Many friends like to raise red palms, its leaves are particularly shiny, the leaves are heart-shaped, the most common varieties of flower buds are generally dark red or orange-red, there are candle-like flesh spike-like inflorescences, the most popular flower color is "Chinese red".
Many people can't raise potted red palms, and it is likely that they don't know enough about it, such as its growth habits. The red palm has many aliases, and its Chinese officially called "flower candle", also called Anzu flower or candle flower.
If you want to raise a good red palm, you must understand the climatic conditions of its original growth, it is native to the Tropical Rainforest region of the Americas, it likes the warm and cool environment all year round, afraid of cold, afraid of dryness, but also afraid of strong light exposure, like plenty of scattered light.
1. Soil
The soil in which red palms are cultivated should be rich in humus, but also be breathable enough to be loose enough not to keep the soil wet or too dry all the time. The soil should be kept slightly acidic, and the soil is alkaline and prone to yellow leaves not flowering. The soil for planting red palms can choose common peat, saprophyll, compost or sandy soil, do not use yellow soil or garden soil.
2. Illumination
Many flower lovers hang their red palms in the summer or winter, and grow better in the spring and autumn because they are afraid of excessive heat and exposure, and they are also more afraid of the cold.
Maintenance of potted red palms to give the right light, it is afraid of strong direct light, like soft scattered light, light too strong leaves will be sunburned, the leaves will appear water-stained plaque, gradually will become brownish yellow, the leaves will slowly wither, the leaves of the unsightly sunburn can not be recovered.
Potted red palms can not be raised in excessive shade, it prefers the morning and evening sun, can be placed on the east-facing, north-facing balcony or window sill, it is best to have more than 3 to 5 hours of scattered light every day.
3. Temperature
Do not think that the red palm is native to tropical rainforest areas is particularly heat-resistant, if the temperature is higher than 35 degrees, its state will also deteriorate, it prefers a warm and cool environment. Temperatures at 18 to 28 degrees will grow better. The temperature is higher than 35 degrees, pay attention to shading; If the temperature is lower than 15 degrees, it is necessary to pay attention to cold protection, stop fertilization, and be suitable for water control. If the temperature is below 10 degrees for a long time, there is a risk of frostbite, and if the temperature is lower than 4 degrees, it will definitely be prone to frostbite.
4. Watering and humidity
Potted red palms have a relatively high demand for moisture, and there are certain requirements for air humidity, and attention should be paid to avoid continuous moisture and water accumulation in the soil, otherwise it is easy to cause rotten roots. During daily maintenance, you can spray water on the leaves, but the leaves cannot remain water for a long time, and the water droplets on the leaves should be volatilized in time.
If you find dust on the leaves, just clean the leaf back and clean it regularly, you can wipe it with a damp soft cloth, or you can rinse it directly with a pressure watering can.
The water management of the potted red palm is also relatively simple, ensuring that the pot soil is dry and thorough. Two or three centimeters under the pot soil are relatively dry, you can water it thoroughly, and control the water when it is too low. Red palms are typical of succulent root plants that are afraid of standing water and rotting roots.
Planting potted red palms does not require too large pots, and each time you have to wait for the root system to grow full of pot soil, and then consider bringing soil to change pots when the pot soil is slightly dry. The maintenance of red palms is that the air humidity cannot be lower than 40% for a long time.
5. Pruning and fertilizing
In the process of growing, once it is found that there are flowers (and yellow leaves) that are about to fail, it is necessary to cut them off in time to avoid the loss of too many nutrients, and its each flower viewing period is about a month, and its flower buds gradually wither, and the entire flower stem can be cut off.
Flowers should be pruned in time, but also add some fertilizer, promote the formation of new flower buds, general fertilizer and phosphorus and potassium fertilizer alternately, use every two weeks, spray leaves and irrigate potting soil.
In addition, if you find that there are too many small leaves at the bottom of the plant, and you do not grow side buds, and the red palm does not like to flower, you can cut off these useless small leaves at the bottom to avoid enhancing nutrients and affecting flowering. Cutting off the small leaves at the bottom can also make the bottom of the plant more transparent and reduce the breeding of pests and diseases.