Planting, growing and caring for the Vanka Wet flower at home

The Vanka Mokryi flower has long been grown as a houseplant, and caring for it is very simple. It needs to be watered regularly and fed from time to time. New hybrids have been developed that have large double flowers, abundant foliage, and the stem itself does not stretch upward, but forms a spherical bush. The plant is called balsam, it can be planted in a flower bed and in a flower pot.

Description and characteristics

Vanka Mokry belongs to the Balsamin family, which consists of two genera - Hydrocera and Balsam (or Impatiens). The genus Hydrocera has only one species of the same name, whose representatives live in swamps. The genus Impatiens is numerous, it includes 500 species of plants. Some of them are used in floriculture.

Plants from the Balsam family live throughout the earth. Most Impatiens prefer the humid tropics of Africa and Indochina. In the temperate continental climate of Russia, you can find 8 varieties, among them is Forest Balsam, which has long been used as a medicine.

A whole group called Waller's balsam (Wallera).These are perennials with lush, but compact, highly branched bushes, 15-40 centimeters high, with shiny, greenish or cherry-bronze leaves and scarlet, lilac, snow-white, pinkish or variegated flowers.

The flowers can be single or collected in inflorescences, simple or double, in shape - rose-shaped, camellia-shaped, carnation-shaped. The impatiens look like a lush bouquet with flowers growing at the top. It blooms for a long time, from April to December. After pollination in the fall, the seeds ripen in a small, but very sensitive to touch, capsule.

In addition to indoors, it is grown garden balsam, which is called Impatiens Balsamic.

Garden is an annual crop with a pyramidal or highly branched, almost spherical stem, 40-70 centimeters high. Blooms profusely throughout the summer (from May to October). The stems are juicy, as if soaked in moisture, translucent. The leaves are petiolate, small, lanceolate, pointed upward, arranged in an alternate order. The flowers are large, irregular, and can have all sorts of colors - from soft pink to deep burgundy.

In Russia, it is no coincidence that balsam was nicknamed Vanka Mokry. The plant loves water. It does not tolerate drought at all. If there is a lack of moisture, it immediately withers, the leaves wrinkle, and the flowers droop.

Balsam is also called Wet because a sugary liquid appears along the edges of the leaves of the plant. This protective property of balsam protects flowers from attacks by ants and aphids. Pollen and flower nectar remain for the bees, who also pollinate the flowers.

Monastic Sugar is another name that the plant received due to the sweet drops of dew.Impatiens often secrete a sugary liquid after heavy watering. Bright red flowers resemble lights. Balsam is popularly nicknamed Ogonyok. In European countries, the plant is called Zealous (Diligent) Lisa, as it blooms tirelessly from April to November.

Impatiens balsam was named for the way it disperses its seeds. When you touch a ripe fruit, it opens with a bang, the doors quickly curl into a spiral, and the seeds scatter over a distance of up to 2 meters. Vanka Mokroy has very brittle shoots. This is one of the ways to propagate a plant. Broken off cuttings can be placed in water and later planted.

Kinds

There are more than 500 types of balsams. Plants vary in height, color and flower shape. Indoor and garden balsams are divided into 3 groups.

Impatiens groups:

1. First.

This group includes traditional varieties of balsam Vallera. They are grown in pots, greenhouses or garden beds. This species is represented by various varieties and interesting hybrids. The flowers are simple or double, snow-white, pinkish, lilac, reddish.

2. Second.

This group includes heterotic hybrids (F1). They appeared as a result of breeding work with Impatiens Wallera. Hybrid varieties are represented by perennial compact bushes that bloom profusely throughout almost the whole year.

3. Third.

This group includes balsams from New Guinea. Received New Guinea hybrids from crossing balsam Hawker, linearifolia, Schleiger. These plants can be found in the forests of New Guinea. New Guinea hybrids have fleshy leaves, a strong stem, large flowers, and a more compact appearance. They are mainly used in indoor floriculture.

