How to properly care for cicas at home?

Tropical cycas grew on our planet in the Mesozoic era. Sometimes it is called a palm tree because of the long trunk and crown of leaves at the very top, even its name in translation from the ancient Greek means "palm tree". Biologists say that Cycas belongs to the genus of ferns and has nothing to do with palms. The unpretentious plant has survived all climate changes and is now found in the wild in South Asian countries and the Pacific islands. You can grow a beautiful decorative tree at home if you provide the cicass with the right care. An overseas guest who settled in a flower pot on your windowsill can be called a bonsai variety: only a copy of a powerful southern tree, reduced many times over, will grow at home.

Tropical "palm" in the wild and on the windowsill

In the tropical zone, you can find a tree, sometimes reaching a height of 15 m. A powerful trunk, the girth of which can be up to 1/3 of the height, is crowned with feathery leaves. The life cycle of a plant lasts over 100 years. It looks like a palm tree in appearance, but in fact is a relative of the fern that grows in our forests in the form of grassy thickets.

It is impossible to grow such a giant at home. A bush about 80 cm tall can develop in a pot. It will take a very long time to wait for such a size: the flower grows no more than 3 cm per year. With good care, the owners may be lucky enough to achieve the flowering of an exotic tree, but this happens very rarely. When the flowers wither, cones form on female plants, inside of which large orange seeds ripen.

As an indoor flower, several varieties of cicas are most often grown.

• Revolution is the most common type in Russian apartments.
• The cicas are cochlear.
• Rumfa is originally from Sri Lanka.
• Siamese tsikas.

In order for an exotic plant to feel well in an apartment, you need to create conditions for it similar to those in which its tropical ancestors lived. Consider the size of the room before you start growing cicada. An adult flower will need a lot of space, and if you live in cramped conditions, then both you and the bush will be uncomfortable. The room should have a lot of light, but direct sunlight is detrimental to the leaves. In the midday hours, you can block the pot with a tulle curtain. In the summer months, your green pet will be quite satisfied with the room temperature, and in the winter it needs to rest in the cool - at about + 15⁰C.

A tall "palm" can be made the center of a resting corner. This plant has healing energy, it relieves stress, improves mood. Place a comfortable chair next to the trunk, next to a music center with pleasant melodies. In difficult life situations, sit under a spreading crown, listen to your favorite music, and there will certainly be a solution to problems.

Reproduction

Getting productive cicada seeds at home is very difficult. The plant rarely blooms, and tropical insects pollinating it are not found in our latitudes. You can purchase grains from greenhouses or nurseries, where specialists are engaged in the cultivation of this flower. The seed should be soaked in warm water for a day, and then deepened a little in wet perlite or coarse sand. Seedlings will appear no earlier than in 2 months, all this time the container must be kept at a temperature of + 25⁰C.The sprouts should remain in perlite for about a month, and only when a real cicas leaf has formed can the plant be transplanted into a permanent pot.

If the cicas of your acquaintances has released an offspring on the trunk, you can use it for planting. Cut off the shoot with a sharp knife, cover the wound of an adult plant with crushed coal. At the shoot, cut off all the leaves, wounds and treat the lower cut with fungicides. Dip the bottom into a root stimulator and stick into moistened coarse sand. Rooting takes a long time, you will have to wait from 6 months to a year. All this time, the plant should be kept in a slightly shaded place at a temperature of about + 30⁰C. Make sure that the soil does not dry out.

Tsikas is a conservative plant that does not like its living conditions to change. You can buy an adult flower in a flower shop, only it will be difficult for him to adapt to the new environment. Reproduction at home takes patience, but the results will pay off. It is difficult to grow cicasas from seeds or shoots, but the flower will get used to your apartment and immediately feel at home. He will have to endure his whims for about a year, and then a beautiful "palm tree" will decorate the interior and improve the mood of all family members with its decorative appearance.

Flower care: watering, feeding

Tsikas is not a very moisture-loving plant, but it does not tolerate completely dry soil. Water sparingly during the summer months to keep the potted soil from drying out. Watch the top layer: if it becomes dry, the plant asks for water. This usually happens once a week. In winter, the life processes of a flower slow down, it needs less moisture. The cooler it is in the room where you sent the "palm" for the winter, the less liquid it needs.

You need to water the flower with soft, preferably rain or well-settled water at room temperature. Moisten only the ground, try to prevent drops from falling on the crown. In tropical forests, the air is filled with water vapor. A southern visitor would have liked a humidity of about 80%, but in apartments such conditions will not benefit the rest of the residents. To save the plant from dryness, wrap its trunk with wet moss, often spray the crown with a spray bottle and wipe the leaves with a damp cloth.

