Cyclamen at home. How to care for cyclamen after purchase?

Cyclamen has long been known to all lovers of beautiful flowering plants. A beautiful flower is widely popular precisely for home content, its visual advantages, accessibility and relative unpretentiousness affect.

But in order to get really beautiful and, most importantly, healthy flowering, it is necessary to form the correct theoretical base. Today we will tell you how to care for cyclamen indoors. So, let's begin.

Brief description of cyclamen

Cyclamen, the second name for alpine violet, refers to a perennial herb. Grows in the highlands of Europe and Central Asia. Prefers growing temperatures up to 15 ° C, perfectly tolerates frosty winters. When the heat rises to 25 ° C, it hibernates.

Cyclamen European - a common species among florists

Several varieties of cyclamen are suitable for home cultivation:

European. A plant with small evergreen leaves, the underside of them is dark red. It blooms with fragrant pink flowers from early March to late autumn;
the purple species can shed the leaves, which are dark green with a purple tint on the wrong side. Small bush, up to 10 cm in height. Flowering is not long - from July to September;
Persian variety with large flowers, large dark green leaves. Blooms in November, flowers last until spring. The dormant period for the Persian species is summer.

Care and transplantation requirements are the same for all species.

Important! Cyclamen does not like transplants, it takes a long time to recover after them. It is better not to change the habitat of the plant unless absolutely necessary.

Cyclamen consists of a tuber, small roots extending from it and a small aerial part in the form of a bush. The short stems are crowned with heart-shaped leaves. On the central shoots, single flowers grow with petals turned upside down. Flower shades can be different. With successful pollination, the flower gives seeds. Can be grown in soil and at home.

Cyclamen tuber of impressive size

What is a room cyclamen

Today cyclamens are especially popular in indoor floriculture. Their genus numbers over 25 species. Most often, the following varieties can be found in an apartment:

Persian. It is a tuberous plant that grows up to 30 cm. Its rich green leaves, decorated with silver patterns, are attached to the shoots with brown-red petioles. The diameter of the leaves can reach 14 cm. In winter, Persian cyclamens produce tall flower stalks, on which white, pink, red, burgundy or purple flowers bloom, which are practically odorless. After flowering, fruits with small seeds remain.

Purple or European. It is a herbaceous evergreen crop that grows up to 15 cm. The foliage is rounded with jagged edges up to five centimeters in diameter. The upper part of the green leaf plate is decorated with silvery stains, and the lower one is brown in color. This cyclamen blooms with small flowers with a delicate scent. The petals are folded down and painted in shades from white to red. Flowering begins in the summer season and lasts until late autumn. Purple cyclamen tubers are irregular in shape and completely covered with roots.

Cyclamen Victoria.The flower is distinguished by its sophistication. Against the background of emerald foliage with a white edge and an intricate pattern, snow-white flowers with pink or crimson fringes bloom. Flowering continues from autumn to spring. The plant grows up to 30 cm and requires special care.
Caucasian. The leaves of this variety are round-elongated or heart-shaped. The foliage color is dark green or brown with different patterns. Produces small pink flowers. Their color can have different degrees of saturation. The tubers are brown in color and root from the bottom.
Neapolitan or ivy. It belongs to frost-resistant varieties and has serrated leaves with clear notches. The foliage is shaped like ivy. Glossy emerald leaf plates are painted with silvery marble stains. The plant blooms in the autumn with pink flowers with bent petals. The roots grow from the top of the tubers and should be considered when planting.

The roots of all cyclamens have healing powers and help to treat sinusitis and rheumatism. They are also used to neutralize poisons from snake and insect bites. Today, cyclamen is widely used in pharmaceuticals for the manufacture of medicines with sedative, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.

Pests and diseases

Improper care and excess moisture are the main causes of cyclamen disease. When the first signs of the disease appear, treatment with special preparations should be carried out.

Common diseases:

Gray rot - manifested by the appearance of gray plaque and soft necrotic spots. Phytosporin can be used as a prophylaxis, and foundazol for treatment. You should also replace the soil.
Fusarium - a fungal disease, manifested in the yellowing of the leaves, mainly on one side. Foundation treatment is required.
Wet rot - bacterial disease. The leaves wither and the roots rot. The flower must be destroyed.
Anthracnose - occurs at high humidity and temperature. Peduncles dry up, and flowering does not occur. The foliage curls and dries up. To save the cyclamen, all diseased parts should be removed and treated with a fungicide.

