The touching flowers of the kandyk seem unremarkable in general terms. But it is worth taking a closer look at them to see their unique beauty. In room culture, it is impossible to look away from the kandyk with its bashfully bowed flower heads and unusually gracefully turned petals. This is one of the most beautiful indoor bulbs, which they do not dare to grow in pots so often. But kandyk is much easier to distill than most of both primroses and the more popular types of bulbous. It needs standard care and one long dormant period after planting with less strict temperature control.
Modest kandyk for elegant interiors
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Charming kandyk in a new status
Representing the family of bulbous kandyk, which we do not like to call by its botanical name erythronium (Erythronium) Is one of the most touching garden primroses. Actually, the botanical name of erythronium from the Greek “red” was known in the days of Ancient Greece. Due to the special shape of the bulbs around the globe, the plant is often called, as we do, simply – kandyk or dog tooth.
Erythroniums are small-bulbous primroses of modest size and foliage. Thin peduncles, crowned with a slightly drooping flower, will not exceed 15 cm in height. And their unusual purple-brown color seems to flow into the base of the flowers and specks on the leaves. Leaves usually grow in just one pair. They are atypical for all early spring bulbous crops – oval-lanceolate, wide enough up to lingual, the leaves are more reminiscent of orchids than the usual grass-like leaves of indoor bulbous. The length of the leaves is up to 15 cm. They are gray-emerald green, often decorated with unusual specks of purple tones, rather tough.
The flowering of kandyks is often compared to cyclamen. Of course, they are far from the general shape, but the folded, upward-turned petals make these two cultures related. Kandyk flowers captivate with their shape and grace. Their tube is elongated, expanding, the petals are free, falling, triangular or pointed triangular, they bend back, allowing the long pistil and stamens with light yellow anthers to hang freely down. The diameter of flowers in kandyks rarely exceeds 5 cm. In pots, the flowering of kandyks reminds of fairies, it seems to be something touching and fragile. And the smaller the container in which the plants are planted, the more complete this effect. In room culture, flowers only close at night or on very cloudy days. The color palette of kandyk is limited to dark lilac, pink, white and yellow.
In indoor culture, kandyks are most often driven out as a typical primrose – with flowering in late February or early March. Such dates require planting at a time when most bulbs are planted in the soil in the garden – in August and September. Planting offset provides a difference in flowering time. But since the plant remains almost wild even in forcing, it is better to use standard planting dates.
European blood (Erythronium dens-canis). Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com stri
Types of indoor kandyk
Any kandyk can be grown in a room culture, but only three species do not show a deterioration in flowering (in terms of flower size) and subsequent oppression of the plant after transferring it to open ground.
Best suited for distillation:
- Kandyk European (Erythronium dens-canis) Is a beautiful medium-sized species with leaves up to 20 cm in length, most often decorated with purple or brown spots. Peduncles are thin and long, crowned with graceful, lily-like flowers with bent petals of white-pink-lilac flowers. Flowering lasts more than 3 weeks.
- Kandyk the Siberian (Erythronium sibiricum) Is the most common and famous representative of the genus, which does not lose its charm in pots. Its single, with strongly rejected back triangular petals, dark purple flowers on strong peduncles seem sad, and spotted leaves are best revealed in room culture. When transferred to pots, flowering does not suffer, but the plant needs to rest for 2-3 years between forcing.
- Bloody large-flowered (Erythronium grandiflorum) – more graceful due to narrowed petals, but not so interesting in shape. The petals are only slightly turned away, strongly narrowed, and the color – sunny yellow – only emphasizes the unusual light green shade of the peduncle. The leaves are dark green without the typical speck. This bulbous is allowed to rest between forcing for 1-2 years, planting in open ground after flowering.
For indoor culture, varietal plants of hybrid origin are most often chosen. In their name there is always an indication of the color or its mixture – lilac ยซLilac Wonderยป, lilac-pink “Purple King”, snow-white ยซSnowflakeยป, candy pink ยซRose Beautyยป, snow-white ยซWhite Splendorยป, a mixture of varieties with different colors ยซCharmerยป etc.
Conditions for growing indoor kandyk
This bulbous plant does not quite look like its garden counterparts. In the rooms, the kandyku will need brighter lighting and more moderate temperatures. But otherwise, growing kandyk is not at all difficult. Due to the fact that the cool period of preparation for flowering coincides with the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, it will not be difficult to create a suitable environment for the bulbous.
