Sedum

Succulent stonecrop, or sedum (Sedum) belongs to the Fatty family. The popular name is feverish or hernial herb. The plant is found wild in the Eurasian, South and North American, and African territories, it grows in a meadow and a dry slope. The name sedum comes from "sedo", which means "to calm down" in Latin, because the leaves were used as a pain reliever in some species. There is a legend about how the son of Hercules, Telefos, with the help of this flower healed a severe wound inflicted by the spear of Achilles. At the moment, there are more than three hundred varieties of stonecrop, and only about one hundred varieties are cultivated in cultivated form, and there are also many hybrid varieties and pure varieties. Among them there is vegetation for the garden, for example, sedum "Bolshoi", and there are also house plants, for example, sedum "Morgana".

Briefly about the cultivation of stonecrop.

• Planting. Sowing sedum seeds for seedlings is carried out on March or April days, seedlings are transplanted in open conditions at the end of May.
• The plant blooms in summer and autumn.
• Illumination level. Semi-shaded place, diffused or sunlight.
• The soil. Any, even stony, is suitable, but organic matter is necessarily introduced into it before planting.
• Watering. Usually, the plant also has enough water from precipitation, but if the dry period is long, then regular watering is required.
• Top dressing. In spring and autumn, feeding is carried out using a solution of organic fertilizer or a complex of minerals (infusion of mullein in a ratio of 1:10 or bird droppings in a ratio of 1:20). Fresh manure is not recommended.
• Reproduction methods. Dividing the bush, cuttings, the seed method is rarely used.
• Pests: weevil, aphid, thrips, sawfly caterpillar.
• Diseases. Fungal rot.
• Quality. Some varieties have healing properties against inflammation, for stimulation, plants also heal wounds, fight tumors, regenerate damaged areas, stop blood and tone the body.

Plant characteristics.

The sedum is a herbaceous succulent, it can be perennial or biennial, it is a shrub or semi-shrub. The leaves are arranged in turn, juicy, whole, completely sitting on the stem, opposite or whorled, they can also be of different types, sizes, colors. The inflorescences are located on the sides or at the top of the shoot, they can be in the form of an umbrella, shield or tassel, they contain flowers in the form of stars of both sexes of different colors. Sedum blooms in summer or autumn. The sedum is a wonderful melliferous vegetation that attracts bees to the territory. Under indoor conditions, tropical sedum is usually cultivated, perennials are cultivated in gardens, which are resistant to frost periods, having vertical or creeping shoots. All varieties are drought tolerant and light-loving, but they thrive well in small shade. Sedum is a related plant of Kalanchoe, rejuvenated, echeveria and spotted petals.

Seed cultivation.

Sowing.

In the open air, sedum can be grown from seeds in seedlings. Sowing of seeds is carried out on March or April days, the interval between them should be forty to fifty mm.For this purpose, containers or boxes are used that are filled with a soil substrate, which includes sand and garden soil, on top of them they are filled with sand into coarse grain. The plantings are carefully sprayed, then covered with polyethylene or glass on top, and then put into the refrigerator to stratify, the temperature should be in the range from zero to five degrees. When crops are in the refrigerator, they are ventilated daily, and accumulated condensate is removed from the covering material. The substrate should always be slightly damp. Fifteen days later, the plantings are placed on the window, and a temperature regime of about eighteen to twenty degrees is required. The appearance of the first shoots usually occurs after half a month or a month, until this moment the plantings are regularly ventilated, water droplets are removed from the covering material, the substrate is sprayed after it dries.

Sowing grains for seedlings is allowed under the winter season. The procedure is carried out in the same way as described above, but the plantings are not placed in the refrigerator, but transferred to greenhouse conditions or buried in the soil, under these conditions the grains are stratified in the natural environment. Plantings are brought indoors on April days so that they germinate.

How to grow seedlings.

Stonecrop shoots are very small in size. After the seedlings appear in large quantities, the covering material is removed from the container. Seedlings dive in separate small containers when a second true leaf is formed. Seedling care is simple, you need regular watering and light loosening of the surface soil layer. A week before transplanting under the open sky, the seedlings begin to harden, for this purpose they are daily transferred to outdoor conditions, the hardening duration increases each time.

Planting in open conditions.

Landing time in open conditions.

Seedlings are planted under the open sky at the end of May after repeated frosts in spring cease to threaten. Sedum is an unpretentious flower, for this reason it can be cultivated both in a well-lit area and in a semi-shaded place, but it grows better in good light. The place should be open and far from shrubs and trees whose leaves fall off, because if the bushes are covered with leaves in the autumn season, then when the spring season comes, they will not break through them.

Planting rules.

