Hyacinth - a delicate romantic flower with a lush, like a whole bouquet, inflorescence. It belongs to the Asparagus family. The native land of the plant is North Africa, the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. At the same time, it can be grown even in open ground in colder regions. In the early spring, an arrow appears and soon bright flowers bloom on it. It is not surprising that hyacinths are often used as a gift in a pot for spring holidays. You can achieve flowering to another date. Often, at the end of flowering, people do not know how to care for the bulb and just throw it away, but it’s not so difficult to keep the flower for several years and even increase the vegetation.
The appearance of the plant
Hyacinth is a fairly compact (up to 30 cm tall) herbaceous plant. It is nourished by a rounded bulb covered with dark brown scales. Thin light brown roots sprout from the bottom. A continuation of the bulb is a fleshy stem that appears in early spring on the surface of the earth. The base of the shoot is hidden under dense, enveloping leaves of a linear shape. They have a plain green color and are almost equal in height to the flower arrow.
The top of the stem is decorated with a dense racemose inflorescence, consisting of many medium-sized corollas of a bell-shaped or conical shape. Flowers consist of 5 petals fused at the base. Their color is very diverse. It happens monophonic or motley, with a longitudinal strip in the center of the petal. Flowers combine white, pink, yellow, orange, blue, purple, burgundy, purple shades. The edges of the petals are strongly bent and twisted. The flowers exude a pleasant, intense aroma.
Pollination occurs with the help of insects, after which the leathery seed capsules ripen, divided into 3 nests. Each contains 2 small seeds covered with delicate skin.
Types and varieties of hyacinth
The genus of hyacinth is very modest, it includes only 3 types of plants.
Hyacinth Litvinova. The shoot up to 25 cm high is covered with a loose brush of light blue flowers with narrow, twisted petals. Elongated stamens peep out from the center. Upright wide leaves have a bluish-green color.
Trans-Caspian hyacinth. 1-2 shoots up to 20 cm long grow from each bulb. A small amount of larger tubular flowers of a saturated blue hue grows in the upper part of the peduncle. Petals grow together almost completely and are separated only along the edge. The leaves of the variety are wider and fleshy, painted in a dark green shade.
East hyacinth. The most common variety, which has become the basis for many decorative varieties. A thin peduncle is densely covered with fragrant tubular flowers painted in shades of blue, yellow, white and pink. Decorative varieties are usually grouped by color:
- blue - Delft blue (light blue flowers on the arrow up to 30 cm long), Marie (dark blue petals with purple touches);
- pink - fondant (dense brush of bright pink stars up to 4 cm in diameter), moreno (variegated raspberry-pink flowers), yan bos (brush up to 8 cm long consists of bright red flowers);
- orange and yellow - jeepsie queen (flowers with strongly dissected narrow petals are painted in salmon-orange color); Yellow Hammer (wide brush with bright yellow, gradually fading colors);
- white - Carnegie (very dense snow-white brush with simple flowers), snow crystal (white terry flowers open a little later than the rest).
Breeding methods
Hyacinths do not reproduce very actively, but with due effort, it is possible to get new plants. You can use the seed and vegetative methods. The use of seeds is relevant for breeding work or for species plants. To do this, in the middle of autumn, boxes with a mixture of sheet soil, humus and sand are prepared. Freshly collected seeds are distributed in them to a depth of 0.5-1 cm. The container is covered with a film and kept in a cool room. Regularly moisten the soil and remove condensation. With the advent of shoots, shelter is removed. In spring and summer, hyacinths are exposed. For 2 years they are grown in crates and only then transplanted into separate pots or in open ground. Flowering seedlings begins with 5-7 years of life.
Bulb reproduction can be used. At the base of the first leaf, a large kidney is formed, from which the baby develops. The daughter bulb develops slowly, but, having fully matured, it easily separates and soon blooms.
The rudiments of children in large numbers are formed around the perimeter of the bottom, but for their development it is necessary to make incisions or completely cut off the bottom from the bulb. To do this, use a large (more than 5 cm in diameter) bulb. Cut off the bottom or the entire bulb with cuts of about 6 mm are planted upside down in the soil. The kidneys only slightly affect the soil. Plants contain at temperatures above + 21 ° C. After 2-3 months, at the place of the cut, you can find full-fledged small onions. Their number reaches 20-40 pieces. Care and storage are carried out according to the standard scheme. Flowering begins in 3-4 years.
Home Care
In order for hyacinth to grow in a pot at home, he needs to create the most comfortable conditions. Tara choose not too deep, medium size. Be sure to lay out a thick layer of drainage material. 1-3 bulbs are placed in one container. There should be enough free space so that the plants do not come into contact with the walls of the pot and with each other. Too deep to planting material is not worth it. About half the height of the bulb should be on the surface.
