It is difficult to imagine the Black Sea or Crimean landscapes without the slender, handsome cypress. If on vacation you were fascinated by this beautiful tree, covered with myths and legends, try growing a cypress in a pot. Caring for it will require some knowledge and skills, but for this, a miniature southern Christmas tree will all year round delight with its soft fragrant needles.
plant description
Cypress belongs to the genus of evergreen trees and shrubs of the same family. Forms a pyramidal or spreading crown. In young plants, the leaves are small, needle-shaped. In adult specimens, they are scaly, pressed against the branches. Cypress belongs to monoecious plants: under one crown there are male and female cones that ripen in the second year. On the bottom side cone scales hide seeds.
Cypresses are inhabitants of the subtropical and tropical climate. Frost-resistant species are grown in gardens and parks, and large-fruited cypress is popular for breeding at home in a pot.
In Christian culture, cypress is a symbol eternal life and is mentioned in the Bible as a tree growing in the Gardens of Eden.
In order to arrange a piece of the Garden of Eden on your windowsill, the cypress needs to create conditions close to its natural habitat.
Indoor cypress care
This southern thermophilic culture needs good lighting. But endure bright sun only mature trees can, and it is advisable to shade young sprouts at noon. best location for him - eastern or northern window sills.
Caring for cypress in a pot at home consists of regular watering, pruning, spraying and providing a period of winter dormancy.
In summer, the southern handsome man is kept at a temperature of at least 20 ° C and an abundance of fresh air. For this purpose, a cypress in a pot is taken out to the balcony, to the courtyard, country veranda. In hot weather, the plant needs regular spraying, loves a shower very much, or at least location next to wet moss or wet pebbles.
In early spring, the cypress is pruned to form the desired crown. Until autumn, it is watered abundantly, following the rule - the warmer the room, the more often watering.
From May to August, cypress is fed every month with liquid, intended for indoor plants.
It is very similar to the so-called cypress cypress. They belong to the same genus, and care for a cypress in a pot should be the same as for the cypress itself.
How to care for a cypress in a pot in winter
For intensive growth during the growing season, cypress needs winter holidays. At this time, it is kept in a cool room at a temperature of 8–10 ° C. It is watered very moderately, once every 7–10 days. The best place for the wintering cypress there will be a warmed balcony or loggia. So that the roots do not freeze, the pot is wrapped with any insulation - foam, mineral wool, rags.
With the onset of spring, the cypress is cut off and two weeks later they are brought into a warm room. Watering is gradually increased and fertilized.
Cypress transplant
Young, fast growing cypress trees are transplanted annually, between April and May. Adult specimens do not need an annual transplant; this procedure is carried out with them as needed, when the cypress becomes cramped in an old pot.
The cypress is transplanted at home in a pot very carefully, as it does not tolerate even a violation of the integrity of the earthen coma. In fact, the plant is transferred to a larger container, gently shaking off the earth along the edges of the earthy coma.
At the bottom of the pot, drainage is poured a few centimeters deep, some sand and soil mixture, consisting of:
- 1 part sand
- 1 piece ,
- 1 part of sod land,
- 2 parts leafy or ordinary garden soil.
New soil under the earthen ball is poured in such a way that the root neck of the transplanted plant remains above the soil surface.
They put the cypress in a new pot, trying not to shower the earth from it, and carefully fill the space between the roots and the walls of the pot with soil. The soil is lightly compacted and watered.
Diseases and pests
Cypress diseases are usually associated with improper care. So, from waterlogging, his roots rot. In the event of the appearance of root rot, the diseased specimen is transplanted into new land, removing rotten roots and reducing the frequency of watering.
Due to the dryness of the air in the room, the cypress may suffer from invasion or spider mites. The disease is easily treated with "Fitoverm" or "Aktellik". To prevent the appearance of pests, it is necessary to maintain optimal humidity in the room.
If you follow these simple rules for the care of a cypress in a pot, it can grow into a slender and graceful tree that will become a real highlight of the interior.
Video about transplanting and propagating cypress in a pot
Home cypress is an evergreen coniferous plant in the form of a shrub or tree with a pyramidal crown. Belongs to the Cypress family. Under natural conditions, the height of the plant reaches 30 m.
