Vriezia

Vriezia is an unusual indoor plant with amazing decorative properties. The flower is very bright, beautiful, capable of attracting everyone's attention. Its distinctive characteristic feature is a colorful "feather", an unusual peduncle with bracts of different colors - yellow, orange or scarlet. Also, the leaves, which are painted in dark green, look very impressive. Vriezia is considered a whimsical culture. In order for it to bloom with rich colors, certain agrotechnical rules must be observed.

Vriezia cultivation

• Flowering stage.
  At the stage when the plant blooms, small flowers appear on the bracts, painted in white or yellow colors. But they are soon withered. Bracts of orange and deep red color do not fade for several months. Dried bracts should be trimmed. After the vriezia fades, babies appear.
  The culture usually blooms in the summer. Also, consider the planting time of the vriese. If there is no flowering, do not worry. After all, you can make flowering stimulation. It's simple. The culture begins to bloom when ethylene gas is released. Several apples and bananas are placed near the plant, then they are covered with polyethylene or a cap to prevent the gas from escaping. However, if you follow the proper care of the flower, then this procedure will not need to be carried out.
  In frequent cases, there is no flowering under cool conditions. If you keep the plant in a cold place, then it will bloom at a slow rate or not at all. Moreover, there will be a good development of children, with the help of them, reproduction of vriezia is carried out in the future.
• Temperature conditions.
  This culture loves when there is a lot of warmth and light. The best option for keeping it is a warm place with a constant temperature regime. Good health in the spring and summer season will be observed under temperature conditions in the range of 22-26 degrees. In the autumn and winter seasons, the flower will be comfortable at a temperature of 18-20 degrees. The heat on summer days can kill the plant.
• Illumination level.
  All year long, a tropical beauty needs a lot of light. In the winter season, the vriezia is removed to the window on the south side. At the onset of the summer season, the plant is rearranged on the windowsill from the east side (if not, then from the west). The flower should be protected from the direct sun. Otherwise, the leaves will not be so decorative, the pattern may disappear.
  This crop can tolerate shaded areas. If the flower is placed on the southern windowsill, then it is better to move it deeper into the room to provide diffused light.
• Watering, air humidity.
  The culture needs systematic watering and constant maintenance of moisture in the outlet. In the summer season, the soil in the container should always be moistened. And you should remember about filling the outlet with water. If the inflorescence has just begun to grow, then there should be no water in the outlet in order to avoid inflorescence decay. In the summer, watering is carried out three to four times every seven days. Every three days, the water in the outlet is changed, the old water is removed with a cloth or napkin. In winter, the amount of watering is reduced. Watering is carried out when the surface soil layer dries up, about one to two times every seven days. Under low temperature conditions in the room, the outlet must be dry. If the room has a warm microclimate, water remains in the outlet for several hours a day.
  You need to water with soft water, room temperature.Water after rain or settled water is suitable for a tropical beauty. It should not have lime impurities, otherwise the leaves will be covered with lime. If there is water in the pan after watering, then it must be drained.
  An important factor for the plant is constant moisture. To maintain it, the container is lined with moss, or pebbles or raw expanded clay are poured into the pallet. An important procedure is the regular spraying of the flower with lukewarm water. When spraying, water should not get on the bracts. In the winter season, the container must be placed further from the batteries. It is required to artificially humidify the room.
• Fertilization.
  This plant does not require constant feeding. Before flowering, it is recommended to fertilize it with an orchid complex. The mixture is not introduced into the soil, because the root system is not actively feeding the flower. Top dressing is carried out on a sheet or in an outlet. The mixture is diluted in water, the plant is sprayed, or the solution is poured into an outlet.
• Transplanting.
  After acquisition, blooming vriezia is not transplanted. Young plants are transplanted every two years before flowering. An adult flower is transplanted once every three to five years after flowering. The soil must be loosened, air must penetrate well into it. The soil mixture contains peat, sand, sod soil in a proportional ratio of 1: 1: 1, as well as 2 parts of sheet soil. Sphagnum moss will improve the qualitative composition of the soil substrate. The plant can be planted in a wide, shallow container. 1/3 of the tank is filled with expanded clay or brick chips to ensure a good drainage layer.
• Reproduction methods.
  The flower is propagated by two methods - seeds and children. Seed propagation is a very laborious task, it cannot always justify the result. When growing a plant at home, it is not so easy to remove grain. It is also not guaranteed that if you buy seeds from a specialty store, they will be good. With the seed method, the flowering of vriezia will begin only after five to ten years.
  The optimal method to propagate a plant is with the help of children or shoots. It is also suitable for beginner flower growers. Usually, the appearance of shoots occurs after the vriezia has faded. Young children do not have their own root system. For full growth and development, do not immediately separate them from their mother. If left on for a couple of years, they will adapt better. The best size of children that can be separated is 1/3 of the height of the mother. These babies already have their own root system. In order to transplant the children, a soil mixture is prepared, which contains 3 parts of leafy soil, 1 part of pine bark and sand. For young seedlings, a constant temperature regime is maintained within 23-24 degrees and increased moisture content. These conditions are created when plants are placed in a greenhouse regime. Or a young vriezia is covered with polyethylene. In the greenhouse mode, the flower is kept for 3-4 weeks. This method of reproduction will allow the culture to bloom after 5 years.

Harmful insects and diseases

The main enemy of the flower can be considered the bromeliad scale. They get rid of it like this: with the help of a soft cloth, it is removed from the inside of the foliage with soapy water.
Less often, the foliage is affected by a fungal infection, this ends with blackening of the leaves. To avoid illness, the plant pot is moved to a well-ventilated area. If the sun's rays burned Vriezia, then it becomes covered with brown stains. This means that the container needs to be hidden further from the window. If the air in the room is dry, then the dried ends of the leaves of a dark shade appear. If the foliage and inflorescences turn pale, therefore, the tropical beauty needs good lighting.

