Taking Care Of Indoor Plants In Summer

2023 Author: Ashton Daniels | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 17:13

Influence of day length on the flowering of indoor plants

With the onset of summer, the length of daylight increases, which affects the development of plants and their flowering. The change in the length of the day in nature is always closely related to the change of seasons. The reaction of plants to the diurnal rhythm of illumination, or photoperiodism, allows them to adapt to the surrounding conditions, at the most favorable time to move to flowering and fruiting, and retire in time. By varying the length of daylight hours, it is possible to cause flowering in certain plant species at any time of the year.

Short-day plants such as Kalanchoe, flowering begonia, chrysanthemum will have to artificially reduce daylight hours to stimulate flowering in summer.

Chrysanthemum

Flowering begonia

Kalanchoe Blossfeldaa

A significant increase in daylight hours in summer, especially in northern regions, can adversely affect the flowering of some tropical species. So, bougainvillea, roses, gerberas need a daylight hours close to 12 hours for uniform growth and flowering, and light drying is used to stimulate their flowering with a long day.

Gerbera

Hibiscus, abutilones and balsamines are neutral to the excess of 12-hour daylight hours, continue to bloom violently in summer.

In pelargoniums with a clear annual cycle, the flowering time in our climate begins in spring and can continue in some varieties until late autumn, as long as there is enough light and warmth.

Pelargonium

Long-day plants include bells, they start flower buds at a light period of at least 15 hours, so flowering occurs only in the middle of summer and lasts 2-3 months. For earlier flowering in spring, it is helpful to provide the plant with extra light to achieve the desired day length.

Ways of watering indoor plants for vacation

Summer is a time of long vacations. It's time to talk about ways to moisturize green pets in our absence. The best way out is to arrange watering with responsible friends or acquaintances. Make their work easier by arranging the pots in groups with the same watering regimes (once every 2-3 days, once a week …, no watering) and providing each with detailed instructions.

To prevent the plants from losing a lot of moisture through evaporation from the leaves, be sure to remove them from the sun, strong draft or wind, put them in diffused light in a cool room. Water and sprinkle the plants with plenty of water before leaving. In such conditions, many plants will be able to survive without additional watering for about a week. It is absolutely impossible to place plants in dark and hot rooms.

For a short time, you can place plants that tolerate high air humidity well in spacious greenhouses or cover them with a transparent cap together with the pot so that it does not touch the leaves.

Begonia Rex, or royal

For small plants, ready-made capillary mats can be used. Saintpaulias and Rex begonias will survive your absence with wick irrigation. Double-bottomed pots work the same way. Water is poured into the lower part, and a wick is immersed in it from the upper pot. But their capacities are small, such irrigation will only last for a short time.

Saintpaulias on mats. Photo: Nina Starostenko

Saintpaulia on wick irrigation

Large plants that require constant soil moisture (almost all palms, with the exception of hamedorea) can be transplanted into pots with automatic watering in advance, but do not use them for plants that require thorough soil drying - nolin, yucca, dracaena, zamioculcas, pakhira, sheffler in small pots they will calmly do without watering for about 2 weeks, large-sized ones - up to a month.

There are ready-made clay drinkers in the form of funnels. They are inserted into the pot, and through the pores, water gradually comes out and moisturizes the substrate. However, salts quickly clog pores, and their volume is small. For a short time away, you can do drip irrigation with your own hands by hanging a medical dropper or homemade devices from plastic bottles, wicks, etc. above the ground. However, small holes quickly become clogged, and water stops dripping, and through large holes it pours out too quickly, wicks in the open air can dry out.

A more reliable way is automatic irrigation systems that operate on a small submersible pump and a timer. If there are a lot of plants, you will have to pick up a spacious container so that there is enough water for the entire vacation. There are systems that are connected to the water supply.

But most importantly, be sure to test the chosen method in advance for at least a week or two, without delaying until the start of the vacation. This will help you find and correct thin spots in time, correctly adjust the intensity of the water supply, and save you from disappointment upon arrival.

Read also the article Rules for watering indoor plants.

How to deal with the summer heat

During the height of summer, hot weather is possible, which will negatively affect most indoor plants. A favorable temperature for them is within + 18 … + 25 ^o C, it is advisable not to allow the air to heat above +28 ^o C. Only cicas prefers heat in the summer months, with a lack of heat for several years in a row it can die from exhaustion.

