hippeastrum flower

Hippeastrum is a bulbous plant from the Amaryllis family. There are 90 species in the genus, all of them live in the wild in the tropics and subtropics of America, including the Amazon jungle. 

Representatives of this genus came to Europe in the XNUMXth century. Many of them were used in breeding, crossed with each other, and as a result, those hippeastrums that we grow at home were identified by botanists as a separate species – hybrid hippeastrum. 

The first hybrid appeared in 1799. By the middle of the 100th century, there were about 1500 of them. And at the moment, more than 1 thousand varieties of this wonderful flower are registered in the world (2) and several of them are bred in Our Country (XNUMX).

Conditions for growing a hippeastrum flower

Hippeastrum is a perennial bulbous plant. And unlike the vast majority of other indoor flowers, it has a dormant period. The cycle of his life looks like this:

• hippeastrum blooms (from the beginning of the appearance of the arrow to the withering of the flowers) – about 1,5 months;
• hippeastrum grows (at this time it has only leaves) – about 7,5 – 8,5 months;
• rest period – 2 – 3 months. 

As a rule, the dormant period of hippeastrum lasts from October to January, and it blooms in the middle of winter. But if desired, these dates can be shifted by adjusting watering and temperature.

Hippeastrum flower care at home

In general, caring for hippeastrum is not difficult, but given the dormancy of the plant, it has its own characteristics.

Ground

Hippeastrum prefers loose and fertile soil. The ideal composition for it is a mixture of river sand with humus, foliage and soddy soil in a ratio of 2: 1: 2: 2. 

“You can use ready-made soils for flowering plants from the store,” says agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova, – but their quality sometimes leaves much to be desired, they are made on the basis of peat and dry out very quickly. It’s better not to be too lazy and make the right soil mixture yourself.

Lighting

Hippeastrum loves an abundance of light, but it must be diffused, that is, the pot cannot be placed under the scorching sun. You can, for example, hide it behind some large plant that will slightly shade it. 

The best place in an apartment for hippeastrum is windows facing south, southeast or southwest.

Watering

It is best to water the hippeastrum not through the top of the pot, like most other plants, but through the pan – so the water will not fall directly on the bulb, which will reduce the risk of rotting. 

And the frequency of watering depends on the phase of vegetation. 

During flowering. Hippeastrum needs the most water during flowering – it needs to be watered abundantly, but so that the soil between waterings has time to dry to the full depth of the pot. If moisture stagnates at the bottom, the roots will begin to rot, and then the bulb.

During the growing season. At this time, the hippeastrum has only leaves, the period usually lasts from February to August-September. It should be watered moderately during the growing season – the land between waterings should not only dry out completely, but also stay dry for several days. 

In the second half of summer, watering should be reduced to a minimum – once every 2 to 3 weeks will be enough, because the plant begins to prepare for a dormant period. 

If you continue to water, the hippeastrum will not go to rest – it will remain all year round with green leaves. But it will not bloom. 

During the dormant period. As a rule, in September, the leaves of the hippeastrum begin to turn yellow, and then dry up. The bulb goes to rest and while it is resting, it is not necessary to water it. 

It is not necessary to remove the bulb from the pot after the plant has retired, but it is advisable to remove the pot to a cool place where the temperature will not exceed 15 ° C. You can, for example, put it under the bed – the air below is usually always colder. 

But still it is better to keep the bulb in cooler conditions – at a temperature of 5 – 10 ° C. That is, in the refrigerator. But in this case, you will have to dig it out so as not to drag a whole pot there.

fertilizers

When planting or transplanting hippeastrum, you do not need to add any fertilizers to the soil – if it is properly prepared, it will have enough nutrients for the first time. 

There is usually already fertilizer in the store soil, so nothing else needs to be added here either.

Feeding

Most plants are fed in the same order – first nitrogen (during active growth), and then phosphorus and potassium (during flowering). But in hippeastrum, the opposite is true – it first blooms, and only then grows leaves. Consequently, the order of feeding also changes – first they give him phosphorus with potassium, and when the leaves appear – nitrogen. 

– You can use classic mineral fertilizers for dressing hippeastrum – double superphosphate, potassium sulfate and urea. They are cheaper, but using them to feed indoor flowers is very risky – it is difficult to calculate the correct dose, and since the volume of the pot is limited, excess fertilizer will not go anywhere and can burn the roots, explains agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova.

Therefore, it is best to use complex liquid fertilizers for flowering plants – any will do. Yes, they are more expensive, but they are easier to use – you just need to dilute a cap of the solution in the recommended volume of water. 

Gippeastrum is given the first dressing when the flower arrow reaches a height of 15 cm. And then every 2 weeks until mid-summer. After this, top dressing is not needed – the plant should prepare for a dormant period.

Reproduction of the hippeastrum flower at home

Hippeastrum can be propagated in 3 ways. 

Children. At the hippeastrum bulb, over time, small daughter bulbs are formed, which are popularly called children. All that is needed is to separate the plants when transplanting and plant them in separate pots. 