In summer, a large bush needs good nutrition. Immediately put aside the mineral fertilizers purchased for giving, the cicass does not like them. Organic mixtures should not contain magnesium and potassium salts, they are harmful to the flower. In the spring and summer, feed the plant every 2 weeks, in the fall - once a month, and in the winter it is a plant, it will have enough food in a pot. The best feeding will be cow or horse manure slurry. In a large city, herbivore droppings are difficult to find, but you can buy palm fertilizer at a flower shop.

How to transplant cicas correctly?

Adult plants do not like transplants, so do this work only when the container becomes clearly cramped for the flower. When choosing a pot, be guided by the thickness of the trunk: there should be a gap of about 2 cm between the bark and the walls. Take a round vessel, twice as deep as the diameter. It is recommended to replant young plants every 3 years, and when the bush turns 6 years old, disturb its roots only if necessary. "Palma" is very capricious, so you need to know how to transplant it correctly.

Advice

For growing massive plants, it is better to use earthenware: such a pot is heavy enough, so it has good stability. Be sure to make sure that there are drainage holes in the bottom, because stagnant moisture is detrimental to cicas.

The cicassus needs a very loose soil, moisture should not linger in it. If you purchased land from a flower shop, arrange a water permeability test for it. Fill the pot with the mixture and pour, after a few seconds the first drops should seep through the drain holes.

You can prepare the soil yourself using equal parts of the following ingredients:

• pine bark;
• charcoal;
• pumice;
• pebbles;
• perlite;
• coarse peat.

Add some bone meal.

If you use a substrate of perlite, pebbles and coal, drainage at the bottom of the pot is not needed, such a soil itself will not retain excess moisture. When using an earthen mixture, be sure to place a layer of pebbles or rubble on the bottom of the pot. Some sources recommend putting soil consisting of equal parts of peat and sand in a container. Such soil removes excess moisture well, but to plant a capricious tropical tree, be sure to put a thick layer of small pebbles on the bottom.

It is advisable to replant home "palms" in the spring, but if necessary, you can do this work at any time. Be careful when young leaves start to form: they are very fragile. Cut off the oldest leaves, remove about a third of the crown, remove the flower from the old container and transplant into a new pot. Be very careful with the roots, their injuries increase the risk of rot. If after transplanting the bush turns yellow and shed its leaves, do not worry, this is its reaction to stress. As the plant adapts to new dishes, new leaves will appear.

Why do cicas' leaves turn yellow?

Diseases and pests in cicas are the same as in other indoor plants. Florists have already learned to recognize them. It is more difficult when yellowness begins to appear on the leaves of the bush - not everyone will immediately understand what the tropical guest is dissatisfied with. If this happens on the lower tier, perhaps these leaves have already outlived theirs, their wilting is a natural process.

If the whole bush turns yellow, there may be several reasons:

• nitrogen deficiency;
• lack of trace elements;
• too much or little light;
• problems with the root system.

Nutritional deficiencies can also occur with good feeding. If the plant is watered with hard water or it is cold indoors, the roots do not develop and the flower cannot absorb fertilizers. Transplant the plant and place it in a warm place - you will soon see new green leaves appear. Check the water quality for irrigation, use rain or melt moisture to prevent the leaves from turning yellow again.

The root system may not perform well if it is cold. When the room is warm and the windowsill is icy, the roots in the pot freeze, and the leaves turn yellow at the top. Place a board or other well-insulated material under the vessel. Improper watering or the application of too concentrated fertilizers is badly reflected on the underground part. Start to properly care for the cicada, and everything will work out, but the yellowed leaves will no longer take on their previous color. Do not worry, the flower is very tenacious. Even if the whole crown dies, but the upper cone remains alive, soon you will see new young shoots at the top.

The main diseases that cycas owners have to deal with are all kinds of rot of the roots and the lower part of the trunk. You can try to save the bush: take it out of the ground, cut off all damaged areas, treat the wounds with a fungicide, sprinkle them with crushed coal and plant the "palm" in a new sterile soil.

The plant can be attacked by pests. As soon as you notice insects or their larvae, collect the parasites by hand and treat the bush with insecticidal preparations.

Most often, a tropical guest is struck by:

• scabbards;
• mealybugs;
• aphid;
• ticks.

Advice

The trunk of the cicada contains poisonous substances. When working with the plant, wear rubber gloves, and in the apartment, put the flower out of the reach of children and pets.

Residents of the northern regions want to create a tropical corner in their apartment. In the winter garden, the cicassus will create a wonderful composition in combination with ferns, vines and other plants, whose ancestors inhabited the primeval jungle.In a spacious room, the plant will fit well into the interior, but it is undesirable to grow it in cramped rooms: a massive bush will visually reduce the space. Think carefully about the green design of the room, do not forget that plants grow in size over time, and choose decorative crops that will give your apartment additional beauty and comfort.