Noble laurel - a plant found both in the wild and bred indoors. Its homeland is the Mediterranean coast. This is a tree or tree-like shrub, one of the species of the genus Laurus, belonging to the family Laurels. Ancient Greeks crowned the winners with wreaths from it, many housewives seasoned their dishes with fragrant leaves. The name "rest on its laurels," that is, celebrate victory, is associated with the name of this plant.
The noble laurel is cultivated in the subtropical climate of the southern and northern hemispheres. You can grow it at home. Indoor plants, unlike their counterparts growing in the wild, reach a height of 3 m (in nature, a tree can grow up to 15 m).
Home Care
Those who decide to grow a laurel bush at home should understand that it requires special care. If a person wants to have a large and beautiful laurel, then you should think about providing him with sufficient space where he can arrange his branches without interference.
If there is not enough space, then you can grow a small bush right on the windowsill.
Temperature
Since the birthplace of the plant is subtropic, it needs to provide a sufficiently high temperature. If the summer turned out to be hot, then you can take out a pot or tub with laurel on the balcony. The only thing: you should protect the plant from drafts and wind. The most comfortable in spring and summer laurel bush feels at a temperature of + 20 ... +25 ° C. It's okay if it is a little higher. In autumn, it is better to provide a laurel + 15 ... +17 ° C.
In the dormant period, when the plant has blossomed, it does not need a high temperature regime and is even contraindicated.
Lighting
Due to its origin, the laurel perfectly tolerates direct sunlight. But young bushes, which have not yet formed hard leaves, should be kept in a place with diffuse lighting, and not put in direct sunlight: this can harm them. If the plant is located on the windowsill, it is better that there is a translucent curtain between it and the window.
In winter, the laurel does not need to arrange additional artificial lighting that prolongs daylight hours. A small amount of light will be enough for him.
Watering
In the hot season, the plant needs a lot of moisture. It needs to be watered every other day. You should also constantly moisten the air around the laurel using a spray bottle.
Experts recommend placing water containers in the room where the pot with a laurel bush is located to constantly maintain the necessary humidity.
You need to water the plant often, as soon as the top layer of the earth becomes dry. In the cool season, the laurel does not require abundant watering. You can irrigate the plant once or twice a week.
Pruning
Careful care at home includes not only ensuring temperature, light conditions and proper watering, but also regular pruning. Without it, it is impossible to ensure that the laurel bush is beautiful, voluminous and proportional.
Most easily laurel carries pruning closer to the fall, around the end of August. The active period ends, and the buds, designed to throw new shoots, will not be affected.
Top dressing
During the growing season, laurel needs fertilizers. Both organic and mineral are used. They should be added regularly throughout the entire period of plant activity, but at a lower concentration than indicated in the instructions. There is also special feeding specifically for laurel.
Transfer
Like other indoor plants, laurel should be regularly transplanted. While he is young, an annual transplant is required, and then once every two or three years.
Laurel bush does not require a complete renewal of the soil. It is enough to transfer it to a new, more capacious pot with an earthen lump.
The soil requirements of the laurel are the most unpretentious: it can grow in ordinary garden soil. Nevertheless, it is advisable to prepare a special substrate for it. The optimal soil will be a mixture in a ratio of 2: 2: 1: 1: 1, respectively, consisting of turf, sand, peat, leafy soil and humus. For better growth and development, you can add a little ash.
Breeding
Propagating laurels is quite difficult. This can be done by cuttings or seeds.
The easiest way to propagate is sowing seeds. After collection, they should be stored correctly: they should not dry out or freeze. Planting is done in a small pot in the fall. Before emergence, it should be covered with a film, creating greenhouse conditions for the earth. It is worth waiting for them no earlier than three months later.
For cuttings, small, but already covered with a dense crust, branches of about 10 cm long are cut from the plant. Each of them should have two or three buds, and the green leaves should be removed.
In order for the stalk to take root, it is advised to treat it with a special stimulator of growth and root formation (Kornevin, Heteroauxin). Then root the twigs in the soil, consisting of peat and sand.
In order for the cuttings to take root, take root well and grow, they should create greenhouse conditions. You can simply cover the container with a transparent glass jar and maintain the temperature around not lower than + 20 ... +25 ° C. Rooting takes place soon: the laurel takes about a month to do this.
Diseases and pests of lavar
If the laurel bush does not provide the necessary humidity, then some of its leaves gradually turn yellow and dry out. At the same time, the plant itself does not die, continues to grow. It is necessary to regularly spray it from the spray gun, and place containers with water near the pot.
The leaves of a healthy laurel are saturated dark green, shiny. If they become pale, you need to pay attention to where the flower is located. It can react to direct sunlight in this way, that is, it simply burns out in bright light. Also, the pallor, dull color of the leaves may indicate that the plant lacks nutrients. In such cases, you should immediately start feeding.
The home laurel is also sometimes affected by fungi, although in general this plant is quite resistant to disease. Occasionally, a red plaque can be seen on the leaves. It can simply be washed off with water. This is the so-called soot fungus, which does not bring much harm to the plant, but significantly spoils its appearance.
To protect against fungus, experts recommend wiping the leaves with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, and after a couple of days walk with 30% ethyl alcohol. For treatment, soap and soda are used (5 g of each component per liter of water).
The most common pests of home laurel are:
- scale insects;
- mealybug;
- spider mite.
Earthworms can also harm the plant. These are useful creatures, but they do not belong in a pot with a flower. They damage the root system, compact the soil. To get rid of earthworms, the plant can not even be transplanted, completely updating the earth. Just put a flower pot in water at night. As you know, in such conditions, earthworms get to the surface, where they are easy to collect.
Laurel is an evergreen, very beautiful and truly noble plant. With proper care, it will be pleasing to the eye all year round and will not cause any particular problems.
