Washingtonia

Photo of Washington in a pot

Washingtonia (Washingtonia) - a genus of perennial woody plants from the Palm family (Arecaceae). The birthplace of Washington is the subtropics of the USA and Mexico.

In appearance, the plant is a fan palm. The leaves are split into numerous segments that diverge from the base of the plate.

Under natural conditions, the diameter of palm leaves reaches 1.5 m or more, the trunk length is up to 30 m. When kept in a container, Washington grows to 1.5-4 m. The growth rate is average. Life expectancy for indoor cultivation reaches 10 years or more.

At home, the plant rarely blooms, in natural blooms for 10-15 years of life. Inflorescences are long panicles.

Also pay attention to other Yucca palms and Fortune trachicarpus.

	Average growth rate.
	It blooms very rarely in the summer.
	The plant is easy to grow.
	Perennial plant, with good care about 15 years.

Useful properties of Washington

Thanks to the large leaf area, Washington moisturizes the air well. Grown as a decorative foliage plant. The fan palm is not so often found in room culture because of its large size. It is used for landscaping spacious rooms, offices, halls of hospitals and hotels, etc. Helps create a soothing, aesthetically pleasing environment.

Features of home care. Briefly

Briefly consider the basic requirements for growing Washington at home:

Temperature	Moderate: in winter at least 12 aboutC, in summer - up to 25 aboutFROM.
Air humidity	Elevated. When kept in a room with heating, spraying is needed.
Lighting	Diffused light without direct sunlight.
Watering	In spring and summer - plentiful. In winter, the soil is kept slightly moist.
Priming	It grows well in the finished soil for palm trees. Necessarily need drainage.
Fertilizer and fertilizer	During the growth period from spring to autumn, liquid complex fertilizers for palm trees are applied.
Transfer	Carried out only in case of emergency, if the roots do not fit into the pot. Like all palm trees, Washington does not like to be bothered.
Breeding	Seeds germinate under the film at a temperature not lower than 25aboutC. The time of appearance of the first leaf is 2-3 months after sowing.
Growing Features	In summer, it can be taken out into the open air. Shade from the direct sun.

Home care for washingtonia: detailed instructions

In order for the cultivation to succeed, it is necessary to comply with some requirements. Like other palm trees, Washington at home needs a cool wintering and humid summer air.

Bloom

At home, even under good conditions, the palm of Washington blooms extremely rarely. In nature, inflorescences are formed on the plant - long cobs exuding a strong aroma.

Flowering occurs on the Black Sea coast in June, and fruit ripening in November.

Temperature mode

In winter and summer, they maintain different temperatures. Optimum performance: summer 22-25 ^aboutWith no overheating, in winter - no lower than 12 ^aboutFROM. In summer, the plant is taken out to the open balcony or to the garden. Home Washington should be protected from frost and cold drafts.

Interesting! An adult plant growing on the street can withstand temperatures down to -5-6 ^aboutFROM.

In the Russian climate, Washington in open ground grows on the Black Sea coast (Sochi). But even there for the winter she needs shelter.

Spraying

Washington requires humid air. Therefore, it must be regularly sprayed with warm water. It is better to do this in the morning, so that all the droplets dry up before the evening. Adult leaves are sometimes wiped with a damp sponge. In a heated room, a container with a plant is installed at a distance from the battery.

Advice! You can increase the air humidity next to the plant if you put a pot with a palm tree in a tray with wet expanded clay. Another option is to keep an open container of water near Washington.

Lighting

It is a mistake to consider Washington a lover of the tropical sun. She needs bright diffused light without direct sunlight. Penumbra is permissible. To ensure such conditions, it is enough to keep the palm at a distance of 1.2-1.5 m from the solar window or next to the western or eastern window.

Advice! If in winter there is not enough natural sunlight, you need to provide the plant with artificial lighting.

Watering

Washington is watered sparingly, but year-round. In summer and spring abundant enough, keeping the soil slightly moist all the time. In winter, watering is reduced: after drying of the top soil layer to a depth of 1 cm, wait another 1-2 days. The watering regime during cold wintering is reduced to 1-3 times a month.

The palm does not tolerate stagnation of water at the roots. Therefore, overflow can lead to complete decay of the root system and death of the plant. An excess of moisture is especially dangerous in the cold winter, when the absorbency of the roots decreases.

Pot for washington

Washingtonia No special requirements for the pot. Selection options are standard. The size of the pot should correspond to the root system of the plant: when planting between an earthen lump with the roots and walls of the pot, 1.5-2 cm should remain. When growing a palm from seeds, the first pot for a young sprout is taken with a diameter of 6-9 cm, gradually increasing its size with each transplant.

The choice between plastic and ceramic containers is based on the personal preferences of the grower. The only requirement is that Washington needs good drainage, so the pot must have a hole in the bottom to remove excess moisture.

Interesting! Plants in ceramic pots require more frequent watering than plants in plastic. When changing a plastic pot to pottery care for Washington at home should be adjusted.

