Balsam - one of the most popular home plants. He has long settled on the windowsills of flower growers and, with proper care, does not tire of pleasing the eye with lush greenery and bright flowers. Vanka is wet, touchy, light, asterisk, evergreen are popular folk names of balsam.
Homeland balsam - East Africa. In Europe, it was introduced in the 16th century. Currently, balsam is found in nature in the East Indies, England, Ukraine, and Central Asia. In the wild, it is propagated by seeds, but if you transplant a part of a plant bush in a shaded, damp place, you can be sure that this method also suits the balsam, considering how quickly it takes root.
Balsam does not make the air temperature below zero degrees, so it should be planted in early spring, after frost.
How to propagate?
At home, balsam can be propagated by seeds and cuttings.
Cuttings
Propagation by balsam cuttings is a fairly simple process.Even beginner flower growers can make it. This is the most popular breeding method for balsam. For grafting, take the apical shoots of the plants, which are formed during the spring pruning.
Important! The stalk should be 5-7 centimeters long and have at least two internodes. Lower leaves are removed.
- For rooting the stalk is placed in a container with water or immediately planted in soil, consisting of equal parts of peat, vermiculite and perlite.
- Root the stalk well in the sand.
- His pre-calcined in the oven.
- The soil around the cutting is compacted, and the container is placed in a plastic bag.
- After a couple of weeks in good light and moisture, the stalk forms firm roots.
With proper plant care, the first flowers appear after three months.
We offer to watch a video on balsam breeding using cuttings:
Seeds
Seed reproduction is a laborious process, takes time and patience. It’s not a fact that after all the efforts that have been made, exactly the variety and type of plant that you want to grow will grow. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unscrupulous suppliers on the seed market. To please the result of the work, it is important to remember a few moments of how effectively this seed is propagated by seeds at home:
- for cultivation on the street, terrace and balcony suitable annual plants;
- for growing in indoor conditions it is better to choose perennials;
- it is preferable to buy not a mixture of varieties, but separately;
- If you plan to get your seeds, then you do not need to buy hybrid varieties.
When choosing seeds, pay attention to their shelf life, type of plant (annual or perennial), manufacturer's reliability. Seeds germinate within seven years, but the fresher the seeds, the higher the probability of germination. You can learn about the peculiarities of growing garden balsam from seeds yourself here.
Video about reproduction of balsam seeds:
When to carry out the procedure?
Sowing dates are important. It is better to do this at the beginning of March, so that already in June the impatiens would already delight with flowering.
- Before sowing, the seeds should be placed for 10 minutes with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, then pour warm water and hold it for another day.
- The choice of soil is also very important. The soil should be loose and breathable. The most suitable is considered to be slightly acidic soil, consisting of equal parts of turf, humus, compost and perlite.
- The depth of the tank for planting seeds should be 7 cm or slightly larger. Before sowing, the soil should be shed with a solution of "Fitosporin", and then proceed to sowing. It is convenient to use a toothpick for seed distribution, as they are very small. It is enough to press them to the surface without plunging deeply, it is enough 0.7 - 1 cm.
- After sowing, the soil surface needs to be moistened with an atomizer and a greenhouse effect created using a plastic film. Mini-greenhouse should be placed on the lighted sill.
How to care for crops?
- After the emergence of shoots film should be opened for airing. care must be taken to ensure that the shoots do not get moisture from the film. This is a dangerous fungal infection.
- On cloudy days it is advisable to highlight seedlings with phytolamps, since the lack of light adversely affects the development of plants. On sunny days, the soil should be moistened in the morning and evening with a spray bottle.
- When the sprouts reach a height of 1.5 - 2 centimeters, you can begin picking, transplanting seedlings into separate cups. Soil is better to use the same as when sowing. At the bottom it is necessary to pour drainage. After picking, the plants begin to grow intensively. After a week, it is advisable to pinch the tops to activate the formation of side shoots, which will allow in the future to form a beautiful ornamental shrub.
Transfer
Plants and flowerpots can be replanted when a small bush is formed, and the balsam roots will completely entwine the land lump. The drainage layer should be 3-5 cm.
Capacity should be spacious enough for the bush to have room to grow.
On the terrace or on the street plants can be taken out at the end of May, when stable heat is established.
We offer you to watch a video on how to transplant balsam:
Top dressing
During the period of a set of green mass, a balsam needs a lot of nutrients (you can learn how to water and feed the plant to enjoy the flowering for a long time). Top dressing needs to be done once every 10 days with mineral fertilizers. When the formation of buds, nitrogen fertilization should be stopped. At this time using phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.
Preference is better to give compositions for ornamental flowering plants. Most popular
- "Agricola for flowering."
- "Fertika-plus".
- "Uniflor-bud".
Young cuttings respond very well to foliar dressing. To do this, it is necessary to prepare the settled water at 2 - 3 degrees warmer than air, according to the instructions, dilute the fertilizer and spray it on the leaf surface with a spray.
Attention! Top dressing is best done in cloudy weather, after pre-irrigation with water, in order to avoid burning the roots.
Possible problems with breeding and how to eliminate them
There are several balsam diseases that can even lead to the death of a flower.
- Balsam is often affected by bacteriosis, fungal diseases and rot. The main reason is the lack of air, excess moisture, thickening of the bush. When a fungus appears, the bush should be pulled out of the pot, how to shake off the roots of the old soil and transplant into a new, more loose soil (when transplanting is needed and how to put balsam into another pot, read here).
- Often the spider mite, whitefly and aphid attacks the bush. You can get rid of these problems by treating the bushes with protective agents, such as Aclirin and Glyocladin, or any other insecticide.
- Sometimes the plant starts dropping leaves and flowers. This can be caused by a lack of moisture, light, or vice versa too intense watering. Dropping leaves is also characteristic of the old plant.
- Too dry air may cause the leaves to turn yellow and dry.
- If the plant is standing in a draft, its leaves can curl. Twisting may also occur when a spider mite infects a bush.
- Weak flowering or its complete absence is sometimes due to an excess of nitrogen fertilizers in the top dressing.
Care for indoor balsamic at home is not as difficult as it may seem at first. In order for the favorite to please with its lush flowering the maximum time you need to remember just a few simple tips:
- choose the right seeds;
- remember what should be the cutting;
- use the right fertilizer;
- keep the soil moist;
- provide adequate lighting;
- when problems arise in time to eliminate them.
We hope that the article turned out to be useful, and the asterisk on the windowsill will delight its owners for a long time.