Vriezia varieties

• Vriesea "Perforated" (Vriesea fenestralis).
  The leaves grow up to 0.4 m in length, 7 cm in width, the foliage is painted in a light green color, has many dark green veins, a large number of stripes along and across the area. The leaf is smooth at the top, fine-flaked at the bottom, and brown-red at the top. The inflorescence grows up to 0.5 m in length and up to nine cm in width. The flowers are light yellow in color, the bracts are covered with spots of green and dark brown tones. The plant grows in Brazilian latitudes. It is an ornamental variety. It is cultivated in insulated greenhouses.
  
• Vriesea gigantea.
  The leaves are in a rosette, which rises in the form of a glass above the surface soil layer, shortened, in the form of belts, powerful, painted in a dark green color, covered with spots of light yellow on top, reddish-lilac below. The inflorescence is paniculate, weakly developed, reaching two meters in length (panicle up to 1.3 m in length). The petals are wide, bell-shaped, yellow. The variety grows in the Brazilian humid tropics. The variety is decorative. It is cultivated in insulated greenhouses.
• Vriesea "Large" (Vriesea imperialis).
  The leaves in the rosette are large, reach one and a half meters in length, up to 10-12 cm in width, are painted green, twisted at the top. The peduncle is powerful, covered with a large number of leaves. The inflorescence is paniculate, branches, all branches are in dense flowers (35-40 pieces). The flowers are large, 15-17 cm long, yellowish-white in color, the bracts are painted red or green. You can meet the plant in the humid Brazilian tropics.
• Vriesea hieroglyphica.
  The plant grows on the South American continent. A perennial flower that grows up to one meter. The stem is short, empty. The leaves are glossy, deep green in color, grow up to 75 cm in length, 8 cm in width, have black streaks, collected in a basal rosette. Flowers are yellow, tubular.
  
• Vriesea psittacina.
  The leaves are elongated, linear, sharp, widening at the base, the edges are intact, the color of the foliage is green. The peduncle is colored deep red. The arrangement of flowers in the inflorescence is not so dense, the calyx is yellow, the corolla is green, the petals are narrow, the bracts are red at the bottom, orange-yellow at the top. This species grows in the Brazilian humid tropics.
• Vriesea "Royal" (Vriesea regina).
  The flower is big. The leaves in the rosette are elongated and wide, stretching up to 1.3 m in length, 15-18 cm in width, painted in a grayish-green color, shiny, their top is slightly curled. The peduncle reaches up to two meters in height. Inflorescence - paniculate, branches (branches droop). At first, the color of the flowers is white, later - yellowing, the flowers emit a pleasant aroma, the bracts are in the form of a boat, wide, painted in a pink tint. You can find a plant in the Brazilian humid tropics.
• Vriesea "Sanders" (Vriesea saundersii).
  Lives on the South American mainland. Perennial plant, growing up to 0.4 m. The stem is shortened, empty. The leaves are leathery, glossy, grayish-green in color, hard, collected in a basal rosette, their lower part has a purpleish tint. Flowers are yellow in color, tubular, surrounded by bruises of a rich yellow tone.
  
• Vriesea splendens major.
  The leaves are in a large rosette, its diameter is 0.6-0.8 m. The leaves are wide, their width is 8-10 cm, they are colored light green, covered with stripes of brown-red color. The inflorescence is large, reaching up to 0.7-0.8 m, bracts of a light red hue.
• Vriesea "Beautiful" (Vriesea splendens var. Splendens).
  Ground flower or epiphyte. The leaves are wide, lanceolate, dark green in color, have dark purple stripes and spots across the surface, their tops are bent down. The inflorescence is spike-shaped, xiphoid, flattened.The arrangement of flowers occurs in 2 rows, the flowers themselves are yellow, the bracts are scarlet-red, shiny. The flower grows in the tropics of Guiana.
• Vriesea carinata Wawra.
  Grows in the East Brasilian forests. The flower is terrestrial or epiphyte. The leaves grow up to 0.2 m in length and up to 3 cm in width, the rosette is in the form of a funnel. Leaves on both sides are covered with scales, which are slightly noticeable, wide, linear, non-rigid, pale green in color, there is no pattern. Peduncle grows up to 0.3 m, vertical or drooping, thin; the inflorescence is shortened and wide, has a notch in the form of a triangle at the apex, on which there are few flowers and there is a crank axis. Bracts are straight, densely covering the axis, narrow, thin, have a sharp keel, pinkish tint, tip and edge of yellow or yellowish-green color. The flowers are compressed, the pedicels are shortened, the flowers are yellow, green at the top, grow up to 6 cm. Flowering occurs in the first or second summer month, repeated in November-December days. There are many hybrid varieties. Most of them bloom for a long time.
  
• Vriesea "Shiny" (Vriesea splendens).
  Terrestrial flower or epiphyte. The leaves are small in number, they are in the form of tongues, wide, their edges are bent, at the top of an acute or rounded appearance, scales cover them on both sides. The leaf grows to 0.2-0.4 m, is colored green, has horizontal stripes of a purple hue. The stem is short, reaches a height of 0.3-0.6 m, a rosette formed by leaves, dense, wide, funnel-shaped. The flowers grow up to 3-4.5 cm, painted yellow, the inflorescences are simple, in the form of an ear, the appearance of flowers occurs in any season on a flattened bracts in the shape of a red sword. Most of the varieties bloom for a long time (several months).