It lives in East Asia and North America. The needles are scaly, the trunk is covered with bark of red-brown or brown color. Cones are small, rounded.
Growing cypress from seeds
Seed and vegetative propagation is possible.
In autumn, when the cones open, collect the seeds. Seeds are sown in February-March, but they must first be stratified (hold in the vegetable section of the refrigerator for 2-3 months).
- Plant one seed at a time to a depth of 0.5-1 cm in a container with potting mix for conifers or a mixture of sand and sawdust.
- Cover the crops with film or glass, keep the air temperature around 24-25 ° C. Ventilate crops daily, moisten the soil as it dries, avoiding moisture stagnation.
- Good lighting is necessary so that the seedlings do not get sick and do not stretch, but protect crops from direct sun rays.
- As you grow, once a month you can fertilize with fertilizers for conifers.
- Plants grow slowly, so be patient and continue with moderate watering.
- The grown seedlings are transferred to permanent pots.
Reproduction of cypress cuttings
To get a cypress from a cutting, you need to make a minimum of effort. Cuttings are the most common method of propagation of this conifer.
- From young shoots, cut cuttings 10-12 cm long.
- Gently clean the bottom of the cutting from the needles. Hold in a growth stimulator solution for a day to improve root formation.
- Root in light nutrient soil with good drainage.
- Plant the cuttings at a depth of 3-4 cm and create greenhouse conditions: cover with a jar cut plastic bottle or package.
- Ventilate regularly, moderately moisten the soil.
- When you notice active growth young shoots, plant rooted cuttings.
Cypress trees planted in open ground, also propagated by layering.
Planting and transplanting cypress in a pot
- The soil requires a loose slightly acidic reaction.
- You can use a universal substrate for conifers or prepare a soil mixture: 2 parts of leafy soil and 1 part of soddy soil, sand, peat.
- Choose a wide, stable container. Be sure to lay a drainage layer at the bottom.
- Cross the cypress tree along with the earthen clod.
- Frequent transplants are not required - do this as the container fills with roots.
- Increase the diameter of the pot with each transplant by a few centimeters.
- To adapt the plant after transplantation, provide shading, spray the needles from the spray bottle, water moderately.
How to care for cypress at home
Lighting
Lighting should be bright, diffused, without direct sunlight. Place on an east or west windowsill. On the south window, shade from direct sunlight will be required - otherwise the needles will burn out and crumble.
Air temperature and ventilation
Doesn't tolerate heat well. Do not place near heating systems. AT winter time Keep the air temperature around 15°C. Take it outside in the summer. If this is not possible, regularly ventilate the room, spray the cypress more often.
Watering and humidity
Regularly, moderately. The drying up of an earthen coma and stagnation of water are harmful. AT summer heat water a couple of times a week, reduce watering in winter (1 time in 10 days). To maintain optimal moisture levels, mulch the soil with sawdust or peat.
Why cypress dries at home
Dry air can destroy the conifer: first the tips of the branches dry up, and then the whole plant dries. It is necessary to spray the branches several times a day every day. Use soft (defended at least during the day) cool water.
Periodically place a container with a plant on a pallet with wet moss, expanded clay, pebbles. Place an aquarium or a regular container of water nearby, use special humidifiers. You can periodically place pieces of ice in a pot with a plant.
top dressing
In the period May-August, monthly apply complex mineral for conifers in liquid form. Concentration - half the dose recommended by the instructions.
Pruning and shaping a bonsai tree
spend every spring sanitary pruning: remove dead branches. The trees are neat, so they do not need formative pruning.
Optionally, you can create a bonsai:
- To do this, it is carried out at the end of summer, before leaving for a dormant period, then in the spring the plant will take on a neat compact appearance.
- The extra branches are cut off, and the remaining ones are bent with a thick wire, which is wrapped around the branches and attached to the plant. desired shape until the branches become woody.
Diseases and pests
Excessive watering provokes rotting of the root system. The plant needs to be transplanted urgently. Carefully remove from the pot, cut off the affected areas, treat the cuts with a fungicide. Fill the container with fresh soil and plant a cypress.
