Stefanotis

The Stephanotis plant is a vine with spectacular leaves and beautiful flowers. Belongs to the Lastovnev family. The homeland of this evergreen perennial is the island of Madagascar, but in addition to it, such a vine can be found in the Chinese and Malaysian tropics, as well as in Japan. Stefanotis has a fairly fast growth rate. Every year this plant can lengthen its stems up to 60 cm. In nature, their length can reach up to 6 meters, but in domestic culture, Stephanotis usually has only one meter long shoots.

The flowering of stephanotis usually begins in May. Almost all summer, the plant is decorated with white umbrella inflorescences, which look spectacular against the background of its dark foliage. In some cases, the vine can bloom again by September.

Stephanotis flowers have five ear-shaped petals. It was this analogy that gave the plant its name, literally meaning "ear crown". Another name for this vine is marsdenia. Due to the tubular base and star-shaped form of the flowers themselves, Stephanotis is often compared to jasmine. In addition, its flowers also have a delicate scent.

In the house, Stephanotis is most often grown flowering. Despite the fact that in nature it grows in the tropics, the profusely flowering Stephanotis adapts well to indoor conditions and even blooms. And its flowering cannot leave anyone indifferent; in ancient times, Stephanotis was included in bouquets for brides.

Stephanotis at home: signs associated with a flower

Folk omens associated with Stephanotis are quite contradictory. It is believed that the flower is able to drive away grooms from the house of young girls. At the same time, the snow-white fragrant flowers of Stephanotis, which retain their shape and attractive appearance for a long time, often become an adornment for brides' bouquets or hairstyles.

It is believed that this vine is able to favorably influence the home environment, bring harmony to the home, and give joy and comfort to household members.

Brief rules for growing Stephanotis

Growing Stephanotis at home takes some effort. But for this Madagascar jasmine will certainly delight the owner with its unusual and elegant appearance.

The table shows brief rules for caring for Stephanotis at home.

Caring for stephanotis at home

In order for home stephanotis to fully develop, he will need to create certain conditions. For full bloom, Madagascar jasmine requires winter maintenance in a cooler place. During this period, the vine is watered much less often. Closer to March, the temperature in the room starts to rise gradually. Airing is useful for the flower, but it should be protected from drafts.

Stefanotis is sometimes considered an ampelous plant, but it grows best on supports. Weakening shoots require regular pruning, side branches are usually shortened by a third. As soon as the vine begins to form buds, it cannot be disturbed - even a simple rearrangement can cause them to fall off.

A native of the tropics is quite sensitive to humidity and the amount of light in the room. Because of this, it can be difficult to create an ideal microclimate for Stephanotis at home.

Lighting

Lighting plays an important role in the cultivation of Stephanotis. He prefers bright, but always diffused light. Lack of lighting can significantly affect the decorativeness of the plant, as well as the rate of its growth and bud formation.

The shady north side is not suitable for the vine. If there is no other place for the flower, you will have to use the backlight. South windows, on the other hand, may become too bright and hot for him. There, the pot with stephanotis will have to be slightly shaded. The eastern or western direction is considered optimal for him. The position of the plant should not be changed during budding.

Temperature

In order for an exotic liana to feel comfortable, you will need to observe a certain temperature regime. In winter, she is provided with a low temperature (about +15 degrees). These conditions allow the plant to prepare for the formation of flower buds. A warmer environment can prevent this. The flower pot should be kept away from the batteries or covered with special screens.

In summer, Stephanotis prefers moderately warm weather up to +25 degrees. This plant does not like extreme heat. The hotter it is in the room, the higher the humidity should become. It is especially important to monitor this condition in summer dryness and in winter, while heating devices are operating. Significant temperature changes, as well as cold drafts, are also unfavorable for the flower.

Watering mode

Despite the fact that stefanotis vine prefers moist soil, it should be watered sparingly. During the growth period, you can do this about every other day, and with the onset of autumn - once a decade. The soil in the pot should have time to dry out. Excessive soil moisture quickly leads to rot on the roots of the plant, which can destroy the flower. An insufficient amount of moisture often causes the leaves of the vine to dry out, and also attracts pests to it.

The quality of water for irrigation must also be observed.For stefanotis, it is recommended to use room settled water, to which a little citric acid is added monthly (up to 0.2 g per 1 liter). You can replace the acid with a few drops of lemon juice. The constant use of ordinary water has a bad effect on the plant, its growth begins to slow down, and immunity decreases.

Humidity level

Stephanotis does not tolerate dry air well and needs abundant spraying. It is especially important to do this for the plant on hot days. In summer, you can humidify the air next to the flower after about a day or wipe the foliage. At the same time, moisture should not get on the flowers.