By the way, children must be separated necessarily, because if they are present, the mother bulb often does not bloom. For flowering, it must be in a pot alone. 

The division of the bulb. Bulb division is carried out at the end of the dormant period – in November-December. The scheme is this:

• part of the earth must be removed from the pot so that only 1/3 of the bulb remains in the soil (usually it is buried by 2/3); 
• with a sharp knife (for sterility it is useful to wipe it with alcohol or ignite it over a fire), cut the onion vertically in half or into 4 parts, but again not completely – only to the level of the soil; 
• insert wooden skewers horizontally into the cuts – it is important that the divided parts of the bulb do not touch each other.

Further, the divided bulb needs to be looked after, like an ordinary adult hippeastrum. Each division has its own rosette of leaves. In autumn, the plant will retire. And before it wakes up, that is, again in November-December (it will turn out exactly in a year), the bulb must be cut to the end and each part should be planted in a separate pot. You will already have 2 or 4 new plants, and after dividing, children will begin to actively form on each part (3). 

Seeds. This is the most troublesome method, but on the other hand, you can get much more planting material than when dividing the bulbs and planting the children. 

In order for the seeds to set, during the flowering of the mother plant, you need to collect pollen from the stamens with a cotton swab and transfer it to the pistil. Without artificial insemination, seeds are not formed. If there is only one plant, and you pollinated it with your own pollen, then the seed germination will be low – within 37%. But if you have two plants of the same variety at home, and you took pollen from one and transferred not the pistil of the other, then the germination rate will be above 70% (3). If you pollinate different varieties of hippeastrums, then the offspring will not retain the signs of their parents. But very interesting forms may appear, and you may even breed your own variety.

– It is better to sow hippeastrum seeds immediately after harvest, – recommends agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova, – in this case, their germination is maximum. If they lie down and dry, germination decreases.

Sow the seeds in containers at a depth of 1 cm and at a distance of 2 cm from each other, or immediately in separate pots of 1 pc. Seedlings should be watered frequently and plentifully. They can be planted out of the container when the leaves are well formed.

Hippeastrum flower transplant at home

Hippeastrum blooms only in cramped pots, and since the bulb grows rather slowly, the plant should be transplanted no more than once every 3 to 4 years. 

The new pot should be of such a diameter that there is a gap of 2 cm between the bulb and the walls. It is better to choose low pots. One must definitely put a good layer of drainage – 2 – 3 cm, so that the water does not stagnate at the bottom during irrigation, and the soil does not turn sour.

It is necessary to replant the hippeastrum with a clod of earth, trying not to damage the roots. After transplanting, the bulb should rise 1/3 above the soil. 

The best time to transplant hippeastrum is before the dormant period or immediately after flowering.

Diseases of the hippeastrum flower

At home, hippeastrums get sick infrequently, but it still happens. As a rule, they are affected by 3 diseases. 

Powdery mildew. It is very easy to recognize it – a white coating appears on the leaves, resembling mold. 

Antifungal drugs – Quadris, Privent, Strobi or Thiovit Jet will help to cope with the disease.

Red rot. It affects the bulbs – rotting spots appear on them, the roots begin to rot, the leaves wither. 

In this case, the bulb must be dug up, cut out with a sharp sterilized knife all rotten areas, dried well, and then treated with Fundazol. After that, the bulb must be planted in a new pot, pour fresh soil into it, after calcining it in the microwave or in the oven.

Red burn. Signs of this fungal infection are red spots and stains on leaves and bulbs. As the disease develops, the leaves become deformed, the peduncle becomes weak and droops. 

At the initial stage of the disease, copper-containing preparations – HOM or Amila-Peak – will help to cope with the pathogen. If the infection has spread strongly, the leaves of the hippeastrum should be cut off, the bulb should be dug up, the affected areas should be cut out to healthy tissue, and the cut sites should be treated with a mixture of copper sulphate and chalk (1:20). Then the bulb should be air-dried for 7 days and planted in a new pot with fresh, calcined soil.

Popular questions and answers

We asked the most typical questions about hippeastrums to an agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova.

Sources of

1. Royal General Bulb Growers’ Association (KAVB) https://www.kavb.nl/zoekresultaten
2. Reut A.A. The results of the selection of ornamental perennial crops in the South Ural Botanical Garden-Institute // Collection of scientific papers of the GNBS, volume 147, 2018 

   https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/itogi-selektsii-dekorativnyh-mnogoletnih-kultur-v-yuzhno-uralskom-botanicheskom-sadu-institute/viewer

3. Federal Institute for Risk Assessment // Press Release, July 7.07.2007th, XNUMX

   Arkhipova I.N. Biological features of representatives of the family Amaryllidaceae Jaume St.-Hil. in protected ground // dissertation, 2013 

   https://www.dissercat.com/content/biologicheskie-osobennosti-predstavitelei-semeistva-amaryllidaceae-jaume-st-hil-v-usloviyakh