Gray rot

Fusarium
Read also: Varieties and basic rules for caring for a palm tree at home

Anthracnose

Cyclamen mite

Pests:

Cyclamen mite - lives in a colony in the form of fine dust on the inside of the leaf. As a result of their vital activity, the leaves are deformed and wither. They can also infect buds.
Thrips - damage not only the leaves, but also the tuber. Their presence betrays the presence of white dots and dried leaf edges.

To treat a flower, it is necessary to remove all affected parts and treat it with a special insecticide.

Which pot to choose for transplanting cyclamen?

Cyclamen is a herbaceous perennial plant widespread in many countries. It also has another name: alpine violet. Under natural conditions, it is distributed in European countries, in Asia Minor, the Mediterranean latitudes and in Iran.

The varieties bred by breeders are very decorative: there are many silvery lines and patterns on the green foliage, flowers of pink, white, lilac, crimson shades are located on long peduncles, bloom in the winter months and sometimes in early spring.

For a successful plant transplant, 3 points are required:

choose the right pot;
choose a suitable soil;
take care of drainage.

Pot selection is very important for growing a beautiful, healthy cyclamen. If you pick up a small container, then the root system will grow quickly enough and you will have to prepare for a new transplant, which the flower does not like so much.

Large leads to acidification of the soil and to the appearance of root rot, in such a container the plant does not bloom well.

For a standard bush at the age of 3 years, a container with a diameter of 14 - 16 cm is ideal, for plants of 1 - 2 years, a diameter of about 8 cm is also suitable.It is advisable that between the roots and the walls there is no more than 2 - 3 cm.

If you have chosen a previously used pot, be sure to disinfect it. There should always be drainage holes in the bottom of the container for planting a flower.

When to transplant cyclamen

The plant can be transplanted in the period after the flowers fall and before the next buds begin to form. An annual transplant is needed to renew the flower and stimulate the growing season.

Transplanting indoor plants, how to properly transplant an indoor flower

The vegetative year of the flower should be divided into a period of rest and flowering. During hibernation, fertilizers are not applied, watering is minimal, the air temperature in the room is increased. This is a good time to transplant a plant as it is the least stressed.

Note! The soil is depleted over time and the crop does not receive enough nutrients. By external manifestations, you can understand when you can transplant cyclamen.

If, under the right conditions, the bush does not bloom for a long time and begins to dry out, and the leaves turn yellow, you need to check it for pests. The aerial part is carefully examined. If the sheets are clean, check the condition of the roots. The tuber can be affected by rot or insects. In this case, an insecticide treatment is carried out, the damaged roots are removed, the tuber is transplanted into a new pot. Florists recommend in this case to completely replace the soil.

An adult plant may not fit in an old container. You should pull out the root and see how much space it takes up in the pot. If there is no more room for the development of the tuber, transplantation into a new, more spacious flowerpot is required.

Is it possible to transplant a flowering plant

It is not recommended to transplant any culture during the flowering period. The plant gives a lot of energy to the formation of buds, the opening of flowers, the formation of seeds. Transplanting a flowering cyclamen will lead to the fact that the buds dry out, the flowers fall off, the adaptation process will drag on. The subsequent flowering will have to wait for a long time.

For your information! Often the bush dies, since transplanting during the growing season is stressful.

There are cases when it is necessary to transplant cyclamen during the flowering period. These are bushes that are forcibly driven out for sale in a blooming state. When buying, the bush inevitably dies after the petals fall. But he can be saved in time. In such cases, an emergency transplant of a flowering cyclamen is made.

Flowering purple variety

First of all, all the buds and flowers are cut off, the bush is transplanted into a new land. The substrate should not be fertilized. It is best to plant the flower in depleted soil, you can add more sand. The culture is introduced into a state of dormancy, transferred to a cold place, watered little and not fed.

How to transplant cyclamen at home is described step by step in the next section.

Flower selection rules

In order not to be disappointed in the purchase, the buyer will need to carefully examine the selected plant. Specimens with sluggish and damaged leaves should be avoided. If plaque is found on the leaves or other parts of the plant, it is better to refuse the purchase - there is a high probability that the cyclamen will die and even infect other indoor plants. The bush itself should be dense, dense, with strong stems.

