Indoor Muscari - spring primroses in the interior

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Touching, growing as if by themselves, dazzling blue mouse hyacinths, or muscari in the gardens are considered almost a mandatory plant. They are so easy to grow that the question of transferring your favorite spring small-bulb to pots was only a matter of time. Especially with the advent of new spectacular varieties with original colors. In a portable format, muscari look exquisite, bright and touching stars. They do not seem tiny at all. To achieve the same flowering from indoor muscari as that of garden plants, you will have to do their distillation and monitor the temperature. But there is nothing complicated in growing indoor muscari.

Content:

Muscari in a new potted format
Types of indoor muscari
Conditions for growing indoor muscari
Muscari care at home
Diseases, pests and growing problems
Muscari Reproduction

Muscari in a new potted format

One of the most common garden plants from the bulbous category received its name for a reason. In Greek, the name of this amazing plant means “muse”, and it perfectly matches the spring charm of these plants. But the Muskari botanical name is not used more often than their favorite folk nicknames. Viper onion, mouse hyacinth, lamb - as soon as this plant is not called around the world. Muscari is easily recognized and considered a rustic plant. But in this simplicity is the secret of its popularity, and irresistible charm.

Muscari are found in nature practically throughout Eurasia and in the north of Africa. Wild Muscari form entire colonies in Central Europe.

Muscari (Muscari) belong to the number of finely bulbous plants. The diameter of the egg-shaped bulbs in adult plants ranges from 1 to 2 cm, they are covered with light scales and look a bit like garlic. The plants are compact, even miniature, but if they look almost messy in the gardens, then in the pots they reveal all their grace and density of their leaves.

The leaves are narrow, thin, linear, numerous, with a bright rather than dark color, pleasantly contrasting with other spring competitors. Peduncles up to 15 cm high are crowned with cylindrical or conical, not very dense, but amazingly strict inflorescences in structure. In inflorescences on thin and fairly long pedicels sit from 30 to 50 flowers, the shape of which partially resembles elongated lilies of the valley - with an almost cylindrical corolla, a finely serrated edge, bell-shaped, muscari flowers are very beautiful. Flowers in inflorescence bloom from the bottom up, gradually.

This is one of the most fragrant onions. It’s difficult to catch the sweet-honey smell of Muscari in the open, but it is very pronounced in indoor muscari.

Muscari's color scheme traditionally includes only two color options - ultramarine and violet-dark, most often with a white border around the rim of the corolla, which is noticeable only upon very close examination. Active selection led to the emergence of varieties with pink, white and cream color, not to mention all the shades of blue. It was the varietal muscari who became the stars of not so much a garden garden as a room culture.

Muscari bloom for a maximum of 2 weeks. After a cold growth stop, they bloom exactly 2 weeks later and are the most predictable indoor bulb.

Types of indoor muscari

For growing in potted form, only two types of muscari and their charming varieties are used.

Muscari fragrant (Muscari racemosum) Is a medium-sized, very beautiful view that conquers in arcuately bending, numerous, narrow leaves of a semi-cylindrical shape and medium-sized cylindrical inflorescences with dark ultramarine flowers. This is the most fragrant species, although its aroma is not as intrusive as in some garden species.

Muscari vulgaris (Muscari botryoides) differs from the previous species in linear, flat and erect leaves with a darker color. This is a non-aromatic species, with a maximum peduncle height of up to 12 cm. It differs in much greater variability of color, including both purple and white, and in modern hybrids - and pink options.

Muscari is traditionally sold in the form of sets of bulbs - one variety or a mixture of varieties. For room culture, you can select varieties by color, size, width of leaves. The most popular plant varieties include:

blue color variety "Flight of fancy",
blue faded Peppermint Candy,
snow-white Alba,
pink "Pink Dawn",
whitish blue "Valeria",
soft sky blue grade "Florida",
watercolor variety, with a transition from pale blue at the upper flowers to the dark blue bottom of inflorescences "The magic ocean",
ultramarine variety "Paradox",
golden Golden Fragrant.

Conditions for growing indoor muscari

Mouse hyacinths are not the best choice to start exploring indoor onion bulbs. They are not in the full sense indoor plants, but lend themselves to distillation for a bright seasonal show. They need typical growing conditions, some differences in temperature conditions and the strict need to meet deadlines for distillation, given all this, they are more suitable for experienced growers.

Lighting and placement

Muscari needs bright lighting. Even on sunny windowsills, the plant does not suffer from direct sunlight, but diffused light is quite suitable for it. Usually this plant is placed on the eastern and western windowsills. Muscari is moved inside the interior only in rooms with bright natural light, placed not far from the southern windows.

If muscari is expelled at an atypical time, then the duration of daylight hours and the intensity of lighting provide additional illumination.