Sedum is undemanding to the composition of the soil, it can be cultivated even on stony soil, but for the showiness of the bushes, organic matter (compost fertilizer or humus) is introduced into the soil before planting. Pits are dug in the soil for planting, and the interval between them should be about twenty cm, then seedlings are transplanted into the holes. Planted seedlings need to be watered abundantly. Plants that are grown by seed bloom in the second or third year.

Agrotechnics in the garden.

When growing sedum in your garden, fairly frequent weeding is required. But there is a variety of "Caustic soda" that can independently cope with all weeds, so it is often used to frame alpine slides and flower beds. But almost all other varieties suffer from weeds, for this reason, its timely removal is required. Plants are watered only during a long dry period. Watch how the stems grow, they should be shortened in time to avoid overgrowth. To preserve the decorative appearance of the bushes, inflorescences and leaves that have begun to wilt are immediately removed, and all the stems are cut out from bushes with shoots of different colors. In spring and autumn, sedum is fertilized with a complex of minerals or liquid organic matter (bird droppings in a ratio of 1:20 or mullein in a ratio of 1:10). Fresh manure is not applied.

Reproduction methods.

Seed propagation is described above. Stonecrop can be cultivated from self-collected grains, but it may not inherit the features of the mother flower. It is possible to propagate by seeds only for the first cultivation, and with the help of this method, new varieties can be derived. For propagation of varieties, it is advisable to use bush division or cuttings.

Cuttings of ground cover can be cut before or after flowering bushes. The cuttings are cut from the stems, the cutting should be about ten cm long, all the leaves at the bottom are cut off, then planted in a loose substrate for rooting, and at least one node is imperatively buried in the soil mixture. After the cutting is rooted, it is transplanted to a permanent position. In the spring, cuttings are immediately planted under the open sky. In the fall, several stalks are cut off, then they are removed into a vase, like a bunch, and you need to ensure that no liquid stagnation occurs, and the water needs to be changed regularly. When spring comes, all cuttings should already have roots, after which they are planted in open conditions. If the rooting of cuttings occurs in January, then they are planted in individual containers, and in the spring they are transferred into open soil permanently.

Do not forget that immediately on the site you can root any fragment of the stem or the entire shoot completely. The surface soil layer, which is located directly under the stems, is cleared of weeds, then fertilizing is applied to the soil, the soil is leveled and compacted. After that, several stems are pressed against the surface layer of the prepared place, on top of them they are covered with soil substrate, which includes sand and garden soil, then it is all lightly pressed. The survival rate of cuttings with this method is seven to ten out of ten.

Bushes of strong growth and vegetation older than four to five years of age reproduce by division. To this end, in the first days of spring, the bush is removed from the soil, the rhizome is cleared of the ground, after which the plant is divided into several fragments, given that each separated part must have buds and roots. The sections are treated with a fungicide, after which the cuttings are removed in the cool to dry, they are there for several hours. Further, the separated parts are planted directly on a constant.

Transplanting.

On one site, the plant is grown for a maximum of five years, after this age, it necessarily rejuvenates. First, all the old stems are cut off, then a new substrate and top dressing are poured under the rhizome, but, if possible, the sedum is transplanted. Usually, at the time of transplanting, the plant is divided into fragments. The algorithm of work is given above.

Diseases and harmful insects.

This plant has a very high immunity to diseases and pests. But he may have difficulties, for example, if you water too often and abundantly, or during a cold summer season with rains. Then stonecrop can be struck by a fungal infection. The first symptom of the disease is that dark spots appeared on the leaves. You can get rid of the disease by treating the bush with a fungicide. Severely affected bushes are removed from the ground and destroyed.

The sedum plant can be home to aphids, sawfly caterpillars, weevils and thrips. To get rid of weevils, it is required to collect them by hand, for this purpose, white material is spread under the plant, and at night, when illuminated by a lantern, harmful insects are shaken off the bush, and after that they are destroyed. To combat false caterpillars, aphids and thrips, stonecrop is sprayed with an insectoacaricidal solution, for example, Actellik.

Plant after flowering.

How to collect seeds.

Before harvesting grains, keep in mind that plants grown from them will not retain the varietal characteristics of the mother.Do not forget that such vegetation blooms until severe frosty periods, in the winter season it leaves with green leaves, this can also cause difficulties in collecting seeds. Also, do not forget that sedum can simply be propagated by cuttings or by dividing the bush.

Preparing for the winter season.

After the retreat of the first serious cold snaps, the plant is cut off, above the surface soil layer there are segments that do not exceed thirty to forty mm in length. The scraps are covered with earth. Trimmed stems can be rooted, and in the spring they can be planted permanently in open conditions. If you like the look of sedum, which is covered with snow, then you do not need to prune. But keep in mind that when the spring season comes, the bush is still cut off, because there was a loss of its decorative effect.

