Medlar - exotic evergreen plant.
Refers to rosaceous. There are about 30 types of loquat, but at home, the medlar is well germinated and fruiting.
Did you know? Medlar began to cultivate in Japan.
At home medlar can grow in height by 1.5-2 meters. The leaves of the plant are oblong, leathery, glossy on top, bottom - velvety. During flowering, you will feel the pleasant aroma of bitter almond.
Flowers self-pollinated. If you carry out the pollination by artificial means, then there will be more fruits. Orange round or oval fruits resemble the taste of a mixture of pears and cherries with some sourness.
The diameter of the fruit (they grow in clusters of 8-12 pieces) can reach 8 cm. Each fruit has inside the bones - from 3 to 8 pieces.
The medlar fruits are very juicy. The use of medlar allows you to improve digestion and bowel function. They are also useful in urolithiasis. Medlar can be eaten raw and processed.
How to plant a medlar in room conditions
Although the loquat is not very whimsical, but it grows better at home. In the open ground of the middle band to grow medlar is more difficult, but it is possible.
Did you know? Medlar was grown by the ancient Greeks 2700 years ago.
How to plant a medlar scion
If you decide to plant a loquat, you can take a scion. Last year's twigs should be cut into cuttings and put in a pot in a moist soil. After that, cover the pot with a glass jar. About a month later, the stalk will turn into a bush of medlar.
Medlar bone
Cultivation of loquat seeds is possible for everyone. If you come across a ripe medlar fruit, then you can grow an exotic plant on your windowsill. Most often they are interested in how to grow loquat from a stone.
First you need a very ripe fruit. Remove the bones and clean them from the fruit pulp. Rinse the bones and dry for 3 days.
To accelerate the germination of seeds that are covered with a dense shell, apply scarification: The bone needs to be rubbed with a sandpaper or a file. In this way, you destroy the dense shell and help the seeds to quickly roll in the soil.
Now immerse the bone in the water at room temperature for a day. If the bones surfaced - they are thrown away (this is a culling that is not suitable for planting). Lying at the bottom of the tank bones can be planted in a moist loose soil.
Important! Water the medlar should be regularly only defended water. Be sure to drain the pot, because the medlar does not tolerate stagnant moisture. Land in a pot should be loosened from time to time.
Choosing a place for the cultivation of medlar
To make your loquat at home in a pot feel good and give a good harvest, you need to choose the right place for growing a tree.
The window sill, on which the medlar will live, must go to the south side or to the southeast, because the plant needs sunlight. The medlar gives abundant flowering in direct sunlight.
Important! Just sprouted shoots are very afraid of direct sunlight. To prevent the plant from dying, the pot should be removed from the sun-sill until the plant is a little stronger.
The temperature on the windowsill should not fall below 15 degrees. In summer, the plant can be taken out on the balcony or in the garden.
In winter, the plant can be left on the windowsill, but it should be rarely watered.
The medlar overwinters well on the glazed balcony (provided that the temperature does not fall below 5 degrees), watering in this case is excluded altogether.
Preparing the soil for planting
For planting medlar suitable peat mixture for seedlings, which can be purchased in finished form. The soil should be neutral.
If desired, you can prepare a planting mixture yourself: 4 parts of sod land; 2 pieces of leafy ground; 1 part of coarse sand; 1 part of compost earth. A medlar pot must have a drainage system.
Each bone is planted in a separate pot. Soil should first be well loosen and moisten. The stone plunges into the hole at a depth of 2-3 cm. After planting, the pot is covered with glass or plastic film (they create greenhouse conditions). The greenhouse periodically needs to be ventilated and the soil moistened.
Important! If you plant several bones in one container, then you will have to disturb the plant with a pick - as a result, you can damage the root system of the young loquat.
After the third pair of leaves appears, the plant begins to form. The medlar should take the form of a lush bush, not a tree.
Important! If the plant itself does not want to branch out, it is necessary to pinch off the top. In this case, side shoots will begin to actively form.
Watering, feeding and pruning plants
If you have a medlar on your windowsill, then you will certainly be interested in taking care of her at home.
Watering medlar depends on the season:
- Summer. During this period, the medlar requires frequent abundant watering. The soil must remain wet. It is advisable 2-3 times a week to loosen the top layer of soil in a pot. The plant is afraid of spraying.
- Winter. This is a resting period for the plant. Watering is reduced to a minimum, but make sure that the soil in the pot is not completely dry.
Feed up medlar plant from April to September. In winter, fertilizing plants is not desirable. As a fertilizer, use of complex mineral fertilizers or mullein infusion (ratio of 1: 8).
For the loquat to have the form of a bushy bush, you will need trimming. In the same way it is possible to form a round-shaped tree that will decorate any office or winter garden.
The shape of a bush plant can form on their own. If this does not happen, you can pinch off the top of the plant. Side branches will begin to grow more actively.
If you want to get a loquat in the form of a tree, you will have to remove the side branches until they are woody. Cut branches can be rooted. Thus it will be possible to grow more than one plant.
Dried and diseased medlar branches are regularly removed.
Important! Pruning is carried out immediately after harvest. If you come late with pruning, the medlar will not be able to lay future flower buds.
How to transplant loquat
Loquat transplanted by way of crossing. The volume of the new pot should be 5-10 cm more than the previous one.
The method of re-rolling is that the plant is carefully removed from the old seat and carefully lowered into a larger pot, having previously sprinkled the earth on the bottom. After that, around the plant, the voids in the pot are filled with fresh earth.
If the plant is under 5 years old, a transplant is required every spring. Medlar over 5 years old requires transplantation every 3-4 years, but be sure to change the top layer of earth in a pot every year.
Breeding medlar
If you are interested in the medlar plant, then you should know that growing an exotic house is available to everyone. Medlar can breed in different ways: seeds, layering, cuttings.
Seeds
Most often used seed reproduction (bone). Such reproduction is attractive because the young plant will have all the qualities of a loquat-mother.
Seeds are taken from the ripe fruit of the medlar, washed, dried for 3 days, soaked for several hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Planting seeds should be in loose moist soil to a depth of 2-3 cm. The pot is covered with glass or film and waiting for germination.
The fruits of this plant you get in 4-6 years.
Layering
If you want to get the fruit in the first year, you have to multiply the plant air layouts. For this it is necessary to root a branch of the medlar: a small strip of bark is removed from the branch with a stationery knife (you need to remove the bark with a ring).
Cut along the transparent plastic bottle and fasten it with adhesive tape in place of the cut bark ring. The bottle is filled with primer. This soil requires regular watering.
In about 2 months, the roots will appear. When the root system grows large enough, the bottle is removed and the branch is cut from an adult plant. Cut the branch planted in a separate pot and wait for the fruit.
Cuttings
For breeding cuttings are excellent tops of the medlar, which grew back last year. The top is cut at a distance of about 15 cm.
The lower cut is treated with activated carbon powder - this is a kind of protection, cutting disinfection.
Plant the cutting in the soil suitable for the medlar to a depth of 3 cm.
If the temperature in the room is 25-27 ° C, then the cutting will take root in about a month.
Important! When cutting off the top, make sure that there are at least 2 buds on a branch.
We hope that this article will help you grow a beautiful loquat and become the owner of an exotic plant in your garden or in your house. We wish you success!
