Schlumberger - Unpretentious Brazilian

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

An amazing plant that breaks all ideas about cacti. Succulent shoots do not injure a person, since they did not stock up on sharp thorns. In late autumn, winter months and early spring, when other plants hide their beauty from people, waiting for the arrival of warmth, Schlumberger presents with a cascade of bright flowers located at the end of jointed shoots

The Schlumberger family

To count the number of plant species of the genus

Schlumberger (Schlumbergera) fingers of one hand are enough. The small number of the genus pays off for the decorativeness of the plants, combined with their unpretentious disposition.

In his homeland, in Brazil, Schlumbergera settles on other plants of tropical forests, without giving them trouble and without pretending to juices running along their trunks. This is an epiphytic plant that feeds itself on its own and stores moisture for future use in its succulent stems.

The bright flowering of certain species, by the will of fate, coincides with such Christian holidays as Christmas and Easter, and therefore they are called not by a long incomprehensible and difficult to pronounce word, but by words that are understandable to any Russian-speaking person: respectively, “

Christmas cactus" and"

Easter cactus ».

Popular indoor types

* Schlumberger Gartner (Schlumbergera gaertneri) - for its flowering on Easter holidays, the plant is called "Easter cactus". Intense green shoots from flattened segmented segments end in bright flowers, the color of which varies from orange-red to carmine-red.

* Schlumberger Russell (Schlumbergera russelliana) is a more compact species than the previous one. To get bushes with a drooping crown, this species is grafted onto upright species of cacti. The flowers are red, with varying color intensity.

* Schlumberger truncated (Schlumbergera truncata) - differs in bright green shoots with a red tint. Long flowers (up to 8 cm long), colored, depending on the variety, in white, blue, purple, lilac colors, adorn the plant from November to February.

* Schlumberger Buckley (Schlumbergera x bucklei) is a plant that may well replace the Christmas tree, since its abundant and bright flowering occurs at Christmas. This is a very effective hybrid, the parents of which are Schlumberger Russell and Schlumberger Truncated. Under favorable conditions, the hybrid can bloom two or even three times a year.

Growing

In the southern regions of Schlumberger, it grows successfully in open ground, if it is allocated a place illuminated, but without direct sunlight, and the plant is protected from the wind. In the rest of Russia, Schlumberger prefers to hide indoors, in small to medium-sized pots.

Since in the Brazilian tropics the plant does not need soil, it is very important for it to have good drainage, arranged under a soil layer made up of soil for flower crops with an equal amount of leaf humus, peat and sand added to it. Drainage will protect the base of the stem from excess moisture that can cause stem rot. For watering, soft water is needed, to which mineral fertilizer is added during the flowering period, and during the dormant period, watering is reduced as much as possible.

For the plant, we choose the most illuminated window sill, providing protection from direct sunlight, which can repaint the green shoots, giving them a reddish tint.

In order for Schlumberger to give flowering for the Christmas holidays, it is necessary to arrange for her at least a month's maintenance at a temperature of 6-7 degrees, and then raise her to a comfortable temperature of 16-18 degrees.

Reproduction

It is very easy to propagate a plant. To do this, several segments of the shoot are separated from the plant in the spring-summer period and the cut is dried in the shade of the canopy during the day. Then they are planted in a mixture of sand and peat, taken in equal proportions. They try not to moisten the soil too much, being content with light spraying. Provide a temperature of 20 degrees.

Enemies

Enemies are excess moisture, direct sunlight, worms, mites and thrips.