Kirkazon Kempfer

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

Kirkazon Kempfer (lat. Aristolochia kaempferi) - climbing shrub; a representative of the Kirkazon genus of the Kirkazonov family. Another name is Kempfer's aristolochia. In natural conditions, plants are found in the tropical forests of South America. Highly decorative look. In Russia, it is grown only on personal household plots.

Characteristics of culture

Kirkazon Kempfer is a perennial climbing shrub with hairy cylindrical stems. Leaves are green, whitish-fleecy in the central part, thin, linear, obovate, oblong-ovate, oval-lanceolate or oval, auricular or cordate at the base, whole or lobed at the edges, pointed or sharp at the tips, up to 8 cm wide, long up to 18 cm, sit on petioles, the length of which does not exceed 6 cm.

The flowers are single, sometimes paired, drooping, equipped with pubescent pedicels up to 7 cm long and brownish lanceolate, rounded or oval bracts up to 1.5 cm wide. The calyx is unusual, yellowish-green with obvious purple veins, with a yellow throat and a horseshoe-shaped tube with a disc-shaped limb … Fruits are ovoid or cylindrical, up to 7 cm long, up to 2 cm wide, when ripe they open from the very top to the base.

Growing features

There are no agrotechnical difficulties in the Kempfer Kirkazon. Difficulties are only caused by the reproduction of culture. The species in question, like other members of the genus, can boast of rapid growth, but subject to careful care and a favorable climate. The species is moderately hardy, tolerates partial shade, picky about soil conditions. Will not tolerate prolonged drought, soil and air moisture plays an important role in the development of culture. During extreme heat, the foliage of Kempfer's Kirkazon sags and withers, however, after watering it quickly recovers.

It is necessary to plant Kempfer's Kirkazon on calm and lighted areas. If you plant the plants in an open area, the wind can damage the leaves and tear them. The considered type of Kirkazon is resistant to pests and diseases, it does not require preventive treatments. Rarely, plants are affected by aphids or spider mites, usually during prolonged drought. Formative pruning is not needed for Kempfer's kirkazon, but sanitary is useful. It consists in removing damaged shoots. One of the important growing conditions is a reliable support, along which the plant will curl upward.

Vegetative propagation

All species of the genus Kirkazon reproduce by seeds and vegetatively. Among vegetative methods, winter and summer cuttings and propagation by layering are used. The second method is less laborious and quite effective. The seed method causes some difficulties, and even in the conditions of central Russia, they are not always tied up and never ripen. Although if you bring the plant indoors for the winter, you will be able to collect a certain amount of seeds, this is what they do with the graceful kirkazon and large-leaved kirkazon.

Still, vegetative methods take less time and are popular with gardeners. Laying is done in the spring, for this they take a long shoot and lay it in a wave-like manner in a pre-dug groove. The shoot is pinned to the soil with wooden staples. The staples are attached closer to the kidney (node). Then the shoot is covered with earth and watered. The rooted shoot is separated from the mother bush next spring. It is divided into small parts and transplanted to a new place or for growing.

Also, gardeners often propagate Kempfer's Kirkazon by winter cuttings. Cuttings are harvested in the fall and stored buried in the sand in a cool room, for example, a cellar or basement. It is not forbidden to cut cuttings in the second decade of February - the first decade of March, but before the onset of sap flow. Cuttings are cut 3-4 cm long, each should have one bud. The lower and upper cut are made oblique. After cutting, the lower cut is powdered with heteroauxin mixed with crushed charcoal.

For rooting, cuttings are planted in a moist soil mixture, on top of which a thick layer of sand is poured. The mixture is made up of garden soil, sand and humus in a 1: 1: 1 ratio. The cuttings are dipped obliquely into the moistened sand. The optimal distance between the cuttings is 2.5 cm. For the first time, the cuttings are covered with polyethylene, which is periodically removed for ventilation (at least twice a day). After 1-1, 5 weeks, the polyethylene is removed. Before planting rooted cuttings in the ground, they are hardened. The rooted cuttings are planted at a distance of 20 cm from each other in a place prepared in advance, shaded from the sun's rays.