Gloxinia: what it looks like and how to grow at home

Gloxinia (Gloxinia) belongs to the Gesneriaceae family. Homeland – Central and South America.

It is a perennial herb with a fleshy, scaly rhizome. Usually stemless or short-stemmed. The leaves are green, sometimes light brown, large and velvety, forming a rosette on a short, thick stem. The height of the plant in its natural environment does not exceed 25 cm; in indoor floriculture, specimens up to 5 cm in height can be found. Bell-shaped flowers, color from pink-red to blue-violet, there are two-color buds. There are varieties of gloxinia with double flowers.

What does gloxinia look like during flowering?

The vegetation of the plant begins with the arrival of spring and ends in late autumn. It blooms in the summer for 3-4 months, while in winter it rests: in the cold season, the aerial parts die off, and the rhizome “goes into hibernation.” In the spring, buds awaken, numerous opposite leaves grow, a stem appears on which one or more buds are located. How does the flower look at this time? In some cases, during the flowering period, a whole cluster of bells appears on the stem of the gloxinia. Flowers can be simple and double, with contrasting and corrugated edges. They rise on peduncles above wide velvety leaves.

After the end of the flowering period, numerous small seeds ripen.

The botanical name of the flower “Sinningia” comes from the surname of the famous botanist Wilhelm Sinning, who has been breeding this plant for a long time. It was he who created the home culture that is so popular today in indoor floriculture.

Popular types and varieties of gloxinia: photos, names and descriptions

In total, there are about 20 gloxinia species in nature, distributed mainly in Brazil. Popular types include gloxinia with the following names:

Gloxinia forest (G. sylvatica) with orange flowers.

Gloxinia perennial (G. perennis) with lavender blue flowers.

Gloxinia fine (G. speciosa).

Gloxinia Royal.

Take a look at the photo with the popular and common types of gloxinia with the names:

Gloxinia is beautiful has broadly oval bright green leaves with velvety pubescence, located on long cuttings. The plant does not have a pronounced stem. A relief pattern of veins is visualized on the surface of the leaf plate. Flowers resemble bells in appearance and can be white, blue, pink, purple and purple.

Gloxinia royal looks like a miniature bush due to the fact that its shoots are erect. The leaves are dark green, pubescent, with a silvery vein pattern. The flowers are located on elongated peduncles and are quite large bells (up to 7 cm in diameter). In nature, petals are purple in color, hybrid forms are distinguished by a variety of colors.

Take a look at the photo of what the listed types of gloxinia look like:

There are many hybrid forms of beautiful gloxinia, which differ in the shape of the flower, the height of the bush and the shades of the bells. Among them there are double, semi-double and common varieties of the gloxinia flower.

Terry varieties:

Scarlet – has bright red bells.

Red Storm – with dark red flowers, shaped like a rose.

Zefir – pale pink color.

Kristin irish – has petals with a white base and a red border.

Yesenia – with rich beet-colored petals.

Winter cherry – with burgundy petals with many white dots.

South night – with dark burgundy, almost black flowers.

Take a look at the photo with a variety of terry gloxinia varieties:

Such specimens are especially popular, because their petals are arranged in several rows, and the flowers are shaped like a camellia or a garden rose.

Semi-double varieties:

Montblanc – with white flowers with a wavy edge of the petals.

Purple Haze – with smoky lilac bells.

Popular non-double gloxinia varieties with well-known names:

Tigrina red – has bright red bells with a light middle.

Kaiser Friedrich Is a bicolor variety with large flowers with a light middle.

High light – with large snow-white flowers, used in bouquets.

Look at the photo of non-double gloxinia varieties and their names:

According to the type of color, modern gloxinia varieties are divided into:

• Monochrome.
• Calico.
• Tigrines.

Monochromatic flowers have a uniform color of petals, can be from white and pink to deep purple. Only a lighter spot at the base of the neck can stand out.

In the chintz type, the corollas are evenly covered with contrasting spots.

