How to care for croton at home?
Content:
Croton is the finest plant in the euphorbia family. Its other name is codium. Due to the bright colors and unusual shape, this flower has become one of the favorites of gardeners. Unfortunately, keeping it at home is not so simple. Therefore, before you purchase this rather expensive indoor plant, you need to find out everything about caring for croton at home. Only having figured out all the requirements for its cultivation, you can understand if you need such a finicky flower.
What conditions does a croton like?
Croton's homeland is the humid tropics. In order for him to take root at your home, you need to create conditions for him, like tropical ones. This is the most difficult, because the care of the plant itself is quite simple.
Lighting and temperature
It is best to plant a codium on the east or west side. Only in this way will there be enough light for him. It is important that even though the flower loves sunlight, direct sunlight is undesirable; it can cause the leaves to dry. Plants that are very young should be carefully and carefully accustomed to light. In the case of insufficient lighting, the croton leaves will lose their colorful color and become ordinary green.
The temperature regime also plays an important role in codium care. In winter, the temperature in the room should not be lower than 15 degrees of heat, in summer it should not exceed 25 degrees. That is why it is not worth putting a plant in the winter on window sills. It does not like drafts, therefore it cannot be taken out of the room even in the summertime.
Soil moisture
If you want to know how to care for a croton, then you should remember the moisture that he loves. If he lacks it, then the leaves first dry, and then fall off. It is important that in place of the fallen leaves, new ones no longer grow. The issue of humidity is especially acute in the summer. The main thing is not to overdo it with watering and not to fill the plant. The water in the pot or pan should never stagnate.
Gardeners advise doing this: take the pallet deeper, cover it with pebbles, and put a pot of plants on top. Care must be taken to ensure that the pebbles are always wet.
Summertime requires codium to be watered daily. You can water it one day, and spray it the second.
The spraying process also has its own characteristics:
- direct sunlight should not fall on the flower;
- water must not be allowed to run down the leaves.
In winter, you can water the croton once every three days.
Do not forget about the humidity near the flower. It is strictly forbidden to leave it near batteries, heaters. A container of water should be near the pot so that the air is not dry. Otherwise, the leaves simply fall off or, even worse, the flowers are attacked by weevils and spider mites.
Transplant process
Croton transplant is carried out in the spring. The volume of the pot must be gradually increased by a couple of centimeters. There are no features of this process, everything happens the same way as with other indoor plants.
There are some basic guidelines.
- Transplantation should be carried out in plastic pots. In clay, the soil dries very quickly.
- From the root should not completely clear the ground.
- Be sure to take care of the drainage.
The recipe for a croton transplant: you need to take the same amount of deciduous, humus land, peat, sand.Stir and add a small amount of charcoal.
Purchased land, which is transplanted, usually does not retain moisture due to its lightness, so it is advisable to add deciduous soil to it.
Breeding process
The easiest way to codium is propagated by cuttings. But this does not mean that the process itself is very easy. In fact, the cuttings are reluctant to take root, this takes a very long time.
Propagation of the flower should occur when the temperature in the earth is always maintained at not lower than 25 degrees and not higher than 30. Therefore, it is necessary to take care of the lower heating. It will be easier to root the stalk in water, but this is a longer process. In order to propagate codium, you need to buy stimulants for rooting cuttings, such as “Heteroauxin” or “Kornevin”.
These are the simple rules of how to propagate such a finicky and unusual plant.
If all conditions are created correctly, then the croton will actively grow, delight the eye with its flowers, the leaves will not dry, it will not bother the disease. The slightest mistake, for example, regarding humidity or temperature conditions, leads to the appearance of spots and pests that destroy the leaves.
In fact, the motley color does not allow to detect a flower disease in time. Therefore, regular inspections of the plant should be carried out for the presence of scabs (brown spots), spider mites, mealy worms (white coating on the back of the leaves).
It is important when detecting at least the slightest suspicion of an illness, take the necessary control measures:
- increase the humidity in the room;
- wipe the leaves with some water mixed with soap;
- spray the flower with Akarin or Actellik.
If this is not done, the flower will die. It manifests itself as follows: the leaves dry, wither and eventually fall off.
Gardeners give good advice to those people who do not plan to propagate the codium in a seed way. They say that you can not allow the plant to bloom, so as not to weaken it, not to increase the risk of disease. Peduncles should be cut before the appearance of flowers.
These are all the necessary tips and important points that should be considered for those who want to know how to care for the croton.
It must be remembered that croton is a representative of euphorbiaceae. Therefore, its juice is poisonous. It is necessary to ensure that neither pets nor children can get to the plant.
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