Excessive Heat on Houseplant
Excessive heat should be guarded against as this will also frequently result in poor, weedy growth – rubber plant leaves droop miserably in very hot conditions. Keep plants away from radiators and out of the stream of hot air rising from them. If plants must be placed on heating appliances the shelf width should be increased to ensure that rising hot air is deflected away from plants and not through their leaves.
There are many varieties of adiantum to choose from, all of them delicately beautiful, reasonably easy to care for and supremely adaptable. Plant them in dish or bowl gardens, as individuals to stand on top of a pedestal, Or in hanging baskets. To see them at their best the latter method cannot be bettered.
For plants other than those one is advised to keep permanently wet, complete saturation of the compost for long periods will prove harmful. Plants should dry out a little between each watering, but excessive drying out of the compost should also he guarded against as this condition can be equally damaging.
A shaded position is preferred. Water freely other than during the winter months when permanently wet compost can be harmful. Propagate by division. A sharp knife will be required to cut through the matted roots of older clumps. When split, the smaller clumps should be potted up individually and watered in. Less congested clumps can be teased apart into smaller, or even individual, pieces if a large number of new plants are required.
The more ambitious house plant grower can often proudly claim to being green fingered by propagating new adiantums from spores. There always seems to be an aura of .mystique about this means of increasing plants, yet it is not so difficult provided a warm, shaded propagator and moist “conditions can be provided. Spores develop on the undersides of fronds and should be allowed to remain on the plant until they become dusty and fall from the leaf when tapped. At this stage the leaf should be cut away from the plant and placed in a paper bag, which in turn is placed on top of a warm radiator. Some 24 hours later the majority of spores will have dislodged themselves quite naturally and can be lightly sown on the surface of fine, moist peat, with a little sand added. In good conditions, with the essential bit of luck required, a soft green carpet of minute maidenhair ferns should be produced. When large enough to handle they can he potted into small pots of peaty compost, several pieces to each pot. Transfer into larger containers as necessary.
There are also hardy and more tender species available, but those offered for home decoration are, generally speaking, a middle-of-the-road selection which will do better indoors.
March 18 2009 | Landscaping | No Comments »