There was a stunted ficus at our work in the smoking room, sluggish and drooping all over, and at some party drunk someone poured decent red wine into it, and after a couple of days our stunted came to life, wow fertilizer for indoor flowers! Now from time to time we add cognac to him, new shoots have already come out. Ficus drunk is now part of the team. (From the Internet) There are after all such oddities, right? There is a flower in the office, cigarette butts are lying around in a pot, tea is poured into it, drafts are blowing, and it grows and gets prettier. And the plant, which was so beautiful in the store, is withering, withering for some unknown reason. He has regular watering, the pot is also beautiful, it is in the best place, but he does not want to grow.
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Feed your pets
The ficus story can be taken as a "joke", but it may well be true. Among the plants there are "drunks" who do not really mind a glass or two.
ficuses they like to drop leaves for no reason, then a couple of times at weekly intervals they should be treated with diluted vodka - Art. spoon for a glass of water. A couple of spoonfuls of vodka per liter of water make asparagus even fluffier, and monstera liana loves slightly stale beer. Of course, for a beautiful and magnificent appearance, green friends need to be fed.
Each plant needs an individual approach when feeding.
What is the best way to create a menu for a home collection of flowers, taking into account the tastes of pets? The soil for planting must necessarily contain the most necessary macro-microelements - these are calcium, manganese, cobalt, nitrogen, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, zinc and iron. Substances must be present in the right amount for a given flower and in the correct ratio, the flower will immediately let you know about this by yellowing the leaves or wilting.
One of the important conditions for choosing a fertilizer is what kind of crop is planned to be fed. Flowering plants need phosphorus and potash feeds, while beautifully leafy plants need more fertilizers with a high nitrogen content.
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There are many different ways to feed home flowers.
Fertilizers are mineral and organic (chemical and natural).
organic
humus as a fertilizer
This type of fertilizer is made from natural material. Plant waste, bird and animal droppings - such products contain the most necessary for development and growth, they act very gently, slowly, but continuously. They make the soil more moisture-breathable, improve its performance, stimulate active growth and flowering of plants. Their disadvantage is, as a rule, a strong unpleasant odor.
The most useful are:
- Natural waste of poultry and pets, such as cow dung (mullein) or bird droppings
- Flour from animal bones. Well strengthens the root system and promotes its proper development
- Flour made from seaweed. Contains growth hormones, develops resistance to pests
- Phosphates make the composition of the planting soil much better
- Very valuable in this regard. vegetable composts, humus, peat
- wood ash very useful for fertilization, it is rich in potassium and calcium
- Earth after earthworms, or biohumus. It is even specially sold, such soil is loose, saturated with oxygen, has a lot of useful substances, can be used simply as part of an earthen coma, and liquid humus in vials is diluted with water and watered with a solution
mineral
Phosphate fertilizers
This type of fertilizer is artificially produced, they also have their pros and cons. They act very quickly, are well absorbed due to precisely selected proportions, have no smell, do not leave stains. Such fertilizers are easy to pick up, on the label, as a rule, it is always written which elements in what percentage are included in the composition.
They are potash, phosphate nitrogen, sometimes complex ones are sold. Mineral groups of fertilizers are very useful when organic matter exhausts itself, and the soil in which the flower grows is depleted. Microelements or organic extracts can also be additionally added to the mineral fertilizer.
The disadvantage is that if used incorrectly, chemical fertilizers can cause plant burns, and since the product is still artificial and not natural, they do not contain hormones and auxin growth substances.
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Fertilizers from the store
There are so many different bags, boxes, bottles and bottles sold in flower shops and kiosks that it is difficult to choose just one. If a person does not know at all what flowers he has at home, then it is worth buying a universal fertilizer.
“Shop” variety of fertilizers
But if the buyer is determined to “feed” his green friend, then before you go to the store, you should still prepare, open a directory, ask friends, use Google. When you know the name of a flower, in what conditions it grows in nature, then you can buy the right “food” for it.
Mineral fertilizers are usually sold in stores. They come in powder, granules, nutritional tablets, sticks, or immediately in liquid form.
Let's talk about different types of dressings.
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Insoluble
Insoluble fertilizers
It is a mixture of ingredients, usually sold in the form of granules, powder or crystals. It is rarely used in indoor floriculture, it is difficult to remove such fertilizer from the soil when green pets are “sleeping”, that is, in the dormant period.
