A guest from the tropics with the Greek name Chamedorea firmly established herself in offices and apartments. This was largely facilitated by Feng Shui experts, according to whom this plant brings good luck to the house and helps create a friendly atmosphere. One of the varieties of this home palm is bridble chamedorea, which will be discussed in the article.

Plant description

Bramble Chamedorea (Chamaedorea Breedbladig) is a modern hybrid of the well-known elegant Chamedorea (elegans). From the last Hamedorea, the bridle is distinguished by larger and more fragrant flowers and a rich, emerald shade of foliage. In addition, the bridle is slightly lower and reaches a height of only 1.5 m (however, provided the soil is fertile and comfortable, a large tub can grow up to 2 m).

The remaining morphological parameters of the Bridble and Elegance are identical:

• creeping green stalk (eventually acquiring a chestnut hue) with numerous thin shoots (vaya);
• 6-7 leaves on each shoot;
• long-arched, arched leaves of feathery shape;
• a leaf plate consists of 12–15 linear-lanceolate lobes 20 cm long;
• spherical bright yellow, slightly velvety flowers, similar to mimosa, collected in panicled inflorescences;
• black, spherical fruits, similar to berries, each of which contains one seed.

Did you know? In the countries of Central and South America, they eat not only berries, but also leaves, and unbroken buds of chamedorea inflorescences. They are considered an excellent vitamin supplement to salads.

Popular types of Hamedorea

In addition to the salon or cabinet palm, as they call the elegant hamedorea and bridble, the following varieties are popular:

1. One color. Low (1–1.5 m), but bushy plant with narrow, thin leaves of light green hue. Unpretentious. Being planted in a wide flowerpot, it soon grows into a whole grove. It blooms with pale yellow flowers, but very rarely (approximately once every 70 years).
2. Seifritsa. A large, sprawling plant, capable of reaching 3 meters in height. For this reason, it is suitable for growing in spacious rooms with high ceilings. Demanding on moisture.
3. Stolononosnaya. It features a large number of shoots, wide (10 cm) dark green leaves and orange flowers. Forms subordinate roots on stems.
4. Metallica. This beautiful plant got its name due to lush, dense emerald leaves with a silvery sheen. In height reaches no more than 2 m.
5. Ernest August. This palm is difficult to confuse with others due to the red tint of the flowers and large (50-60 cm long and 25 cm wide) leaves that resemble a heart in shape.

Growing at home

Hamedorea is considered a fairly unpretentious plant, however, when creating the conditions for its cultivation, one should remember the tropical origin of this palm.

Optimal conditions for growing

In the wild, chamedorea is used to growing in the shade of taller trees, so it should be protected from direct sunlight, shading in the daytime to avoid burns. It is best to place a palm tree a meter away from the south or east windows, so it will receive enough light without harming the leaves. The main requirement for the pot is sustainability. The required diameter is usually indicated on the packaging of Hamedorea.

Important! Once every 2 weeks, the tub with a palm tree must be turned to the light source on the other side to achieve uniform growth and symmetry.

In summer, temperature indicators should not exceed +22 ... + 27 ° C, and in winter, ideally, you need to maintain a temperature of + 16 ° C. In summer, chamedorea can be placed in the fresh air, protected from the sun, wind and rain. The dry air of centrally heated apartments and air-conditioned offices is often detrimental to Hamedorea. It is necessary to maintain air humidity at least 60%.To do this, humidifiers are installed in the room and morning and evening sprayings of the palm with spray water are carried out. You can also place a decorative fountain near the palm tree or simply put containers filled with water, sphagnum or expanded clay. A room with chamedorea must be aired, remembering that the plant does not tolerate sudden changes in temperature and drafts.

Soil requirements

Hamedorei are extremely demanding on soil nutrition.

In addition, the soil should be:

• friable (the lighter the younger the plant);
• air and water permeable;
• with a pH of 6.3–6.5.

You can buy ready-made soil for palm trees in a specialized store or you can prepare it yourself from equal parts of turf, humus, peat and 0.5 parts of agroperlite to improve the properties of the soil.

Transplant technology after purchase

Hamedorea bridble does not tolerate a transplant, so transplanting it immediately after purchase is not recommended.If necessary, move the palm to a more comfortable flowerpot, wait 2 weeks and transplant using the transshipment method:

1. Moisten the substrate.
2. Wrap the leaves in a bag and fix so that they do not interfere with the transplant.
3. Carefully remove the plant from the pot with part of the soil, being careful not to damage the roots.
4. Pour a drainage layer (expanded clay, broken brick) into a new container.
5. Put a palm tree in a new flowerpot and fill it with fertilized soil mixture.
6. Remove the fixing bag.

Care Features

There are nuances in caring for bridble chamedorea, which should be remembered if you want a palm tree to please you with its flowering.

Watering

The golden rule of watering is to prevent waterlogging of the soil. Bridble may exist for some time in dry soil, but waterlogging will be critical. In the summer, palm trees are watered every 4 days, monitoring the condition of the soil: it should be dry already at a depth of 4 cm, and it should not emit the smell of dampness and charm.

