Is Crape Myrtle an Evergreen Plant?
Introduction to the core of the text: Is Crape Myrtle an Evergreen Plant? And the introduction of green plants and flowers about the precautions for planting Crape Myrtle, the specific details are as follows:
Crape Myrtle is also known as Golden Coral, a plant of the Campsis genus in the family Bignoniaceae. It is native to Central America and cultivated in warm regions worldwide. The plant is named after its flowers, which resemble firecrackers. When spring comes into bloom, the small golden flowers点缀 the green walls like strings of fireworks, as if a spark爆炸 into a一片, adding many festive colors to the courtyard environment.
Crape Myrtle has a long blooming period, does not shed leaves in winter, and belongs to evergreen vines.奇妙的是, the general firecrackers are "hung" and so are the Crape Myrtle flowers. The orange-red "firecrackers" are dense and form spikes, hanging in clusters from the branches, resembling a string of fireworks about to be lit. To grow Crape Myrtle in a pot at home, certain maintenance skills need to be mastered to ensure blooming every year and a burst of flowers!
I. Introduction to Crape Myrtle
1. Morphological Characteristics
Crape Myrtle is an evergreen large vine plant with linear, 3-lobed tendrils that can climb up to 7-8 meters. The plant has 2-3 small leaves, ovate to ovate-oblong, up to 4-10 centimeters long, with acuminate apex, broad cuneate to rounded base, and pubescent petioles. The flowers are orange-red, about 2-3 centimeters long. The leaves have glandular dots, are dark green and lush, tendrils have 3 lobes, climb on other objects; flowers form clusters, hanging down, flower buds look like silk bags, corolla resembles a bell, filaments are like绛 points, full of the棚 full of shelves, extremely bright.
2. Growth Habits
Crape Myrtle prefers a sunny environment and fertile, moist, acidic soil. The plant grows rapidly, and in southern regions, it can maintain green leaves and can overwinter safely outdoors. Since the tendrils are mostly born at the upper stem nodes of the vines, the whole plant can adhere to other objects for growth. During the entire growing period, it is necessary to avoid turning the vines to prevent breaking the tendrils, as this would affect the absorption of water and nutrients and could result in poor flowering or no flowering.
II. Propagation Methods of Crape Myrtle
1. Cutting Propagation
(1) Preparation of Cutting Bed
Crape Myrtle is a positive plant, loves light and heat, so the cutting bed should be selected in a good southeast slope, slightly acidic land. Before cutting, we need to deeply turn the soil 50-60 centimeters, the soil clumps should be fully crushed, rake the bed flat, and sprinkle 200 grams of furadan to effectively prevent ant damage.
(2) Treatment of Cuttings
In the middle to late May every year, cut 1-year-old woody branches from the mother plant of Crape Myrtle as cuttings, and cut them into branches 25-30 centimeters long, each branch should have 2-5 bud points, the top of the cutting should be cut flat, the bottom cut at a 45-degree angle, grouped in 50 branches, tied with fine thread, and soaked in a high-concentration solution prepared with rooting powder. The preparation method of the solution is: add 5 ml of alcohol and 5 ml of cool water to each gram of rooting powder. Prepare enough liquid to soak the branches according to this ratio. In the process of preparing the rooting powder, we must mix it immediately before use, which is conducive to the发挥 of the rooting powder effect. Finally, soak the bundled Crape Myrtle branches in cold water for 1-2 hours before cutting.
(3) Cutting Propagation
When cutting, we need to quickly dip the lower part of the cutting into the rooting powder solution for 1-2 minutes, then take it out and insert it into the seedbed. The cutting is inserted into the seedbed about 10 centimeters, ensuring that 1-2 buds are in the soil and 1 bud is exposed. After the cutting is finished, press the soil around the cutting and water it. Then, we can use bamboo stakes and plastic film to make a small greenhouse for coverage, controlling the temperature at 20-25 degrees, which is very effective in promoting root growth and improving cutting survival rate.
(4) Management after Cutting
In the later management, we need to pay attention to the temperature and humidity of the seedling shed. Within 15 days after cutting, water must be applied once in the afternoon at around 4 o'clock. After 50 days of cutting, apply thin liquid fertilizer 2 times, mainly nitrogen fertilizer. Using the above technology to propagate Crape Myrtle results in strong branches and leaves, developed roots, and a survival rate of over 95%.
2. High-pressure Propagation
(1) Choosing the Right Time
Usually carried out from March to October every year. In the 20 days before high-pressure, we need to fertilize and water the Crape Myrtle tree to make the plant grow vigorously. If there is a dry and hot climate, water 4-5 times after fertilizing to ensure that the plant has sufficient water supply for high-pressure propagation.
(2) Material Preparation
Prepare an appropriate amount of moss, binding rope, polyethylene plastic film strips according to the number of high-pressure Crape Myrtles, as well as sharp ring-cutting knives or grafting knives, branch cutters, syringes, and rooting powder.
