Rules For Caring For Room Hydrangea At Home + Photo

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Home care for indoor hydrangea

A lovely flower that looks like a bride in a cloud of lace can be the best decoration for your home. A flowerpot with it can turn any room into a cozy, fabulous apartment. But do we know how to care for a room hydrangea so that it thanks us for a long time with its lush flowering?

Content

• 1 Description of indoor hydrangea

• 2 Caring for indoor hydrangea

  • 2.1 Landing rules
  • 2.2 Location of the flower, light and temperature conditions
  • 2.3 Watering the flower and the required moisture
  • 2.4 Fertilizers and feeding
  • 2.5 Cropping

• 3 Reproduction

  • 3.1 Cutting
  • 3.2 Bush division
  • 3.3 Growing from seed
• 4 Diseases and pests
• 5 Unique property of hydrangea
• 6 Video: features of care and reproduction of room hydrangea

Description of indoor hydrangea

If you have not yet come across a room hydrangea, then you probably saw her older sister in the gardens and flower beds. People call this perennial shrub with huge clusters of white flowers "Destiny" or "Bride". It looks almost the same, only the stems are much smaller.

This is a perennial shrub covered with oval leaves framed by cloves. The spherical inflorescences can reach about 20 cm in diameter. The flowers are corymbose, racemose, or umbrella-shaped. Large inflorescences located at the edges of the flower are sterile, and fertile ones are usually small and located in the center.

Indoor hydrangea will be a great decoration for any home

The peculiarity of hydrangea from other plants is that the color of its flowers does not depend on the variety or some breeding rules, but on the properties of the soil in which the bush grows:

• neutral soil - cream or white;
• acidic soil - blue;
• alkaline soil - pink or lilac.

At the same time, the petals themselves remain colorless, and the sepals of flowers are responsible for the shades and decorative qualities of the inflorescences: it is they that acquire a bright color.

At home and if all the rules are followed, hydrangea can easily reach a height of 1 meter.

Room hydrangea care

To make it grow strong, healthy and delight you with its flowering as often as possible, provide it with suitable conditions. It is believed that this flower is unpretentious. But if some of the conditions are not met correctly, the hydrangea will begin to wither and die over time. Therefore, please read our tips carefully and follow them constantly.

Landing rules

The life span of a hydrangea as an indoor flower is about 4 years, after which it will need to be planted again. In addition, the plant requires annual replanting, which promotes lush flowering. Since the root system of the plant has a horizontal type (it grows not downwards, but to the sides), wide, spacious pots should be selected. Each next one should be at least one and a half times larger than the previous one.

Transplant the hydrangea into a larger pot for good root growth

To plant hydrangeas, prepare the substrate in the following ratio:

• 0.5 parts of sand;
• 1 part peat;
• 1 piece of leafy land;
• 2 parts of turf land.

It is not necessary to add humus to such a mixture: it is harmful to the roots of hydrangea.

Like any cultivated plant, it perceives transplanting as stress, which negatively affects future development. To minimize the hazard, transplant the flower using the transhipment method. Place a good drainage layer on the bottom of the flowerpot. When the plant is moved to a new pot, fill in fresh medium. It must fill all the voids, leaving the root collar of the flower flush with the ground.

After you transplant the hydrangea and moisten the soil, add a layer of peat mulch to the flowerpot: it will retain the required amount of moisture in the substrate.

Flower location, light and temperature conditions

Hydrangea feels great in a well-lit space, but there should be no direct sunlight. It is not recommended to keep it directly on the windowsill: the leaves will eventually become covered with light spots - burns. But even in the shade, the flower cannot develop. Place the flower in a south-facing room 2-3 meters from the windowsill.

The best temperature for hydrangea is room temperature, within +18 - +22 degrees. The flower does not tolerate sudden changes, as well as drafts.

Position the hydrangea so that it is not exposed to direct sunlight

During the dormant period, this plant needs coolness and shade. You can lower it to the basement for this time and water it if necessary. Comfortable temperature +7 - +10 degrees. In February, the flower will begin to release buds - it's time to return it to the room. If you do not provide the hydrangea with the correct wintering conditions, it will bloom only a year later, next winter.

Watering the flower and the necessary moisture

Hydrangea is a very moisture-loving plant. No wonder she was given another name - hydrangea, or "a barrel of water." However, it is also not recommended to overdo it in watering.

Water for irrigation needs to be taken settled, at room temperature. Rainwater or melt water is great (only if you live in an ecologically clean region). Add 5 drops of lemon juice to 1 liter of water from time to time. With low acidity, hydrangea leaves begin to turn yellow.

If the edges of the hydrangea leaves dry out, then the room humidity is too low. Do not place the flower near the battery, use humidifiers. Spray the plant with a spray bottle as often as possible.

Do you want to speed up flowering and increase the decorative effect of flowers? This is easy to do: add gibberellin to the water for irrigation and spraying at the rate of 0.1 g per 1 liter of water.

Fertilizers and feeding

During the period of active growth, hydrangea needs feeding, which must be applied once every 2 weeks. For this, any fertilizer for flowering plants, such as heathers, rhododendrons, azaleas, is suitable. You can easily buy them at any hardware or flower shop.

Buy flowering fertilizers from your specialty store

Top dressing begins in February, when the hydrangea, after a dormant period, begins to form new shoots. It is not recommended to feed the plant in winter.

