Beloperone relatively recently won the love of flower growers, despite the year-round green appearance with exotic flowers. Description of the most popular plant varieties, rules for care and maintenance at home - further in the article.

Botanical description of the plant

The genus Beloperone (Beloperone), or Justicia (Justicia) belongs to the family Acanthus (Acanthaceae). For the shape of the inflorescence, the flower in the midst of gardeners was called "indoor hop" or "cancer necks." Also beloperone is sometimes called Jacobinia, although today it is believed that these plants are not the same.

Did you know? The name of the flower in Greek means "tip of the arrow", similar to the arrowhead of the South African Indians, painted as bright as the bract of the plant.

The birthplace of openwork shrubs is Mexico and South America. During cultivation, justice can reach one meter in height, delighting with continuous flowering for almost the entire year.

Description of beloperone:

Main types

About 50 species are found in nature, but only a few white perone have gained popularity in indoor floriculture:

1. Drip. The most common. The shrub grows to a meter high with bright green delicate and delicate leaves and large inflorescences.
2. Variegate. It grows to 70 cm. A distinctive feature is the variability (white spots that appear in the absence of chlorophyll in the green parts of the plant), which gives exoticness to perennials.
3. Purple. Also called a "cancer neck" for the purple-pinkish color of bracts. Leaves without pubescence and smaller.
4. Plumbagolistic. It differs in the large size of the bush - up to one and a half meters, but it is difficult to give it a magnificent shape. It is rarely cultivated.

House growing conditions

The flower does not require special conditions. But since it can grow intensively with good care over several years, you need to select a place for it in advance. At a young age, the plant can stand on the windowsill, but subsequently it will become crowded there.

Important! The place of beloperone in the house should be constant and not change. It can be safely transplanted or cut off, but relocation to another place will affect negatively.

Drafts are also undesirable; the room should be ventilated with caution.

Lighting

Perennial placed on the eastern or western windows. It is photophilous, but in direct sunlight it will be too hot for him, therefore, when settling on the south side, the bush is shaded. If it is possible to provide daylight hours up to 13 hours, the size and number of flowers will be maximum, and the color of the bracts will be especially bright. In winter, you will need additional lighting with fluorescent lamps.

Temperature and humidity

The temperature in the room is maintained in the summer from +17 to + 25 ° C. Humidity is required high - up to 80%. It can be achieved by installing additional water tanks. It is necessary to spray the bush twice a week, heated to + 30 ° C with clean, settled water. It will have a beneficial effect on the growth and flowering of bathing under a warm shower. At the same time, wrap the pot and soil in polyethylene so that water falls only on the stems.

In winter, the temperature drops to +15 ... + 13 ° C, and the perennial begins a dormant period. If the temperature drops even lower, beloperone will not only lose all the foliage, but may also die.

Home Care

Special care at home is not required. The shrub is unpretentious and resistant to disease.

Did you know? In its homeland, white peron is considered weed. This is facilitated by the peculiarity of the "blasting" of the boll with seeds flying over a large area and «exciting» new territories.

Watering

Watering the plant in summer is often necessary, with well-maintained tap or rain water at room temperature. It is impossible to fill in the roots so as not to stop air access to them. This characteristic mistake of gardeners during watering often leads to darkening and falling of leaves.

During dormancy, watering is reduced. It will be enough once a week if the surface of the soil in the flowerpot has dried up.

Top dressing

Feeding perennial year-round. In summer, more often, every 2-3 weeks, in winter - up to 1 time per month. The composition of the fertilizer should contain potassium and magnesium, necessary for flowering. An excess of nitrogen causes the growth of branches instead of the formation of buds.

Video: How to care for beloperone

Pruning

Beloperone is usually grown in the form of a bush, without violating its natural form, and sometimes - the stem. Only one medium powerful and even shoot is left for stamping, gradually cutting off the lower side branches from it. Thus, you can get a neat, abundantly flowering tree throughout the year. The bush is also attractive in the form of an ampel plant. In this case, the branches are not cut, allowing them to grow to their full length and hang down in waterfall streams.

The main purpose of pruning is to obtain a large number of young shoots, on which inflorescences will subsequently form. A lush, delicate green crown will be a wonderful backdrop.

Important! Timely pruning affects the flowering time. Flowers are formed at the ends of branches, so you need to form a bush only in the spring, before the start of growth.

To form a bush in early spring, branches that have grown over the year are cut to half the length, and those that are shorter to one third. The first few buds that appear also need to be cut off. Fading flowers are removed in a timely manner.

Transfer

Young perennials are replanted every year, sometimes twice, if the roots sprouted through the pot. It is enough to transplant adult plants once every 2–4 years into ready-made universal soil or mixed from two parts of leafy soil and one part of turfy soil and sand.

A new pot is taken a little more than the previous one. At the bottom, a layer of expanded clay is filled up for drainage. After extracting the root coma, you need to carefully examine it for pests and prune the rotted roots, if any. After falling asleep with new soil, slightly tamp and pour. You do not need to bring a flowerpot to the light right away, let it stand in the shade for 3 days for acclimatization.

Breeding

The bush propagates by cuttings and seeds. Cutting is a faster and more reliable method. In both cases, it is recommended to arrange a mini-greenhouse to maintain high humidity.

Cuttings

Rooted cuttings throughout the year, but it is better to do this in the spring, after trimming the mother plant. From cut branches, choose healthy, strong, with an unbroken trunk, up to 7 cm long, and place them in a substrate or glasses with water. In water, it is advisable to add a stimulant for the roots. The first roots appear in the second week, and after a half to two months, the sprouts can be planted in the ground. To get a lush bush, you can plant 3-4 branches in one pot. Until they grow and get stronger, it is advisable to break off the emerging buds.

Video: Pruning white-perone indoor

Seed cultivation

Sowing is carried out in the spring, in March-April. Before this, you need to check the freshness of the seeds, as they lose germination quickly, and germinate slowly, up to six months. Then they are soaked for 2 days, having previously been cleaned of the gun. The soil for planting is mixed from two parts of sand and one part of the earth. It needs to be well moistened and constantly monitored so that it does not dry out. Gently spread the seeds on the surface, deepening them by half. The temperature of the entire germination period should be maintained at least + 25 ° C.

Possible growing difficulties

Beloperone disease often causes improper care:

• darkening and falling of leaves - occurs with excessive watering;
• shedding of buds and flowers, sometimes with leaves - watering needs to be increased;
• shoots are stretched, the color of the leaves turns pale - it is necessary to install additional lighting;
• leaves on the lower part of the bush dry and crumble - a signal about the need for a transplant or additional feeding.

There may be several pests that attacked beloperon:

• spider mite;
• aphid;
• whitefly.

If the problem is identified in a timely manner, and there are few insects, there is no need for potent drugs such as Actellik or Fitoverm. It is enough to wash the leaves with a soap solution prepared as follows: Dissolve 300 g of laundry soap in 2 l of warm water, then add 8 l of cold. Pour the solution into a wide basin so that it is convenient to dip a bush into it.To prevent trouble, you need to ensure that new plants brought into the house are healthy and not affected by pests. Then, with simple care and attention, the white peron will delight the owner for many years with its refined and sophisticated look.