Shchitovki, spider mite – possible pests plants. When they appear, treat with an insecticide.
If the shoots and needles begin to turn yellow, the air is dry or watering is insufficient.
Types and varieties of cypress with photos and names
Pea Cypress Chamaecyparis pisifera
Very similar to juniper. The crown is cone-shaped, scaly needles have a bright green color. The trunk is covered with a reddish bark.
Varieties:
Boulevard is a cypress up to 5 m high. The crown is pin-shaped. Awl-shaped needles reach a length of 6 cm, have a bluish-silver color. Philifera - a crown in the form of a wide cone. The needles are scaly, dark green in color.
cypress pea variety‘Nana Aureovariegata’ photo
Nana - has a slow growth rate. With a height of about 60 cm, it can occupy a diameter of 1.5 m. The scaly crown densely fills the entire allotted space with branches.
Lawson's cypress Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
Lawson's cypress Chamaecyparis lawsoniana photo
It has a crown in the form of a narrow cone, the lower branches tend to the ground. The needles are short, green.
Varieties:
Lawson's cypress Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Blue Surprise’ photo
Blue Separate - has needle-shaped needles of a blue tint with a silvery sheen.
Lawson Fletcheri cypress Chamaecyparis lawsonaina Fletcheri photo
Flatchery - has a columnar crown shape, the branches are directed upwards. The needles are green or light blue.
Lawson's cypress Alumi Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Alumii’
Elwoodi - reaches a height of 3 m. Needle needles have a blue color.
Lawson's cypress Elwoodi Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Ellwoodii photo
Varieties of the Elwoodi variety: Gold, Pidgmi, Pillar.
CYPARIS - APOLLO TREE
How to Grow a Beautiful Pyramid Plant Indoors
Evergreens have always been highly valued and appreciated in ornamental gardening, especially in the northern regions, where summer is so fleeting that we do not have time to enjoy even just the greenery of the garden, the forest, not to mention the floral aromas and living carpets of all colors of the rainbow.
Among the ornamental evergreen trees and shrubs, we are most familiar with spruces, firs, pines, arborvitae, junipers, less familiar and less common in gardens and parks douglas, biota, cypress, cedar pines, and very rare - cypress evergreen Cypress family. Let's say right away that cypress in the middle and northwestern strip is grown in tub culture, releasing it in the summer to the garden "on vacation". At the same time, they dig the container into the flower garden, and in the fall they move it back into the house. Compared to room content thuja or cypress , cypress less whimsical and feels quite comfortable in the rather dry air of the rooms.
By the way, cypress can withstand a short-term drop in temperature to -20 ° C, but, nevertheless, it is still exceptional southern open field culture. In the traditions of the palace greenhouses, there was the cultivation of cypress with its planting in the summer as an exotic in the Private Gardens. However, modern lovers of the Mediterranean flora may well create their own little home Eden, which will accommodate subtropical plant species. And the cypress will be the soloist there, exude its luxurious resinous aroma, delight the eye with an elegant pyramidal crown with thin openwork branches, will heal the atmosphere of the rooms (it emits essential oil) and even ... serve as a New Year tree. It will be very "suitable" for him, and for us - to joy, health and pleasure.
Numerous legends attribute cypress to a variety of ancient gods and celebrities of mythical times. Once upon a time there lived in the fertile lands of magical Arcadia the son of King Telef - the young handsome Cypress, the favorite of Apollo. He galloped carelessly astride a wild deer of excellent quality, they frolicked merrily and flew over flowering meadows. Once, on a hunt, Cypress, through negligence, mortally wounded his friend a deer, and the deer died. Shedding tears, Cypress begged the gods to send him to where his friend would henceforth reside. And Apollo turned the slender young man into an amazingly beautiful tree with a high narrow crown and dark needles.
As the tree of the healer Asclepius, the cypress is considered a symbol of longevity, and as the tree of Cyprida ( Aphrodite, Venus) - a symbol of stormy love. Cypress, like the tree of Apollo, was a symbol of sophistication and artistry, thanks to its truly exquisite beauty and grace.
