The rest period is a kind of rest for plants, it is a minimum of activity. Houseplants stop growing and developing, but they continue to live. It is only necessary to determine when this period begins in different plants and how to care for them at this time. Their further development depends on correctly carried out measures for caring for plants during the dormant period. Florists should be able to identify and properly care for such temporary inactivity of indoor flowers.
How to determine the onset of a dormant period in plants
This period for different plants occurs at different times and the signs of its beginning are also different. Sometimes it is not easy for flower growers to determine that the plant has decreased its activity not because of a disease, but it is just a dormant period. Some indoor flowers do not need such a break in development at all.
One of the signs of retirement is the dropping of foliage. This occurs in flowers such as tulips, daffodils and in all tuberous and bulbous flora. In plants such as caladiums and begonias, this period begins after the end of flowering, while their growth also stops. During this period necessary for the plant, you need to create an imitation of the autumn-winter climate for indoor flowers and keep them in a cool, darkened room. At the same time, watering still needs to be carried out, but in minimal quantities and much less frequently than in the spring-summer season.
Artificial tropical rain for cacti and succulents
Some plants have adapted to live in arid places and can do without water for a long time, including during the dormant period. It is almost impossible to guess the duration of this period in cacti and succulents, but you can prepare indoor plants for it. For such plants as aloe, kolanchoe, echeveria, wild rose, aeonium, stapelia and other succulents, you can arrange artificial tropical rain in one of the autumn months (at your choice). Throughout the month, it is necessary to carry out abundant and daily watering of indoor plants of this type. Moisture will accumulate in large quantities in their leaves and stems. This imitation of natural precipitation will help the flowers survive the dormant period and allow them to grow better after it ends.
Exactly one month later, watering is stopped and the flowers are transferred to a room without lighting and with a cool temperature. This maintenance regime continues until spring, and then the houseplants are returned to sunlight and watered as usual.
Caring for decorative deciduous indoor plants during the dormant period
Deciduous plants also need a dormant period, even if they continue to grow during the fall and winter. It is recommended to help them with this by reducing watering and lighting, by pruning shoots and leaves. During this period, indoor decorative deciduous plants should be in a darker place and in a cooler room. Even in the absence of signs of the onset of a dormant period with the arrival of autumn cold weather, the regime for keeping indoor plants must be changed.
Each plant species has a dormant period with its own characteristics. Therefore, you should not get rid of an indoor flower if it suddenly dropped the leaves and stopped blooming. Maybe he just decided to get some rest.
