Kalanchoe care

It is native to the island of Madagascar. Its flowers are red, orange or pink. It is decorative in a vase but also durable as cut flower. If we do it right, we can reach that our potted kalanchoe bring flowers in winter as well! Its flowers growing from January till June are red, but orange and pink hybrids can also occur.
In summer, as a garden plant the kalanchoe can be planted in the balcony, terrace, box, large container or rocky garden or flower bad as well. However from autumn with its flowers it decorates our home even our office or the children room. For christmas it becomes the most beautiful table decoration or it also can be a spring decoration.

It is compact, needing small space (30x30cm), it grows slowly. The flowers highly grow above the leaves.
Under natural circumstances, it flowers in spring, but by reducing the light we can reach that the plant blooms in the middle of winter as well. It can strike root in water as well. Its advantage is that it can quickly adapts to its environment. It can survive on 10 degrees but on 25 as well, it's not demanding sunshine too. The kalanchoe likes the direct sunlight, but can vegetate in a dark, northern room as well.

Requirements and care:

Light and heat requirements:

Sort daytime plant, ie for flowering it needs at least daily 12-14 hours uninterrupted darkness through 6-8 weeks. Artificially lengthening the time of daylight - room light - prevent the further flowering. It likes average temperature, also likes the direct sunlight. If it gets light at least for 4 hours, it will surely keep its compact shape. But it need to be protected from the blazing summer sun. It likes beeing between 19-20 °C the most, in winter it requires at least 10 °C, but keeping it under 16 °C we can't expect flowering, uner 10 °C it falls its leaves.

Under natural circumstances the kalanchoe blooms in spring, but by reducing the light we can reach to get flowers in the middle of winter. It becomes full of flowers by Christmas if we keep it in darkness for 30 days from September, between 7 pm and 8 am, the simpliest way to do that if we cower the plant with a box. In the time of blooming, it should be supplied in every 2-3 weeks with nutrients, because a blooming exhaust the plant nutrient supply. Blooms for a long time.

When a small flower overblown cut it off immediately from the stem. We help the shrubbing by cutting from its sprouts in the same time. In this way, even the loss of the lower leaves what causing that the plant grow without lower leaves can be terminated. Therefore we can cut back quite short, close to the base, at least some of its shoots.

Watering requirements:

As it is a succulent plant, be careful and do not overwater it. Between two waterings wait until its soil gets dry a little. Use soft water if possible. It tolerate well the dry air, spraying the leaves is unnecessary.

Propagation:

The kalanchoe can be propagated by leaf or sprout cuttings in the period of active growth. Remove lower leaves from the 5-8 cm long stem. Plant it so deep that the places of removed leaves be in the soil. It requires a little less water than the grown plant. Planted into light soil, it strike root in 2-3 weeks. Keep it on a wam, a little bit shaded place for 14-21 days. After that it can be moved to its final location.

Most common diseases, pests of the Kalanchoe, main reasons of their destruction:

If we keeping it in a cold place, it looses its leaves.
Scale insects and leaf aphids may damage this plant.

Sources:
hotdog.hu, www.edenkert.hu, www.kertpont.hu