Tigrines have both contrasting spots and a border along the edges of the petals.

Grade gloxinia “Tigrina Red” corresponds to the description of the latter type of color: the flower has a deep red corolla, white spots at the base of the petals and a light border around the edges.

Another famous and very beautiful tigrine is Shagane’s gloxinia, which has a bright purple color, and the blossoming flower resembles a rose. Corollas with a short greenish throat have a blue border, and most of the petals are decorated with white and purple spots of varying sizes and intensities. The peduncle is stable, low.

Gloxinia are also grouped into groups according to the shape of flowers, colors, sizes of outlets. A famous group of varieties is Avanti, which includes plants with a compact leaf rosette, against which large velvety flowers of various shades look spectacular and bright. The most common Avanti hybrids:

Avanti Light Violet – purple. Avanti white – with white flowers.

Avanti Blue with White Edge, or Blue lace – with lilac flowers with a white border.

Avanti scarlet – deep purple color.

All hybrid varieties are conventionally divided into groups by size:

1. High – more than 25 cm.
2. Medium – 12 – 25 cm.
3. Low – 5 – 12 cm.
4. Dwarf – less than 5 cm.

To date, thousands of gloxinia varieties have been bred, the appearance of which gives amateur flower growers an excuse to replenish their collections again and again.

How to care for gloxinia at home: watering and feeding

Caring for the plant is not difficult, but it is required to observe simple conditions for growing gloxinia, namely:

1. Good lighting.
2. Temperature regime.
3. Watering and feeding.
4. Air humidification.
5. Elimination of drafts.
6. Nutritious soil.

Before growing a spectacular gloxinia at home, it is important to consider that this is a light-loving plant. In summer, in the heat, the flower requires shading, since it does not tolerate direct sunlight: its leaves drop and turn yellow, the pedicels become short, the flowering period decreases. Placed in partial shade, the flower may lose its decorative effect, as it will be drawn to the light. The optimal daylight hours for gloxinia are 12-14 hours, therefore, as an additional light source, you can use various types of lamps (fluorescent, gas-discharge, LED).

The air temperature should be moderate, optimal – 22 – 25 degrees, but not lower than 16 degrees Celsius. The leaves of the plant are sensitive to drafts and sudden changes in temperature.

For watering indoor gloxinia, it is important to use soft water, it can be settled tap water at room temperature, it can be slightly warmer than the air in the room. When watering, it is important not to wet the leaves and stems of the flower. In the summer, during the growing season, moderate watering with water at room temperature is needed, and the earthen lump should always remain moist. It is important to observe the measure when watering the flower, since it reacts equally badly to overflow and to excessive dryness of the soil. Excess moisture can lead to decay of the roots, and watering with cold water can reduce the immunity of the plant.

Also, excessive watering can lead to the fact that by the wintering period the flower will not have time to form tubers, then it will not be able to successfully winter.

It is better to water along the edge of the pot or through the pan, and after the excess water drains, it is important to drain it from the pan. After flowering, watering is reduced. As soon as the leaves turn yellow, they completely stop.

Gloxinia is unpretentious to air humidity, at the same time it needs moist air. If the room is very dry, then you need to increase this figure. To increase the humidity, it can be grown in indoor greenhouses or under a special hood, placed on a pallet with wet pebbles. You can place containers with wet expanded clay on the windowsill or use a household humidifier.

You need to spray not the leaves, but the air around the plant. You can clean the leaves from dust with a soft brush or a damp sponge, it is important not to wet the outlet.

To care for gloxinia at home, it is important to understand how to stimulate its growth and flowering. Like any indoor decorative flower, gloxinia needs feeding during the growing season. In the spring, when the leaves begin to grow, the plants are fed weekly with the full Vito mineral fertilizer. You can also use any complex fertilizer for flowering plants, diluting it according to the instructions. After applying top dressing, the flower needs to be removed in the shade for a while. Do not get carried away with nitrogen fertilizers, as they stimulate the growth of foliage, and slow down flowering. It is also important to ensure that drops of the solution do not fall on the leaves and cause burns. After the onset of a dormant period, feeding is stopped.

