Araucaria is a coniferous plant with about 20 relatives. Origin - Australia and South America. Edible seeds, mined wood is widely used to create furniture. The plant is used to decorate gardens in the Caucasus and near the Black Sea. It is difficult to grow if the humidity is low. Unfortunately, in most apartments this is precisely the microclimate. If improperly taken care of, the plant may become sick and die.
There are varieties of Araucaria plants available for growing in a room. They will not bloom, but they are still able to please their beauty. Araucaria also purifies the air.
Main varieties
Of the 20 species of araucaria, only a part is available for cultivation in a home environment. The most popular of all species is araucaria multiforme. There is also a name - indoor spruce. This is a small tree whose crown has a pyramidal shape. The owner will be pleased with the light green needles, which in the plant grow instead of leaves. Branches are covered with scales.
Araucaria in the room
You can grow some types of homemade Christmas tree in a pot (araucaria in this case will be less, but this is not critical).
Araucaria Bidville
Another popular name is Bunia Bunia. In nature, grows in the subtropical zone of Australia. Moreover, most of the representatives of this species are found in reserves. This species was named after the traveler from England and the naturalist D. Bidville, who presented a couple of copies of the plant to the Royal Botanic Garden. After some time, Bidville's araucaria was already brought into Europe.
Araucaria landed in a row
If you follow the description, the height of the view is up to 50 meters. The diameter of the barrel is in the region of 1.2 meters. For this reason, in the indoor environment to grow this giant will not work. Only the length of coniferous leaves reaches 10 centimeters. They are located opposite, in two rows.
Brazilian Araucaria
This is another representative of the genus, which is unsuitable for cultivation in the room. The species is named so because it grows in Brazil. It can also be found near the border of Argentina and Paraguay. At the moment, the plant is listed in the Red Book as a species that is on the verge of extinction, although in the 19th century araucaria forests occupied vast areas of 200 thousand square meters.
Big beautiful araucaria
This species is smaller than the Bidville araucaria - the maximum height is 35 meters, although there were 52-meter specimens.
Interesting! Brazilian Araucaria has a wider trunk, the maximum thickness of which is 2.5 meters.
Heterophyll Araucaria
A characteristic feature of this species is that it is indoor araucaria. Even minor climate changes can positively or negatively affect Araucaria Heterophylla. At any time of the year, when growing it, the house should be cool. It is best to grow it in the fresh air, but ultimately hide the plant from direct sunlight. A specially equipped part of the balcony or a place in the garden, under other trees, is well suited.
Also, this type must be regularly watered. If the land beneath Heatherofill’s araucaria is dry, it can be bad for her. Hard watering is not recommended. Before watering, you should wait until it settles. So salts that are harmful to the tree will remain at the bottom of the container, the roots will only absorb beneficial substances.
Important! Heterophylls have a lifespan of up to 10 years; a plant must be transplanted every four years. It should also be regularly treated for pests. If care is taken irresponsibly, the needles may turn yellow, and the araucaria will lose its decorative qualities.
Other species
There are a large number of other types and varieties of plants:
Variegated araucaria
- Araucaria cooka. This species is unsuitable for cultivation in the middle lane. It has short branches, which together with the trunk form an angle of 90 degrees. The crown of the plant is slightly narrower near the trunk, but closer to the top it is becoming wider. Cones have a length of about 10 centimeters. Due to the awl-shaped appendage, the cones appear bristly. Coniferous leaves are soft.
- Araucaria narrow-leaved. A very tall tree (50 meters), which was previously actively used by builders from different countries. If grown in a room, the highest height does not exceed three meters. Leaflets 50 mm long, have a linear-lanceolate shape. Narrow-leaved Araucaria is a good raw material for creating accessories, musical instruments, as well as in construction works. It makes good paper.
- Chilean Araucaria. This plant can be found in Chile and in the west of Argentina. The trunk can be even higher than other types of araucaria, up to 600 centimeters. In coverage, it is one and a half meters. The bark of the plant is thick, the texture is cracked. Usually the lower branches touch the ground and die. Lateral - gather in whorls. Such branches in old plants with a trunk form an angle of 90 degrees, when the araucaria grows old, they begin to hang down a little. Leaf blades are stiff enough and can prick. The seeds of the plant are edible.
It can be seen that many of the species are unsuitable for growing at home, while others are suitable for cultivation exclusively in the subtropical zone. The height of some in the natural environment is several tens of meters, if home araucaria is not more than several meters.
Interesting! Many indoor varieties can be grown in the garden or transplanted into the garden for the summer of Araucaria.
Home Care
Very picky about the growing conditions is araucaria home care for her is not an easy undertaking. Many features must be considered, such as lighting, temperature, humidity, watering and fertilizer. The Araukariyev family has a decent number of representatives; in general, recommendations for plant care are as follows.
Lighting
Araucaria loves bright light. Without it, she languishes. Like many ornamental plants, it must be protected from direct sunlight. In the warm season, you can keep araucaria on the street, but find a place that scatters sunlight and protects the plant from rain or hail.
Ideally, find a place where light will fall on the bush from two sides. In this case, the plant will develop well, otherwise you will have to deploy araucaria 90 degrees every week.
Temperature
It is advisable to keep indoor araucaria cool. The recommended value of the thermometer is not more than 20 degrees. It is undesirable that the temperature at night be lower than 10 degrees. It is important that in winter the temperature in the room where the araucaria flower grows (indoor spruce) does not exceed 15 degrees. Therefore, it is important to create the right conditions on the balcony, since the batteries often heat up to 25 and above degrees in the room.
Humidity
Araucaria is also whimsical to humidity. Room care at home for it requires moistening the leaves and the stem with a spray gun. Before this, the water is infused for 24 hours or more. Water temperature - 20-25 degrees. It is especially necessary to moisten the plant in winter, because at this time they include batteries and heaters that dry the air.
Watering frequency
In summer it is necessary to water in large quantities. If this is not done, the araucaria will dry up. In this case, it is important not to go too far, because the water stagnates in the root system, which leads to rotting of the roots. In winter, you hardly need to water the plant, especially if it is in the cold.
Soil and fertilizing
A seedling or an adult plant must be fertilized twice a month with an interval of 15 days. For this, types of fertilizer with a reduced amount of calcium are used. It is also advisable to use mullein infusion for top dressing. Then the plant will bloom for a long time and not dry.
Beautiful tall araucaria
Fact! The ideal soil mixture for araucaria (to transplant or propagate this interesting plant) is the land, which includes peat, sand, leaf and turf soil in the proportions of 1: 2: 1: 2.
Plant transplant
Transplantation is carried out in spring or early summer. Without urgent need, you should not do it. It is necessary to wait until the root system becomes so large that it ceases to fit into the pot, or until the bush grows well, since the tree does not tolerate the transplant. It is not recommended to do this procedure more than once every three years.
Breeding methods
Gardeners are interested in how reproduction is carried out in Araucaria. There are several ways: vegetative and using seeds. Reproduction using the first method is more difficult because the seed must be fresh. Therefore, the more popular method is the cuttings. It is necessary to cut several cuttings, remove resinous juice from the cut and treat this place with charcoal. Then they are lowered into the soil, then they are waiting for rooting.
Thus, araucaria is a very interesting coniferous tree, some species of which can be used for the garden.