Varieties of culture.

All varieties of sedum can be divided into sedum ground covers (Sedum) and sedum plants (Hylotelephium), which are plants of a higher stature, they are allocated in the sedum subgenus. The most popular varieties among florists, a description of which will be presented below.

Sedum "Big" (Sedum telephium),

or sedum "Medicinal", or sedum "Telephium" (Hylotelephium triphyllum), or sedum "Purple" (Sedum purpureum), or leguminous grass, or crow lard, or live grass, or hare cabbage.

This perennial plant is a melliferous plant, growing up to twenty five to thirty cm. The shoots are vertical and thickened. Leaves in the form of an oval, flattened, sedentary completely, can be located opposite or alternately, their edges in the form of denticles. Sedum blooms from the very height of summer until its end. At the top of the shoots, corymbose-paniculate inflorescences are formed, which are distinguished by their splendor and consist of yellow-green or red flowers. This flower is found wild in the temperate latitudes of the European and Asian territories, it likes to grow in meadows, in a pine forest, at the edge of a forest, in a bush, on the slope of a ravine. This medicinal variety is used in folk medicine as a tonic and strengthening drug. This variety has several subcategories: common legume - dark purple flowers; ordinary large - flowers of green-white or yellow-white colors; ordinary ordinary - unlike the ordinary large, the leaves of this category of plants become already at the base; ordinary Ruprecht - inflorescences are painted in a creamy white shade.

As a result of breeding work, the world saw many varieties of this variety, and almost all of them are popular among gardeners and florists as cultivated vegetation. The most popular varieties will be presented below.

"Matron". A strong bush reaches up to about sixty cm. Shoots of its dark purple color, large leaves appear on them, painted in a greenish-blue color, later their edges are repainted in red. The flowers are pinkish.

"Black Jack". The bush grows to about forty cm. The leaves are colored purple-blue. Compacted inflorescences contain pink flowers.

Linda Windsor. The shoots grow vertically, are painted in maroon, the leaves are dark red, the flowers are ruby ​​in color.

Strawberry and Cream. The hybrid grows to about forty cm. The leaves are green, the buds are pinkish-red, and the flowers are creamy, so the inflorescences look like they have two colors.

"Picolette". The bush is compact, stretching up to about thirty cm, it is decorated with small leaves, painted in a bronze-red color, which are cast with a shade of metal. The inflorescences are compacted, contain pink flowers.

Also among the most popular among flower growers are the following varietal varieties: "Ruby Glow", "Rosie Glow", "Bon-Bon", "Vera Jameson", "Green Expectations", "Gooseberry Full", "Heb Gray", "Crazy Raffles", Xenox and others.

Sedum "White" (Sedum album),

or a soap box, or an apiary, or a six-weekday, or living grass, or God's color.

This species grows wild in the Caucasian, Asia Minor, Russian, West European and North African territories. This variety was given such a name for the reason that its fragrant flowers are white in color, they form panicle inflorescences, consisting of not one branch, but of several. This evergreen perennial forms a carpet that reaches about fifty mm in height, its vegetative branches are shortened, they are covered with dense leaves in the form of an oval or ellipse, they are twisted, about ten cm in length.This variety has several subspecies, presented below.

White small-flowered - inflorescences of white coloration, leaves in the form of a ball, green in color, never repainted in red.

White wall - the bush blooms luxuriantly, has pink inflorescences and leaves of bronze or purple colors.

White wall Christatum - the ends of the stems grow, densely covered with leaves.

The varieties that are most popular with gardeners and florists:

Coral Carpet. The plant only grows up to fifty mm. The leaves of its pale red color in the fall are repainted in a red tint.

France. The bush is tall, decorated with elongated green leaves; under the bright sun, the color changes to pink.

"Laconicum". The bush is tall, luxuriantly decorated with sessile green leaves, the color can sometimes change to red.

Sedum acre,

or lambs, or goose soap, or wild pepper, or feverish grass, or younger, or pimple, or blush, or guillemot, or vigorous.

This variety can be found wild in the West Siberian, Asia Minor, Russian, Caucasian and North American territories. When the juice of this plant gets on the skin, ulcers may appear, which is why the variety is named so. The bush grows up to ten cm, the shoots are branched and rounded. Bare leaves are juicy, arranged in turn, painted in green color, in length they stretch to about sixty cm. The leaves do not fall off even in winter. Half-umbilical inflorescences contain flowers of a yellow-golden color, reaching about fifteen mm in diameter. This variety has a large number of different subspecies.

"Aureum" - the ends of the stems of this subspecies in the spring are painted in a light yellow color.

