become stronger, they are transplanted into separate small (diameter no more than 7 cm) pots.

Transfer

Indoor hydrangea needs annual transplant. It is carried out in the autumn after the plant has flowered and is ready for wintering. To do this, you need to create comfortable conditions: reduce temperature, light, and frequency of watering. In spring, replanting is carried out before the onset of active growth.

The soil should be prepared fertile, consisting of leaf, turf soil and peat in the ratio (1: 1: 1). Hydrangea loves acidic soils, therefore the soil for it should contain peat or pine litter, but you can use a ready-made (purchased) soil mixture for rhododendrons,

Root system at the hydrangea superficial, grows horizontally, so the pot should be wide and spacious. Place drainage at the bottom, then pour a layer of prepared soil and place the plant, fill it with soil, carefully compacting it so as not to damage the roots. The root collar should be located at soil level.

For a young plant, you need to take a pot a little larger than the previous one and conduct transplantation by transshipment method, and for adult specimens, the roots are shortened using sharp scissors. After the cuts have dried, the plant is planted in a pot, poured with fresh soil and watered abundantly. The soil is then covered with peat to prevent rapid evaporation of moisture.

Trimming

In order for hydrangea to maintain its decorative properties with a good ability to develop, it needs pruning every year. In the fall, after it has completely bloomed, carefully trim off small, dried shoots, including inflorescences. At home, the crop tolerates winter well, so repeat pruning in the spring only as a preventative measure or if necessary.

By properly caring for a hydrangea in a pot at home, surrounding it with care, regular watering, fertilizing, and other necessary measures for its growth, this magnificent plant will decorate your home with bright color and a luxurious aroma.