Pruning

Novice gardeners may find that indoor hydrangea does not need to be pruned. This is not true. On the contrary, it is for indoor hydrangea that pruning is a very important condition for care. Thanks to her, the bush will take shape, and the plant as a whole will correctly distribute the nutrients obtained from the soil.

Prune the hydrangea in time to form the crown of the bush

You need to prune twice a year:

1. In the fall, when the hydrangea has faded, remove weak shoots under the root. Cut strong ones to half the length.
2. In the spring, remove too long, weak shoots.

You can also trim off the top of the plant. This will allow additional shoots to grow and form a lush bush.

Reproduction

Most often, the reproduction of this flower is carried out by cuttings and dividing the bush. Seed planting is used less often: this method is quite laborious and does not always give positive results.

Cuttings

This is the easiest way. Held in January-February. Cut the cuttings from the basal shoots so that there are no more than 3 internodes on a branch 8 cm long. Remove leaves from the bottom of the cuttings. Cut the upper ones by half. Treat the bottom cut with a root stimulator. Plant the cuttings in a substrate of sand and peat, keep in the light at a humidity of about 80 /% and temperatures up to 20 degrees. It is recommended to cover the cuttings with glass jars, removing them daily for airing. Moisten the soil constantly. After 3-4 weeks, cuttings can be planted in pots.

Hydrangea stalk with roots

Dividing the bush

Also a simple method, but it requires caution. When making an annual transplant, divide the bush so that each division has growth points and roots in the right amount. Shoots and roots must be shortened. Plant parts of the plant in different pots, water and mulch the soil. It is better to divide the bush in the spring if you want the divisions to take root by the fall.

Growing from seeds

Held at the end of winter. Prepare the soil from equal parts of humus, leaf and turf soil. Add half of the peat and sand. Put some of the substrate in a bowl and scatter hydrangea seeds over the surface, without embedding them in the ground. Cover the seed dish with glass. Air and moisten crops every day with a spray bottle to keep the soil constantly moist, but not wet. The glass can be removed after germination. When 2 leaves appear on the seedlings, dive them into containers with the same soil.

Propagation of hydrangeas by seeds is a painstaking task

Strictly observe the breeding time so that the hydrangea grows and forms correctly.

Diseases and pests

Like any cultivated plant, indoor hydrangea can be exposed to diseases and harmful insects. How to recognize them, and most importantly - get rid of them?

1. Gray rot appears on hydrangeas at very high humidity. You can stop its development by treating the flower with Bordeaux liquid.

   

   Gray rot on hydrangea leaves

2. Downy mildew also attacks the plant in high humidity. Destroyed by fungicides and copper-containing preparations.

   

   Downy mildew

3. Dry air and insufficient soil moisture leads to the appearance of aphids and spider mites. The first is destroyed with soapy water, karbofos or actellik. The second is with soapy water and frequent spraying.

   

   Traces of spider mites

4. If the plant is affected by a nematode, then, unfortunately, it will have to be thrown away.

When growing hydrangeas, you may have some more difficulties. For example, yellowing of leaves. The reason for this is most often improper care: insufficient watering, low nitrogen content in the soil, chlorosis caused by a large amount of alkali in the soil. The plant will recover as soon as you correct these errors.

If you forget about watering and spraying, very soon the hydrangea will begin to dry out. The cause may also be a lack of nutrients in the substrate or damage to the roots during transplantation. In the first case, it is enough to water the flower in a timely manner, in the second - to provide good feeding. If the cause was trauma to the root system, such a bush is unlikely to grow healthy.

If the hydrangea does not bloom, it means that it was not provided with proper rest in winter. All forces were expended on the previous flowering, and new ones were not accumulated. Do not forget that the flower needs wintering for 70–80 days in a cool, dark room. Even if the leaves don't dry or fall off, and the hydrangea looks fresh and strong, prune it and lower the plant pot into the basement. Do this in December, and in February the flower will be ready for the next life cycle.

Unique property of hydrangea

This wonderful flower is interesting for its unusual ability to change the color of the petals. You can use this to create a shade with your own hands that is in harmony with the interior of the room. Hydrangea accumulates aluminum, due to which its flowers acquire the desired color.

For example, the petals will turn pink if you add lime to the soil. The addition of aluminum sulfate will provide a blue color. Sour soil will give the colors brightness and saturation, neutral - noble pallor. Use peat, coniferous soil, or sawdust for oxidation. For alkalization, it is better to use ash, lime and chalk.

You can change the color of the hydrangea yourself with a little trick

To get blue flowers, add potassium alum to the water for irrigation, about 8 grams per 1 liter of water. You can also spray the bush with a solution of 50 g of aluminum citrate per 1 liter of water.

Some growers claim that hydrangea with white petals does not change its color due to the properties of the soil or the addition of any substances. Supposedly only varieties with blue and pink flowers are subject to such changes. Well, that's a good reason to experiment at home. Moreover, in this way you will not harm the flower itself.

Video: features of care and reproduction of room hydrangea

We hope you are interested in this extraordinarily beautiful flower, and our tips will help you grow a strong, healthy and blooming hydrangea. Share your experience with us in the comments and ask your questions. Good luck and comfort to your home!