Columbus: How To Grow A Goldfish In A Pot

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Columney is an unreasonably rare guest in indoor floriculture. This exotic plant has a very unusual flower shape and has a long flowering period. Therefore, it deserves to become a decoration for your interior. Columnea blooms all summer, and often the buds appear in the winter and spring months

Goldfish that don't need an aquarium

Columbians are native to the tropical latitudes of America. The plant belongs to the Gesneriaceae family and about 200 species of its representatives are known. Many forms are creeping and curly. However, not many of them are cultivated in horticulture, especially at home.

Indoor varieties of columnea have a highly decorative look. It has long, thin stems hanging under the weight of dense and lush foliage with numerous large buds. Leaves are oblong in shape with a sharp elongated end and deep veins. The outer side of the leaf plate is bright green and covered with the smallest, soft, barely noticeable hairs. When light falls on the flower, they give the impression of a shiny gloss. The back of the leaves, depending on the variety, can be light green or reddish brown.

Flowers are single, erect, tubular. A large number of buds appear on the stem, they are formed in the axils of the leaves. The color of the petals is yellow, orange, red, and the color is both monochromatic and two-color, with a bright contrasting border. For the unusual shape of the flowers and the characteristic color, the columnea is also called the goldfish. And indeed, the buds that have blossomed against the background of long hanging stems are very similar to the inhabitants of the sea depths floating among the algae.

Columbia content

Columnea's tropical nature is responsible for her love of warmth, light and moist soil. Therefore, in room conditions, it is necessary to maintain a temperature of at least +18 ° C, and the pot should be located in a well-lit part of the room, but you need to protect the column from direct sunlight. Watering is carried out through the pallet. It is important that the substrate under the flower is always moderately moist, but at the same time the water should not stagnate in the pan of the pot. In winter, the amount of watering should be less than in summer.

The flowering of the columnea will be more abundant if it is provided with additional fertilizing in the autumn and spring seasons. To do this, twice a month with an interval of one week, the substrate is fertilized with an aqueous solution of cow dung (1:10) and potassium nitrate.

Reproduction of a tropical beauty

At home, columnea is propagated by cuttings. This procedure can be combined with the formation of the crown of the plant. To do this, in April-May, the shoots are shortened by no more than 3 cm, and the cut tops are used for rooting.

For reproduction of columnea, you need to prepare such a nutritious substrate:

• deciduous land - 4 parts;

• peat land - 4 parts;

• river sand - 2 parts;

• peat moss - 1 part.

For 1 kg of such a soil composition, a little fertilizer is required:

• 2 g of bone meal;

• 1 g of potassium sulfate;

• 1 g of superphosphate.

The cuttings are rooted in a common container at a temperature of about + 20 … + 24 ° C. They are planted at such a distance from each other that the leaves do not touch. After 3 weeks, you can move the rooted planting material into individual containers with a diameter of no more than 11 cm. In late January - early February, another transplant is carried out - into large pots. It should be borne in mind that for good growth and abundant flowering, the columnea will need to be transplanted annually, replacing the old nutrient substrate with a fresh one.