Gloxinia is a perennial tuberous plant native to Brazil and South America.
Today it is known a large number of all kinds of gloxinia hybrids, which are widespread as ornamental plants.
However, the most popular in indoor floriculture is a hybrid of gloxinia, obtained by crossing beautiful gloxinia and royal gloxinia.
Gloxinia - home care in winter
After the end of flowering, in late autumn, a dormant period begins, which lasts until the end of winter. When the foliage starts to turn yellow, you need to reduce the watering. After the ground part has completely dried, it is completely stopped. There are two ways of wintering tubers - in a pot and with a dig.
Wintering in a pot.
- the remains of the plant, if they have not completely fallen off, remove;
- cover the pot with sand to the very top;
- cover with a suitable object, you can pallet;
- put in plastic bagbut do not tie;
- put it in a cool room without access to light, optimum temperature - 10 ° C;
- periodically check that the tuber does not wake up, and also control the humidity;
- if the soil is completely dry, you need to slightly moisten it.
Wintering with digging
- at the end of the active period, remove the tubers from the soil;
- slightly peel of soil, spread out to dry;
- review for health;
- remove rotten and damaged;
- put in a plastic bag, add moistened sawdust or soil with vermiculite, perlite;
- tie bags, store in the refrigerator in the warmest section (for vegetables);
- in January-February, remove the tubers from the refrigerator and place in the light to awaken. If the tuber has enough warmth and moisture during the winter, it can sprout. Here you need to evaluate how strong the root is. If powerful, the sprout must be carefully removed. If it is weak and small, the removal of the sprout can destroy the plant. Then it is better to plant it in the ground and let it grow.
How to keep gloxinia until spring
In November or December, when the plant stops blooming, you need to stop watering and move it to a dry and dark place. 
In the place where the flower will be stored, there should be good ventilation and temperature regime the air should be between 12 and 14 degrees.
After the dying off of the above-ground part, it must be removed, leaving a small trunk one centimeter in size. The flower has a dormant period.
Before sending a flower for a dormant period, its tubers must be cleaned of the ground, rinsed thoroughly in cold running water and dried. If it is poorly dried, the decay process will be inevitable. The prepared composition must be placed in a regular plastic bag and the tuber should be placed in it. It is necessary to store a container with a tuber in a cool and dark place. 
Reproduction of gloxinia from seeds
At home, gloxinia seeds are best sown in wide and shallow containers. For this, drawers, bowls or containers are suitable. The soil for sowing should be sufficiently loose and nutritious, with a good humus and organic matter content.
Therefore, to obtain a soil that meets such requirements, sand, leafy soil and coniferous soil are mixed. To improve the hygroscopic properties and aeration of the soil, perlite or vermiculite can be added to it, as well as crushed moss. The soil mixture is preliminarily disinfected. This can be done by watering it with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, boiling water, or place the soil in hot oven for 15 minutes and ignite the soil in it. 
Sowing Gloxinia Seeds
To speed up the growth of gloxinia, some growers treat the seeds with various growth stimulants before sowing. They contribute to faster and more harmonious emergence of seedlings. But you need to use such drugs strictly according to the instructions, otherwise the seeds can be destroyed. Seeds must be sown on the soil surface and do not need to be sprinkled. Since gloxinia seeds are very small, they can be mixed with sand for convenience. It is best to leave a small distance between the seeds when sowing, about 1 to 2 centimeters. After sowing, the soil in the bowls is sprayed from a sprayer, and then they need to be covered with sheets of glass to create a greenhouse effect. 
Seedling boxes should be placed in a well-lit place, but not allowed direct impact sun. Since sowing is carried out in winter timethen the seedlings may suffer from a lack of lighting. It can be replenished by placing a fluorescent lamp next to the boxes. Such lighting has a positive effect on the sprouts and at the same time generates little heat.
The temperature of the content of crops of gloxinia
In order for the seeds to sprout well and amicably, they need warmth. Therefore, the temperature under the glass should be at least 22 degrees Celsius. You need to carefully monitor the soil moisture in the boxes, and spray it in a timely manner. 
Gloxinia leaf propagation
Most hybrids are characterized by the presence of impressive succulent leaves, which are just perfect for vegetative propagation... This is especially suitable for those who want to have several copies of a certain species or when there is no way to buy the Gloxinia they like. Leaf propagation is carried out in summer or early autumn. Its size doesn't matter. Large leaves can be divided into several parts, and each will subsequently give a new plant, and small ones can be rooted entirely. In addition, individual shoots from the awakened tuber are suitable for vegetative propagation. For abundant flowering and good growth it is recommended to leave only one shoot with the mother plant, remove the rest and use it to get a new gloxinia bush. 
