Gloxinia is one of the most beautiful indoor flowers, a real miracle with pubescent leaves like Saintpaulia and a bell cap. The world of gloxinia is quite diverse - they are double and simple, tiger and chintz, standard and miniature - all so different.
Seed propagation
The exquisitely beautiful flowers of gloxinia will not leave anyone indifferent. The homeland of this beauty is the rainforests of Peru and Brazil. It propagates by seeds, leafy cuttings, tubers. Gloxinia seeds germinate in the light, so they are sown in a transparent container filled with mineral-peat soil or universal soil mixture. To prevent the soil from eroding, the surface is watered from a watering can, seeds are laid out on top and covered with a transparent lid. In no case should they be buried.
The plantings are aired every day for 5 minutes, and when the seedlings rise, they are opened twice a day for 15-20 minutes. They sprout for 10-20 days, until the sprouts get stronger, watered by immersion in a container of water. Before each watering, the soil is loosened. When the sprouts rise noticeably, the lid is removed. The seedlings grown in this way are strong and healthy.
Now they can be transplanted. Carefully take the sprout together with a lump of earth with a teaspoon, transfer it into cups filled with soil. Pour warm water over the edge from a spoon and put in a warm place.
Home care
For the growth and good flowering of gloxinia, a sufficient amount of light is needed, the sill of the east or south window will be what you need. They are fed with liquid fertilizer for flowering plants and universal for ornamental leaves. With top dressing, the flowers will be bright and large and the flowering period will increase.
At the end of October, the aboveground part of the plants is cut off for a stump, the bulbs are transplanted into small pots with fresh soil. For propagation with leaf petioles, a young leaf with a 1 cm long piece of cutting is cut off from a flowering plant.
The stalk is rooted in a mixture of sand and peat (8: 1), covered with a transparent cap (jar or bag), and the temperature is maintained at 22-24 ° C. In 15-18 days, nodules will appear at the ends of the stalk. The rooted plants are planted in pots with a diameter of 5-7 cm. When gloxinia is propagated by cuttings, the bush grows small, less decorative than during seed propagation.
