Features of planting ficus at home and caring for the plant

Planting ficus at home is a process that usually does not cause much trouble. Ficuses are undemanding plants: they can grow in rooms where there is little light, they do not need frequent watering and feeding. These representatives of the Mulberry family look very attractive and are able to decorate not only the window sill in the room, but also an office or a winter garden.

Types of ficuses

Ficuses differ in foliage size: they can be small-leaved and large-leaved. The first group includes such popular species as Benjamin's ficus, Microcarpa, dwarf or pimula. To the second - rubbery, lyre, Ali. The most common species in indoor floriculture, Benjamin's ficus, has several varieties that differ in foliage color and crown shape:

• Natasha - a low bush with thin branches and green foliage;
• Kinky - dwarf ficus with variegated light green leaves;
• Green Kinky - variegated shrub or small tree with a dark green crown;
• Wyandy - treelike ficus with green leaves, slightly curled, the trunk is quite thick;
• Baroque (baroque) - ficus with strongly twisted leaves, well suited for the formation of bonsai;
• Daniel - variety with green leaves and thin branches.

One of the unusual species, unlike others, shrubs, is the creeping ficus, or Pumila. Its leaves are thin, small in size, the shoots are long, therefore this plant is grown as ampelous, but you can form a bush by attaching branches to a support. There are variegated varieties: Sunny and White Sunny, they differ in the color of the border that runs along the edge of the leaf. In the first case it is white, in the second it can be white or cream.

Another popular type in indoor floriculture is rubber ficus, or elastic. This plant has thick and large, often dark leaves. Under natural conditions, the tree can reach 30 m. With high humidity, aerial roots can form on the trunk.

The most common varieties of rubbery ficus are the following:

• Belize is a variegated form with large leaves. The veins can be white or pink;
• Robusta is a medium-sized variety with fleshy dark green leaves;
• Melanie - neat bushes with glossy foliage and a beautiful trunk that is easy to form;
• The black prince is one of the popular ficuses with beautiful large dark leaves.

Advice

Large leaves of ficuses quickly become covered with dust, so they need to be wiped regularly. To give them a shine and remove white deposits, you can use a mixture of a few drops of mayonnaise diluted with water. It is applied to the leaves with a cotton pad, after which the excess is removed with a damp cloth. At the final stage, each sheet is wiped with a dry cloth.

Ficus care

Most of the species are unpretentious and do not require special conditions of detention. These plants quickly adapt to indoor conditions, tolerate little shading and do not need frequent watering, therefore they are usually used for landscaping shopping centers and offices. Waterlogging is a common mistake when growing this flower, especially Benjamin's ficuses and rubber plants suffer from it: at the same time, a light brown spot begins to creep along the edge of the leaf plate, as a result of which the leaf dies off. Excess moisture can rot the root system, which often leads to the death of the plant. Watering should be moderate, but you should not allow the earthen coma to completely dry out.

Dwarf varieties need more moisture than large ones.In winter, watering is reduced, especially when kept cold. Ficuses grow quickly and need regular feeding with specialized complex fertilizers. They should be brought in every 2 weeks in the spring-summer period, but by autumn their number is reduced. In winter, when the growing season slows down, fertilizers can be omitted.

Ficuses rubber and Benjamin are usually not demanding on air humidity and calmly endure the conditions of an apartment, but the ampelous variety needs special conditions: for active development it needs high humidity, therefore it is often used in bottle compositions or mini-greenhouses. You can artificially create the necessary conditions, often spraying the plant or using special devices.

In bright light, but without access to direct sunlight, the ficus grows more actively, and its leaves become larger, therefore it is useful to take it out to the balcony in summer. But it is undesirable to put too close to the window - burns may appear. Variegated forms lose their color in low light and become completely green.

Advice

Ficus Pumila can not only be grown in hanging pots, but also used as a ground cover plant, for example, to cover the soil in tubs with large specimens. The openwork foliage of this species looks very decorative and, due to its rapid growth, copes with this task in a short time.

Planting and breeding ficuses

Planting ficuses should be done using gloves - because of the poisonous milky juice that is released when the branches are damaged. The same juice can clog the cutting and complicate the formation of roots during propagation by a shoot, therefore, before planting, cut shoots are kept in a container with water for some time. Ficus Benjamin sprigs can be left in a glass, in which it is recommended to add growth stimulants. They usually root quickly, after which young plants can be planted in separate pots.

It is recommended to immediately plant cuttings of rubber ficus in a moistened substrate. To do this, take lignified branches, which must be planted in a small container. They take root easily even without a greenhouse, usually taking about 3 weeks. All this time, the stalk does not need to be watered, otherwise it may rot. You can check whether the shoot has taken root by gently pulling the top or waiting for a new leaf. Small-leaved plants are best propagated in greenhouse conditions by making a greenhouse from a bag.

After buying a plant in a store, he needs to be allowed to adapt to a new place for 1-2 weeks, after which it is advisable to transplant it into a fresh nutrient substrate. The pot is taken a little more than the previous one - by about 2-3 cm, drainage is placed on the bottom. For large specimens, it is best to use heavy ceramic or clay pots to prevent the plant from falling over. You can plant a ficus in a purchased substrate, or you can prepare a mixture on your own by composing it from equal parts of peat, sand, leaf and turf soil. Young plants are transplanted every year, adults can simply replace the top layer of the earth, since it can be quite difficult to plant them in a new pot.

So, ficuses are unpretentious plants that easily adapt to the conditions of the apartment, do not require frequent watering and light placement. Popular species are various varieties of Benjamin's ficus and rubbery. The ampelous species does not look like its relatives - Pumila, with small thin leaves and long shoots, which can be attached to a support, forming a bush.

Caring for these plants consists in regular moderate watering and fertilizing with complex fertilizers. To plant ficus, you should choose a not too large new container - it should be 2-3 cm wider than the previous one. For large plants, it is better to use heavy ceramic pots. Ficuses can be propagated by cuttings, rooting them in water or directly in the soil.For small-leaved species, it is recommended to use a greenhouse.