The soil mixture for planting is made up of the following components:
- peat;
- deciduous humus;
- sheet earth;
- sand;
- turf land.
They are taken equally, thoroughly mixed and disinfected. Some gardeners sprout bulbs in water. It is possible, but the liquid must contain the required amount of mineral fertilizers.
A pot of hyacinth must be placed in a well-lit place. Daylight hours should last 15 hours or more. Sometimes this cannot be achieved without phytolamps. On hot days, you will need a shade from direct sunlight. It is also necessary to ventilate the room more often, but the flower should be protected from drafts.
Hyacinth prefers cool. He feels best at + 20 ... + 22 ° C. In summer, it is advisable to put the plant on a balcony or veranda.
Like all onion plants, hyacinth should be watered with care so that the liquid does not stagnate near the bulbs. Otherwise, rot will quickly develop. It is best to water through a pan. Well-filtered, warm water is used for irrigation.
It is undesirable to spray the plant, it normally adapts to the usual humidity in the room. During the flowering period, drops of water will lead to rapid wilting of buds.
Hyacinth gratefully responds to top dressing. During the growing season 2-3 times use a universal mineral complex in the form of granules or concentrate. Before fertilizing, the soil is watered with a small amount of purified water.
After flowering, hyacinth care becomes even less burdensome. Watering is significantly reduced by waiting for the peduncles and leaves to fade and dry. Bulbs should be dug up, inspected for damage, and disinfected with Karbofos. Then they are immersed in hot (50 ° C) water for 10 minutes. Then the bulbs are dried in the fresh air in a shaded, cool (+ 20 ° C) place. Store hyacinths in paper bags or boxes for 3 months. The first 8 weeks, the temperature is maintained at + 25 ° C, and then lowered to + 17 ° C. Before the next landing, warm up to + 30 ° C for a week.
Outdoor Hyacinth
In the garden for hyacinths, a well-lit place with loose soil is chosen. Planting is done in the fall, 1.5 months before the onset of frost. This time is enough to root, but the peduncle will not have time to appear. Already 1.5-2 months before planting, it is time to start preparing the site. They dig it up, break up clods of earth, and also remove weeds and old roots. If necessary, rotted manure, superphosphate, peat and sand are added to the soil. Dolomite flour is added to too acidic soils.
Bulbs with a diameter of 5 cm are planted to a depth of 15-18 cm from the bottom, with a distance of 15-20 cm from each other. For smaller bulbs, these indicators decrease. To protect the plantings from the fungus, form a sand pillow 3-5 cm thick. Planting should be carried out in dry weather. Immediately after manipulation, the soil is watered.
Regular care comes down to weeding and loosening the soil. Watering is carried out only with a long absence of rainfall.
During the active growth, feeding is done twice a month. Mineral and organic compounds can be used (mullein, nitrate, superphosphate, potassium sulfate).
Leaving hyacinths in the garden for a period of rest is not recommended. They are dug up every year, processed and sorted, otherwise flowering will become weak. Digging up the plants should be already in mid-June, without waiting for the leaves to completely wither, as in this case it will be more difficult to find the bulbs in the ground. They are washed and disinfected, and after drying, stored in a cool place.
Plant distillation
With the usual care scheme, hyacinth bloom occurs at the beginning of spring. However, the appearance of a flower is possible at another time. For example, to any important event. With the help of forcing, flowers appear in December-May.
It is advisable to prevent flowering in the season preceding lining. The appeared peduncle is cut off immediately. 2-2.5 months before the intended event, the bulb should be placed in the refrigerator with the pot. The soil is moistened very poorly. By the end of the eighth week sprouts will appear. When they reach a height of 5-6 cm, the pot is transferred to a cool, well-lit room. The development of shoots occurs rather quickly, they soon acquire a juicy green hue and buds appear.
Possible difficulties
Hyacinths have good immunity, but suffer from fungal infections with the slightest violation of the irrigation regime. When infected, the foliage begins to dry, and flowering either does not occur at all, or is less plentiful and quickly ends. The dug bulb itself is covered with mucus and exudes an unpleasant odor. To prevent the spread of the disease, it is necessary to destroy the infected specimen together with a lump of earth and carry out the processing of adjacent landings with copper-containing preparations.
Parasites rarely inhabit the plant. Most often these are flower flies, mealy bugs or spider mites. You can get rid of them with the help of modern insecticides and acaricides.
Sometimes, after a dormant period, the foliage of hyacinth develops well, and the peduncle does not appear at all or stops growing at the very surface of the earth. The reason lies not in the disease, but in the improper care. Often this is due to excessive watering or pressure on the rhizome. In the current season, it will not be possible to rectify the situation, but in the future the plant may please with flowers.