Gloxinia diseases
Septoriasis
Fungal disease is provoked high humidity, insufficient lighting and long contact with water. Rust-like stains form on the sheets. The stem, buds and leaves wither and dry quickly. Treatment is carried out with preparations based on copper or fungicides Maneb, Benomil. 
Late blight
The most dangerous disease, since no drugs give good results. Late blight develops due to high humidity and temperature changes - 9-20 degrees, stagnant water and insufficient soil ventilation. When infected with late blight, a general wilting of the plant occurs, on the leaves appear brown spots with a pale rim, white bloom with inside sheet. Infection occurs everywhere and spreads very quickly.
How to whitewash trees in spring?
Powdery mildew
Appears when high humidity and temperature drops. It is characterized by the appearance of a white spider web. Sometimes infection occurs with soil or through inventory. Any fungicide is suitable for processing. All neighboring plants should be treated.
The best prevention against fungal diseases is the correct ratio of humidity and temperature.
The resting period of gloxinia.
In autumn, after flowering, gloxinia begins a dormant period. The plant slows down growth, does not grow buds, the leaves begin to turn yellow and dry out. The leaves of such a plant are cut off and harvested for winter storage... The optimal time for pruning gloxinia and sending the tuber for winter storage is October-November.
Sometimes it happens that gloxinia do not want to go into hibernation themselves. If the tuber is more than a year old, then gloxinia still needs to be put to bed.
Such gloxinia must first be prepared for a dormant period, i.e. reduce watering, rearrange to a darker and cooler place, stop feeding. After the plant stops growing, the leaves begin to turn yellow, the stems and leaves are cut off.
Gloxinia tubers are stored in a dark, cool place at a temperature of 12-16 degrees Celsius. I have gloxinia stored in a closed cabinet on an insulated loggia. Some growers store tubers in the refrigerator, having previously measured the air temperature on the refrigerator shelf.
Tuber storage methods:
1. The plant can be left in the same pot in which the gloxinia grew. The soil in which the gloxinia is stored should be slightly damp, but not wet. With this method of storage, gloxinia must be watered, slightly moistening the soil, about a spoonful of water. Watering is carried out 1-2 times a month, making sure that the soil does not dry out and the tuber does not dry out. You can make it easier: place the pot with the tuber in a sealed bag and tie it tightly. With this method, the need for watering gloxinia disappears and the possibility of drying out the soil is excluded. Once a month, it is necessary to check the soil moisture and the condition of the tuber.
2. In a plastic container.
Currently in pavilions with disposable tableware various plastic containers with lid. It is convenient to store small gloxinia tubers in such containers. Pour a small amount of wet soil on the bottom of the container, place the tuber, sprinkle it with earth. Close the container tightly with a lid to avoid overdrying the soil. Such containers save space during storage, eliminating the possibility of drying out the soil. 
Gloxinia awakening.
The resting period of gloxinia lasts from one to five months. After that, the tubers wake up and release new shoots. The optimal time to wake up is February, March, April. If the gloxinia tuber has not woken up by May, it can be forcibly awakened. To do this, the gloxinia tuber must be placed in a transparent bag, add a little damp soil, and put in a well-lit place, but not in direct sunlight. After this, the tuber usually sprouts within one to two weeks.
After waking up, it is necessary to get the tuber from the old soil, shake it off, rinse in water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate, cut off the old thin roots, while leaving thick roots.
Awakened gloxinia should be transplanted into fresh nutritious light soil, lightly watered. When planting, it is impossible to deepen the tuber of gloxinia; it is necessary to plant the tuber deepening upwards, sprinkling the tuber itself with soil no more than 1 cm.At the same time, care must be taken that the young sprout is not covered.
The first time after awakening, the plant should be watered moderately, without overmoistening the soil, in order to avoid rotting of the tuber.
It often happens that gloxinia releases several shoots. I always leave alone, the strongest. The rest of the shoots can be carefully removed by cutting with a blade. Leaving one sprout on the tuber, you get a neater bush, and the flowers are larger.
If you want a more lush plant, you can leave two shoots.
Cut off "extra" shoots can be easily rooted by placing them in water until the roots appear 1-2 cm, and then planting them in the soil. Thus, you can get another plant that blooms in the same year. It should be borne in mind that slightly grown sprouts, on which there will be 4 leaves, are suitable for rooting.
Pot size for gloxinia tuber.
The gloxinia pot must be chosen so that the diameter of the pot is 3-4 centimeters larger than the diameter of the tuber.
