2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Tlandiantha, or perennial cucumber (Latin Thladiantha) Is a perennial herb of the Pumpkin family. Tlandiantu is cultivated for decorative purposes in Northeast China and the Far East. In small quantities, the crop is grown in Europe, the United States and Canada. In central Russia, the plant is a rare guest.
Characteristics of culture
Tlandianta is a climbing dioecious vine with stems covered with protruding hairs and entire leaves with tomentose pubescence. Fruits in size and shape resemble small cucumbers, which acquire a red tint by the end of the growing season. The pulp of the fruit is very tender and sweet. The fruit contains 40-100 dark seeds with a hard skin.
Wild bees belonging to the genus Ctenoplektra pollinate the flowers of Tlandiants. In the evening, insects land on a male-colored bud that opens up, and in the morning they leave it, transferring pollen to a female flower. Domestic bees do not notice the flowers of the tlandiants, and they rarely pollinate. This is probably why tlandiantu is propagated predominantly in a vegetative way, rather than by seed, although this statement is not supported by anything.
A distinctive feature of the plant is the presence of a chain of tubers on underground and aboveground shoots located in close proximity to the soil surface. In spring, new shoots are formed from each tuber, and nodules connected in a chain are formed underground. Due to this, the plants, during several years of their life, build up a rather large mass and occupy large areas. This condition should be remembered when growing vegetables next to tlandia.
Many gardeners speak of the tlandiant as a highly decorative and unusual plant. The lashes of plants are thin and long, strongly branched, often climb to the tops of fruit trees. In the conditions of the Moscow region and nearby regions, the fruits are formed seedless, up to 8 cm long.
Growing conditions
It is recommended to grow tlandiantu on well-moistened, loose, non-saline soils with a high humus content and a neutral or slightly acidic pH reaction. Optimal peat soils. Negatively, the culture refers to waterlogged, heavy and highly acidic soils. The latter require preliminary liming.
On fertile and fertilized soils, plants form more healthy and large tubers than on lean clays. It is not forbidden to grow a culture on a windowsill or on a balcony, it does not need special care, therefore it will not give its owner a lot of trouble, but, on the contrary, will delight him with its beauty.
Growing
Tlandiantu is propagated by nodules, angry cuttings and seeds. The latter method is rarely used in the middle lane. Tubers, from which new plants are formed, are severely depleted by autumn and die, and new ones continue to develop and give new shoots in spring.
For decorating gazebos and other buildings, as well as creating hedges, tubers are planted in one row with an interval of 90-100 cm. Tlandiant is distinguished by increased shade tolerance and cold resistance, adult plants can withstand frosts down to -3C. Frozen shoots quickly recover from dormant tuber buds. The culture is rarely affected by diseases and pests.