Read also What is the most expensive poultry meat

During the period of active flowering, it is worth giving preference to cyclamen with a large number of buds... Such a plant will delight its owner with flowering longer than others.

Also, that requires close attention - nodules.They should look healthy and fit snugly in the soil. Sometimes we are talking about buying only a flower tuber for growing, and not a grown cyclamen. In this case, you need to pay attention to the growth bud - it must be viable - and the absence of damage in general. A healthy tuber looks dense, weighty.

We recommend watching a video on how to choose the right healthy cyclamen in the store:

Reproduction

Cyclamen seeds

Reproduction by seeds:

Using a brush, gently pollinate the flowering plant.
Wilted flowers do not need to be removed. Seeds are formed in them.
Before sowing, the resulting seeds must be placed in water for 24 hours or treated with the Epin growth stimulator.
The soil used should be disinfected by spilling it with a solution of potassium permanganate.
The seeds are sown in a container on moistened soil, slightly covered with a layer of vermiculite. The distance between the seeds should be at least 2 cm.
The container is placed in a dark place until shoots appear.
Seedlings with 3 leaves can be dived, covering the growing nodule with earth completely.
Six months later, they are transplanted into more spacious pots, leaving 1/3 of the tuber bare.

The resulting seeds from hybrid varieties will not inherit the traits of parent plants. To purchase quality seed material, you should contact specialized companies.

Dividing the cyclamen tuber

Reproduction by dividing the tuber:

Division is carried out only during the dormant period of the plant.
Having taken out the tuber from the soil, it should be dried.
Using a sharp knife, the tuber is cut into pieces, leaving a bud and a small number of roots on each.
After drying the slices, they need to be covered with activated charcoal or other antiseptic.
Place the resulting parts in pots, deepening them no more than 2/3.

Flower care after relocation

Cyclamen loves coolness and diffused light, so it is advisable to allocate a place for it on the east or west window, as an option - northeast or northwest.

Watering is best done in a tray or along the edge of a pot.... Although the latter is very risky: if the water gets to the point of growth - the tuber - the plant is considered ruined. The plant is much more loyal to underfilling than overflowing.

You can spray the cyclamen while it builds up the leaf mass. With the emergence of flowers, spraying must be stopped.

About a month after transplanting, the plant will need feeding.... It should be repeated every 2-3 weeks throughout the flowering period.

When the cyclamen fades and retires, cut it to a hemp and place it in a cool, dark place (for details on what kind of care the cyclamen needs during the rest period, read here). Water it occasionally, but very sparingly. Do not store the onion in the refrigerator.

Watch a video about caring for cyclamen after transplant:

Cyclamen transplant at home after purchase

How to transplant aloe at home yourself

After purchase, the cyclamen is provided with proper care, and, if necessary, a transplant. Often a very small container for seedlings is chosen, the roots are woven into a dense lump, occupying all the space. An urgent cyclamen transplant is required at home, since neither watering nor feeding will save it. In horticultural farms, cyclamens are planted in soil, which is oversaturated with peat, before being sold. This component has a bad effect on the air permeability of the soil. After flowering, the bush needs to be transplanted.

Note! During flowering, cyclamen cannot be transplanted. Even if the roots are cramped in the pot, you should wait until all the flowers have fallen off and move the plant to a warm room. A dormant bush can be transplanted into another container with prepared soil.

The cyclamen root system is examined, rotten roots are removed.In a pot, half filled with the prepared substrate, a bush is placed in the center, the roots are straightened and covered with earth to the top. The soil is not compacted.

A withering flower is the result of improper care

The bush is transplanted with some of the old soil in order to shorten the adaptation time of the flower. If the roots have been damaged by bacteria or pests, the old soil is disposed of. Before transplanting a diseased tuber, the affected part is disinfected. For better survival, the roots are left in a root stimulant solution for several hours.

Answers to user questions

Consider how to properly divide cyclamen into several full-fledged flowers, and also find out whether it is necessary to transplant immediately after acquisition, and whether it can be done when flowering occurs.

How to split cyclamen when transplanting?

When a flower grows, it needs to be separated. This can be done at the last stage of dormancy, before the flower wakes up.