For example, a very small nodule, about one to two centimeters in size, I plant in a hundred-gram plastic cup, medium tuber - in a pot with a diameter of 7 cm, adult tubers thrive in 9 cm pots.
As the small nodules grow and the root system develops, gloxinia will need to be transplanted into a larger pot.
If you plant a small nodule immediately in a large-diameter pot, then there is a possibility of acidification of the soil and rotting of the tuber.
This beauty from the world of flowers demands to herself special treatment... Previously, not all growers knew that the inhabitant of the tropics, gloxinia, sheds leaves for the winter and waits out a dormant period in the form of a tuber, which is why this flower sometimes turned out to be thrown away. Now everything is different. We know that winter peace is needed, but what is the right way to provide it?
In the photo gloxinia
Sinningia hails from the mountain forests South America... Only not from the evergreen selva, but from the upper reaches of the Amazon, where the rainy summer months are replaced by arid winter relative coolness. Why the physiology of the Gesneriaceae requires a period of rest. Otherwise, you can not only weaken the plant, not allowing it to bloom next spring, but also completely destroy it.
There are two main ways to store gloxinia tubers in winter.
- We store the tuber taken from the pot;
- The plant hibernates with an earthen clod.
Gloxinia care video
Let's take a closer look at them. So the first one.
The foliage begins to fade - we slowly stop watering, complete the cycle of fertilizing with fertilizers. Thus, we are preparing the plant for winter sleep. Closer to the end of September and mid-October, synningia sheds its leaves. Its roots are dying off. Only the tuber that has matured over the summer remains. We're going to keep it. To do this, carefully remove it from the soil.
This is best done using the transshipment method:
- We take a large container for soil, for example a basin
- Turn over the pots with gloxinia over it
- Gently knead the earthen ball with your fingers until it breaks up into several parts
- We clean the tuber from pieces of soil and root residues
We can wash the tuber under running water, after which it is necessary to dry it. It is highly discouraged to put a wet tuber for storage - it is fraught with the development of putrefactive processes.
We will store the developed spine in a bag with wet sand or wet sawdust. But sand is preferable. Only you need to use the gray river, we first wash it from dust, and then bake it in the oven thin layer on a baking sheet. Thus, we get rid of the infection.
The storage sand should be slightly damp, just do not overmoisten it. Otherwise, the roots can sour from lack of oxygen and excess fluid. Now we are preparing a strong bag, pour wet sand on the bottom, put the tuber, cover it with sand to hide it from sight. Now you need to decide on a place.
Wintering of the root systems of home Gesneriaceae must meet three conditions:
- Lack of bright light
- Temperature from +3 ° C to +15 ° C
- The air should not be drier than 60%, but not more than 90%
This ensures normal conditions similar to those of the places where Sinningia comes from. Winter storage works best at the bottom of the refrigerator, where we usually store vegetables and herbs. If you have a lot of free space and a few gloxinia tubers, then put your bags there. But remember that the air inside is very dry. You should periodically check to see if the sand is dry. Most likely, once or twice a winter you will have to slightly moisten it.
Another option is to consider an insulated unheated loggia or balcony. It is important that the temperature does not rise to +20 ° C. This can provoke tubers to wake up early from sleep.
It is also good to hide the plants in a warm deep cellar, where winter temperatures keep about +5 ° C, high relative humidity, no or almost no fungal moldy processes on the walls and shelves. Then you don't even have to check the moisture content of the sandy or sawdust substrate - it will always be optimal.
You can also store bags under the bathroom. This is the most compromise option. Not everyone has a lot of space in the refrigerator, warm cellar or balcony. The humidity and darkness of the bathroom give hope for a good winter. Only the temperature is high.
Another option is to store bags of tubers on the mezzanine of the hallway. But you can forget about them, not water on time. And this is bad for the bulbs.
It is recommended to periodically check the tubers for putrefaction. If they make themselves felt, we cut them out sharp knife or a razor until healthy tissue. Be careful and careful. Do not notice rot in time - you risk losing the entire plant. Powder the place of the cut for disinfection with ash.
We are waiting until spring. We watch when the first shoots appear. Then we remove the tuber, inspect it for rot, clean it if necessary, dip it in a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate. Can then be placed in the root - very nutritious for future flowers. Now we are planting in a new substrate for leaf growth and flowering.
If you bought tubers in the fall, then we store them without soil with mandatory pre-winter and pre-spring treatment with disinfectants, for example, potassium permanganate.
