Araucaria
Araucaria is the only evergreen in the worldConiferous plant, which is successfully grown at home. Araucaria grows in Australia, New Zealand, South America. In nature, the height of the plant reaches at times 50 meters, but in room conditions it does not exceed one and a half meters.
Araucaria has the shape of a tree with a crownpyramidal type (see photo). Branches are rigid, covered with leaves of needles of light green color. There are the following varieties of this plant: Araucaria Bydwill, Araucaria narrow-leaved, Araucaria Chilean, Araucaria versifolia, etc.
Care for araucaria
All species of this plant prefer bright, butindirect lighting, for example on the east window. In the summer, the pot with the flower-auracaria is better to be carried to the open air, and the shading will be required more carefully. Regardless of the season, the place for this plant will have to be chosen cool. The optimum temperature is 10-12 ° C. Above 16 ° C Araucaria suffers severe - growth slows down, needles turn yellow.
Watering the plant is best done by softwater. Overmoistening and over-drying are equally dangerous. Therefore, watering should be moderate, but regular. In the summer more abundant, in the winter - less. The land should dry sufficiently between waterings. Humidity must be moderate (50%). In summer, only in dry weather, the plant is sprayed with water. In winter, if it was not moved to a sufficiently cool room, it is necessary to spray frequently - 2-3 times a day.
Auracaria fertilizing is done in spring and summer,every 3 weeks. You can buy ready-made complex mineral (organic - not) fertilizers and use half of this dose. Plant transplantation - as needed, when the pot is narrow (once every 2-3 years). As a soil mixture is well suited composition of equal parts of coniferous, turf, sand.
Reproduction of auracaria
Reproduction is possible in two ways: seeds and cuttings. Seeds are recommended to soak in water for a day. Effectively add stimulants to it. After that, the seeds are planted in small pots filled with a mixture of leaf and coniferous earth. They go 2 cm deep (important - the sharp end should be pointing down, blunt - up).
You can arrange the seed horizontally, thento deepen it should be approximately 0.5 cm. The soil should be kept in a constantly moistened state, and the temperature should be 15 ° C. Germination of seeds for a long time - up to 2 months. After the first tier of leaves is revealed in the seedlings, they can be transplanted.
It is difficult to propagate an arukarya with cuttings. To do this, it is necessary to cut off in the summer period of timeapical stem. Then it is planted in sand. Rooting can last several months. In winter, the seedlings are transplanted into pots with a sand and coniferous mixture, and already in the spring in the spring mixture.