Features of cypress
The area of natural distribution of cypress is the islands of the Aegean Sea, the mountains of Asia Minor and Northern Iran, the Black Sea region. The genus includes 14 species in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, but the most common is the evergreen cypress, or ordinary. In native places, a tree with a sharp top grows up to 25 m and under favorable conditions (according to the literature) can live up to 2000 years.
Forest plantations of cypress are natural in its natural habitat, and outside its range it is bred as ornamental culture. On the southern coast of Crimea, cypress creates a special, unique landscape, where specimens aged 100 years or more are found. By this time, the tree reaches its maximum height, but the misfortune of this breed is the defeat of its wood in old age by rot.
Cypress wood with yellowish sapwood, yellowish-brown heartwood, with a characteristic strong aroma, heavy, hard, dense, resistant against insects. It does not warp in products, mechanical properties close to pine, used as construction material and for various fine crafts. Literature lovers probably know cypress by the name of the only collection of poems by I.F. Annensky - "Cypress casket", in a real cypress casket the poet really kept the manuscripts of his works.
Cypress species
Other types of cypress are also interesting, which can come to us by chance and become real exotics in the indoor garden.
Cypress large-fruited (Cupressus macrocarpa) grows rapidly (found in Sochi, Sukhumi, Adler), has an umbrella-shaped crown expanding upwards, its needles smell like lemon, the cones are large - up to 4 cm long.
weeping cypress (Cupressus funerbis) has a cone-shaped crown with long hanging shoots, gray-green needles, cones up to 1.5 cm long. It grows on the southern coast of Crimea, the Caucasus, where it bears fruit.
And the most common is cypress evergreen (Cupressus sempervirens), which was already discussed at the beginning of the article. Two of its varieties are known: horizontal and pyramidal.
Cypress horizontal (f. horizontalis) is distinguished by a horizontal departure of branches from the main trunk, which then rise upwards, forming a wide pyramidal crown.
Cypress pyramidalis (f. pyramidalis, f. stricta) by nature forms a narrow pyramidal, very dense crown of branches ascending upwards and pressed against the trunk. The bark of young plants is brown, later - brown, thick. The leaves are small scale-like, the needles are elongated-rhombic, located crosswise, tightly pressed to the shoots. Cypress cones are round, woody, grayish-brown with a spike on the scales, hanging from short branches. They look like a miniature soccer ball (2-3 cm in diameter) with clearly visible "seams". When a mature cone is brought home, after one or two days it spreads its large scales and pours out its precious contents - red-brown flat seeds with a narrow wing. Under each scale they form up to 20 pieces.
Reproduction of cypress
Cypress breeds well seeds. Special garden forms naturally propagate vaccination or cuttings. In the Crimea, cones are harvested in late March - early April, at which time they are still closed, but already fall off.
By the way, open cones are very decorative, they are often used in various compositions, fashion potpourri in combination with other fruits, seeds, dried flower heads, placing natural material into transparent cylindrical or spherical vases, adding a few drops of your favorite essential oils. It turns out beautiful, stylish and healthy.
Cypress cultivation
It is very interesting for both adults and children to grow cypress from seeds. We prepare the land for sowing by mixing garden neutral with compost, coarse sand and gravel or small pebbles, a small amount of peat, fill the mixture with full long-term fertilizer immediately for the season ( AVA with nitrogen). In general, a neutral or slightly alkaline mixture with good aeration and water permeability should be obtained. We sow seeds in spring or summer in a container or pot on moistened and compacted soil, sprinkle on the thickness of the seed with washed sand or perlite, spray until the top layer is moistened, cover with film or glass and put the container in a warm place. With the advent of seedlings, we raise the shelter, sprinkle the surface of the container with a light mixture of earth and sand to cover the exposed roots. We remove the shelter for ventilation more and more often, then we remove it completely. By spraying with warm settled water, we maintain moderate humidity of the substrate and air. We repeat the powders several times before picking the seedlings. Their coloring is unexpected - bluish due to the waxy coating of the needles - and very elegant.