Storage in the ground
Gloxinia care in winter is greatly simplified if we leave the plant intact. We also stop watering in the fall. We are waiting for the complete fall of the foliage. Then we put the pot with the wintering nodule closer to the coolness. For example, if you have cold balcony, then keep the pot closer to its door, away from the battery - this will provide the required wintering temperature.
You can also take the wintering pots to the cellar, put them on the balcony, if you have it insulated. It is important that gloxinia in pots in winter experience temperatures significantly lower than those + 30 ° C that are sometimes observed in apartments.
It is also sometimes required to wet the top layer with water. Do not overmoisten, but also do not overdry the soil. By the way, potty storage is more advisable in the bathroom. Place ice cubes on top of the soil to create a lower temperature for the tuber. This will lower the temperature of the substrate surrounding the tuber to the most acceptable level.
Video about rest in gloxinia
A tuber that remains overwintering in the ground is much less exposed to putrefactive processes.
Pros and cons of off-ground and underground storage of gloxinia in winter
- It is better to store young synningia without removing it from the ground. So there is less risk of drying out;
- Pots with soil are cumbersome, if there is little space and a lot of flowers - choose off-ground storage;
- The tubers should be checked frequently for rot;
- The bags are conveniently stored in the refrigerator - the most suitable method for wintering a flower, called gloxinia;
- Wintering in the bathroom - an option in the absence of a cellar, balcony, large refrigerator;
- Moisten the top layer of the earth ice is the best a way of storing gloxinia in a warm room in winter.
- We store purchased tubers without soil with mandatory disinfection.
Attention: Winter for adults room gloxinia - rest period. A plant that has bloomed at least once and managed to grow tubers enters a state of dormancy. The larger the tuber, the better it is stored. A young specimen of the first year of life may not fall asleep for the winter.
When to retire? This should not be done forcibly. Such gloxinia has a small tuber less than two centimeters in diameter, which, in wintering conditions without watering, can dry out and die. A young plant needs special care in the winter season:
- Provide the correct temperature... Indicators should not rise above + 20 ° C. If the room is too hot, the stem will stretch to the detriment of tuber growth.
- Watering less frequently than in the summer season (on how to properly water and feed gloxinia for long flowering, read). Otherwise, waterlogging will lead to root rot.
- Organize backlighting... Daylight hours should last at least 12 hours a day. Without additional lighting the flower is strongly stretched. To prevent this, the room temperature is reduced to + 18 ° C. Or, at the end of February, a long stem is cut, leaving only the lower leaves.
Rest period
When to clean gloxinia for the winter, for rest? Usually in September-October, the plant goes into a midnight state when it begins with the dry season in their homeland - South America.
In the case when the plant has faded and does not want to fall asleep, it needs help. If gloxinia does not go to rest on time, the flowering time, which should fall on the spring and summer months, will shift.
To prevent this from happening, in early autumn, the faded gloxinia begins to be prepared for wintering. With late flowering, wait until it ends. After complete self-extinction of the aerial part, the tuber is ready for storage. If everything is done correctly, gloxinia will not start waking up until January - February..
Detailed description
- In September-October, after flowering, place the gloxinia in a less illuminated place, for example, on the northern windowsill. Provide temperature + 15 ° C. Feed once potash fertilizer... Reduce watering gradually. Moisten the soil with small portions of water no more than once a week.
- When the leaves begin to dry, stop moisturizing the substrate. You cannot immediately cut off the aerial part of the plant. Should be allowed nutrients gradually move into the tuber from the stem and leaves. If the green foliage is cut, the vegetation process may resume.
- After complete self-withering away of the upper part, cut it off, leaving a small stump one - one and a half centimeters high.
Storage methods and conditions
When the preparation is completed, you need to send the tuber for the winter. Storage methods:
- Leave the tuber in the pot... You can sprinkle with river sand. Cover the flowerpot with a saucer, place in plastic and put in a cool place with a temperature of +10 to + 15 ° C. Make sure that the tuber does not dry out completely. Moisten the soil slightly by spraying several times during the winter.
- Two weeks after the complete withering away of the aerial part, dig out the tuber... Remove the remnants of the roots. You can rinse it in water, dry it and treat it with Fitosporin. Take a plastic bag with a fastener, pour slightly damp sawdust into it, or river sand or shredded peat. Or take a mixture of the substrate with vermiculite. Rinse the sand beforehand and hold it in a hot oven.
- Place the tuber in the bag... Store in a box in a cool place at temperatures between +10 and + 15 ° C. The middle or bottom shelf of the refrigerator door will work. Remove and inspect the tuber monthly. If the substrate is dry, spray it with warm water and replace the tuber. Avoid excessive moisture.
In the case when the grower has several gloxinia, make labels indicating the variety and the date of sending for wintering.
