Epiphyllum - unpretentious and flowering plant for the home greenhouse

Epiphyllum is very similar to the usual Decembrist, but undemanding in care, and its flowers are more magnificent and brighter. This is a find for those who can not devote much time to domestic plants. The standard set of rules for caring for the epiphyllum will help to grow a healthy and beautiful bush with juicy green leaves from a small stalk or shoot.

From wildlife to home plants

Epiphyllum belongs to the cactus family, in the wild they live on the trunks and branches of trees. However, unlike parasitic species, they independently get their own food from the air and rainfall. The "donor" plant in this case does not suffer at all. The name epiphyllum is borrowed from the Greek language, in an approximate translation means - "a flower on the leaves." This fully reflects the appearance of a forest cactus. Wild species are found mainly in South and Central America, where the climate is tropical or subtropical.

Today, epiphyllums have been domesticated by hybridization with related species. Thanks to this, they settled in many houses and apartments. They are used to decorate gazebos, garden paths, terraces, planted in large pots. They feel great in the fresh air, but in the warm season. In apartments, accommodation is allowed on balconies and loggias. Look great in hanging pots, as long leaves with flowers hang over their edges.

Varieties for home growing

Epiphyllums are different, but they have a lot in common. For example, flowers can only be pure white or with a tint, as well as red. They grow on leaf-like processes with notches. In total, more than 22 varieties, and only a few of them are suitable for home.

With red flowers:

1. Fillantes - characterized by large flowers, blooming, they reach 18 cm in diameter. The plant itself is small, notches without a strong depression.
2. Serrated - the flowers are also huge (up to 12 cm in diameter), with many petals rich red. It grows fast, releasing a large number of shoots.
3. King Midas is a medium-sized bush with peach blossoms. Needs good lighting and watering.
4. Sabra - bright pink flowers that bloom at night. They are arranged in heaps, often several are opened at once on the same shoot.

With white and cream:

1. Lau - needles were preserved on its thin stems. White flowers with a creamy tint and wide triangular-shaped petals bloom in the evening.
2. Jennifer Ann - An original look with large flowers. The central part is painted white, and the side petals are saturated yellow-green.
3. Angular - the largest and most unusual in this category. Its flowers are white and large (up to 16 cm in diameter), and the shoots resemble fern leaves with a thickening.

Varieties of epiphyllum are easily distinguished by the shape of the shoots, sizes and types of flowers:

Growing and Growing Conditions

Epiphyllums, like most cacti, are experiencing a period of rapid growth and tranquility. In the cold season, there is a lull for them, all processes are inhibited. In spring, flowering and growth of shoots begins.

Important conditions for epiphyllum

Lighting in any season should be diffuse.

The unpretentiousness and ease of care is distinguished by tradescantia. More information about this plant: //diz-cafe.com/rastenija/tradeskantsiya-uhod-v-domashnih-usloviyah.html

Landing and transplanting

Epiphyllum suits the prepared soil for forest cacti. If the plant is very young, then ordinary peat and a little sand are added to the soil. Expanded clay is used as drainage. There is an option for self-preparation of the soil, for this they are mixed in equal proportions:

• turf land;
• sand;
• crushed coal;
• sheet earth.

The soil is checked for friability, the water should be evenly distributed in it, and the roots of the epiphyllum should receive enough oxygen.

It is advisable to choose a pot made of ceramic or other porous material. For regular flowering, a tight container is needed so that the epiphyllum does not spend energy on the growth of the horse system, but allows them to flow. The pot should be low and wide, with large drainage holes. The diameter of the container depends on the size of the flower. The roots should be cramped.

A pot for epiphyllum is better to choose a low and ceramic

Transplantation is only done after the epiffilum has faded. Before this, it is not watered for 2-3 days, this will help to easily separate the roots with a lump of earth from the walls of the pot.

Transplantation Stages:

1. Preparation of soil and pot (spraying
   antifungal or a wide range of agents, for example, Actallik).
2. The flower is taken out of the pot, trying not to hurt the roots.
   