Important! Water for irrigation should be settled and warm (+30 ° C). You can add citric acid to it (1 tsp. To 5 l of water) to soften.

Otherwise, you need to reduce the amount of water for irrigation. In winter, chamedorea is watered even less often - once every 6 days. Several times a month it is advisable to wash the chamedorea under a warm shower.

Fertilizer application

Hamedorea is very responsive to feeding, in the spring and summer it should be fertilized every 3-4 weeks, in winter, feeding is stopped. It is best to use special complex mineral fertilizers in granules. Liquid fertilizers will not be the best choice, as they salt the soil, which the palm tree does not like. You need to be careful with organic fertilizing (ash, humus), since it is not known how this exotic will react to them.

Pruning

Adult plants grow very much, so pruning is required to give them a neat, healthy appearance. It is performed as necessary, removing damaged and dry leaves. In this case, a sharp knife or secateurs disinfected with alcohol are used.

They try to position the slice closer to the base of the sheet so as not to leave stumps. To prevent fungal infection, the cut site is treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or sprinkled with powdered activated charcoal or wood ash.

Transfer

As already mentioned, the roots of briddle chamedorea are very fragile, and transplantation is a huge stress for them. That is why it is necessary to resort to this traumatic procedure as little as possible, only when the roots begin to peek out of the drainage holes of the pot.In this case, the transshipment method described above is used. Young chamedorea is transplanted no more than 1 time per year (best in spring), adult specimens - every 3-4 years.

Pest and Disease Control

If the dormancy regimen is not observed in winter (excessive watering and feeding), the plant may become a victim of fungal infection (pink rot, root rot, brown spotting). In this case, preparations based on thiophanate methyl and diphenoconazole will help: “Skor”, “Topsin-M”. Processing is carried out every 10 days until the symptoms of the disease completely disappear.

Hamedorea leaves are susceptible to attack by pests such as:

1. Mealybug (furry louse). You can suspect its appearance by a characteristic white sticky trace on leaves, cracked branches and the death of inflorescences. If infection with a worm at the initial stage, you can do it by thoroughly washing the leaves with a soapy solution. If there are too many pests, you will have to use an insecticide ("Aktara", "Fitoverm").
2. Spider mite. The first signs of its appearance: white dots and a spider line on the back of the leaves. If you do not stop the spread of the tick, the whole plant will be shrouded in cobwebs and white bloom. The tick may be a carrier of gray rot. To combat the tick use special preparations - acaricides ("Floromayt", "Bikol").
3. Shield. Do not underestimate the scale shield due to its small size. This insect is able to drink all the juices from a palm tree. Accumulations of scale insects look like spots on leaves and trunks. If you skip the initial stage of infection, you can see a sticky liquid (pad) on the plant. The scabbard is removed mechanically (with cotton swabs or a toothbrush). After manual processing, the palm is sprayed with Aktara solution, paying particular attention to the inside of the leaf.

Breeding methods

It is not easy to propagate the beauty of chamedorea, this process requires skills and patience. Beginning flower growers prefer to acquire young plants in stores and garden centers.

More experienced can try to grow a palm tree in one of the following ways:

1. Seeds. The complexity of this method lies in the limited shelf life of the seed. To achieve good germination, they need to be planted immediately after harvesting, or at least in the next couple of months. Before planting, seeds should be soaked for 2–5 days in warm rain or melt water. You should also file each seed with a grindstone on one side to speed up germination. Seeds are placed in disposable cups filled with a mixture of equal parts of sphagnum, steamed sawdust and quartz sand, sawn down part. It is not necessary to sprinkle them, only to slightly deepen into the substrate. Top containers are covered with a film. Seedlings are moved to the soil when the first leaves reach 2–4 cm.
2. Dividing the bush. This method is not very suitable for bridble hamedorea due to the fragility of its roots. If you still want to plant a bush, it is better to combine this process with a transplant.
3. Kids. At the roots of the chamedorea, processes are formed annually. They can be transplanted into a separate pot after the appearance of 4-7 leaves and roots. In one capacity, 3-4 shoots are usually planted.

Useful growing tips

If you first became the owner of Hamedorea, the following tips and tricks will come in handy:

1. Placing a palm tree on a windowsill is not a good idea due to too bright light and traditional proximity to central heating batteries. The optimal distance to the window is 1–1.5 m.
2. Ideal spray water - rain or distilled.
3. The palm grows slowly; in a year it gives 2-3 branches. If growth has stopped, you should pay attention to the temperature of the earthen coma. It should be at + 25 ° C, otherwise the development of the root system and the absorption of nutrients slows down.
4. Removing old leaves, you need to wait until they completely turn yellow and dry. The number of leaves removed per year should not exceed the total number of new ones.

Did you know? Feng Shui experts recommend placing the hamedorea in the entrance hall of the apartment or in the lobby of public buildings. At the same time, the bedroom, in their opinion, — inappropriate place for this palm tree because of its special energy.

Bridble Hamedorea is a hybrid of elegant Hamedorea, which has become more decorative in the process of selection (bright, large flowers and a more saturated shade of foliage). Its cultivation is not much different from growing other indoor palm trees, with the exception of an even more careful attitude to the fragile and sensitive roots of this plant.