Beautiful oleander common shrub is widely used in landscape design and for decoration of apartments in the form of compact room forms. The plant with incredibly fragrant flowers is able to diversify any interior, but in its cultivation there are serious features that even florists with experience need to know.
Flowering oleander
In the natural environment, the common oleander is found mainly in Asia Minor, the Mediterranean, and North Africa. The pink laurel, as this bush is often called, can be freely grown outdoors in countries with warm climates. In our region it grows in the subtropics of the Northern Black Sea coast and on the coast of the Caucasus. In the natural environment the plant with evergreen leathery leaves grows under 4 meters in height in the form of a lush decorative shrub.
Flowers oleander ordinary are simple and terry, they are located in groups or singly. You can find forms with white, yellow, creamy-yellow, purple, orange or pink inflorescences, blossoming in the bushes from early summer to October. On one branch of this southern bush you can see a flower opened simultaneously, a tiny bud and an ovary. Alas, but fans need to worry not only about the question, why oleander does not bloom, but also take safety measures when caring for this bush.
What is dangerous is an ordinary oleander:
- Fragrant oleander flowers spread a strong fragrance that can cause headaches and nausea. It is advisable to take out a bush during the flowering period from living rooms to a veranda, a balcony or a loggia.
- In the wood of the plant there is a cardiac glycoside, if you eat and chew just one sheet of oleander ordinary, you can get a lethal dose for an adult. The toxin can cause arrhythmia and malfunctions in the heart, tachycardia, vomiting, persistent nausea, diarrhea, visual hallucinations.
- You can not brew tea from the leaves of oleander.
- Poisons, buds, seeds and juice of a plant are poisonous at a pink laurel. When cutting, planting and other garden works, always use gloves, wash your hands thoroughly with detergents. Beware of letting children to the plant and free pets living in the apartment.
- The danger is caused by the use of branches of oleander ordinary in the form of fuel.
How to grow an oleander?
The pink laurel enjoys a warm climate, oleander is suitable for care and growing at home at a temperature of 23 ° C to 28 ° C. In winter, it is necessary to reduce the temperature to 10-15 ° C. It is best to keep bushes near the southeast windows, otherwise you have to compensate the sun's rays with electric lighting devices. They are installed at a distance of 0.7 m from the oleander, artificially prolonging the light day to 8 hours.
Planting oleander
In the open ground the oleander is planted in the sun, in the shade of trees it stretches out and does not form a spreading crown. The penumbra is suitable for growing in hot regions, it is recommended to select a place where the plant will receive direct sunlight for 6 hours. It is advisable to plant the oleander in the garden from August to September right after the flowering period, without burrowing the main stem below the soil level. Neighboring oleander plants are planted at a distance of 2 to 3.5 m. When spring planting, bushes take root, but this year they do not give many inflorescences.
Homemade oleander - soil
In the pots during planting, we must fill a drainage layer of gravel or small pebbles, top it with a nutrient mixture. You can use the composition, mixing in equal proportions of manure, peat and garden soil. It is desirable to add 10% of river sand to the obtained substrate. Do not rush the seedlings of oleander room in a container, you can freeze the resulting soil in a domestic refrigerator, destroying the pests that live in it.
How to multiply the oleander?
At home, seed oleander seed is used, propagation of shrubs by cuttings and layers. If you have a royal jelly plant, the vegetative methods to choose are preferable. From the cuttings or air layers, the florist will receive a full-fledged pink laurel for several years before, ready for transplantation to a permanent place.
Methods of breeding oleander ordinary:
- Aerial layering. With a suitable branch, a small bark of up to 2 mm in thickness is removed. Then it is buried in the ground or placed in a container with a nutrient substrate. When the roots appear, the layers are cut off from the oleander and are transplanted.
- Cuttings. Cut branches of a pink laurel in length to 15 see For rooting there is a perlite, wet sand or keramzit. For the purpose of disinfection, charcoal is added to the nutrient substrate. Containers are watered moderately and put in the sun, a month later on cuttings small cuttings are formed.
- Seed multiplication of oleander ordinary. Plant the seeds of the current year, soaking them in advance in a solution of fungicide and growth stimulant . They are not buried in the soil, but placed on the surface at a temperature of up to 35 ° C. When sprouts appear, the containers are illuminated with fluorescent lights, preventing them from stretching. The picking of the seedlings is performed when the second pair of leaves is grown.
Oleander - care
You can not grow a full-fledged oleander at home without normal plant care. It includes timely watering, feeding of bushes, high-quality and correct pruning of the laurel rose. In the spring period and in autumn the soil near the roots is covered with mulch. It retains moisture well and prevents the ground from cooling in the cold. Mulching is done with sawdust or chamfered grass, applying a protective layer up to 5 cm thick.
Oleander plant - watering
In summer, oleander at home, water abundantly, trying to soak the soil in a container at a third of the depth. In the winter months, the frequency of irrigation is reduced, but we try not to overdry the clod of earth. The water under the root is fed immediately when the top layer is dried in the pot. We use softened liquid, subjecting it to pre-boiling. Excess moisture for the pink laurel is harmful, waterlogging the flower tolerates a worse drought.
Oleander ordinary - additional dressing
Filling with fertilizers and microelements oleander room in the care needs most at the stage of flowering and during the period of intensive growth of shoots - from April to August. You can buy ready-made preparations such as "Giant", "Ideal", fertilizers for azaleas and other colors that contain a full set of valuable substances. Organics in the form of Mullein infusion (1:10), unfolding the compost near the bushes.
How to trim an oleander?
The pink laurel blossoms on the branches of the current year, timely pruning stimulates the oleander to form a lush crown and the appearance of a larger number of new buds. The basic shoots are shortened by half or up to 1/3 of the total length, the lateral leaves are left at 10 cm from the branching point. When spring works in the garden remove the excess, dry and severely bared branches. Intensive pruning is performed in the spring period, after flowering, stimulating pruning is done. In the late autumn months, the removal of branches should not be done, so as not to weaken bushes.
Oleander transplantation
Decorative oleanders are common - houseplants that require a periodic transplant into a larger container. Young bushes undergo this procedure annually, adult bushes are transferred to new pots in 2-3 years with a full replacement of the top layer of soil. Capacity is taken not too spacious, a little more diameter for the previous pot. It is advisable to transplant the pink laurel from May to June, providing plants with good drainage .
Indoor oleander flower - diseases and pests
Although this plant came to our region from a different climatic zone, but it has pests and harmful diseases that can depress growth. Sometimes, for some unknown reason, oleander falls leaves, on green plates appear strange spots. If the florist does not react to the manifestation of infections or insects, he will not be able to get a powerful bush, abundantly strewn with fragrant flowers.
The main diseases and pests of oleander are ordinary:
- Mass drying and wilting of leaves occurs at a lack of moisture.
- In a draft or in a cold room, bushes of a pink laurel can discard leaves.
- Yellowing of the foliage causes incorrect watering or feeding.
- Poor lighting and lack of fresh air - a frequent reason for the termination of flowering shrubs.
- When the cold snap and watering with cold water, the pink laurel sheds flowers.
- Dry air leads to the drying of the tips of the leaves.
- Fungal diseases appear as dark dots or rusty-brown spots. Copper oxychloride, Oxihom, Cuproxat helps against rust. Soapy fungus is washed off with soapy water. If there are not enough simple methods, then chemical means are used.
- White specks and outgrowths signal the appearance of oleander cancers or bacteriosis, the affected shoots need to be cut,
- Against the scabbard, mealybug and spider mite helps Aktellik and rubbing bushes with a sponge soaked in a laundry soap.