Consider how to properly divide the plant:

the tuber is taken out and dried;
inspect, choosing the place of separation;
with a sharp knife make the required number of cuts;
open areas are sprinkled with activated carbon and left for a day in the dark;
planted in new pots.

The correctness of the actions is confirmed by flowering after 6 months.

Did you know? In one of the books of the 18th century, cyclamen is called "pork bread" because pigs love to feast on the tubers of this plant and often tear the ground in search of them.

Do I need to replant after purchase?

After acquisition, the cyclamen is transplanted in the absence of flowering, as well as if the flower is in the transport soil, which includes few fertilizers and does not retain moisture well. In the presence of flowers, it is recommended to wait for a rest period.

How to care after landing?

After the transplant, proper care is important, which includes the following features:

The pot is placed in a bright place, but so that there are no direct rays of the sun. The temperature should be within + 14 ... + 18 ° С.
Watering is rare. It is better to pour water into a tray so as not to get on the tuber. The water must be settled.
At the end of the month, fertilizers are applied.

If you do not adhere to these rules, the cyclamen may die or bloom out of time. After this time, leaving is no different from usual.

Step-by-step instructions for a planned cyclamen transplant

The timing of transferring the bush to a new pot is the time before the formation of young shoots.

How to transplant ficus at home to a new place

It is best to transplant a plant into a new container by transshipment. They dig in the soil around the perimeter of the pot and take out the whole lump of earth, having previously tilted the flowerpot. The dumped flower is cleaned of old soil, then transplanted into a new container.

Important! In diseased specimens, the soil must be completely replaced.

Which pot to transplant

Before transplanting a cyclamen, you need to choose a container by size. The size of the pot to buy is determined by the age of the flower. For a one-year-old plant, the container should be at least 8 cm wide, the cyclamen is planted for 3 years in a container with a diameter of 15 cm.

For your information! If the pot is selected too large, the earth in it will turn sour, moisture will stagnate, and the roots will rot.

Before backfilling the soil, the pot is treated with disinfectants and a hole is made to drain excess water.

How to prepare the ground

The store sells soil for cyclamens, but you can prepare the soil mixture yourself. To do this, mix peat, humus and sand in equal parts, add 3 parts of leafy earth. The acidity of the substrate should be about 7 PH. Vermiculite is added for aeration. Before backfilling, a layer of expanded clay is poured onto the bottom of the pot for drainage. The earthen mixture must pass air well, this is the key to the successful flowering of the culture.

Soil for a flower can be bought ready-made or mixed by yourself

Note! The roots of the plant love fresh air. It is necessary to provide good aeration - to loosen the soil. The soil for the culture is chosen light, loose.

Before planting cyclamen, any soil, prepared or purchased, is calcined in an oven for disinfection. Thus, putrefactive bacteria are destroyed, which can destroy the flower.

You cannot plant a bush in soil that has already been used for other flowers. Such land is depleted, it does not contain a sufficient amount of nutrients that the tuber needs.

How to water after transplant

After transplantation, the cyclamen is placed on a light windowsill, but without access to direct sunlight. The room should be cool. At first, watering is very poor, when the flower adapts to the new soil, you can start feeding it.

Water the flower through the pallet. They fill it with settled water, wait until the whole earth is saturated with moisture. With this method of moistening, the growing point at the top of the tuber does not get wet. This is important as cyclamen is susceptible to excess moisture.

The flower does not like dry air, it needs to be periodically sprayed on the leaf before flowering.

It is better to water the bushes through the pallet.

It must be remembered that cyclamen is a plant that blooms during the cold season. At this time, you should remove the pot away from batteries and heaters. They maintain sufficient humidity in the room and do not forget to water.

Preparatory work

Before proceeding with the cyclamen breeding procedure, a number of preparatory work should be carried out:

Pot selection... The plant does not need a container that is too deep, since the roots are not able to completely fill a large space, as a result of which they slow down growth. The best option for culture would be a flat pot, shaped like a soup bowl or bowl. Ideally, the new container should be 2–3 cm larger in diameter than the old one. The material of the pot does not really matter. Drainage holes are required.
The soil... To plant a flower, you can use a special soil designed for cyclamen, or you can prepare the soil yourself. Before use, the soil should be sterilized by any available method: warm it up in an oven for 10-15 minutes at a temperature of + 180… + 200 ° C, spill it with a solution of potassium permanganate and dry it thoroughly, freeze it on a balcony or in a freezer.
Sterilization of instruments... It is imperative that all tools that will be used during the plant breeding procedure must be disinfected. To do this, they are treated with special purchased disinfectants, wiped with an alcohol solution or soaked for several minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate.

