For many gardeners, the nightshade flower is familiar as a decorative plant. To no less degree is culture valued for its healing characteristics. This is a very interesting plant, which can be grass, shrub, sapling, have a creeping, erect, or lying stalk, depending on the particular species.
Decorative nightshade is not only that it blooms beautifully. During fruiting, a beautiful medicinal flower is covered with small fruits in the form of glossy balls. Since the fruits ripen unevenly, each berry can be painted in different colors: pale yellow, orange, dark red.
Nightshade - a very bright ornamental plant
Main types
Indoor nightshade belongs to the nightshade family. Among its most common species include the following.
Prickly nightshade
This variety is a weed growing in height up to one and a half meters. The nightshade has a prickly straight and branched stem dotted with yellowish spines.
Prickly nightshade is not the most attractive plant
The leaves have an oblong shape, cirrus-dissected. The bush blooms with yellow flowers, which are mainly located in the upper part of the stem. Flowering occurs in the period from June to early September. Fruits plant nightshade begins in October. This is an annual and thermophilic culture that prefers loose soils. Its cultivation occurs exclusively by seeds.
Nightshade yellow
Speaking about the varieties of culture, it is impossible not to mention the yellow nightshade. This bush grows on average up to half a meter, differs sprawling. The leaves of the variety are quite small, white flowers, are formed in large numbers. The flowering period lasts almost throughout the summer. The fruits of nightshade are quite small, sweet in taste, yellow.
It looks like yellow nightshade in wildlife
Other varieties
In addition to the above, there are several types of nightshade, which are especially highly appreciated by flower growers. These include:
- giant nightshade, growing up to six meters in height and blooming not with single flowers, but with panicles;
- a variety of jasmine nightshade, growing under favorable conditions up to four meters with white flowers, strongly reminiscent of jasmine;
- Wendland nightshade, also reaching four meters in the wild in his homeland in the mountains of Central America;
- Zeaforta nightshade, which is an evergreen shrub, the flowering of which continues almost from the beginning of spring until late autumn.
For your information. When growing any kind of nightshade in room conditions, one should not expect that the flower will reach gigantic sizes.
Home Care
Most often, at home, decorative false-pepper and some dwarf forms of home-grown nightshade are grown, reaching no more than 30 centimeters in height.
For the cultivation of nightshade as an indoor flower to be as successful as possible, the most comfortable conditions must be created for it. Although the bush does not differ in particular whimsicality, certain rules and requirements will have to be observed.
Temperature
During the summer, the flower will be quite comfortable at room temperature. But it should not be kept on the windowsills on the south side. There it will be too hot for the bush.
Important! Nightshade does not tolerate extreme heat very well, but it experiences the significant difference between day and night temperatures.
In winter, the plant is recommended to be kept in cool conditions. The optimal temperature regime will be a range from +12 to +15 degrees.
Top dressing
In order for the decorative nightshade to bloom and bear fruit abundantly at home, he will need a large amount of nutrients.
Feeding should be done in spring and summer twice a month. It is recommended to use any complex fertilizer intended for flowering plants.
In winter, the flower is either not fed at all, or it is done using half of the dosage recommended by the manufacturer and not more than once a month.
The soil
A suitable soil for this indoor plant with red berries is an earth mixture, which consists of sod, peat, humus and sand. Everything is mixed in equal proportions, only humus can be included in the soil twice as much.
Watering
A systematic and plentiful watering of the decorative shrub is required during the period of intensive growth, and when the formation of fruits occurs. Watering should be done as the soil dries.
In winter, the flower also needs to be watered, but much less often. At the same time, the lower the temperature in the room, the less watering will be required.
Important! Drying of the soil should not be allowed, this adversely affects the growth of the crop.
In addition to watering, the plant requires periodic spraying. The shrub reacts very favorably to high humidity, it should be maintained year-round. The desired moisture indicator can be achieved not only by spraying, but also by placing the flower pot in a pan with wet pebbles or expanded clay so that the bottom of the pot does not come into contact with water. If the air in the room where the nightshade is grown is too dry, the bush will not bear fruit well.
Transfer
Experts recommend replanting any nightshade cultivar in early spring, before the flower begins to grow actively. The soil for transplantation must necessarily choose loose and well-permeable air. It is necessary to make drainage, for example, of expanded clay. Without it, it will be useless to take care of the plant - excess moisture will not be removed well enough from the pot, and the root system may begin to rot.
When transplanted, the flower representing the nightshade family is cut by about a third, only after that they are transplanted to a new place.
Interesting. Since the life span of the nightshade is not too long, and it begins to grow quickly and lose its decorative characteristics, it is recommended not to transplant the grassy bush at all, but to propagate it by the cuttings.
Pruning
For a nightshade indoor, full-fledged care will not work without periodic scraps. This procedure is performed mainly when the plant ceases to bear fruit or grows too much. Pruning significantly improves the overall state of the nightshade.
It is important to shorten the stem - this activates the growth of side branches. Pinching the ends will lead to a similar result.
Breeding methods
Propagation of a houseplant is carried out in two main ways: by seeds or by means of cuttings.
Seed cultivation
To grow indoor nightshade from seeds, a certain amount of leafy earth will be required. It is carefully sifted, put into a container. Seeds carefully spread on the surface of the soil and sprinkle with sand in a small amount. Then it remains only to moisten the earth a little and move the container with seedlings to a warm place. An important condition that must be observed for the successful germination of planting material is that the container with seeds must be covered with glass or plastic wrap. On average, seedlings begin to appear two weeks after planting. As the shoots grow older, they will need to be dived twice, after which young seedlings can be transplanted to a constant place of growth.
Solanum seeds are sold freely in all specialized stores.
Rooting cuttings
No less than seeds, the nightshade culture is propagated by rooting the stem cuttings. During spring pruning, cut branches need not be thrown away. From them, select the strongest and try to root. To do this, the segments of the stem are placed in a mixture of peat and sand or vermiculite until the roots appear.
Nightshade is often grown from cuttings
As soon as the first roots appear on the stalk, they are seated in separate pots. After transplanting, pinch the plant enough to improve branching.
Important! If you are going to grow decorative nightshade on your windowsill in your apartment, you should make sure that neither children nor pets can get to it. The fruits of a beautiful shrub are poisonous. Their use in food can cause significant harm to the body.
In general, this flower will fit into almost any interior and will be a wonderful decoration for an apartment, home or office. The most important thing is to treat him with care and take proper care.