Tsikas, or cycad bent

At elevated temperatures, photosynthesis slows down, the activity of phytohormones decreases, the activity of gibberellins drops sharply, which leads to a slowdown in growth. In hot conditions, pollen is sterilized, this will affect the effectiveness of pollination and seed setting. At a temperature of about 30 ^to C may be observed at the Hibiscus buds resets, especially terry varieties it stops blooming gerbera, freeze in my phalaenopsis development, greatly affects the mite and degrade precious orchids. You can observe the subsidence of the segments of the stems in Schlumberger and Hatiora. Bells, begonias, fuchsias can completely die from overheating.

Gerbera

Phalaenopsis

If possible, bring the pots in an air-conditioned room. But the plant should not be directly under the stream of cooled air, if it gets under it, wilting and death of the upper leaves may occur.

Remove the plant from the scorching sun, especially if it's on a windowsill and not outdoors. The sun's rays refracting through the glass can cause severe burns.

Spray the air next to the plant often, the high humidity will help them withstand the heat.

Provide good air flow to lower temperatures and prevent fungal diseases in humid environments.

High temperatures are especially dangerous for plants in hanging pots, where the roots quickly overheat and stop working normally, which leads to a loss of turgor in the leaves. Use containers with coconut fiber coating for ampelous plants, but without any foil liners. If the soil is wet, and during the heat the plant has lost its turgor, urgently place it in a cooler place.

Diseases and pests that trap indoor plants in summer

In hot weather, waterlogging of the soil is very dangerous; at high temperatures, favorable conditions are created for plant root rot caused by fungi of the Phytophthora genus (Phytophtora cinnamonnii, Phytophtora cryptogea, etc.). A huge number of plant species are susceptible to late blight, including rose, azalea, diosma (koleonema), boronia and chamelacium, the death of which in summer can come very quickly. Diseased roots take on a dark color. In the early stages, the disease manifests itself in wilting, yellowing and drying of the leaves that remain on the branches. These signs are often mistaken for drought symptoms and moisturize the plant even more. Water without excess, focus on the condition of the soil. Protect the pot from overheating: wrap the dark ones with white paper or put them in light pots, dig into the boxes with sand on the balcony. Late blight is an infectious disease, there are no effective remedies for its treatment, phosphite-based fungicides are used for prophylaxis, spraying plant leaves with them. The substance introduced in this way reaches the roots of plants, preventing the development of the disease, and stimulates the production of their own immune substances in plants. After the death of the plant, the soil is always thrown away.

With the onset of hot and dry weather, the danger of being affected by another fungal disease, powdery mildew, sharply increases. On the streets, you can see a lot of infected trees, on the leaves of which you can see extensive whitish spots. The development of the disease is favored by sharp fluctuations in daily temperature, when after the heat of the day there is a cool night, as well as the absence of rain, which leads to a loss of turgor in the leaves. The pathogen easily enters rooms through open windows and infects indoor plants if they lack water and are prone to overheating. Diseases are especially susceptible to gerberas, abutilones, rosemary, passionflower, roses. If a disease occurs, change the conditions and care, treat with fungicides for powdery mildew (Skor, Topaz, etc.). You can also use a more environmentally friendly product - Furacilin (2 tablets per 1 liter of water).

the Rose

Take advantage of the heat to combat whitefly. This is a very intrusive and difficult to remove pest, it strongly affects fuchsias, rosemary, myrtle, and pomegranates. When other measures have proved ineffective, arrange an insect heat shock, plugged in a short time on a sunny day, a balcony or a greenhouse in the country, and when moist air warms up to +40 ^about With insects die. As soon as you notice the effect, immediately open the room.

At a temperature of about 30 ^to C the most rapid growth and reproduction of spider mites and leaf turgor loss contributes to this. Do not overdry the plant; give it a regular shower. Treat with acaricides (Neoron, Fitoverm, Akarin, etc.), but refrain from using Actellik and Fufanon indoors - they have an unpleasant odor, are harmful to people and are poorly tolerated by some plants. To capture all stages of tick development, treatments are carried out in cycles with a certain interval between them. The higher the air temperature, the faster the alternation of stages goes, the shorter the interval between treatments should be.

Photo: Rita Brilliantova