Flower of ehmeya - features of proper care and cultivation

The flower of the ehmeya today is quietly cultivated by many lovers of indoor plants on the windowsill, while a couple of decades ago it could only be seen in the tropical countryside. At home, caring for him is not very difficult, but involves certain important rules.

Varieties of ehmeya

Ehmeya is a perennial herbaceous plant of the bromeliad family, which has more than 300 varieties. They belong to the type of elifites, because they form shoots both in the ground, and on the bark and in the roots of trees. Not all types of ehmey are suitable for growing in an apartment. Among those that are worth paying attention to include:

1. Ehmeya Weilbach. A flower from tropical thickets of Brazil blooms with large brushes with red or lilac-blue petals.
2. Ehmeya is curved. She has narrow and long leaves, merging into one tube and flowers of a bright red color.
3. Ehmeya shaggy. Long small-toothed leaves really stick out in different directions and resemble a manicured mane of hair.
4. Ehmeya is striped. This kind of flower has large leaves with thick skin and white stripes and blue-red flowers.

How to care for ehmey in the home?

To create room flowers suitable conditions is easy, if you take into account the features of the family bromeliads. Care of the plant ehmeya recommended to implement a certain pattern:

1. Placement of the pot on the west or east window is more advantageous than on the southern one, because in the latter case, shading is required.
2. Bromeliads can be fed with any fertilizer for flowering plants in half the dose every 2-3 weeks in spring and summer, and in winter - once a month.
3. To strengthen the flower once every six months, pruning of weak shoots is carried out by secateurs.

Primer for ehmeya

Before transplanting or planting the plant, it is necessary to prepare the soil in advance with the desired composition. It should be loose, soft and fertile, without loam. The soil is enriched with a mixture of deciduous humus, sand and peat with inclusion in the sphagnum mixture. If the plant is sick or affected by rot, the soil for ehmeya is mixed with chopped moss, sand and broken shards to enhance immunity and facilitate air access to the roots.

How correctly to water ehmeyu?

The most important part of the care for this plant is proper watering. Since in natural conditions it blooms in the tropics, it would be logical that it simply needs a lot of water and high humidity. From mid-April to September, watering ehmeya 3 times a week, in all other months - as the drying of the soil, but no more than 1 time in 10-12 days. It is important to consider such features as:

1. Water before the moistening of the soil is defended for 2-3 days and is changed every 7-10 days.
2. When watering, first fill the flower socket to a level of about 2.5 cm, and then the remaining water pours out under the roots.
3. In winter, the liquid is poured only into the outlet, not to the soil.
4. In dry weather, an ordinary fine spray for the sprinkling of leaves will help create the illusion of tropical moisture.

How to transplant ehmeyu at home?

Bromeliads do not need a frequent transplant, since the root system of the flower gives the trunk only a small part of the nutrients. This postulate can be broken if it is a question of recently transferred to another capacity cuttings. Before the first flowering, they are transplanted every year, but with one condition - if they seem too big for a pot. This process consists of three stages

1. The choice of a wide and shallow tank, in which enriched soil will be poured for transplanting ehmeya.
2. Drainage of the bottom of the pot with small stones in or broken brick.
3. Transfer of the cuttings and creation of comfortable conditions for 2-3 days: installation of the container in a dark cool place without watering.

How to propagate ehmeyu at home?

Plants of the bromeliad family die after 2-3 years of regular flowering, so the issue of reproduction will be relevant for any amateur florist. You can give the ehmee a new life in two ways:

1. Seeds. They fall off after each flowering, but before planting they need to be shaken off the remains of the ground and dried. Seeds are germinated in a mini-greenhouse, creating a warm and moist microclimate with a polyethylene film. The seedlings will be poured in 2-3 weeks, and when they have 3-4 leaves, the seedlings will need to be dived and placed in other pots. Flower Ehmeya, obtained from seeds, bloom for 3-4 years.
2. Scions. Cuttings (they are called children) are separated from the adult plant after the flowering period is over, and planted in a nutrient substrate. The main sign when taking care of ehmeya at home, signaling that it's time to reproduce by sprouts, is the death of the main stem. Separate them from the uterine specimen is possible when the length of the cuttings will be at least half the length of the plant.

Ehmeya - flowering at home

From the planting of children in a new soil before the first flowering, a minimum of 1-1.5 years passes. To speed up this process it is possible the elementary stimulation: this plant likes ethylene, promoting fast maturing of buds. It is necessary for 1-2 weeks to cover the pot with the flower of the ehmeya with a transparent plastic bag along with several ripe apples or lemons - fruits that emit gas. The timing of the planned appearance of the ovaries depends on the particular variety to which the indoor flower of the ehmya belongs:

1. From April to May, buds appear on the Wehlbach's ehmey, curved, bracts, Chantin and Luddeman;
2. The middle of summer is the time of flowering of holostebals and striped plants;
3. Winter buds are characteristic for shaggy echmi, sky-blue and Orland.

Why does not flower ehmeya at home?

The cause of the absence of inflorescences on the plant can be only a disease caused by light disturbance or dangerous pests. Even knowing how to care for the flower of the ehmey, you can make mistakes, because of which the ovaries will cease to form. You can restore this ability by excluding several factors:

1. Deficiency of lighting. With insufficient amount of sunlight, the normal color of the leaves and the ability to discard the bud are lost.
2. Root decay. An important symptom of overflow is brown leaves and rotting flower stalk.
3. > Infection of pimples with pests like aphid, scab, or root canker. From them you can get rid of using antibacterial drugs for decorative houseplants.