To grow and successfully care for gloxinia at home, it is important to remember that after flowering, it needs a rest period.

In winter, the pot with the rhizome is stored at a temperature of 15 ° C. Every year, in spring, the plant is planted in fresh soil and transferred to a warm place. You need to keep the flower warm until fresh leaves grow, then you can rearrange and care in the usual way.

How to plant and prune gloxinia

For the correct development and growth of the plant, an important factor is the correctly selected pot and soil mixture. The flowerpot should be shallow and wide, due to the peculiarities of the root system, which grows in breadth. How to plant this plant correctly? The optimum distance from the wall of the pot to the tubers is 5 cm. A suitable substrate is leafy soil, peat, sphagnum moss and sand (1: 1: 1: 1). You can take a ready-made mixture for violets, the main thing is that the earth is loose, nutritious, and passes air and water well.

The plant does not need pruning during the growing season, the only thing that needs to be done is to remove dried flowers and leaves in order to extend the period of decorative flowering. But after the gloxinia has faded, it is important to cut the stem, leaving a couple of lower leaves. You can only leave the “stump”. During pruning, you need to remove the top of the soil and add a new nutrient layer.

Growing gloxinia at home: sowing seeds from tablets and how to pollinate a plant

There are several options for the reproduction of gloxinia:

1. Seeds.
2. Tubers.
3. Leaf cuttings.
4. Withered peduncles.

Growing decorative gloxinia from seeds at home is a rather laborious process and is rarely used. This method has several advantages:

1. You can get your own hybrids.
2. Allows to grow specimens of rare varieties.

In addition, the seed method of reproduction is quite fascinating: you never know exactly what kind of flower will turn out in the end.

To get your own copyright hybrids, seeds can be harvested. To do this, you need to understand how to pollinate gloxinia yourself:

1. Wait until the bud opens.
2. Remove the stamens with tweezers.
3. Pick up the ripe pollen from the anthers of the plant with a brush.
4. Transfer pollen to the stigma of another plant’s pistil.

After pollination and fertilization, a seed capsule is formed on the peduncle, where after 6-8 weeks the seeds will ripen. The box must be cut off and put in a dark place for ripening. It must be stored upside down so that the finished seeds can spill out.

If the seeds of varietal or hybrid gloxinia are bought in a store, then they do not require preliminary preparation. Gloxinia seeds are small and are sold in tablets of 5 pieces. They sprout in the light, so the tablets are not sprinkled with earth, but simply laid out on the surface of the soil.

Sowing gloxinia with your own or purchased seeds is carried out as follows:

1. Prepare a universal peat-based soil.
2. Sterilize the soil in the oven.
3. Spread the seeds over the surface of the substrate.
4. Moisten with a spray bottle.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for germination.

After 7-10 days, sprouts will appear above the surface of the soil, after which the film can be removed. In the future, the seedlings need watering and several picks.

After about 8-9 months, the seedlings will bloom. For the development of a powerful leaf outlet and active flowering of gloxinia, the first buds must be pinched off.

How to plant gloxinia tubers: proper planting care

For the correct planting of gloxinia with a tuber, you need to thoroughly approach the choice of planting material. The tuber should be firm and healthy, without rotting areas. When sprouts up to 2 cm in size are formed, you can cut the tuber in half with a sharp knife or razor blade. Treat the sections with charcoal, dry and plant in prepared soil.

It is necessary to water the delenki sparingly, since the tubers rot when overflowing.

To plant gloxinia with tubers, it is convenient to use both glass pots and transparent plastic cups: this way it is easier to control the appearance and growth of roots. After the roots have braided the entire space of the glass, you can transplant the gloxinia into a large container.

Gloxinia propagation method by leaf cuttings

One of the easiest ways to propagate decorative gloxinia is by leaf cuttings. During the budding period of the plant, as a rule, in the spring, you need to cut off a young leaf with a sharp knife, leaving a cutting 3-4 cm long.