(3) High-pressure Technique
We can choose a sunny or cloudy day for high-pressure, usually not on rainy days. First, soak the moss in a 100ppm rooting powder solution for 1 hour, after soaking, remove the moss and set aside. Then select strong, vigorous plants, and make环剥 on branches with a diameter of 0.5-2 centimeters, with a ring剥口 width of 1.5-2.5 centimeters, and use a grafting knife to lightly scrape the cambium layer of the剥口 to make it break, which is conducive to the rapid rooting of new plants. After ring剥, we should prune some branches according to the tree shape to facilitate binding. We need to wrap the moss with plastic film, the moisture of the moss should be such that it does not drip when pressed by hand, and bind it to the ring剥口. It is necessary to wrap the moss tightly around the entire ring剥口 to keep it out of the light. At the same time, we need to tie the upper and lower ends of the film to completely seal it. The number of high-pressure branches can be determined according to the length and growth of the branches, ranging from a few to dozens.
(4) Management after High-pressure
Given that the tree is weak after high-pressure and easily affected by pests such as scale insects and red spiders, we can use 600-800 times solution of Pucicide 600-800, 500-800 times solution of Suprafen, and 75% Methyle Tobuzin 600-800 times solution for control.
At the same time, after high-pressure, we need to strengthen fertilizer and water management, apply 0.2-0.5 kilograms of ternary compound fertilizer per plant, and water appropriately to ensure the nutritional and water supply of the tree. For plants with poor growth, we can also spray 0.5-1% phosphorus potassium fertilizer solution or urea solution on the leaves. If there is a dry and hot climate, we should often observe the moisture condition of the high-pressure matrix and supplement water to the wrapped matrix with a syringe when the matrix is dry, enough to keep it moist but not water-logged.
About 30 days after high-pressure, the new plants begin to root, and we can select plants with good root growth to prune and transplant. According to needs, choose different cultivation methods such as bag cultivation, pot cultivation, and ground cultivation.
Is Crape Myrtle an Evergreen Plant?
III. Crape Myrtle Potting Sculpture
1.桩 Method
To ensure the survival of old stakes, it is necessary to proceed step by step. We can first cut off most of the branches, leaving only the longer trunk and a small amount of branches and leaves, wait for the trunk to sprout, then remove the surface soil of the root disk, observe the root disk situation, preliminary plan the shape, and make some adjustments to the length of the trunk. At the right side of the root disk, dig down to the bottom of the roots, cut off the long plant roots, and then fill in the soil. After a period of time, if the growth is good, use the same method to handle the other side. When the plant grows normally, dig around the root disk to the bottom, together with the soil ball, carefully pick up and plant in a flower pot, and water thoroughly, store in a shady place. After completely surviving, gradually move it to the sun for normal management. One year after potting, remove the pot and raise the roots, and replant in a pot of appropriate size.
2. Root Sculpture
After raising the roots, the root disk is wide, like a group of dragons and snakes gathering, winding and intertwining, spreading out in all directions, with many defects: on the right side, there is a long,弯曲 suspension root that cannot return to the soil surface, showing a lack of suspended power; in the middle of the root disk, there is a suspended round root that circles from right to front to left and is deeply rooted under the main stem, which is very dazzling and affects the ornamental value. For these existing defects, we need to adopt five methods: padding, pressing, relying, managing, and discarding to solve them. "Padding" is to pad the roots that cannot be pressed down with stones, the key is that the root stones fit, although not on the ground, there is a sense of close to the ground. "Relying" is to rely on the stones to change the virtual into the real. "Managing" is to straighten the roots with irregular trends and overlapping intersections to make them stretch out. "Discarding" is to discard the ugly roots that hinder the beauty, to clean up the root disk.
3. Main Stem Sculpture
The main stem of this stake is black and old, transitions naturally from big to small, and has a natural inclined curve shape. The front is between "S" shape and "Z" shape, both soft and hard, according to the different lateral stem trends, deviates backward from the lower part, and curves backward, and returns to the front at the top, giving enough space for the left and right pendant branches to droop, creating a front and back spacing, making the pot plant have a three-dimensional perspective effect. The branch support shape, this stake is a vine plant, the shape takes pendant branches as good, let the branches droop like willow, can sway in the wind.留托 should be high, showing full and graceful. Right main left secondary, the main and secondary are distinct; the front is big and the back is small, the front is high and the back is low, and the arrangement is scattered. Although most of the branches lean to the right, they do not lose balance. When the branches sprout and reach a certain length and half lignification, we can use ropes to tie iron wires or iron clamps to the lower branches, so that all the pendant edges form a parabolic shape, that is, showing a先扬后垂, parallel without entanglement, and in order of length. The plant generally does not pinch the heart to avoid side buds in the middle and below, which can disturb the tree shape.
4. Leaf Layout
The leaves should be lush but not crowded, to ensure a dense and sparse arrangement, conducive to light and ventilation, visually also need appropriate blank space, so that the branches are sometimes hidden and sometimes revealed, without losing the sense of emptiness. Often remove yellow leaves to keep the plant green.
Conclusion: Crape Myrtle flowers bloom and fall, branches wither and regenerate, metabolism is vigorous, nutrient consumption is large, it is necessary to change the pot soil every year to ensure that the flowers are full and the leaves are lush. If conditions permit, it is best to punch a hole in the bottom of the pot, place it on a ceramic flower stand filled with flower soil, and let the roots go directly into the ground, without changing the pot, it can also keep the flowers full and the leaves wise. In addition, we should often straighten the branches to maintain the shape.
The above is the specific content of whether Crape Myrtle is an evergreen plant and the precautions for planting Crape Myrtle, and it is forbidden to reprint without the permission of Green Plant Enthusiast website!