Lighting and placement
Despite the status of a shade-loving primrose, the kandyks need completely different conditions in the rooms than in the garden. Here it is better to replace the shadow or partial shade with good, but diffused lighting.
Containers with planted kandyk bulbs are kept in shade before being transferred to heat and light. From August-September to December, for 3โ4 months, they should be in shade. During the period of active growth and flowering, light, protected from direct rays, but not semi-shady locations are selected for the kandyk. This bulbous plant blooms best on windowsills or not far from windows.
For kandyk, east and west orientation windows are preferable. Touching plants can be used as accents in seasonal interiors and small live bouquets.
Temperature control and ventilation
For kandyk, it is not necessary to observe very strictly the alternation of warm and cold periods in order to achieve flowering. After planting the plants for rooting for 6-8 weeks, the kandyk is kept at normal temperatures, and then transferred to any frost-free cool room (with a temperature of 2 to 12 degrees).
At the cool stage, the plant is kept until December, after which it is transferred to any living room with an air temperature of more than 18 degrees. Normal room temperatures are quite suitable for kandyks, but the more restrained the temperatures, the longer the flowers of this plant will hold out.
Blood Siberian (Erythronium sibiricum). Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com zastavkin
Caring for kandyk at home
You cannot call a complex bulbous kandyk. He does not like dry air, requires accuracy in watering, but he looks very decorative and original and will not cause trouble even with top dressing. Even inexperienced growers can drive it out, if you follow one and only rule – to avoid abundant watering.
Watering and air humidity
It is very important for the kandyk to organize neat, gentle watering. Plant bulbs in a pot culture are sensitive to uneven moisture, moisture accumulation in the bottom of the containers. Kandyks are watered so that the substrate dries out between these procedures in the upper layer, and the overall moisture level remains light and uniform. This bulbous requires watering with water, the temperature of which is slightly higher than the air temperature. After transplanting, when kept warm at the rooting stage, the bulbs are watered with a minimum amount of water, without creating a stably humid environment. When kept cool, watering is not carried out, but with transfer to heat, they begin to resume watering gradually.
The increased humidity contributes to the beauty of the leaves of the plant and the duration of flowering. Kandyks look best in rooms with non-dry air. You can spray only the leaves, but it is better to do with other measures – for example, installing bowls with wet pebbles or indoor fountains nearby. Plants can be grouped with other moisture-loving crops, for which the performance is increased with the help of moisturizers.
Top dressing and composition of fertilizers
For kandyks in a room culture, feeding can not be carried out at all: this plant has time to bloom before it uses all the soil resources. If you want to get larger flowers, then at the budding stage, 1-2 additional fertilizing is carried out with special fertilizers for flowering crops in a standard dosage.
Transplant and substrate
Kandyk is planted for the classic flowering period in the third decade of August or the first half of September. After flowering, the plants must be planted in open ground (of course, if they want to save them, and not throw them away).
Plants are never grown one bulb at a time, but even in large groups, their charm is lost. Planting 3-4 bulbs in one container is the best option. Accordingly, for this bulbous one, they select neat miniature pots from among highly decorative containers or use the technique of planting in ordinary forcing containers with exposing them to decorative ceramic vessels.
For this type of bulbous, you can use any high-quality substrate – both purchased and mixed independently. Kandyk prefers light, medium-nutritious, loose soil mixtures from among the universal soils. An equal ratio of sod, leafy soil, humus and sand is fine. You can also use a special substrate for bulbous.
There is nothing difficult in landing a kandyk. The bulbs are buried 3-4 cm, strictly vertically, carefully filling the gaps with soil and not tamping the substrate too hard. Planting does not end with traditional watering, because it is with it that the process of preparing for flowering in dryness and shade begins.
Bloody large-flowered (Erythronium grandiflorum). Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com USDA Forest Service
Diseases, pests and growing problems
This bulbous plant does not suffer from diseases or pests typical of indoor plants. In case of any traces of damage to the bulbs by mold, root mites or nematodes, it is better to immediately destroy the plants and not transfer them to open soil.
Reproduction of candy
In a room culture, kandyks propagate only vegetatively – separating the daughter bulbs formed from the planted mother plants and growing them for several years as an open field culture, and then using them for forcing.
Growing indoor kandyks from seeds is impractical. After all, plants bloom no earlier than the fifth year, and even then on condition that from the second they will be cultivated as garden, and not potted bulbous.