Soluble
Biofertilizer for flowers
Usually these are concentrated powders that are diluted with water to obtain a liquid fertilizer. Usually they are diluted until completely homogeneous, stirring constantly so that there is no sediment left that can burn the root system. It is convenient that such bags are compact, you do not have to pay for "water". The downside is that such fertilizers cake during storage.
Tablets and sticks
This fertilizer is for very lazy flower growers, it is the easiest to apply them, you do not need to plant anything and specially prepare, you just need to put a nutrient stick or tablet in a flower pot. The fertilizer gradually dissolves in water with each watering and acts on the plant through the roots.
Fertilizer tablets
The advantage of such sticks is that you can not remember about feeding at all for some time and you can not be afraid to exceed the dosage. Although in this case it can be difficult for the owner to understand whether the fertilizer is still working or not.And professional flower growers believe that this method is harmful to flowers, because a high concentration of substances can practically "burn" the root system of a flower, and it is also very difficult to get fertilizer if necessary.
Briefly about liquid fertilizers
As a rule, stores most often sell them, such fertilizers are the easiest to apply. At a price they are somewhat more expensive than granular ones, but much more convenient, since this is already a ready-made homogeneous solution. Before using a beautiful bottle of top dressing, you need to carefully read the label, since the drug can be concentrated, it must be diluted with water, and not used in its pure form.
Liquid fertilizer for indoor plants
The roots are much better at absorbing top dressing in a liquid state, such fertilizers are produced immediately with the right ratios of elements for different types of crops.. There are usually bright pictures on the bottles that leave no doubt that this particular nutrient complex is suitable for violets, but that one is good for dracaena and palm trees. Fertilizers are the most willing to buy - ready-made complexes for ficuses, palm trees, ferns, when they are used, plants grow well, and their leaves are larger and brighter.
If the grower has many different species at home, then it is convenient to use one universal remedy for everyone at once, there are such complex dressings that are useful for most types of plants. But, although such a remedy is considered universal, it is less effective, it is still better to approach each flower individually, and definitely do not water the orchid with water with top dressing for dracaena.
For the most part, fertilizers are applied during watering, but there are some that are used to feed through the leaves.
Leaf fertilizer
This type of fertilizer is used for spraying. Not only the roots can absorb nutrients, but the pores of the leaves are also capable of this, this type of top dressing is called foliar. With such watering, the indoor flower is not threatened with an overabundance of substances, the leaves and stems absorb only as much as they need.
leaf fertilizer
Special preparations have a high penetrating power, but not all types of indoor flowers like such dressings, therefore they are used somewhat less frequently than other types of fertilizers. For example, palm or succulents do not assimilate the necessary substances in this way, as well as all plants with glossy shiny leaves, with thorns, with pubescent leaves.
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What fertilizer to choose
When buying the right product, you need to know whether this plant is flowering or it attracts the eye with its bright lush greenery. There are different fertilizers for these two types of pets.
Each plant has its own fertilizer
Flowering crops need to be fed so that they do not drop buds and bloom longer. Ornamental deciduous plants need a different ratio of components, for them the brightness and juiciness of foliage is more important. This is one of the mistakes of beginner flower growers, it is time for flowering, but there are no flowers, although the growth is good, there are many shoots, the leaves are juicy, but it does not want to bloom. Most often, the case is not quite suitable fertilizer.
So, if you ask yourself which fertilizer for indoor flowers to choose, then you should answer something like this - choose mineral top dressing in liquid form, which is designed specifically for this type of plant. In Russia and other countries of the former USSR, products manufactured by Pokon, Green World, Agricola, Garden of Miracles and others are sold, many buyers leave positive feedback on these drugs.
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Not all flower growers go to the store for food for their pets, many feed them with home remedies. Among the clan of flower lovers, all sorts of homemade dressing recipes for pets are popular. Here are some of them collected from magazines and forums. Some were still used by our grandmothers, others appeared on the pages of magazines such as Peasant / Worker.
Home Remedies 1
Sleepy coffee as a fertilizer
- Sleepy ground coffee (even with sugar) is usually mixed with soil, it has a lot of potassium, which supports immunity and is not liked by many pests. The earth ball becomes looser and lighter, and the smell of coffee will prevent the cat from digging the earth in pots. It is only necessary to take into account that the acidity of the soil then increases, and this is not suitable for all crops. But azaleas, ferns, hydrangeas, fuchsias will feel great
- tea leaves - good top dressing, this is sleeping tea or used tea bags. It is best to dry the tea leaves, get them out of the bags, then you can add them to the soil for planting. It improves the composition of the earthy coma
- Egg shell infusion can serve as a good top dressing for indoor flowers. Many grandmothers collected shells, keeping them in a fabric bag tied to a radiator so that they would dry out faster. Then it should be slightly crushed, pour into a jar, pour water. After five days, you can water the flowers with infusion. It gives extra calcium and strengthens the flowers.
