The culture method of water tower flower

The water tower flower is a perennial evergreen herbal succulent plant of the pineapple family, also known as flame pineapple, red algae pineapple, trough pineapple, red pen pineapple and so on. It is a good indoor foliage plant, native to tropical America and epiphytic on trees or humus in tropical forests. It is often cultivated in greenhouses in China, especially in the south. Let's take a look at the cultivation methods of water tower flowers.

The growth habit of water tower flower

Water tower flowers like warm, moist, semi-shady environment, not cold-resistant, slightly drought-tolerant, require high air humidity, avoid strong light, and the suitable temperature for growth is 20-28 ℃. The requirement of soil quality is not high, so it is suitable to grow in acid sandy soil with good drainage. It is better to use slightly acidic sandy loam with rich humus and good drainage and ventilation, and avoid calcareous soil. The optimum growth temperature is 25 ℃, and the overwintering temperature should not be lower than 10 ℃.

The Propagation method of Water Tower Flower

1. Sowing: most of the pineapples used for ornamental in the market are hybrids, and it is difficult to obtain seeds in the natural state, that is, if the seeds are obtained by artificial pollination, the characters of the offspring will also be separated and the good characters of the mother plant can not be maintained. therefore, sowing and propagation is only used in the preservation of primary quality and the cultivation of new varieties.

2. Ramet: ramet propagation is often carried out in spring. The mother plant can produce tiller buds at the base or between the leaves before and after flowering, but the mother plant can not continue to grow and die. Tiller buds can be used for ramet propagation and cutting propagation, and the tiller buds with roots can be put on the pot directly.

3. Cuttage: the cuttage propagation of water tower flower is usually carried out in spring, and the survival rate of ramet is low during high temperature. When cutting, the tiller buds were cut off when the tiller buds were 8 cm and 10 cm, and inserted into the substrate of rotten leaf soil and coarse sand, kept at room temperature for 25 ~ 28 ℃, rooting in about 30 ~ 40 days, and pot cultivation in 50 ~ 60 days. The mother plant that broke off the tiller buds could grow another 2 ~ 3 batches of tiller buds after cultivation.

4. Tissue culture: the growth rate of ramet and cuttage propagation was slow, and the number of seedlings obtained was small and irregular. Tissue culture was often used in the large-scale propagation of commercial varieties, and the stem tip tissue of tillering buds was often used as materials. After regular disinfection, adventitious buds could be formed on MS medium supplemented with 6-benzylaminopurine 4mg / L and indole acetic acid 0.1mg / L.

The culture method of water tower flower

1. Soil: the growth of water tower flower does not require high soil quality, and it is better to use slightly acidic sandy loam with rich humus and good drainage and ventilation, but avoid calcareous soil.

2. Sunshine: the water tower flower lives mainly in the shade of the bushes or in the northwest of the hillside, and can accept part of the intermittent direct sunlight every day. So if it is maintained in direct sunlight in summer, it will grow very slowly or enter a semi-dormant state, and the leaves will slowly turn yellow and fall off due to burns, so pay attention to cover 50% of the sun. In other seasons, because the temperature is not very high, the water tower flower can be given direct sunlight to facilitate its photosynthesis and the formation of flower buds and flowering.

3, temperature: water tower flower originated in tropical or subtropical regions, like high temperature and high humidity environment, so the most suitable growth temperature is 18: 30 ℃, when the summer temperature is above 35 ℃, but the growth will be temporarily hindered, but the winter temperature below 3: 6 ℃ can not safely survive the winter.

4. Moisture: the water tower flower environment needs more water during the peak growth period, but the basin soil should not be too wet. In addition to watering to keep the soil moist, the central tube of the water tower flower plant can also be filled with water. Watering less in winter, do not add a lot of water to the central tube, just keep it moist, usually spray water around the plant, maintain high environmental humidity, and often scrub the leaf surface with a soft cloth to keep the leaf surface bright and clean.

5. Fertilization: the water tower flower requires more fertilizer and water, but it is most afraid of random fertilization, concentrated fertilizer and partial application of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash fertilizer. It is required to follow the principle of "frequent application of light fertilizer, less amount and more times, and complete nutrition".

Prevention and control of diseases and insect pests in water tower flowers

1. Heart rot and root rot: in addition to paying attention to the problems of substrate, watering and water quality, in addition to paying attention to the problems of substrate, watering and water quality, 75% evil frost manganese and zinc 400 times solution or 40% ethyl phosphine aluminum 400 times solution can be used to irrigate the leaf tube once a month for 3 times. The seedlings can be soaked in the 800-fold solution of 40% ethyl phosphine and aluminum for 10 minutes, and then dried in the shade and then put on the basin.

2. Leaf tip yellowing and withering: pineapple leaf tip yellowing and withering may be caused by too strong alkalinity of irrigation water or high calcium and sodium content, too low air humidity, excessive fertilization or high concentration of liquid fertilizer, poor substrate drainage and so on. It is better to maintain more than 5 ℃ in winter, otherwise cold injury may occur. After drying, the disease becomes scorched and scorched, and severe cold damage causes the plant to die.

3. Scale insects: the shell has not yet thickened when the eggs are just hatched, and the effect of spraying is the best, which can be controlled by common organophosphorus pesticides such as old dichlorvos, malathion, fenitrothion and so on. When the scale insect is fixed, it can only be controlled by internal absorption pesticides, such as dimethoate, omethoate, acephate and so on. A small amount of shell insects can also be scraped off manually with their fingernails.

4. Red spiders: red spiders make a living by piercing the epidermis of ground leaves and sucking juice, causing damage to the growth of plants. In addition to common organophosphorus pesticides such as imidophos, dimethoate, omethoate, dichlorvos and so on, there are acaricides specially used to kill red spiders, such as triclofenac, propargite, acarate, bromoacarate and so on.

5. Pocket moth: when the bag moth damages the pineapple leaves, it usually eats the mesophyll, leaving only a transparent lower epidermis, which dries up and becomes out-of-date into holes or gaps or broken. There are many pesticides to control pocket moth, such as trichlorfon, dichlorvos, dimethoate, omethoate, malathion, fenitrothion and so on.

6. Caterpillars: the larvae of poisonous moths are often called caterpillars, which can damage leaves and flowers and eat them short or cut off. Common organophosphorus or pyrethroid insecticides can be used to kill caterpillars.

7. Snails: snails can be used to control snails by spreading raw lime powder on the ground, or by catching them manually, or by using leaves, weeds and vegetable leaves as trapping heaps, and snails are ambushed under the trapping heaps before dawn, and then caught centrally.

8. Spodoptera litura: the larvae mainly damage the flowers of pineapple and feed on petals, stamens and pistils. Usually hide in the basin soil, the bottom of the basin and other dark places during the day, come out at dusk to feed, but when it is cloudy and rainy, you can also eat outside during the day. Pesticides against caterpillars can be used to control Spodoptera litura larvae.