Soil for cyclamens: what soil composition is suitable for this plant, tips for self-preparation of the land, and what kind of care is needed at home?

Cyclamen or alpine violet is a herbaceous perennial that naturally grows in Central Europe and Asia Minor, in Iran and the Mediterranean. Many varieties have been cultivated, achieving an attractive decorative appearance.

Only two species adorn the windowsills of caring gardeners. One and the other species is conquered with lovely original flowers. Persian cyclamen blooms in winter, when few plants delight with bright flowering.

Do they have special requirements for the soil in which cyclamen will be grown at home?

Plant features

The reason for the popularity of cyclamen is the marvelous appearance of the plant with basal dark green leaves with gray-silver patterns, over which drooping flowers bloom on high peduncles. The petioles are 30 cm long. The originality of the flower depends on what species it belongs to. Among them there are representatives with a pointed flower, curved back, with fringed petals, etc.

Not only does the appearance of the flower differ, but also its color. Breeders bred hybrids in which the flowers are snow-white, pinkish, dark red, burgundy or purple. Flowering time - up to 3.5 months. If you provide them with a cool growth, flowering will last from mid-October to the end of March (about when and how long the flowering lasts and what to do with cyclamen after it has flowered, read here).

The Importance of the Right Substrate

Not all growers comply with soil recommendations. They believe that the type of substrate is not important. You can take garden soil and the plant will grow. They are wrong, because its fate depends on which substrate they choose. Soil is the main material that affects the growth and flowering of the planted plant.

What soil is needed?

It is important to know what soil is suitable for the plant. Cyclamen grows well in slightly alkaline soil. Experienced flower growers claim that slightly acidic and neutral soils are also suitable for cyclamen. There is some truth in their words.

The composition of the earthen mixture can be any with the only condition: when dried, it should not dry out, and the water in it should not stagnate.

Cooking land at home

Essential Ingredients

Preparing the soil mixture for cyclamens, add coarse sand to it and perlite with a layer of 0.3-0.5 cm. Above the substrate there should be a layer of small pebbles: gravel, small pebbles, granite with a size of 0.5-1 cm.

Reference! It is not always convenient to prepare land for cyclamens at home. Increasingly, they are buying universal, special primers for cyclamens or flowering plants in a flower shop. A good producer is Seliger Agro.

To make loose soil for cyclamen, take:

Substrate purchased at the store.
Perlite.
Sand.
Needles.

Procedure

Before preparing the ground, they treat the substrate with a solution of potassium permanganate. The solution used for processing should be pinkish. 1.5-2 grams of dry potassium permanganate powder is added to ten liters of water. Sand is pretreated in addition to potassium permanganate impregnation. It will be steamed or in a water bath for half an hour. Adding needles, take forest and not rotted. Otherwise, it will decay, become covered with a fungus and contribute to the decay of the plant in the pot.

The resulting mixture is baked in the oven for an hour. Sometimes they omit this procedure, doing only processing with a solution of potassium permanganate. Calcination is the best way to save cyclamen from developing fungal diseases.

Structure

4 hours of sheet land;
1 teaspoon of sand;
2 hours turf;
0.5 hours needles.

Right pot

A pot for cyclamen is selected by buying a plant in a flower shop. A new one is bought when it is transplanted or propagated. Choosing the right one, take into account the age of the plant. If the age is one year, the optimum diameter of the tank is seven centimeters. Two-year cyclamen is transplanted into containers with a diameter of 14 cm. It is not recommended to sharply increase the size of the pot. Otherwise, the soil will oxidize. In order to prevent soil waterlogging in the future, they pierce the bottom, i.e. make drainage holes.

How to transplant?

A transplant is not always necessary. It is recommended to carry out after buying a new flower. In a flower shop, it grows in a special substrate so that there are no problems when transporting it from abroad. In the future, it interferes with good flowering and plant growth. When the tuber grows much and it becomes obvious that the plant is closely in the pot, it is important to transplant it. If you hesitate, the roots will grow greatly, and they will not have enough food to meet all their needs.

Alpine violet is transplanted, as there is a need for a change of substrate. Over time, the earth in the pot is depleted, even if it is well fed. In addition, it is an excellent environment for the development of parasites, the reproduction of fungi and bacteria.

If desired, each grower will cope with a cyclamen transplant. You don’t have to do anything special The main thing is to strictly follow the steps below:

Prepare a drainage layer in a pot. To do this, put a simple pebble or expanded clay on its bottom with a layer of 1.5-2 cm. The incorrectly formed drainage system is a common cause of stagnation of water in the soil.
Preparation of soil from sheet soil, turf, sand and needles. They pour it so that it is not flush with the sides of the pot, but a little lower. In no case should you ram it.
Removing cyclamen from an old pot. Its roots are cleared of an earthen coma, but not completely. Do not disregard the tuber. All dry and rotten roots are disposed of using a sharp knife or manicure scissors.
Placement of a tuber in the center of a new pot (on the healing properties of cyclamen tuber, as well as how to plant and care for it, read here).
Carefully straightening all the roots.
Roots falling asleep with prepared slightly moistened soil.
Watering transplanted alpine violets.

Important! When transplanting cyclamen from one pot to another, they act carefully so as not to damage the fragile roots. If injury occurs, the bulb will not take root. Cyclamen will fall ill and die.

Watering and feeding

It depends on the care of the flower after transplantation, whether cyclamens will accept or not. It comes down to timely watering and top dressing with the right fertilizers. In the first month they are rarely watered. It is better to pour water into the pan so as not to soak the tuber on top with water and not contribute to its rot. For irrigation use settled water at room temperature. After a month, cyclamen are fed with fertilizer.

Never deviate from the recommendations given by experienced growers. If this happens, cyclamen will disappear or bloom later. After one month, it is watered as the soil dries and only with the beginning of flowering is more abundant than before. Overflow is not permissible, since it contributes to the development of diseases in the flower.

Read more about how to properly water cyclamen, read here, and from this article you will learn about how and how to feed the plant.

Conclusion

It depends on what soil is chosen for cyclamen, whether it quickly acclimatizes to new conditions and blooms. They don’t take the first land that comes under their hands to transplant it. Otherwise, there is no guarantee that pests will not start.