Planting a cypress seedling in a tub
Seedlings can be thinned out and partly split, so that later, after a few months, or even a year later, young plants can be planted in separate pots. Tall narrow pots are suitable for cypress, on the bottom of which it is necessary to pour drainage from broken shards or large expanded clay. It is convenient and useful to add a pinch of AVA long-acting complex fertilizer granules to the soil mixture for good nutrition of young cypress trees for the next 1-2 years. After transplantation, the plants are kept in diffused light for several days, and then placed on a sunny window. By nature, cypress is shade-tolerant, but in the north it certainly needs a sunny location.
Cypress grows quite quickly, in nature it begins to bear fruit at the age of five to six (in tub culture, much later, but also bears fruit). Like all conifers, at room conditions in winter, cypress needs to be cool ( +15…+17°С) and good lighting, including additional. It winters well on a warmed loggia with overhead lighting with a fluorescent lamp.
By shearing at room conditions, we can form a denser crown, shortening the branches throughout the crown in spring and summer, as well as the overall height of the tree if it has grown to the top of the window. If it is possible to keep the cypress on the floor, then its height can be up to the ceiling. The crown becomes heavy with age, so a support in the form of a strong peg with a height slightly less than a tree will come in handy.
Transshipment of cypress should be done as the root system grows - when the roots become visible in drainage holes. For ease of movement, large tub plants are kept on special stands with wheels, which can be found in garden centers.
Based on the biological characteristics of cypress, Too much moisture is bad for him. at all stages of cultivation, but it tolerates prolonged drought well. In summer, the crown of the tree is sprayed from time to time with settled water, especially on hot days in the mornings and evenings. In winter, when the air in the rooms is too dry, moisturizing it is important for the comfort of the cypress tree. From time to time it is necessary to bathe cypresses under the shower (as long as the dimensions allow), covering the surface of the earth with a film.
Compositions in the apartment
The surface of the earth in a pot or tub is periodically cleaned of debris, fallen dry needles. It is useful to cover the ground with fine expanded clay or crushed bark and spray them to increase air humidity. For the same purpose, as well as for beauty, small potted flowers are placed on the surface of the earth to adult plants. For example, to new year holidays cypress can not only be dressed up like a traditional Christmas tree, but also put to it blooming cyclamens, begonias, kalanchoe, multicolored hypoesthesia
- such a composition will enliven the interior, delight you in the coldest and darkest months of the year.
Another good reception the decor is planting ground cover indoor plants with small leaves to the cypress: tradescantia, helksina, oxalis, ceropegia and even “street” species - ivy-leaved budry, loosestrife monet, yaskolki. Growing, ground cover colored or green carpets, hanging from the edges of the container, give the composition a finished and more decorative look. Possible combination flowering species and fluffy carpet. Of course, it is necessary to provide all participants in the composition with sufficient lighting, hydration and nutrition. Long-acting complex fertilizers in this case are very economical and effective. With insufficient vegetative mass of ampelous species, solutions of fast-acting complete fertilizers are used from time to time, watering the plants both under the root and spraying their crowns with a weak solution as a foliar top dressing.
You just have to ask your friends and acquaintances to bring young cypress seedlings or its cones, seeds, cuttings from the south and grow these rare for us, surprisingly beautiful plants with a rich history, creating here, in the north, a unique and attractive atmosphere of the hot south. To complete the picture, you can make a large photo panel with a view of the sea and natural high cypress trees as a background for cypresses in the house and create a flower-fruit potpourri with natural essential oils.
Cypress is one of the most prominent representatives evergreen trees. The natural habitat of this coniferous plant are the warm countries of Asia and the southern states North America. Therefore, growing it in harsh conditions middle lane Russia is associated with the risk of significant freezing of the crown and complete freezing of the root system. But in more southern regions it may well become a graceful accent of the garden. Many grow cypress as a houseplant. In this article, we will focus on issues related to planting and caring for cypress in the garden, in open ground conditions.
Cypress forms a very neat decorative crown with scaly needles. Neat rounded bumps serve as an additional decoration. Wild cypress reaches a height of several tens of meters, depending on the species forms a pin-shaped, pyramidal or spreading crown of different shades of green. Along with tree-like forms, there are also shrubs. Breeders bred decorative dwarf varieties and shrubs with the original color of the needles, which look spectacular in designer compositions. Cypress on the plot country house- a symbol of the high status of the owners, like solid wood furniture in the living room.