Along with the use of a spray bottle, you can use other methods of humidification: a tray with wet stones, special humidifiers or simple open containers filled with water. In winter, if Stephanotis is in a cool place, you can spray it much less often or not even spray it at all.

Capacity selection

The stefanotis pot must have drainage holes and also fit the size of the plant. Small seedlings obtained from cuttings can be planted in cups about 5 cm in diameter. Each subsequent transplant involves the use of a container that is a couple of cm larger than the previous one. For adult vines, pots up to 20 cm in diameter are required. But an unnecessarily spacious container can lead to the fact that the vine does not bloom.

The soil

Land for planting stephanotis can be purchased or prepared by yourself. A suitable substrate should be moderately heavy, water and air permeable, and slightly acidic or neutral.

For self-preparation of the soil, you will need to mix turf, deciduous soil and humus in equal proportions. For greater looseness and moisture permeability, sand, finely chopped moss, perlite, or brick fragments are added to the mixture.

Fertilizers

Timely application of fertilizers will help Stephanotis to develop better and bloom more abundantly. Top dressing begins in March, as soon as the flower leaves the dormant period and begins to grow. For stephanotis, universal liquid solutions for flowering plants are suitable. They can be used no more than 3 times a month, using half of the dosage indicated on the pack. Plants transplanted in spring do not feed for several weeks: they will have enough nutrients from the new soil.

Before the appearance of buds, nitrogen fertilizers practically cease to be introduced into the soil, replacing them with potassium and phosphorus fertilizers. From mid-autumn, when the plant begins to prepare for rest, feeding is stopped until spring.

Transfer

Liana is transplanted systematically, depending on its age. Instances younger than 2 years old are moved to a new container every six months. Plants up to 5 years old - every spring. Older stephanotis are no longer transplanted, but every year they replace the top layer of the earth.

The transplant of Stephanotis is carried out in the spring, trying to complete all procedures by the beginning of bud formation. Flowering specimens cannot be transplanted. All work with the flower must be carried out carefully: vine juice can cause allergies, so it should be moved with gloves. The roots of the liana are quite tender, so they try not to hurt them when transplanting. The plant is carefully moved into a new container along with the soil clod. If damage could not be avoided, the flower should be watered less often, and a root formation stimulator should be added to the water. In order for such a plant to better absorb moisture, it is often sprayed.

Nutrients from the new soil poured into the container are absorbed by Stephanotis in about 3 weeks. During this period, you do not need to feed him.

Pruning

Pruning of stephanotis is carried out in early spring, as soon as the flower begins to emerge from the dormant period. This procedure helps to rejuvenate the vine, form its crown and maintain an attractive appearance: its flowers are formed only on young branches.At the same time, they do not touch the main stem, cutting off only the lateral shoots. They are shortened by about a third. Removing too large areas can result in a long recovery period. First of all, weakened or excessively elongated branches should be removed from the bush. Pruning correctly will ensure a more lush and abundant flowering.

Bloom

Cool hibernation and reduced watering will help the plant to bloom for a fairly long period. Starting in May, small star-shaped flowers, collected in umbrella-shaped inflorescences, appear on the stephanotis. Their color can be white, yellowish, cream or even light purple. The 5-petal flowers resemble jasmine in shape. The inflorescences exude a pleasant aroma and can appear on the plant all summer long.

In nature, flowers appear on liana almost all year round, with the exception of the dormant period. With good care in September, the vine begins to bloom again. At the same time, its flowering occurs only if the plant can fill the entire pot with roots and clasp the soil lump with them. Stephanotis will not bloom in too large containers.

Methods for decorating creepers

In natural conditions, the shoots of Stephanotis grow upward, clinging to tall trees or bushes. Having strengthened on their trunks or branches, the plant blooms magnificently, but without support, its shoots begin to turn yellow and die off.

Because of this feature, stephanotis is most often strengthened precisely on vertical supports or arches. For a flower, you can purchase a curly wire frame of sufficient height. It is strengthened in a pot, deeply deepened for stability, and then the stems of the vines are wrapped around it. Thanks to a wide range of shapes, you can create interesting compositions from Stephanotis, which are even more transformed during the flowering period. But it is the young shoots that are more amenable to formation: the old ones begin to grow stiff and are directed much worse.

Dormant period

Stefanotis rests from November to the first half of February. During this period, they try to keep the flower pot in a room where the temperature does not exceed +16 degrees. At the same time, the air humidity should be medium, and the lighting should be less intense. These conditions help the plant prepare for future flowering.

In order for Stephanotis to have a full rest, starting from the middle of autumn he is no longer fed. Towards the end of February, feeding is gradually resumed, and also begins to slowly raise the temperature in the room.

Stefanotis breeding methods

Stephanotis can be propagated using cuttings or seeds.

Growing from seeds

Stefanotis seeds resemble dandelion parachutes. Due to the fact that they rarely ripen at home, purchased ones are usually used for reproduction. They are treated with a manganese solution, and then sown in a mixture of sand and peat to a depth of 1 cm. In order not to wash out the crops, they are moistened with a spray bottle, sprinkled with earth and placed under glass or film. With the emergence of seedlings (after about a couple of weeks), the shelter is removed. When the sprouts develop true leaves, they can be planted in their own pots.

Cuttings

The most frequent breeding method of Stephanotis, which attracts with its speed. This option allows you to preserve the varietal characteristics of the flower. Usually, cutting cuttings is resorted to in the spring, using the material left over from pruning. For this, the upper parts of the branches, which have up to 4 leaves, are suitable. They are kept in a solution of a root formation stimulator for several hours, and then planted in a mixture of sand and peat to a depth of about 2 cm. From above, the cutting can be covered with a bag or a transparent glass with holes for ventilation. Such seedlings form roots in about a month. After rooting, you can move them to normal soil, but they must carry out the entire adaptation process away from the open sun. Once the seedlings are up to 1.5 m long, they can be trimmed in one third to stimulate branching.

Diseases and pests

Proper care can reduce the risk of Stephanotis disease to a minimum.If the flower is still sick, in order to identify the cause, it is necessary to assess its appearance:

• Falling buds or petals are a consequence of a lack of light or water, moisture ingress during spraying or moving the pot. During flowering, the plant should not be disturbed unnecessarily, but it must be watered and sprayed in a timely manner and accurately. If the soil dries out, the flower should be watered abundantly.
• Curling buds can also be associated with a lack of moisture in the soil. The plant is thoroughly watered, and then they try to correct the watering regime.
• Slow growth rates can be associated with a lack of nutrients: the vine needs to be fed.
• Sluggish and darkening foliage is a sign that Stephanotis is freezing and needs to be rearranged to warmth.
• Yellowing of leaves can be caused by too hard water for irrigation, lack of light, cold temperatures, or stagnant water in the ground. The water should be defended and periodically acidified slightly with citric acid. The planting container should have a drainage layer and holes in the bottom. From a cold or dark place, the vine should be rearranged to a more suitable one. Sometimes the reason for yellowing is a lack of fertilizer.
• Falling leaves in winter is considered normal. This is how a flower reacts to a lack of light. Fresh leaves will appear on it in the spring. But he can do this also due to a sharp change in temperature or ice drafts.
• Light spots on foliage - lack of lighting.
• Yellowish-brown stains on the leaves - on the contrary, an excess of bright light. The plant needs to be slightly shaded in the afternoon or rearranged a little further from the window.

Another common problem that stephanotis lovers face is the lack of flowering or a small number of inflorescences. There may be several reasons for this:

• Errors during the rest period. Too warm and light wintering, constant feeding or abundant watering can cause the lack of buds.
• The pot is too bulky. If the roots of the plant did not have time to braid the entire earthen lump, it will not bloom.
• Improper feeding. An abundance of nitrogen fertilizers can force the plant to grow leaf mass.
• Temperature fluctuations can stress the plant, causing it to slow down its growth rate.
• Late transplant. During flowering, the vine should not be disturbed, much less pulled out of the pot.
• Moving the pot. If the container with the liana was moved or even just turned to the light the other side, it can shed the buds and flowers.
• Lack of light or nutrients is often the cause of poor flowering.

The stephanotis plant can be affected by aphids, spider mites, mealybugs, or scabies. If such insects are found on the vine, you must use an insecticide.

Types of home stephanotis with photos and names

Of the 15 species of Stephanotis, only one is the most widespread in culture - profusely flowering.

Stephanotis floribunda (Stephanotis floribunda)

The size of the liana can reach 5 m. It has large glossy foliage of a rich green hue. Each sheet can be palm-sized. The tubular 5-petal flowers are white or cream colored and have a pleasant aroma. Their size can be up to 5 cm. Each inflorescence can include about seven buds. Another name for such a stephanotis is “waxed flower”.

Variegated Stephanotis (Stephanotis floribunda variegata)

Variegated form of the same species. It has green foliage, decorated with yellowish, white or pale green stripes and specks. The tip of each sheet is slightly beveled.