"Minus" - a subspecies of low stature, with thick small leaves.

"Elegance" - a bush of low stature, decorated with variegated leaves that curl.

Sedum "False" (Sedum spurium).

This variety can be found wild in the subalpine meadow, on the Turkish, Caucasian and Iranian slopes of the rocks. Perennial is resistant to frosty periods, it is distinguished by an elongated creeping rhizome. Shoots rise or spread. The leaves are juicy, plump, arranged oppositely, painted in a dark green color, in the form of an egg, their edges in the form of thick denticles or towns. The scutellum inflorescence is distinguished by its splendor, contains flowers of purple or pink color. Cultivation of this variety began in 1816. The most popular varieties are presented below.

"Album" - the flowers are painted white, the leaves are green.

"Bronze Carpet" - inflorescences are painted in pink, the leaves change color to bronze by the autumn season.

"Ruby Mantle" - purple inflorescences, leaves - dark red.

"Shorbuzer Bluet" - in the spring the bush is covered with leaves with a red border, in the autumn season, the leaves themselves are painted in a red tint.

Also, gardeners cultivate the following varietal varieties: "Erd Bluet", "Fulda Glut", "Purpureppih", "Koktsineum", "Roseum", "Salmoneum" and others.

Sedum "Prominent" (Hylotelephium spectabile), or sedum "Prominent".

This variety comes from Japanese, North Korean territories, as well as from the northeast of the Chinese country. The bush grows to about half a meter, its rhizome is in the form of a tuber and is thick. Shoots are vertical, decorated with large, bare, sitting leaves of green-blue color, in the form of an oval or a shovel, their edges are in the form of teeth. The half-umbel inflorescences are about fifteen cm in cross section, they contain flowers that are ten mm in diameter, painted in pinkish-lilac or carmine-purple colors. In the Asian territory, this flower has been cultivated for a very long time, and in Europe since 1853. Gardeners cultivate many varietal species.

"Iceberg" - a bush grows up to thirty-five cm, white inflorescences.

"Brilliant" is an old variety, the inflorescences consist of pink flowers with bright anthers and bright pink carpels.

"Septemberglut" - large inflorescences, contain small flowers of dark pink color.

"Stardust", "Snow Queen" - white inflorescences.

"Meteor", "Carmen" - varieties are similar to each other, flowers of their purple color.

"Autumn Faye" - a bush grows up to half a meter, leaves of gray-green color, copper flowers.

"Neon" - the plant grows up to thirty-five cm, decorated with large inflorescences of bright pink color.

Also considered cultivated are such sedums: spatulate, Alberta, pale yellow, hybrid, thick-leaved, subulate, Forster, thin, multi-stemmed, Kamchatka, linear, carneum, vine-shaped, Middendorf, bent, annual, thin, Troll, six-rowed and others.

In frequent cases, the following varieties are grown: white-pink, anakampseros, blanching, Caucasian, Tatarinova, whorled, backyard, viviparous, Zibolda, false-representative, poplar, Ussuri.

Why is sedum useful and harmful?

Medicinal qualities of sedum.

Alternative medicine uses these healing varieties of sedum: prominent, common (large and purple), caustic.

Sedum "Ordinary" is directed against inflammation, tumors, to stimulate the body, heals wounds, regenerates, stops blood and tones. This variety is a strong biogenic stimulant, exceeding its active effect of aloe, and the effect on the body is very mild, there are no side effects.

Sedum "Bolshoi" is used as an adjuvant in the treatment of pneumonia, bronchitis, hepatitis, wounds that cannot heal, trophic ulcers, impotence, diseases of the nervous system, kidneys and bladder, oncology.

Sedum "Vidny" is used for the treatment of anemia, epilepsy, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, ischemia and pulmonary insufficiency. It stops bleeding, relieves inflammation and pain, neutralizes microbial and bacterial effects, helps to remove phlegm, removes toxins, restores mobility in joints, lowers blood pressure, calms nerves, heals wounds, dilates blood vessels, stimulates the endocrine system, lowers cholesterol, strengthens immunity.

Sedum "Caustic" is irritating and diuretic. It is used to cure malaria, increase intestinal motility, increase blood pressure, heal wounds, burns and ulcers, cure upper respiratory tract catarrh, dropsy, anemia, jaundice, tuberculosis of the skin in a child.The drugs, which are based on this type, are used for pain relief.

Who is contraindicated.

Only the "Caustic" sedum has contraindications, since its juice gives an irritating effect. Forbidden for people with hypertension and pregnant women. When applied externally, the skin may experience a burning sensation, be irritated or reddened, and when taken internally, the juice can cause nausea. Therefore, before using the "Caustic" sedum, consult a specialist.