Cypress propagation: seeds and cuttings
It is rather problematic and expensive to purchase ready-made cypress seedlings, while high quality no one can guarantee such planting material. Therefore, independent reproduction remains relevant.
Cypress seeds of full maturity have a fairly high germination rate, but they need to be prepared before sowing. The first cypress cones form in adulthood after 4-5 years of cultivation. Male and female cones appear on the same plant. Cones ripen only in the second year, so for harvesting seeds, you need to take not young green cones, but mature brown-gray ones.
The collected seeds must be stratified by placing in the refrigerator for 3-4 months. The day before planting, the seeds are soaked overnight (at least 10 hours) in warm water. Sowing is carried out in special blend for coniferous species which can be bought at any flower shop. As a container, you can use a box for seedlings. A drainage layer of crushed bark is laid at the bottom of the box. deciduous trees and then pour in the soil mixture.
Sowing care consists in regular watering, the substrate must always be moistened. Shoots appear no earlier than a month later. Seedlings grow slowly. When they reach a height of 6 cm, it is necessary to seat them in separate pots of small diameter. When transplanting, care must be taken to ensure that the root neck remains not buried in the substrate. The first year the seedlings are grown as a houseplant, but for the winter it is better to place the pots in cooler places (veranda of a private house, loggia).
In the second year, grown seedlings can be planted in open ground, however, two to three years of indoor maintenance is also allowed to obtain a stronger and grown plant.
Cypress cuttings can take place in 3 terms:
- from mid to late April;
- end of June;
- first week of September.
For cuttings, you should take twigs from the very top, cutting them off with a “heel”. Before soaking the cuttings in the growth regulator, they need to remove the lower modified needles. Processing lasts a day, after which the cuttings are planted in a substrate similar to that used for sowing seeds. The only difference is that it fits on top thin layer wet river sand. The cuttings are deepened by 1/3 of their length and covered with glass or a dense film. It is recommended to ventilate the landing for an hour every few days. Rooting lasts about 2 months, after which a full-fledged seedling can be planted in open ground.
Arizona cypress - Cupressus arizonica ‘FASTIGIATA’
Planting cypress: site selection and soil preparation
Cypress does not tolerate direct sunlight, and stretches strongly in the shade, so areas in partial shade will be ideal for its growth. It does not tolerate waterlogging, but needs frequent watering, so it is best to choose soils with good ability to drain excess moisture. Otherwise, each species has its own specific requirements for growing and care conditions.
When preparing a pit for planting, it is desirable to use a substrate from the soil and coniferous humus. Alternatively, a mixture of peat, sand, turf, and rotted leaf litter will work. Cypress trees react painfully to transplanting to a new place, so the seedlings are transferred along with an earthen clod. After planting, the young stem is tied to a pre-driven peg.
Evergreen cypress - Сupressus sempervirens
Care of mature plants
In the first years of life, cypress need frequent feeding (every 2-3 weeks). A mixture of mullein (5 kg of manure to insist in 20 liters of water) and superphosphate is ideal for these purposes. After 4 years of age, the need for top dressing drops, and it will be sufficient to apply fertilizer in spring and autumn at the end of the season.
Watering should be frequent, but not plentiful; by autumn, their multiplicity is reduced. On hot days, cypress needs evening sprinkling, otherwise its crown loses its decorative effect due to the appearance of yellowed needles.
Formative pruning, as a care event, is carried out in early spring while cutting out dry and broken branches.
For the winter, the trunk circles of adult plants are additionally insulated with needles, spruce branches or sawdust. Until the age of 4, the cypress is completely covered.
In open ground, cypress is resistant to diseases and pests, unlike indoor cultivation.
Cypress Lusitanian or Mexican - Сupressus lusitanica
Cypress in landscape design
Cypress does not tolerate crowded and gassy city parks and roadside plantings. But he is good in the design of the territory of sanatoriums, country cottages and recreation centers.
Most popular in landscape design California cypresses (create a shield from the wind), Mexican cypresses (creating a hedge), large-fruited cypress and Kashmir cypress (elegant in single plantings) are used. Many dwarf varieties are great for creating compositions.