   This example shows that the roots with a lump of earth are carefully removed from the pot

3. Part of the old land is carefully separated by hands from the roots.
   

   It is necessary to carefully remove part of the old earth with your hands, which is located on the outside of the root system, as was done with this flower

4. Damaged places on the roots are sprinkled with ash, this will protect them from fungal diseases.
   

   To dust the roots, use a pinch of ash
5. Fall asleep to the bottom of the pot.
   

   Medium or small expanded clay is suitable

6. Transplant epiphyllum into a new pot.
   

   Transplanted epiphyllum

7. The voids are covered with prepared soil without ramming it.
8. The shoots do not deepen, they should be at the same height as in the old pot.
9. The transplanted epiphyllum is placed in a shaded and cool place for 5-7 days to pass the stress state.
   

   A transplanted epiphyllum will quickly recover next to such a window.

10. The plant is not watered after transplanting for about 5-7 days.

After watering, part of the new soil will settle. Then you can add a little bit of it until the pot is full.

Care

The main rule of care for the epiphyllum is to provide diffuse, but sufficient lighting, and also to prevent complete drying of the soil.

Watering and feeding

Pour epiphyllum with settled water or rain at room temperature. The dry topsoil in the pot indicates a lack of moisture. EPyphyllum needs abundant and frequent watering, with the exception of winter. He does not like dry air, so he is abundantly sprayed from spring to mid-autumn, especially during the flowering period. This has beneficial effects on buds and flowers.

Epiphyllum loves plentiful spraying

Fertilizers are selected from the series for forest cacti and succulents. In the standard mode, they are fed with complex compounds, and with drooping shoots and similar problems, nitrogen is used. Before wintering, any stimulation is excluded.

Trimming and tying stems

The peculiarity of the epiphyllum is the flowers on the stem, they grow between the notches, but next year these shoots no longer give results. Therefore, they are cut off every spring, before the start of activity. In the future, they can be neatly cleaned one at a time. Triangular stems appear that do not bear fruit. They are also eliminated, like dry flowers, diseased or dead shoots, this stimulates further growth.

Epiphyllum is considered an ampel plant. Stem support is not needed. they themselves take the optimal shape and position.

Growth and flowering periods

Flowering is expected in late February or early March. Before this, pruning of old shoots is carried out, it is permissible to add soil. Integrated fertilizers for forest cacti are added to water during irrigation. The lack of flowering indicates problems, and you can stimulate it in the following ways:

1. Transplant into a cramped pot.
2. Feed with nitrogen fertilizers.
3. Improve watering.
4. Put in a sunny place.
5. Change the soil to a suitable one.
6. Spray regularly with water.

Epifillum is taken out to the street when the air temperature is within 20-25 degrees, including at night. The rest of the time they are brought into the room.

Rest period

Winter is a period of complete rest. Epiphyllum is hibernated at a temperature of 10-15 degrees. It is watered no more than 1 time per month, when the temperature drops, the plant is left completely without water. On a loggia closed from drafts or a terrace with full glazing, it experiences winter without problems.

Mistakes in care and their correction

Usually epiphyllums quickly recover and delight with their flowering.

Diseases and Pests

All fungal diseases can be cured after the plant is treated with fungicidal substances. The diseased epiphyllum is removed from other flowers until completely cured.

External signs of epiphyllum disease

Epiphyllum Reproduction

This houseplant is propagated by cuttings, dividing parts and seeds. The last two methods are very time-consuming and not always effective. Cuttings are chosen by most experienced growers.

Epiphyllum is propagated in this way in several stages:

1. Cut the stalk.
2. They put it in a cool place with shading, leaving the trimmed end bare.
3. After a few days, it can be transplanted.
4. The cut should be covered with a transparent, dense substance.
5. Prepare the soil.
6. Root cuttings, excluding strong deepening.
7. After a year, the epiphyllum is transplanted into a pot with constant soil for adult plants.

Cuttings are cut in the fall, at which time they are more viable. You must choose the healthiest and strongest. Soil preparation consists in processing it at high temperature, for example, in the oven. Then it is sprayed with an antifungal agent.

Epiphyllums normally take root in water, but the prepared soil will give better results. You will need a small pot - with a diameter of up to 10 cm, plastic or ceramic. The stalk will spend at least one year in it. The soil for cacti is mixed with a small amount of sand, peat for seedlings. The bottom is covered with expanded clay or other drainage material of a very fine fraction, and a few sawdust for orchids are placed on the top layer. This will help maintain moisture in the soil. Important - 7 days the stalk is not watered after planting.