- Infusion of onion peel useful for those who take out their flowers in the summer to fresh air, to the garden or balcony. There is a high probability of infection with various pests, aphids, spider mites. The infusion repels pests, and flowers are perceived as real fertilizer, rich in minerals. It is useful to take onion peel even for people, there are a lot of antioxidants and the antiviral substance quercetin. Infusion is best not to water, but to sprinkle the leaves themselves and the top layer of earth in a pot. You need to cook it like this - put a handful of husks in a saucepan, pour boiling water over it, cook for about five minutes, let it brew for a couple of hours, strain, cool.
Or otherwise - take 50 gr. husks, pour boiling water and insist without boiling, you can also use a water bath.
Home Remedies 2
wood ash
- Zubok garlic just stick it in the ground in a pot with a flower, and in order not to germinate, it is better to cut it in half. Strengthens and protects against fungal infection
- Water after washing meat or fish contains valuable nutrients. The solution must be filtered so that solid residues do not remain on the ground, otherwise it will attract pests.
- Potato broth - this is just a pantry of useful microelements and there is a lot of starch (it is necessary to water it with a cooled broth). Starch for a plant is such a “stash of energy for a possible hunger strike”, flowers specially accumulate it in their organs responsible for reproduction - in seeds, tubers, bulbs
- You can also take it from the first aid kit regular aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid, it helps flowers resist disease. For spraying, one tablet per 1 liter is enough. water to kill fungal filaments, powdery mildew, rust and similar diseases
- wood ash popular and affordable fertilizer, it contains a lot of calcium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus. Ashes can be mixed with the earth as part of the soil, or you can infuse water on it and water it as a fertilizer.
- fresh ash contains sulfites - they can harm green spaces, so ash should be used only after a few days, since sulfites turn into another compound - sulfates, which are just very useful for plants. For one st. add a spoonful of ash to a liter of hot water and leave for at least a week, then use for watering
- Sugar they adore cacti and many other plants, you can sprinkle the soil in a pot with sugar or make a solution - a teaspoon of sugar in a glass of water. You should not abuse it, a lot of sugar can adversely affect development. Such top dressing is used when the plant is weakened, healthy and strong specimens do not need such feeding.
- Instead of sugar, you can take glucose tablets.
Home Remedies 3
citrus peels
- Few people know that flowering plants can be fed castor oil, regular castor oil (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water), this gives good strong buds during their tying
- Regular yeast solution is remarkably stimulates all the vital processes of flowers, it contains B vitamins, phytohormones - cytokinins for good cell division and auxins. The soil microflora improves markedly, instead of the standard dose of seasonal fertilizer, one percent yeast infusion can be easily applied, the effect will be about the same. To prepare the infusion, take 10 grams of sugar and yeast per liter of water and dilute approximately one to five
- Egg white tincture helps with the weak development of the plant, when it is used, the leaves turn green, new shoots grow, the flower comes to life before our eyes. Add five proteins to 1 liter of warm water, leave for seven days. Then dilute with water one to ten
- Hydrogen peroxide. A versatile and inexpensive remedy that is sold freely in any pharmacy. If the plant is already completely withered, peroxide simply returns them from the other world. Dilute 25 g, 3% peroxide in a liter of water, spray or water
- Used citrus peels also go to work. They can be dried, and then poured with boiling water, and when the resulting liquid has cooled, you can water the flowers with it. It smells delicious, indoor flowers get sick much less, they are not besieged by pests
Home Remedies 4
Tooth powder as a fertilizer
- If someone's house was lying around dentifrice, then it will come in handy if the soil is too acidic, and this culture does not like it. As a rule, the leaves begin to wither, the flower looks drooping, often this happens in winter, or if the flowers are watered with too cold water.
- Take two tablespoons of wood ash and two tablespoons. tablespoons of tooth powder, also taken 1 tbsp. a spoonful of copper sulfate, add half a glass of water, mix everything, moisten the stem with the resulting solution, slightly pushing the ground at the root of the plant. After the procedure, hold the flower for a week without watering, placing it in a dry place
- Humus. For indoor flowers, it is best to use humus made on the basis of poultry droppings, it is especially suitable for large and fast-growing plants. Humus contains almost all macroelements necessary for plants. It is added to water at the rate of one to one, insisted for at least 10 hours, then it should be filtered and diluted for irrigation
- Aquarium water. By changing the water of the fish, you can feed the flowers at the same time, there are substances in the aquarium water that help the flowers grow more actively, it is better to use such top dressing in the spring. It is recommended to preliminarily settle this water and remove sediment, as particles of some algae species can damage the flower.