Video: The subtleties of growing cyclamen

Daughter tubers (children)

Over time, next to the mother tuber, the European cyclamen forms so-called babies - daughter nodules that can be used as a full-fledged planting material.

Procedure

After flowering, an adult cyclamen is removed from the ground.
Daughter processes are separated from the maternal tuber.
After separation, the children are dried, disinfected if necessary, then they should be seated in separate pots.
The entire tuber must be underground
Immediately after planting, the tubers are well watered to facilitate their rooting process. You should know that the roots will grow over the entire surface of the baby, and not just below.

Possible transplant errors

Among the mistakes that are made when changing containers for a plant, there are the following.

the tubers were damaged when the bush was taken out of the old pot, deeply deepened into the new soil during transplantation;
the bulb was very deeply buried. The plant is planted so that a small part of the roots protrude above the ground;
if you choose too wide a flower pot, you will have to wait a long time. It is necessary to select containers in such a way that from the tuber to the walls of the container are no more than 3 cm;
the room in which the recently transplanted flower is located is very warm. The culture does not like hot rooms, an unadapted cyclamen will turn yellow.

Cyclamen is a delicate plant, it requires careful handling during planting and further care.

How to transplant a flower after purchase

When purchasing a cyclamen, you need to take a flower on which the minimum number of flowers has blossomed, and multiple buds are hidden under the foliage. You should also pay attention to the appearance of the culture, because there are a number of signs that speak about the health of the culture:

peduncles should be in an upright position
leaves with good elasticity and should not have suspicious spots
shoots must be clean, free of plaque and putrefactive formations
the soil mixture should not be dry
tubers peep out of the ground, except for the European cyclamen, the tubers of which must be completely submerged in the ground

If the flower is purchased in winter, then it must be well covered during transportation. If only tubers are bought, then you need to make sure that they are heavy and smooth, with the presence of growth buds. Repotting cyclamens is necessary if the plant is planted in transport peat. The flower is carefully removed from the pot and the tubers and roots are cleaned from the peat mixture, and then immersed in warm water for half an hour.

If there are traces of fungal diseases on the tubers, then they should be treated with a manganese solution or "Kornevin".

Before planting, old leaves are partially removed, leaving only young rosettes located in the central part. Watering after the procedure should be carried out no earlier than two days later and with a small amount of water. After transplanting, the cyclamen should be kept in a cool place. It is possible that after the procedure, the foliage of the plant will begin to turn yellow. Cut off yellowed leaves. When the stress passes and the flower regains its strength, new greens and buds will begin to appear.

The next transplants will need to be done to change the soil, treat diseases or increase the pot. Experienced gardeners give some tips for transplanting cyclamen:

The procedure should be carried out in the summer when the plant comes out of dormancy.
The flower must be transplanted into a new container if new leaves appear on the tubers.
Blooming cyclamen should not be transplanted, only if the flower needs urgent treatment.
The pot must be selected small so that there is no more than three centimeters from the roots to the wall of the container.
The overgrown plant is transplanted together with an earthen clod.

Read also What vegetables is avocado combined with

Also, when transplanting, the cyclamen variety should be taken into account. If the roots are formed at the bottom of the tubers, then they are not completely deepened into the soil. And if the roots are formed at the bottom or throughout the tuber, then it is buried completely.

A soil mixture for cyclamens is prepared by mixing leafy soil, humus and sand, in a 2: 1: 1 ratio. Humus can be substituted for perlite or peat. The acid-base pH reaction should exceed seven. Higher levels increase the likelihood of disease. It is recommended to pre-disinfect the planting soil by heating it in a microwave oven or by treating it with a manganese solution. The bottom is equipped with drainage from granite, gravel or pebbles.

Tuber division

You can only divide the tuber of an adult plant: but only after flowering. Usually, the procedure is carried out at the next flower transplant.

