The indoor flower, loved by many, is a perennial plant; in winter it needs to rest and gain strength for the new season. That is why you should know when it is better to remove gloxinia from the windowsill, and how it should winter.
Conditions for storing gloxinia in winter
To begin with, remember that a plant has three stages: active growth, flowering and dormancy. The last point is very important for gloxinia. If the flower does not rest enough, it may not bud or bloom, but not abundantly. For wintering, special conditions are created for the plant. It should become a "vampire" - it should be for several months without access to light, at temperatures up to +18 degrees and with a humidity of 70 to 90%.
How to prepare a plant for wintering
Gloxinia begins to prepare for hibernation in September or early October. The first sign is wilting and dull leaves. Noticing this, I begin to water the flower less often and stop fertilizing. After the leaves die off, the turn of the roots will come. As a result, only the bulb formed during the spring and summer will remain in the ground.
How to store gloxinia in the winter at home
There are two ways to store the bulb: in the ground or outside the ground. I like the first way more. The whole job is to move the pot out of the window to a cool, dark place. I have this under the bathroom. It's not cold there, but the humidity is close to ideal.
For storage without soil, the bulb is removed from the soil. I clean the bulb of soil and dead roots. Then I wash it and dry it. I put the prepared tuber in a bag on slightly moistened peat or sand.
If you have a whole collection of gloxinias, they can be stored in a box, arranged in one row.
By the way, when there is a problem with a place for wintering the bulbs, you can put them in the refrigerator in the vegetable compartment.
Resting care
In winter, I moisten the earthen ball once every two weeks. Naturally, no illumination and feeding of the flower is needed at this time. Tubers are planted in the ground in early spring. Until that time, all sprouts that appear on the tubers in winter should be cut off.
It also happens that the plant does not even think to fall asleep. Most often these are young cuttings. So that they do not stretch out, I place such bushes under the lamp. Watering will have to be kept the same as for tubers that are at rest: once every two weeks.
Tubers awakening
Tubers begin to wake up somewhere at the end of winter. I transplant the bulbs with shoots into pots, filling them with soil so that it is almost invisible. At the same time, I install the pot on the window in a permanent place. The first week I try not to water the plant, then I moisten the soil as needed. If the bulb throws out multiple shoots, I only keep the strongest ones. This helps to protect the tuber from depletion.
After 2-3 weeks after planting, you can make the first feeding. I add nitrogen fertilizers, as well as formulations with potassium and phosphorus. During flowering, I leave only phosphorus from dressings, it increases the number of peduncles.
If the bulb has not woken up
This often happens if the bulb has "slept" for less than four months or has dried out over the winter. To revive it, I put the flower in the sun and start watering it a little. Another reason is that a too young plant that did not form a tuber was sent to winter. To establish a "diagnosis", you have to rummage in the pot and unearth the root. Make a small incision in it: healthy tuber pinkish yellow. If the cut is brown, it is dead.
Gloxinia for abundant flowering provide good care and proper preparation for hibernation. At this time, she does not need light, frequent watering and heat. Subject to these rules, gloxinia will delight in the summer with abundant flowering and large bells.
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