Top tips for caring for venereal shoes

Flowers from the family of orchids can be grown not only on the windowsill, but also in the garden. Venus shoes are best suited for this purpose, the features of reproduction of planting and caring for which you will learn later.

The structure of the flower of venereal shoes

Garden lady's slipper is primarily characterized by the structure of its amazing flowers, which gave it a name. Its most important feature is the lower petal, which has a swollen bulging shape that resembles a toe of a shoe. All other petals are quite standard: two main petals rise above the main inflorescence, and they can either simply stick out or twist a little into a spiral. Two more petals are hidden under the lip of the flower, while they usually grow together. A very attractive sepal also hangs over the lip itself.

Planting material and soil composition

Growing veneer shoes is a rather difficult task, since their rhizomes, suitable as planting material, are very vulnerable and can quickly get damaged and rot. therefore for planting is best to buy plants in pots, and only after they reach the age of five. The fact is that they bloom only at this age, so if you buy cheaper three-year planting material, you will have to wait another two years for the first flowers.

If, however, they are used for planting rhizomes, they should have a white color and several healthy buds that are ready for development. If the rhizome is black and rotten - it is better to immediately throw it away, since it will not give a result in growth.A rhizome with weak buds can grow only in a few years, and then with great luck. The soil for orchids "lady's slipper" needs to be chosen very carefully: this plant will not grow on the fertilized black soil of the garden, because this kind of soil is too "fat" for it. At the same time, the soil should also not be sour and overly rammed. It is best to create soil for garden orchids by hand, mixing for this purpose:

• neutral acid peat;
• humus from fallen leaves;
• birch rotters;
• coarse sand.

The choice of location and landing of venereal shoes

"Kukushkin boots," as the flowers described are called, grow well in shaded places, so the flowerbed on the north side of the house will suit them very well. Ideally, they should be planted in the shade of fences, as well as under raslapisty fruit trees. A good guideline of the place where shoes can perfectly settle down is the fern, since these plants have the same requirements for soil and shading.

As for the direct planting of these flowers, it should be carried out either in autumn or in early spring, while the plant has not yet entered active growth.Special pits with a depth of 30-40 cm are prepared for the plant, which are filled with the prepared soil mixture (the width of the pit should correspond to the dimensions of the root system of flowers). It will not be superfluous to make drainage at the bottom of the pit, which is recommended to use pieces of limestone,

In the future, landing involves the following actions:

1. On the prepared place in the pit in the horizontal position laid out the roots of the plant and very carefully straightened to the side. It is necessary to work with them carefully, as in certain periods of time they can be very fragile.
2. When planting, the plant must be covered with a layer of soil no more than 1.5 cm thick. If you deepen it more, you will have to wait longer for flowering.
3. After falling asleep plants with a mixture of soil, it also needs to be watered and mulched, for which it is recommended to use moss, pine needles or leaves of garden trees that had time to wear out.

Good partners for veneer shoes

Garden orchid "lady's slipper" is very demanding in relation to the partners in the flower bed, which must be chosen with special care. Above we have already mentioned the fern, which has similar growing requirements for shoes and can also act as an excellent partner for these plants.

It is good to give these flowers a neighborhood with hosts and ground cover garden flowers. Especially dangerous for them are fast-growing plants and shrubs, which over time can simply drown out Venus shoes and stop their growth. In this regard, many flower growers organize monoplanting of them.

Care for the "cuckoo boots" in the garden

Already in early spring, the adult plant can be opened from the winter shelter and loosen the soil around it. Throughout the growing season, shoes will require very little attention, but still they will need it.

Watering

Pafiopedilumu requires moderate watering, which, however, should be regular. In particular, it is worthwhile to moisten the beds as the topsoil dries, although the deep layers must always remain sufficiently moist.Remember at the same time that an overabundance of moisture will not bring venus shoes benefit.

Top dressing

If a slipper flower is timely fed, it will show very good growth. Therefore, since spring it can be fertilized with the remains of mulch. The second feeding is recommended not earlier than the beginning of May, and then only for varietal flowers. To do this, you can use complex mineral preparations for garden flowers, diluting them with water in half the dose. If we are talking about flowers that you yourself multiply at home, then among them it is worth treating only the yellowed plants.

You can repeat the dressing at the end of June, when the plants will already have flowers. But it must be remembered that the shoes of Venus are very sensitive to the increased content of nutrients and may die from oversupply.

Frost resistance of shoes

Orchids in the garden, especially when it comes to hybrid varieties, are very high resistance to low temperatures and can easily overwinter in open ground, even if the mercury in the thermometer drops to -37 ° C. But still, to prevent damage to the rhizomes of venereal shoes, in the winter it is important to cover them with a dense layer of snow. If you live in the southern areas where the snow layer usually does not exceed 1-5 cm, then it is recommended to cover the flowers for the winter period with mulch.

Reproduction of venereal shoes

In order to create large plantings of your favorite flowers in your beds, it is important to know how the lady's slipper reproduces. For this purpose, you can use both seeds and apply the vegetative division of an adult bush. Of course, when you first plant this flower in your own beds, you often have to resort to the use of seeds, but this method has a big disadvantage: a young plant can only blossom 5 years after sowing (and sometimes 12), because requires symbiosis with fungus.

For the above reason most often for planting is used the shoe root, which is simply divided and planted as separate plants. It is important to note that at least three live and ready-to-grow buds should remain on each part of a divided bush. Also note that each bud will take at least 3-4 years to develop under the ground, after which it will be born and transformed into a beautiful flowering plant.

Diseases and pests of shoes

Diseases of venereal shoes often develop due to improper care of the plant, as well as when planting in an inappropriate place or ground. Also shoes can harm:

• Too frequent and intensive watering, which leads to the defeat of the root system of fungal rot.
• The use of infected rhizomes of the flower.
• Work with planting materials with non-disinfected tools, in particular when dividing a bush.

In order to cope with rot and other diseases of venereal shoes, they are recommended to be treated with the use of biofungicides.As such drugs fit "Fitosporin", "Trichodermin", "Alirin-B". they must be used according to the instructions.

As for pests, then Venus shoes are attacked by all those insects and worms that spread to other flowers and garden crops:

• mealy worm;
• spider mite;
• aphid;
• shield;
• slug;
• snails.

The strongest plant can attack pests when a lady's slipper blooms, as the smell of flowers can especially attract them. It is better not to use chemicals for pest control, as they can harm the flower, so it is better to resort to biologically active substances such as Bitoxiballicin-P or Bona Forte.

Caring for veneer shoes is not difficult, although in general the cultivation of these flowers requires a lot of effort - after all, a dozen years can pass from planting to the first flowering. But despite this, Venus shoes are considered to be the most beautiful flowers that are worth any effort.