Procedure

Cyclamen is carefully dug out of the ground and dried.
The tuber of the plant is divided into several parts with a sharp, clean knife. It is important to make sure that each part has its own roots and kidney.
The place of the cut is sprinkled with charcoal or ash in order to protect against infection.
The separated parts are seated in separate containers, watered.

Important: when caring for rooting cuttings, the soil should not overflow, since parts of the tuber can easily rot because of this.

Transplant process

Let's describe the procedure for transplanting cyclamen step by step:

Lay the prepared drainage material on the bottom of the pot in a layer of about 2 cm.
Sprinkle it with a thin layer of prepared and disinfected soil.
Carefully remove the cyclamen tuber from the old pot so that an earthen ball remains on it, and the small roots are not damaged.
Examine the tuber. If you see rotten roots, remove them with sharp scissors, and treat the cut points with either wood ash or crushed activated carbon.
Place the cyclamen in a new pot and distribute the roots evenly.
Cover the Persian tuber with soil so that it is submerged only by 60-70%. Its top should remain on the surface. And fill up the "European" completely. You cannot tamp the soil.
Moisten the soil and wait for it to absorb the water. Then dust the wet surface with dry earth.

Advice! To make it easy to remove the cyclamen from the old pot along with the earthy clod, stop watering it for a few days. Dried soil easily leaves the walls.

Watch a video on how to transplant cyclamen correctly.

Can I be propagated by a sheet

We must say right away that this variant of vegetative reproduction of cyclamen is quite possible, but it requires the application of certain efforts: it is unlikely that a beginner will be able to handle it. The main difficulty is that the cyclamen leaves do not take root well. It often happens that after standing for some time in water or in the ground, the lower part of the leaf simply rotts, and the upper part dries up.

Therefore, this method is used only by very experienced flower growers or real "lucky ones" who get everything, no matter what they undertake. Here are some helpful tips to help root the leaf more effectively.

Try to find a leaf on the plant that has small roots (fingers). Such a leaf is far more likely to take root.
Only European cyclamen can be propagated in this way. Persian does not have sheets with spines, so this method is excluded for it.

Care during the adaptation period

Cyclamens are quite capricious and react sharply to a change of residence... Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that for some time the plant will come to its senses after purchase.

The flower may appear slightly wilted, the stalks and stalks will drop, but this is a normal adaptation process. With proper care after purchase, the cyclamen (Persian and any other variety) at home will quickly return to its previous state.

To relieve the stress of a change of location, you need to make sure that all basic conditions for keeping the flower are met. If necessary, you can resort to spraying or irrigation. Moreover, the purchased cyclamen requires a transplant, sometimes immediately after purchase.

Watering

Watering cyclamen is also slightly different from most indoor plants. When watering, try to keep the water out of the leaves and stems. If this is difficult, submerge the plant pot in the water. As soon as the soil becomes wet, pour out any remaining water in the pan. Don't let the plant sit in the water for a long period of time, 15 minutes will be enough.

Cyclamens like to keep the soil evenly moist during the active period of their life, but by no means swampy. The substrate should be damp to the touch, but not wet. Let it dry a little between waterings, but don't let the soil dry out completely or stay dry for too long.

Plant pots should have well-drained soil and several holes in the bottom of the container.In cyclamens in excessively moist soil, the leaves droop and rot, which leads to the development of fungal diseases and the possible death of the plant. Cyclamen loves spraying the leaves, but you need to provide good ventilation so that the leaves can dry quickly and not rot.

Description of the flower

Cyclamen is a tuberous perennial herb that has a thickened root and is very often used as a house flower. It belongs to the Mirsinov family, but it can also belong to the Primroses family. The plant occurs naturally in the wild. It grows on the territory of northeastern Africa, the Black Sea coast, the Caspian and Mediterranean, Crimea, southern Ukraine, as well as in the Middle East.

Today the genus Cyclamen has over 60 species. Of these, about 20 species are ranked as indoor flowers. The features of this plant include the following parameters:

the leaf blade is shaped like a heart and has a bright dark green color with silvery streaks forming various patterns. The leaves are collected in a basal rosette;
the decorative orientation of the leaves is characteristic;
flowering of a flower, depending on the variety, occurs at different times;
all species are characterized by exposure to the very tuber after flowering;
in appearance, cyclamen tubers have a rounded flattened shape and, depending on age, have a different diameter. Usually their diameter is 4-5 cm, but there are representatives with a tuber of 15 cm;
the surface of the root is dotted with buds, from which leaves are later formed;
the root, during the flowering period, is always at rest.

