Ceropegia Ceropegia

2023 Author: Gerld Thomson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 06:45

Kutrovy family, subfamily of lastovae. Homeland Asia, Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands. In nature, there are from 160 to 200 species (according to various sources). The name ceropegia comes from the Greek keros - wax and pege - spring, fountain (from the shape of a flower), this name was given by Karl Linnaeus in 1753. Ceropegia is a relative of the well-known hoya.

The most common species is Wood's Ceropegia Ceropegia woodii. It is a herbaceous plant with a tuberous rhizome. Stems are thin, threadlike, creeping, little branched. Leaves are opposite, on short petioles, round-cordate, fleshy, about 2.5 cm in diameter. The surface of the leaf is bare, above with a silvery marble pattern on a green background, below with a lilac tint. Ceropegia forms a small-flowered umbellate inflorescence. The corolla of the flower is about 2.5-3 cm long, fused, pitcher-shaped, swollen at the base, lilac-pink in color with dark purple, double petals along the edge

Care for Ceropegia

Temperature: moderate in summer, preferably no higher than 28 ° C. Cool in winter, preferably not higher than 17 ° С, at least 10 ° С. Not to say that ceropegia died in winter from high temperatures, but the shoots are strongly stretched and bare in the lower part. In this case, it is better to cut off all the tops of the shoots in the spring and re-root them.

Lighting: bright sunlight, shading on the south window at noon. With a lack of color, the leaves of the plant become even smaller, the shoots are rare and slightly leafy, and you can not wait for flowering.

Watering: moderate from spring to autumn. The top layer of the soil should dry thoroughly before the next watering. In winter, watering is rare, only when the soil dries out almost completely (depending on the temperature). Water for irrigation should be soft and settled. Ceropegia easily tolerates overdrying, but from waterlogging, especially in cool weather, tubers can rot. This must be taken into account if the plant is on the balcony in summer - in rainy weather, with a night temperature drop, the soil dries out much more slowly. Better to water in the morning.

Fertilizer: from May to August, feed once a month with liquid fertilizer for indoor succulent plants. The dose of fertilizer is taken two times less than the one recommended by the manufacturer - these are very insignificant fertilizing, although you can do without them.

Air humidity: Ceropegia is undemanding to humidity, does not need to be sprayed.

Transplant: annually or every two years, in the spring. The soil needs a loose, coarse structure - 1 part turf, 1 part leafy soil and 1 part sand, pH 5-6. Good drainage must be done, and not only at the bottom of the pot - add fine (2-3 mm) expanded clay or gravel chips directly to the earthen mixture. When transplanting, the tubers are buried in the ground.

Reproduction of Ceropegia

Ceropegia is propagated by stem cuttings, axillary nodules and layering. Cuttings root quite easily in water in the warm season, it is better to put them on rooting in March-June. It is worth planting 4-5 rooted cuttings in one pot.

Small nodules can be found in the leaf axils of Ceropegia wood. Thus, in nature, it multiplies - ceropegia grows on the rocks. Shoots spread over the surface and where there is fertile soil, nodules germinate, form roots and give new shoots. After a while, a whole carpet grows from one plant.