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Indoor plantings receive only those nutrients that are in the soil of their pot, their growth and development depends only on how the owner fertilizes and waters them. In order for the flower to grow well, it must be properly looked after.
foliar top dressing
At various periods of their development, plants need good feeding with the necessary fertilizers, this is especially important during the period of active vegetation and before flowering, respectively, microelements are applied only in spring and summer. Plants wean from top dressing during the winter period.
It is best to start fertilizing them little by little, starting around mid-March, for this, take half of the commonly used rate. At the beginning of autumn, a dormant period begins, top dressing should be excluded altogether.
Fertilizers are diluted in a glass container in comfortable water a couple of degrees above room temperature. If the room is cold, then it is not advisable to feed. Tap water has an excess of chlorine, so water must be defended, it is ideal to use soft water, rain, melt, boiled.
How to understand that a green pet needs to be fed?
wilting houseplant
- If there is little nitrogen - the leaves are small, wither, turn pale, top dressing with ammonium sulfate, potassium, calcium, ammonium nitrate, or urea is indicated
- If there is not enough phosphorus, then development slows down, develops worse, leaves change color, become faded
- If there is little potassium in the soil, yellowness appears, flowers do not appear, or they are small and quickly fall off. The plant is more likely to suffer from fungal diseases. Forty percent potassium salt or potassium chloride is used
- Fungal infections, flowering delay, leaf pallor they also often tell the grower about the lack of magnesium
- Sulfur deficiency can cause leaf wilt
- If there is not enough calcium, the flower grows sluggishly, new foliage dies off at the top. It is necessary to add calcium nitrate or calcium sulfide to the top dressing
- iron deficiency causes pale yellow leaves. It is advisable to feed with ferrous chloride or ferrous sulfate
- With a lack of phosphorus the leaves are darker than usual, their edges turn yellow, brown-purple spots appear on them, they curl, fall off. Can help any of the types of superphosphates and phosphate rock
When should plants not be fed?
Plants in large pots fertilize less frequently
- During the dormant period from November to spring
- Plants do not need to be fertilized a couple of weeks before transplanting into fresh soil, and a couple of months after it. An adult specimen in the first month after purchase in a store does not need to be fed either.
- You should not feed the flowers in the heat and heat, it will be much more difficult for them to absorb nutrients, the roots may suffer
- Plants in tubs and large pots are fed less often than in small pots, and indoor flowers that grow quickly feed more abundantly than slow-growing ones.
- Flowering house plants should be saturated with minerals once during the period of laying flower buds, and additionally during budding.
- Before top dressing, be sure to carefully water the ground, only then add the drug, but if you immediately water it with a solution, this can lead to a burn of the root system
- A solution of fertilizers, getting on the foliage, can leave spots and burns on them, it is better not to allow this, unless, of course, this is specifically stipulated in the instructions for use.
- With foliar feeding, the efficiency is much higher if the seedling is not yet a year old, and adult plants absorb such nutrition worse.Many flowers do not like spraying at all - these are almost all types of succulents (aloe, kalanchoe, crassula, zygocactus), palm trees, gesneria species (gloxinia, koleria, saintpaulia, columnea) and many others. But plants from the bromeliad family (tillandsia), on the contrary, feed better through leaf rosettes than through roots.
- Only perfectly healthy specimens are fertilized. If there is damage by pests, then they will multiply even more actively. Sick indoor plants can only be watered with a very weak solution of fertilizers, but it is better to do without fertilizers until recovery
- Fertilizer will have a bad effect on young plants that have not yet had time to take root properly. In general, for young flowers (up to two years old), solutions are made half as weak.
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Flowering houseplants need additional nutrients as soon as the buds appear, it is necessary to continue top dressing until the end of flowering. But you need to carefully monitor the nitrogen content, its excess stimulates the growth of greenery, and flowering slows down.
Organic gerberas are contraindicated
For large and fast-growing specimens, palm trees, lianas, as well as for indoor roses, pelargonium, primrose, asparagus, an infusion of cow dung is very suitable (it is enough to use one tablespoon per liter of water) or bird droppings (one teaspoon).