Coniferous plants are particularly attractive to gardeners. Many of these plants can be grown on your site, and they will delight the eye for a long time. But not so long ago, it was simply impossible to grow a coniferous tree at home. Now there are some types of such plants that can be cultivated in an apartment. The topic of our conversation today will be indoor cypress, we will discuss its care and cultivation at home from seeds.
Indoor cypress trees differ from their counterparts growing in nature only in size. They have the same shape, the same soft shoots, on which scale-like leaves grow on all sides, the shape of which resembles an elongated rhombus.
Cypress care
Readers of "Popular about Health", who wish to acquire indoor cypress in their homes, need to remember that this plant is rather capricious and demanding.
In order for such a pet to be healthy and beautiful, owners need to try to recreate conditions close to natural. Since indoor cypress is a southern plant, it needs sufficient good lighting. It is desirable that his shoots are under bright diffused light, and at noon they should be shaded. Experienced flower growers grow indoor cypresses on the eastern or northern windowsills. It is worth noting that in nature these plants are often located in the sun itself, however, only adult plants can withstand the direct and hot sun, and young trees are protected from the rays in the shade of large trees.
The optimum temperature for cypress in summer time considered to be about twenty degrees or higher. Summer such a pet may well spend on fresh air, for example, on the balcony. And if you do not have the opportunity to take the pot outside, ventilate the room as often as possible.
At home, cypress in the hot season also needs systematic spraying. In strong heat up to three times a day! It is also worth washing such a pet in the shower. Even to humidify the air in the room, you can put a pot of cypress on a tray filled with wet pebbles or moss.
One of the stages of houseplant care is formative pruning. It is carried out as the size of the shoots increases. Best time for pruning - early spring, when the period of active vegetation has not yet begun.
Features of home care for cypress in winter
In the cold season, it is necessary to keep cypress in a fairly cool room, where the temperature is maintained within ten to fifteen degrees. It is believed that for successful cultivation cypress, it should be warm enough in the summer, and quite cool in the winter. Therefore, you should not leave a pot with a plant on the windowsill above the radiator, because this can kill such a pet. Usually cypress is sent to an insulated balcony or loggia.
Features of watering, fertilizing and transplanting
From the beginning of spring to autumn, cypress needs abundant moisture, and in the cold season, watering should be reduced.
Also, at the stage of active vegetation (somewhere from May to August), you need to monthly apply liquid under the plant. mineral fertilizer intended for indoor plants. In the rest of the year, top dressing is carried out once every one and a half to two months.
Young plants need to be transferred to a new pot every year. The best time to transplant is April-May. Adult cultures are transplanted only when necessary. Transplantation is carried out by transshipment, so as not to violate the integrity of the earthen coma.
The optimal soil for cypress at home can be prepared on your own by combining one part of soddy soil, peat and sand with two parts of sheet soil. When transplanting, the root neck of the plant should remain above the ground.
How to grow cypress from seeds?
Before planting, cypress seeds must be subjected to a mandatory stratification procedure - cold treatment. To do this, they must be sprinkled with soil and sent to the refrigerator (in a box with vegetables) for three to four months. After planting material it is necessary to soak in warm water or in a solution of a growth stimulator (Kornevin or Epin).
Cypress seeds need to be planted in boxes filled with a mixture for coniferous crops, placing them at intervals of four centimeters. In the boxes at the bottom, it is imperative to organize a drainage layer (about two centimeters) from crushed bark.
Crops need to be watered and sent to a fairly warm place. It is necessary to systematically moisten the soil as it dries. At the same time, it is worth preparing that only half of the planted seeds can sprout.
After the seedlings grow up to five or six centimeters, they need to be planted in separate pots, without deepening the root neck into the ground.
Such plants need the same care as adult plants - they need to be watered, sprayed, fed and kept in a bright place. In one year, indoor cypresses can grow up to twenty to twenty-five centimeters.
It is worth noting that if cypresses are kept in a room that is too dry, they may suffer from pest attacks. You can cope with them by spraying with insecticides, for example, Actellik.
In general, growing from seeds home plant not so difficult, you just need to provide him with suitable conditions and care.