Features of growing hosts in the garden

Host love designers not only for the spectacular beautiful leaves, but also for unpretentiousness. Still, decorative leaves solve a lot. They create a surprisingly beautiful background for other plants, and the flowers of the plant themselves are quite interesting.

Tips on landing hosts

Many flower growers and amateur gardeners are interested in how to grow a host in the country. On the one hand, it is absolutely not a capricious plant, on the other hand, it is necessary to know several subtleties in order to grow a beautiful and healthy plant.

1. The host is not very demanding on the soil, although it has been observed that it grows much better on humus loams than on others. It is only important to avoid stagnant water, as it does not like wet soil.

Sandy soil does not contribute to the rapid growth and development of the hosts, which must be considered when deciding where to put the hosts in the country. But if you have to plant it on such a soil, it is desirable to fertilize it with mineral fertilizers, humus.

2. Before planting plants, the ground should be dug to a depth of about a shovel bayonet. It would be nice to saturate it with Kemira wagon fertilizer or 15 g of potassium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and 20 g of superphosphate at the same time. Each mixture is given at the rate of 60 g per well.

3. The pit should be the larger, the larger the bush.She needs to provide drainage and water flow. Roots spread on a mound so that there are no voids under them.

4. Early autumn or late spring is the time when it is possible to divide and replant the host. It is important not to plant it in the same place - it will not take root.

Host Care Secrets

Caring for plants is simple and includes typical actions: regular watering, weeding, feeding, loosening. For the bush to grow beautiful and neat, young floral arrows should be cut off in time.. Then the leaves will not develop to the sides.

Watering, fertilizing and fertilizing the soil

The plant has wide leaves, so in hot sunny weather a lot of moisture evaporates from it, which can become a problem in the hottest period of summer.

Dark tips at the ends of the leaves indicate that the plant lacks moisture. Water in the summer it must be every day.But the overflow is very dangerous for the hosts.

The soil should be periodically loosened and fed with organic and mineral fertilizers. Moreover, the plant receives the main nutrition from organic fertilizers that are applied during mulching.

As a top dressing, a mullein infusion is used with additions of potassium sulphate, ammonium nitrate and superphosphate in a ratio of 10:10:20. In July, as well as April and May, it is fed with potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus.

As regards the feeding regime, this should be done at the beginning of the growing season, when the flowers are formed, and immediately after the plant fades.

Weeding and mulch: do we need it

Mulch ground land is necessary every year. It is usually planted near large trees that take a lot of nutrients. But mulching will help her to rise above the ground.

The only rule is that mulching cannot be used for dwarf and miniature varieties, otherwise they will disappear.

Preparing plants for winter

The hosta is considered to be a frost-resistant plant, therefore, it is usually not hidden specifically for the winter. But sometimes, just in case, in autumn, fallen leaves are not removed from it, and then they also watch to lay a good layer of snow on top. If you follow all the rules and recommendations for the care of the plant, it will retain its attractiveness for 10-15 years.

Controversial question remains trim hosts in the fall. Some recommend not to remove wilted leaves for the winter, as they serve as an additional cover for the roots, saving them from frost. They are recommended to be removed only in spring, when the first shoots appear.

Others strongly advise that they be removed and burned to remove possible pests. But in this case it is important to remove the leaves before the first frost, and the leaves themselves should be already yellowed.

An inexperienced florist can not guess with the right moment. Therefore, it is more often recommended to try two methods in different areas so that in the event of the death of one part of the plants, they can be restored at the expense of the other.

Different ways of breeding hosts

There are several ways to grow a plant. Which one to choose is up to the grower.

Division bush

The simplest, and therefore the most common - the division of the bush. It is possible to divide it for reproduction in spring or at the end of summer. But if you know how to do it neatly and correctly, then you can divide the bushes all year round. However, it is not recommended to use for this young bushes, otherwise they may slow down in development.

So, when can you share and plant in the spring host? As soon as the young shoots. Then with a sharp knife, shovel or pitchfork a small part is separated from the bush. If during this process shoots broke off with part of the rhizome, but without roots, they can be planted in a greenhouse.

Cuttings

It is not always possible to cut the cutting, because in some varieties they grow very densely. The cutting, as a rule, has no roots, but there is a part of the rhizome on it - the so-called “heel”.