Some cultures do not tolerate organics at all (for example, gerberas or bulbous and bulbous flowers).
Ornamental plants with beautiful variegated and spotted foliage need to be fed with organic matter carefully, dosing the use of fertilizer, otherwise they risk turning into ordinary green ones.
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Eggshell infusion is rich in calcium and magnesium, it is useful for some flowers, but representatives of the Gesneriaceae species, azaleas, indoor hydrangeas, Saintpaulia violets do not like it very much, as well as hard water immediately from the tap. After such feeding, the disease chlorosis may occur.
Leaf of a houseplant affected by chlorosis
If you are going to feed home flowers, you need to remember well that a lot does not mean good. With an increase in the concentration of fertilizers, the condition of plants can easily become even worse than it was, an excess of nutrients can easily lead to the death of roots, damage and abscission of leaves, a flower can simply die. An overabundance is even worse than a shortage, the fact is that such a glut of soil with fertilizers greatly disrupts the uniform development of indoor plants.
Such an excess of any micro-macro elements can lead to damage to the foliage and the appearance of light or dry spots on the leaves, plants bloom late or do not bloom at all, drop buds, leaves and dry out.
Excess nitrogen causes flowers to grow well and produce new shoots, but flowering may not occur at all.
As for home remedies for feeding, then there are problems.
- Asleep coffee increases the acidity of the soil, brewing tea can cause black flies to attack
- It should be borne in mind that organic feeding has a good effect on plants, but the smell from fermented banana peels, rotten protein or water from fish, meat, or milk, to put it mildly, is very unpleasant. Not only that, the potted soil itself can still smell for quite some time.
- Such products are best used for indoor flowers that are not in the apartment, but placed outdoors, for example, in pots in the garden in summer, or on an open terrace.In many cases, it is indeed much easier to buy ready-made fertilizer in the store.
Fertilizers help the plant become healthy and beautiful. But surely the best fertilizer is the attentive attitude and love of the owner.
6 Natural fertilizers for indoor flowers and more!
Fertilizer for indoor plants. Description of fertilizer types, home dressing recipes (Photo & Video) + Reviews
This article is just a whole guide to caring for home flowers. It was very interesting to read. About five years ago I had a lot of different colors, and now rereading the article I saw that I did a lot of things right, but I also noticed my mistakes in caring for my green pets.
I never trusted pills and sticks and after reading the article I was convinced that I was doing the right thing. I mainly used liquid top dressing, it suited both me and my plants. But I didn’t “treat” with alcohol!)
At one time I was very fond of violets. Two window sills were densely packed with flowering plants, blooming without ceasing all year round. Accidentally broken leaves after a while I turned into young, flowering bushes. Now I'm obsessed with orchids. Learn how to properly care for these beautiful plants.
I also mainly use liquid fertilizers, although my mother is generally against fertilizers, she says. that it is necessary to select the land correctly)) But, however, he digs garlic into the ground of the flowerpot and taught me, but she claims that it is not so against fungal diseases, as the article says, as it has witchcraft, it protects plants from bad energy)) ) Well, I'm still a young modern girl, then I use liquid fertilizers and so far this option suits me perfectly.
Great article!!!
Everything is detailed and accessible!
The rose sheds leaves (already yellowed) and unopened buds. Tell me what to do?
Thanks for the article, everything is described in detail, although there are still personal disagreements.
I am an adherent of natural farming, and I have a negative attitude towards any kind of “mineral water”.
And so I can simply recommend a working (tested on my own experience) remedy: “Rossinka vermicompost concentrate”. Completely environmentally friendly, based on extracts from black soil and unique bacteria (the composition, description, rules of use are on the Internet, Instagram, and I saw it on VK).
Well, of course, we read this article and draw our conclusions, accumulate knowledge and apply it for household use.
After all, they still love a beautiful window sill, and not a couple of “suffocating straws” in pots.
Therefore, we read carefully and put into practice. From here he himself emphasized a little new about fertilizers, their classification, and indeed the article replaces a whole lecture on what to pour into a pot or garden. I think what is stated here is enough to have a strong base and not make mistakes in your work as a gardener, gardener or florist
Most likely dry air in the room. Try to moisten the plant more often.
Thanks for the comprehensive information. I knew a lot about my indoor green “friends”, but I learned even more.
You are welcome! We are pleased to read such comments. ?
Thanks! Everything is extremely simple and clear.
Yeast is a popular household fertilizer for houseplants and flowers. They contain hormones, including cytokinins that regulate cell division, as well as auxins, thiamine, and B vitamins.