Priming

The earth is selected so that it passes water and air well to the roots. The best special soil for palm trees from a trusted manufacturer. You can also make the soil yourself. To do this, you need turf, leaf and humus earth, sand in a ratio of 4: 2: 2: 1. To loosen the soil, perlite or vermiculite is added to it.

Fertilizer and fertilizer

Regular top dressing is required for a good Washington growth, as the nutrient content in the soil decreases over time. Fertilize in spring to fall, that is, during the growth period. In winter, do not feed. Use complex mineral fertilizers for palm trees. If there were no such people in the store, you can take universal fertilizer for ornamental and deciduous plants.

The dose and frequency of application depends on the specific product and is indicated by the manufacturer on the package with fertilizer. It is usually enough to feed a palm tree every 10-14 days with watering.

Important! Concentrated fertilizing and top dressing without watering can burn the roots and destroy the plant.

Washington transplant

Like all palm trees, Washington is extremely sensitive to transplants, so they need to be carried out only if absolutely necessary. The first 5 years of life, the plant is transplanted every 1-2 years into a larger diameter pot.

An adult plant needs a transplant if the roots have climbed onto the surface of the pot or have grown through drainage holes. After transplantation, provide good care for Washington. In other cases, it is sufficient to change the topsoil annually.

A palm transplant is carried out in the spring, so that the roots have time to develop and adapt to the new pot before the onset of cold weather. Procedure:

1. If the pot was previously used, it is thoroughly washed. A new clay pot is soaked overnight in water.
2. A drainage layer of up to до pot must be poured onto the bottom of the tank.
3. The plant is watered and removed from the old container with an earthen lump.
4. Carefully spread the lower roots with your hands, if possible.
5. Install a palm on a layer of new earth in a new container, gradually filling the gaps between the walls. The soil around the earthen coma is crushed.
6. The plant is watered again and harvested for a week in the shade for adaptation. After that, they return to their usual place.

Pruning

As the palm grows, the lower leaves turn yellow and dry. This is a natural process. Fully dried leaves are pruned.

Important! The only growth point in palm trees is at the top of the stem. If the stem is cut off, the plant will not give lateral shoots and die.

Rest period

The plant does not have a pronounced dormant period. Seasonal feature content - compliance with temperature and water conditions.

If on vacation

In winter, you can leave the palm unattended for 1-2 weeks. Before leaving, the plant is watered and cleaned in the center of the room away from bright light and heating appliances. In summer, it is better not to leave a palm tree unattended for longer than a week. If the vacation is longer, you can arrange with friends or use the automatic watering systems.

Growing Washington from Seeds

Propagate the plant only by seeds. They can be bought in specialized stores. Sowing is carried out in the spring-summer period.

Procedure:

1. To accelerate the germination of seeds, a thick shell is slightly filed with sandpaper or a nail file, not reaching the inside. Then the seeds are soaked in warm water for 2-7 days. Water is changed daily.
2. Soaked seeds are sown in a loose substrate from a mixture of earth with peat and sand to a depth of 1 cm.
3. The container is covered with a film or glass on top.
4. Seeds are cleaned in a warm place. For successful germination, you need a temperature of 25-30 ^aboutFROM.
5. Every day, glass or film is removed to ventilate the container. The substrate is kept moist by spraying the surface.
6. The rate of germination of sprouts depends on the freshness of the seeds. Young sprout in 15-20 days. Old sprout 2-3 months.
7. After seed germination, the container is rearranged in a bright, warm place.
8. Seedlings dive into separate pots after the appearance of 2 real leaves.

Diseases and Pests

The main difficulties that flower growers encounter when growing palm trees mainly happen when improperly maintained:

• Leaves washington turn yellow - insufficient watering or lack of nutrients. In summer, the roots of the palm should not dry out.
• Brown leaf tips - dry air. The plant needs to be sprayed more often. Lack of watering or cold air may also cause dry tips.
• Light dry spots on the leaves - excess light.
• Pouring washington wither and darken - Too low air temperature.
• The top kidney rot - overflow, too heavy waterlogged soil.
• Rotting of the trunk - overflow, stagnation of water in a pot.
• The tips of the leaves are dry - dry air and insufficient watering.
• Dark dots appeared on the leaves - Spotting is often associated with overflows or a sudden drop in temperature. When dark spots appear, pests must be excluded (this can be a spider mite).

Of the pests, palm trees are affected by spider mites, scale insects, and mealybug.

Types of Washington home with photos and names

Washingtonia fibrous or nitenous (Washingtonia filifera)

Palm tree up to 25 m in natural conditions. When kept in a container, it grows to 2-3 m. The leaves are fan-shaped, grayish-green. At the ends of the leaf segments there are thin white filament yarns.

Washingtonia is powerful or "in a children's skirt" (Washingtonia robusta)

The view is very close to W. filifera. On the petiole of the leaf along the entire length are thorns. The life span of each leaf is 3 years. The remains of dead leaves on the trunk form a shell that resembles a skirt.

Watch the video: How fast does a Washingtonia robusta grow ? (May 2024).