In the summer they are planted in the shade and planted under a glass cap. For a couple of days, he will take root. To speed up this process, it is important to cut the leaves of a seedling in half.

Growing from seed

Having decided to grow a host from seeds, one must be prepared that the plant will enter the stage of its full ornamentality only in the fifth year of its life. The percentage of seed germination is kept at the level of 70-80%.

Seeds are sown in winter, but before that it is important to properly treat them. It is recommended to soak them for half an hour in the juice of aloe, zircon, root or Epine. Sometimes seeds are recommended to stand in the cold for a month.

Seeding is carried out in April or May. When sowing, monitor the sterility of the substrate, fungi and other microorganisms that can infect the plant. Similarly, the pot must be pre-treated with a solution of potassium permanganate or alcohol.

Buying soil in the store, make sure that it contains vermiculite, peat and perlite. It is necessary to observe the acidity of the soil for the host. The bottom of the pot is lined with drainage, then the soil is poured and moistened.

After pouring seeds into it, they are covered with another layer of soil for 5-7 mm, compacted and covered with film or glass. The temperature should be at the level of 18-25ºC, direct sunlight should be avoided, and water the seeds moderately. Shoots need to wait in two to three weeks.

As soon as one or two leaflets appear on the sprouts, they can be dived into separate quarter-sized pots filled with sand. Watering in this case, use the bottom - the pots are placed in a deep pan with water until the soil is saturated.

Then they begin to take shelter for a couple of hours to temper the plants. After a week, they are fully opened, then they begin to be exposed to fresh air, which should be above 18 ºC.

Disease and pest resistance

Although the plant is quite resistant to disease, there is still the risk of infecting it when planting a new specimen, “picking up” the microorganism from the soil or from another plant.

On frost-frozen in spring or weak plants, a fungal disease phyllostizosis often appears - yellow-brown spots on the leaves. Phyllosticta aspidistrae Oud fungus can appear on the flowers. Such plants should be cut and burned, and the soil should be sanitized in their place.

The leaves can hit the gray rot, which is removed by folpet-based fungicides. Sometimes white cotton is formed on the root neck of the plant - sclerotinia fungus, which can be controlled with dichloran.

If large holes began to appear on the leaves, it means that the plant has chosen slugs. Struggling with them, putting around a bowl of beer.

Can attack plants and stem nematodes. Their appearance is identified by yellow necrotic spots between the veins of the leaves.This is the worst of the enemy hosts, as it is impossible to fight with him.

No drug affects nematode eggs. Therefore, getting rid of them for one season, you have to fight them again in the second.

The only way out is to cut all the plants within a radius of two meters and burn them. Prepare also insecticides that will help in the fight against grasshoppers, beetles and caterpillars.

Combination of hosts with other plants

When picking a pair for hosts in your garden, avoid plants that grow quickly, especially when it comes to miniature varieties. In this case, it is better to combine them with a soft cuff, geyher, medunitsu.

With other varieties of plants are well combined adiantum stopovidny, astilby, low varieties of daylily, mountain. The ideal neighbor will be Fragrant Bouquet, which has a yellow border on the leaves, as well as a Patriot with a wide white stripe.

Since the host uncovers the leaves in late spring, it is good to plant bulbous plants next to them, which bloom in early spring. This will revive the landscape before the host enters into force.

In general, the general rule of combining plants in group plantings is the neighborhood with perennial plants, which have carved, openwork foliage.Therefore, plant a fern next to it, garden geranium and others.

Khosta in landscape design

In landscape design, the plant is most often used as a border plant, since it can grow well for a long time in the same place. To do this, use miniature varieties like Light Up or Blue Cadet, which has bluish leaves.

A variety of varieties allows you to build beautiful compositions, for example, along the tracks. But we must bear in mind that in a thick shade they will simply become green without decorative features, and simply burn out in the sun, having received burns.

The host is also used for carpet plantings. In addition, the wide leaves of the plant drown out the weeds, thus clearing the area around them. Moreover, a variety of varieties allows you to build beautiful carpet patterns. Often for such compositions, the host is used as a plantain or "Fortune".

As you can see, the host is an unpretentious plant, but at the same time it is beautiful and varied in terms of design possibilities. Grow and propagate it easily. And in one place it will grow over the years, without losing its beauty, provided proper care.