The plant is thermophilic and grows well when the air humidity is at least 50%. This is a tuberous type belonging to the Gesneriaceae. The second name is synningia. It came to us from the tropics. Gloxinia lived in the mountainous regions of the Amazon River, in its upper part. There, periods of heavy rains turn into winter drought with a decrease in temperature, and the flower is used to hiding and waiting until the showers feeding the soil come again. Therefore, gloxinia refers to flowers that require a dormant period.
Interestingly, in the past, amateur flower growers often believed that by dropping leaves and withering, gloxinia so passed away and was simply thrown away. It is necessary to take care of it in resonance with its biorhythms, otherwise the plant will be depleted, it will waste its life potential in an irregular way, it will not have time to gain enough strength for the upcoming flowering, and it may even die.
At home, it grows well in the kitchen and on the insulated loggia.because the humidity is higher there. carried out, leafy and from the tops, as well as tubers (read how to grow gloxinia from a leaf).
On a note. Gloxinia itself "knows" when it needs to rest, at this time the foliage begins to turn yellow.
Usually the plant is prepared for bed from September to October. Little by little, watering is reduced to nothing, and the dried leaves are carefully cut off, and the pots are moved to more shaded places. The flower's dream is quite long, it takes more than one month.
How and when does it happen?
In autumn, the flowering of adult sinningia is no longer so active and gradually stops altogether. In order not to disrupt the natural process, gloxinia cease to feed, and watering is minimized. Enough time should pass to. You can cut off the drying leaves at the very root, or you can leave arrows 2-3 cm each.Ideal for the winter is a semi-dark zone with temperatures from + 10 ° C to + 13 ° C.
During sleep, gloxinia are very sparsely watered, once or twice a month. Pour water strictly along the edge of the pots so as not to wet the surface of the tuber. When watering, take lukewarm water.
The second hibernation option is storing tubers in a sandy type substrate, or in peat, or in sphagnum moss. The tubers are removed from the pot and dropped into the chosen substrate, keeping there until the end winter period... Spraying is done once every month warm water coma in which the tuber is stored.
The temperature is needed the same as in the first option, 10-13 degrees. More experienced flower growers-artisans, knowing the nature and habits of the plant, having studied them subtly, are guided by other indicators, using a labile rest time schedule, where in each case the period is calculated individually.
Young plants
How to get it?
The method that will be optimally applied depends on which storage option is chosen - in the ground or without it.
Reference. Regular monitoring of moisture levels and rot is required. If rot appears, we carry out cleaning, process with potassium permanganate.
After cleaning, sprinkle the sore spot, eaten away by the fungus, with ash. If the tuber is purchased in the fall, then during storage you need to use a soilless method, disinfecting both before hibernation and after it (you can learn more about gloxinia diseases and methods of their treatment).
In the soil
It is more simple and reliable option, the danger of rotting is minimal. Preparing for bed follows the same scenario. How to pick up the best soil for gloxinia, you can find out.
- Move the pot with the tuber to a cool and shady place.
- Moisten slightly from time to time upper part soil.
- You can put ice cubes to lower the temperature.
You can also cover the pot with a bag and keep it cool. Do not forget to check for moisture and make sure that the tuber does not sprout. To "control" the temperature, you can put the pot in a box and put a thermometer there. The same applies to soilless storage. Tubers should be checked twice a month.
The rest period lasts four to five months. By the end of January, you can expect awakening in the form of the first shoots. When this happens, you should return the plant to the pot with fresh soil and put it in the brightest place (we wrote about the size of the pot needed for the healthy development of gloxinia). They deepen quite a bit. The sprout should rise slightly above the layer of earth, or be on a par with it. In the first seven days, watering is not done, then they start with moderate doses of moisture, gradually bringing them to normal.
Growth stimulation is not done until February, so that the tuber does not waste strength, because the more it is, the more abundant the flowering will be. Excess shoots are removed, leaving three to four pieces when they reach five centimeters in length.
You can use them for breeding, rooting in a jar, like a small greenhouse, periodically hardening and airing.
Attention! If it turned out that the tuber at the end of hibernation was struck by rot, then you need to disinfect it using the above method.
Can also be placed in root for nourishment.
Useful video
Dormant period in gloxinia. Storing gloxinia tubers at rest in winter:
Conclusion
Advantages and disadvantages of soil and soilless methods:
- the risk of drying out during soil storage is minimal, this is especially important for young plants;
- storage in pots takes up a lot of space;
- with soilless storage in bags, you can monitor for rot;
- the soilless method makes it possible to winter in the refrigerator.