1. Place the cutting with the leaf in boiled water.
2. Keep in water until roots are formed.
3. Then plant the leaf in a peat tablet or a small pot of soil.
4. Cover with foil on top.
5. After the appearance of new leaves, remove the film.
6. Remove the old sheet.

In the same way, you can root the tops of plants cut in the spring. Such gloxinias will bloom earlier than grown from leaves.

How to breed gloxinia with peduncles and video, how to propagate a plant with a leaf

There is another way to breed indoor gloxinia: reproduction by peduncles. To do this, you need to wait for the flower to wither, remove the wilted peduncle and put it in the water. After a while, roots and a small tuber will appear. The resulting seedling must be placed in prepared soil, consisting of leafy, humus earth and sand in a ratio of 2: 1: 1.

If everything is done correctly, then a month later young leaves should appear.

According to gardeners’ reviews, this method of reproduction of gloxinia is the most reliable.

Growing gloxinia outdoors in summer

Gloxinia can be planted in the garden during the summer. To do this, you need to select the largest and strongest tubers, at least 8 cm in diameter. When the air temperature becomes stable and does not drop below 18 degrees at night, you can prepare gloxinia for planting in open ground. You need to choose a shaded place and water the plant regularly. It is important to maintain the distance between the tubers, as gloxinia bushes grow larger in the garden. In the fall, you need to dig up the plants for storage, without waiting for drying out.

Problems when growing gloxinia: how to wake up a tuber

The most common problem that growers face is that gloxinia does not wake up on time after wintering. This is because the rest period was too short, less than 4 months, and patience is needed.

Another common mistake is “dry wintering”. In winter, it is important to slightly moisten the soil so that the tuber does not dry out.

If the plant does not wake up for a long time, then you need to remove it from the ground and examine the roots. Possible problems:

1. The tuber was not formed before wintering, as the plant is too young.
2. The roots are rotten or withered.
3. The tubers are infested with pests or infections.
4. The plant is too old (gloxinia live 3-4 years).

The tuber must be cut with a sharp knife: if it is brown on the cut, then the plant has died, and if it has a pink or yellow tint, then you can fight for it. Before waking up such a tuber of gloxinia, you need to dry the sections, sprinkle them with charcoal, and then treat them with a biostimulator “Epin” or “Zircon” to stimulate the formation of shoots.

If the young plant did not have time to form tubers, then you do not need to send it for the winter: in winter, you need to maintain sufficient light and humidity.

If gloxinia stretches out after wintering, then the air in the room is too dry and there is not enough lighting. Solutions to this problem:

1. Humidify the air.
2. Add light.
3. Reduce temperature.
4. Do not feed with nitrogen fertilizers.

If gloxinia grows too slowly, and its flowers curl, then the problem may be in drafts and too low a room temperature. An insufficient amount of nutrients in the soil or the appearance of pests that inhibit plant growth may also affect.

How to make gloxinia bloom and get rid of diseases and pests

If there is no flowering, then you need to know how to make indoor gloxinia bloom. For this you need:

1. Control the light level.
2. Introduce nutrients.
3. See if the room is too cold.
4. Eliminate drafts.

An important factor is the choice of a pot: in a too spacious flowerpot, gloxinia will not bloom.

If gloxinia leaves turn yellow:

1. Not enough nitrogen.
2. Excessive watering.
3. The tuber began to rot.

If the leaves are discolored, then magnesium supplements are needed.

If spots appear on the leaves, then the reasons may be as follows:

1. Sunburn.
2. Excessive watering.
3. Water is too cold for irrigation.
4. Drafts.
5. Viruses and pests.

Compliance with simple rules for caring for the plant will prevent the development of diseases and the appearance of pests on gloxinia. The plant can infect:

1. Spider mite.
2. Thrips.
3. Aphid.

You can get rid of them with the help of biological products, for example “Fitosporin”. The processing must be repeated after a while.