In addition, a distinctive feature of this flower is that it is an ephemeroid (it blooms, grows and bears fruit only in a cool period of time). Cyclamen has the following flower characteristics:

in all varieties, flowers are placed on thin and tall, but rather strong peduncles;
flower stalks can reach 30 cm in height.But in dwarf species, this parameter does not exceed 12 cm;
the plant forms small flowers in various colors: from white to bright purple;
the main parts of the flower are tilted downward, but the petals are bent upward;
the flowers are bisexual, i.e. possess stamens and pistils.
outwardly, cyclamen flowers resemble a flock of butterflies that circle over a flower pot;
up to 60 flowers can form on one plant.

With its ability to bloom during the cold season, this houseplant is especially valuable, bringing back paint to your home during the winter. At the same time, some species exude a pleasant and delicate aroma, which also improves mood. But for this you need to properly care for it and know what you need to do after buying a plant in a store.

Dormant period

The temperature naturally rises in spring, so the cyclamen slowly turns yellow and fades away. This is a signal to reduce watering to prevent root rot. Don't rush, let the leaves fall on their own - this will allow the roots to absorb nutrients from the leaves. For the summer months, potted plants can be placed on the balcony in a shaded area or in the coolest room in the apartment, where they can stay dry until next fall. In autumn, when a new sprout appears on the tuber, it's time to start watering the flower again and wait for a new flowering.

Types of cyclamen

Cyclamen, like an indoor flower, is represented by a wide variety of varieties, among which the following types are most often grown at home:

cyclamen African. It looks like a bush. Forms flowers with various shades of pink. Grows in Tunisia and Algeria;
cyclamen Kosky. It grows on the island of Kos, which is located near Turkey. Also common in Syria, Bulgaria, Iran, Caucasus and Crimea.Velvety tubers are characteristic. Forms flowers of different shades of pink;
Alpine violet or cyclamen Creticum. It blooms in spring (March, April and even May) in white;
Persian cyclamen. It grows in North Africa. Persian can bloom in both autumn and winter. During the summer period, Persian generally sheds its leaves. It is worth noting that Persian cyclamen is able to accumulate nutrients in the tuber. Persian variety, after purchase in the store, it is used one-time. But if you properly organize the care of it, you can achieve its re-flowering;
cyclamen of Kyrenia. It grows on the island of Crete in the mountainous area. It blooms with white or pale pink flowers that exude a pleasant aroma. A characteristic feature of this variety is a purple or purple spot at the base of the petals.

This is not a complete list of all the varieties that are most often grown at home after purchase in the store.

The importance of the right soil

Properly selected soil when planting indoor plants is primarily the key to their rapid, as well as healthy growth and development. There are several types of soil substrates: peat, clay, leaf, heather, compost, turf, coniferous land.

Depending on the type of cyclamen, its needs for certain organic compounds, it is recommended to add a certain amount of sand, charcoal and dry moss to the nutrient mixture. You can get a potting mix in two ways, by buying a ready-made one in a specialty store or by preparing it yourself.

How to transplant?

There are several rules on how to transplant cyclamen. This process includes several stages:

Pot selection... The pot should be slightly larger than the previous one and have drainage holes to avoid rotting tubers.
Soil preparation... You can either purchase it in a specialized store or cook it yourself. In the second case, sod and deciduous soils, humus and sand in equal proportions will be required. Additionally, the soil can be calcined and thus disinfected.
Directly transplant... The cyclamen must be carefully removed from the pot and, if possible, cleaned the tuber from the soil, some growers even advise washing it. Before proceeding with the transplant, the tuber should be examined for rot. If the rotten areas are still found, they are cut off, and the places of the cuts are sprinkled with crushed coal. After that, the ready-made soil mixture can be poured into the pot, and then the plant itself can be placed in it.

The first few days after transplantation, the cyclamen may look drooping, but there is nothing wrong with that. If everything is done correctly, the flower will quickly come to its senses.

We recommend watching a video about transplanting a cyclamen after purchase: