Cute touchy Waller balsam - the difficulties of its cultivation and especially planting and care

This plant belongs to the balsamic family. From Latin, "balsam" is translated as "impatient."

This is due to the peculiarity of its fruits (adult flower) cracking at the slightest touch to them, as a result of which the seeds are sprayed over long distances.

In the people it is also called "Vanka wet", "Unkind" or "Diligent Lizzy." Balsam can be both annual and perennial plants.

Botanical Description

Indoor plant Walser balsam (or, as it is sometimes called, Waller) refers to herbaceous perennials, and in the garden it is grown as an annual. Leaflets are simple, glands are located at the base. The flowers are actinomorphic, can grow alone or in inflorescences. Five peduncles, often in any color. One of the receptacles is elongated in a nimbus. Petals grow freely from each other or grow together in pairs. One unpaired petal is located opposite the spur. Filamentous filaments come together and form a lid that falls off during maturation. This ensures cross-spraying.

Gynoecium form 5 carpels with a long column with stigmas in an amount of one to five. The fruit is a rather juicy box, which tends to suddenly open with the help of five twisting wings.

Appearance

Balsam is distinguished by fleshy thick stems. The leaves may be whole or denticles along the edges, usually oval. Their color is all shades of green and even purple-bronze. Depending on the type of flower, the leaves can be 9-12 cm long. Floral fruits represent the entire color gamut: from plain white to a wide variety of two-tone ones.

Photo

Below you can find a photo of the flowers of balsamin Waller.

Rules for indoor and outdoor care

Attractive, but moody plant requires special attention:

• Remember that balsam does not tolerate direct sunlight, but it requires at least 3-5 hours per day of good lighting.
• If in the warm season you decide to take the flower out into the open air, make sure that no rain falls on it.
• Avoid hypothermia.
• In spring and early fall, watering should be plentiful and regular, in summer it can even become daily. In winter, the frequency of watering must be regulated by ourselves: so that the soil is not dry, but so that the water does not stagnate in the pan.
• The leaves of this plant will be grateful to you for spraying (but this can only be done at temperatures above 20 degrees), otherwise they can repay you a banal fall.
• From May to September, balsam requires fertilizer once every two weeks.
• If you bought a flower in a store, immediately transplant it into a less spacious pot. This will give an impetus to flowering.
• Do not forget to also get rid of faded buds - they interfere with the growth of new ones.
• Before frost, cover the balsam bushes, and open again with new warming.
• If your flowers are planted in flower pots, just bring them into the hallway or porch.
• The best way to propagate is cuttings.
• Collect the seeds of the "impatient" plant should be after yellowing the box itself. This procedure must be carried out very carefully, because at this time the seeds become very “vulnerable”.

Possible growing difficulties

Balsamine is a difficult plant, during the period of growing it some problems may arise. We’ll tell you how to deal with difficulties.

• With a lack of nutrients in the soil, or when the flowerpot becomes small or in poor lighting, the stems become too long, and the flowers, on the contrary, become smaller and lose their brightness.

  To all this, balsam has the property of rapid "wear" (the stems become bare, as a result of which external attractiveness is lost). All blame is too high air temperature (more than 22 degrees Celsius).

  Recommended: in the spring, cut and root several cuttings in one pot to renew the garden.
• The stems become brown and soft, and twisted leaves fall off sharply. Here the reason lies in the damp and cold. Protect the plant from these unpleasant factors.

• Leaves begin to dry and curl - check the air temperature. Surely, it is too high, and the air itself is dry. This can happen in the winter, if the flowerpot with a flower is near heating appliances, or in the summer in dry weather.

  The best solution to this problem is to put the plant in a cool place on the floor and spray the leaves with periods.

• Recently, bright leaves began to lose their saturation - most likely, the flower is on the north side, put the pot in a more illuminated place.

• Flowering is insufficient or absent altogether - this problem may be hiding in a lack of light or fertilizer. Sometimes feeding, on the contrary, is too much or it does not fit.

• A sharp drop in flowers - it can be caused by a sharp cooling, overdrying of the soil, moving to a too spacious pot or an untimely transplant (it can not be carried out during flowering or the formation of buds).

Features of reproduction and planting

Cuttings

The easiest way to propagate balsam is cuttings. It is advised to do this in summer or in warm spring or autumn. They take root well already within one to two weeks; over the summer period, cuttings manage to grow extensively.