Muscari is introduced into the interior as a unique seasonal accent. This plant can be an amazing touch to the winter holidays or the main star of the spring show. When placing muscari, it is worth treating it like a living bouquet in pots.

Temperature and ventilation

For muscari it’s quite difficult to find the right conditions. This culture requires a change of three different temperature regimes - from heat to cool, then to cold and vice versa - to heat. If the rest of the indoor bulb is enough for two different periods, then the muscari distillation scheme is a bit more complicated.

During the period of active development, muscari will prefer restrained-room temperatures. The plant does not tolerate heat too well and blooms the longest at a temperature of 16 to 18 degrees.

Muscari need to be kept cool after planting. Before the bulbs let out the sprouts, a rather long rooting period follows, during which the plants contain at a temperature of 13 to 15 degrees Celsius. In such conditions, the muscari is left until the new sprouts reach a height of 33 cm. Sprouted bulbs for 3 or 4 days are taken out in the cold, into a room with a temperature of 5 to 8 degrees. And only after that they transfer it back to room conditions.

Muscari does not like stagnant air. Rooms with plants need to be ventilated often. During flowering, delicate plants protect from strong drafts.

Muscari care at home

Muscari is a typical indoor onion with its vagaries. This plant appears in the house for a short period, so it is not necessary for him to feed. In fact, the only thing to take care of is gentle watering.

Watering and humidity

Muscari is watered gently. The whole period of keeping the plant warm requires frequent, but not too plentiful watering, between which the top layer of the substrate dries. When kept cool, Muscari are transferred to very light watering. In the cold, the plant is not watered. Muscari should be watered gently, without soaking the base of the leaves. This bulbous tolerates only soft water.

Watering with warm water allows you to stimulate flowering. Enough water with a temperature of about 30 degrees so that the muscari bloomed 3-4 days earlier.

If the air temperature is far from the maximum of 18 degrees, the plants are in heat, then the higher the humidity, the longer the indoor muscari will bloom. For a plant, they usually choose the option of placing pallets with wet pebbles or placing next to another home analogue of humidifiers. When kept in the optimum temperature regime and during the distillation period, increased humidity for this bulb is dangerous.

Fertilizing and fertilizer composition

Indoor Muscari can not be fed. Their vegetation period is short, the plant blooms for up to two weeks, so there is no need to take care of regular feeding. If you want to enhance flowering, you can feed the plants at the budding stage once with a full portion of fertilizer for flowering crops or bulbs.

Transplant and substrate

Muscari do not need an annual transplant only in horticultural culture. Planting in pots is carried out before the start of its cool dormant period. September is considered a traditional planting time for flowering in mid-winter or early spring. By shifting the dates, other flowering periods can be achieved.

Usually garden plants are transferred to pots or new bulbs are purchased. Small plants are not used for growing in pots, trying to choose the largest, strongest and most healthy bulbs. Small bulbs are grown in the open ground until they reach optimal sizes. If there is a need to preserve muscari until planting, then the plants are kept in a cool room with a temperature of about 15 degrees with protection from light.

For this, plants use only special soil mixtures for bulbs. For muscari, a light, loose and nutritious substrate is suitable. With independent mixing of the soil, humus, leaf, soddy soils are combined in equal parts, adding coarse-grained sand for loosening.

Muscari never grow one onion. The minimum sizes of groups for medium-sized pots are 5-7 bulbs. The larger the group, the better. For these plants, you should take care of additional decoration of pots (for example, the use of double containers, external baskets or wickers, funny ceramic vessels) or the choice of the most beautiful flower pots.

Before planting the bulbs, it is desirable to etch in a solution of fungicides or a simple weak solution of potassium permanganate. After flowering, indoor muscari should be transplanted into open soil. For the next season, you need to either dig out or purchase new bulbs. Re-distillation is possible in 2-3 years. The beauty of plants can be emphasized by light decorative mulch on the soil (it should not impede the access of air).

Diseases, pests and growing problems

In indoor muscards, problems begin only with improper care. Plants do not tolerate dampness, waterlogging, soaking greens, causing decay. Indoor pests usually do not annoy Muscari (just do not have time). With signs of damage to the bulbs by diseases, they are simply thrown away and not used for planting.

Muscari Reproduction

Indoor Muscari reproduce only vegetatively, separating and growing daughter bulbs. As an experiment, muscari can be grown from seeds, leaving some of the plants in a pot culture to assess varietal qualities. Seeds quickly lose their germination capacity, they are sown in a light soil mixture to a depth of about 1 cm. Plants are grown with slight moisture to form small bulbs. Then they begin to grow in loose clusters, but it is better to immediately transfer the plants to the open ground and wait for the formation of large bulbs.