The young plant is prone to decay, therefore, with a gentle movement, it is pulled up. If the roots are well strengthened, then the stalk is hard to extend. Otherwise, the entire procedure is carried out anew, starting with trimming and healing in a cool place for 2-3 days. An epiphyllum planted in this way will bloom for 2-3 years of life.

Preparing and planting cuttings according to the photo

Reviews on growing epiphyllum

I keep my winter where I have to, it’s better in someone else where it’s cooler. They tolerate well in winter and it is good for flowering temperature of 5-10 g. But unfortunately, not everyone can prepare such places for the winter in the house. Therefore, they hibernate in a room with rips at the same time 17 gr. Till. In the summer, everyone walks on the street. To spray, I have not done this for a long time, I can take it to the shower to wash the leaves, but this is very rare. The stronger the temperature differs in winter and summer, the more magnificent the flowering will be.

Kaktus//forum-flower.ru/showthread.php?s=4d96db4502b08d9811d7c9de66827b49&t=118&page=3

this epiphyllum is already more than 40 years old. In a sense, he is already a veteran! He has children, he planted several times. I noticed that young epiphyllums bloom no earlier than the 2-3rd year of independent life and less plentifully. The old man blossoms on three calls and at a time gives out 7-9 buds. It happens almost always from April to June. There were years when he didn’t want to bloom at all, as a rule it was when by the spring he was left without enough light, so I’m standing on south window. Among other things, these flowers are parasites - they like to settle in the forks branches of trees where fallen leaves and other organic debris attacked and feed on this humus. Therefore, top dressing also favorably affects flowering. And finally, I want to add that the roots of these flowers grow not so much in depth as in breadth and a bowl for them is better to choose wider. And about I want to inform epifillum blooms that the leaves bloom until there are buds that have not yet bloomed - each such bud blooms only once! And if all the buds on the leaf have bloomed once, it can be easily cut. en.A about watering - in the spring should be watered more active in autumn 1 - 2 times a week, not spraying bolshe.A he loves.

shvilenok//forum.bestflowers.ru/t/ehpifillum-epiphyllum.20406/page-2

I rooted my cuttings in water and in the ground. but first dry a little - about a day, and: 1. into the water, until the roots appear, you can dip the stalk into the root, although they root so well! 2. pour it into the ground a little bit and I build a greenhouse for a pot with a handle, sometimes I air it. I had no problems with epiphyllums, even dry cuttings survived !!!

Ka @ hatch//forum.bestflowers.ru/t/ehpifillum-epiphyllum.20406/page-8

In general, they like crowding, when I grew up, I thought I was transplanted, but I saw the buds and did not touch it. Then I read somewhere that it’s better to make the pot smaller (in principle, that is how all cacti love) - and still have left it in the same pot, only occasionally I fertilize and pour the earth.The result, it has been blooming for three years in a row, moreover, from May to almost the end of July ... And I don't water it very often.

StrekoZka//forumodua.com/showthread.php?t=455192

Maybe someone will need my experience. The epiphyllum stood on the window of the year 3-4. Received a minimum of attention. Did not bloom. I remember - polya, I do not remember (in winter, especially) - no. On the window - it was really cold in winter, the glass was freezing. In the spring, violets needed a place on the windowsill, and I rearranged the epiphyllum on a whatnot near the window. After 2 weeks I noticed the buds. The most important thing: on the branches farther from the window there are 2-4 buds, and on the branch touching the glass (i.e. VERY much light) - 9 buds! Conclusion: if I didn’t remove the pot from the windowsill, it would be covered with flowers! And not all flower buds woke up ... only 19 pieces

Tanita//frauflora.ru/viewtopic.php?f=278&t=2759&sid=2aa36d41fb8af94a8870d906ca85e038&start=40

Epiphyllum care for beginners

Epiphyllum will decorate a personal plot in the summer or add bright colors on the balcony, loggia. They are unpretentious, only need frequent watering. They are easy to propagate at home. Epiphyllum flowers are lush, fragrant, come in various colors.