How to get seedlings from seeds?

Seeds can retain their planting properties for up to 8 years, but it is better to grow seedlings from fresh seeds. It is recommended to start sowing from mid-March.

1. Pour the soil mixture into the box, moistening it slightly. Be sure to disinfect the soil with a fungicide solution. This procedure will help to avoid the death of seeds that do not tolerate soil rot and its fungal diseases.
2. Put the seeds on the ground and gently squeeze them (about 0.5-0.7 cm), leaving a decent space between them.
3. Cover with foil or glass and place the box in a warm place in which direct sunlight does not fall.
4. The temperature should remain within 21-25 degrees of heat. If the degree is lower, the development of seeds will slow down, if higher, it stops altogether.
5. In a maximum of a week you will see the first sprouts of balsam. During this period, it is necessary to open the film, hardening young plants.
6. Watering is carried out before lunch.
7. Additional seedlings should be provided in the evening or in cloudy weather.
8. You can resort to the help of fertilizers only after the appearance of the first full leaflet. But the main thing here is not to overdo it.
9. When you see 2-3 leaflets that appear, do not forget to dive, planting young plants in separate containers. Remember the drainage layer.
10. The temperature regime should remain the same. But at the same time it is too early to remove the film. This can be done after the final rooting.
11. This variety of balsam is well bush. If this does not happen, pinch the upper leaves. The number of flowers depends on the number of formed shoots.
12. This herbaceous plant is transplanted into open ground in mid-May - early July, depending on the region.Important! This must be done when the danger of night frost has already passed. At the time of planting, some bushes may already bloom.
13. Wells are prepared for planting (in which gardeners recommend mixing compost), retreating between them by 20-25 cm.
14. Even in containers, seedlings should be abundantly watered, then removed and placed in prepared pits. Pour the formed recesses and spill them thoroughly with water.

Balsam Waller. Seed cultivation:

Diseases and Pests

All plants may undergo some kind of ailment or attack by a pest. And balsam is no exception. In order not to destroy the plant, you need to quickly understand what it is infected with, and immediately begin to act.

• Leaves fall - what to do? This can be caused by cool air or poor lighting.
  1. Move the pot to a warmer and brighter place. The problem should be fixed.
  2. If not, check the soil for dryness. Maybe you irregularly water the flower.
• Why do the leaves curl? This is a sign of plant damage by ticks. Remove the infected parts, and treat the remaining parts with a disinfectant.
• Leaves turn yellow. Yellowing indicates a lack of moisture. Spray the leaves more often, but try not to get on the flowers themselves.
• Buds fall - what is the reason?
  1. This occurs when watering is too frequent or rare. Adjust its frequency.
  2. Another reason for bud dropping can be adaptation to new conditions of stay.
• Leaves dry - how to fight? This is a reaction to a lack of moisture. Try increasing the frequency of watering.
• The stems are too extended. This occurs when light is not enough for the plant, and the air, on the contrary, is excessively warm. To avoid this trouble, move the flower to a lighter and cooler place.
• Balsamin inactive blooms.
  1. Weak flowering indicates a lack of light and nutrients.
  2. Another root of the problem is hypothermia. Increase the dose of light and fertilizer - the plants will again begin to delight you with their flowers.
• Leaves fade and fall - the reason? This happens if the plant was attacked by root rot due to excessive watering. Due to the constantly moist soil, the roots began to rot. In order to get rid of this, transplant the flowers into a new soil, while rinsing the roots, and then adjust the frequency and abundance of watering. This is best done when the soil is completely dry.
• A spider mite attacked. This ailment is characterized by the appearance of yellow spots on the leaves. Over time, pigmentation will increase and cover the entire leaf plate.
  1. To prevent the tick from spreading, remove the damaged areas.
  2. If the specks are still small, you can treat the leaves with a soap solution.
  3. To prevent this pest from reappearing, spray the plants so that the air around is not dry.
• The appearance of whiteflies on a flower. This insect can be recognized by the yellowing of the leaves and sticky secretions on them, both on the inside and on the back of the leaf. For prophylaxis and treatment, treat balsamine with potassium soap based products.
• When attacks thrips. This disease can be recognized by the deformation of young leaves, the appearance of spots on the flowers and brown on the edges of the petals. To combat thrips, you can only remove affected flowers.

So, we have told the main thing about Waller balsam, now you know how to care for it and how to solve possible problems.