To size

Impatiens can have stems of varying heights. Low-growing hybrids are usually planted in indoor pots, and tall plants are usually used to decorate city flower beds and garden plots.

Dwarf

This group includes balsams up to 26 centimeters high. Small dwarf bushes of perennial plants are grown in indoor pots. They differ in color and shape of flowers. These include various varieties of Waller's Impatiens. Low-growing annuals often planted in garden plots and city flower beds.

Medium height

Medium height plants include plants reaching from 26 to 41 centimeters in height. These are compact branched bushes with green leaves and flowers of various colors and shapes. This group includes garden balsam and New Guinea hybrids.

Tall

Impatiens, whose height is 75 centimeters and above, belong to the tall group. Most often, such plants are planted as a hedge or border flower. The plant has a pyramidal or spherical shape. The stems are juicy, fleshy, the leaves are lanceolate, growing in regular order. The plant is richly decorated with large flowers of various shades of red.

By shape

The main advantage of balsams is flowers. There can be up to 50 of them on one plant. Based on their doubleness, flowers are divided into camellia-shaped, rose-shaped and carnation-shaped.

Camelliaceae

Large double flowers look like camellia. There are soft pink, reddish, white, lilac shades.

Dianthus

The flowers resemble Dutch double carnations. The petals have fringed or jagged edges. They can be soft pink, reddish, lilac or variegated.

Rosaceae

The densely double flowers resemble tiny roses.The petals are wrapped in a spiral. Flowers can be one-color or two-color.

Popular varieties of balsam

Many varieties of Impatiens are bred on the basis of Waller's, garden or New Guinea balsam. They differ in color, size and shape of flowers, as well as the height of the bush.

Garden Tom Thumb

This low balsam bush (25 centimeters) is planted in city flower beds and garden plots. The plant has oblong lanceolate leaves, double flowers of various shades (pink, scarlet, lilac, snow-white). Tom Thumb is an annual that blooms all summer.

Camellia

A tall and heavily branched plant. Can stretch up to 61 centimeters in height. The Camellia variety blooms profusely and for a long time. The flowers are double, pale pink or purple. An annual used to decorate flower beds.

Waller

Impatiens Wallera is a popular indoor and garden crop. Height - 26-40 centimeters. The bush has a spherical shape, succulent, highly branched stems. Flowers can be simple or double, of different colors. Impatiens blooms for almost 90 days. The variety is often used to breed new hybrids.

Exotic dwarf

A small plant often used to decorate balconies. The height of the Impatiens is only 20 centimeters. Leaves are lanceolate, serrate. Flowers can be purple, pink, bright red.

Harmony

A beautiful, compact plant obtained from New Guinea balsam. Forms a lush bush, strewn with large round flowers on top. This heat-loving plant is usually grown in indoor pots.

Java

Long-blooming Impatiens, bred on the basis of New Guinea balsam. This plant has bright, exotic-looking flowers blooming against a background of shiny greenish or bronze leaves.

Mini Jini

Series related to New Guinea hybrids. Impatiens have small dark green leaves and numerous small flowers that cover the bush almost all year round.

Macarena

Balsam from the group of New Guinea hybrids. Impatiens has bright, luminescent orange flowers and bronze-green leaves.

Camelia Flowered

Tall plant. The variety was bred on the basis of garden balsam. It has a tall pyramidal stem, oblong leaves, and pink or lilac flowers.

Peppermint

An erect pyramidal plant, 40-45 centimeters high. The flowers are camellia-shaped, large, double, and can be scarlet, pink, plain or white speckled. The annual blooms in gardens from June to September.

Baby bush

Low growing garden plant. An annual plant reaching 25 centimeters in height. It blooms for a long time with large rose-like flowers.

Tom Thumb

Dwarf garden variety. An annual that blooms all summer. The flowers are double and can be snow-white, pink, scarlet, or lilac.

Scarlett

Garden crop, 26-40 centimeters high. Abundantly covered with flowers from June to September. The color of the petals is bright red.

Sultan-shaped

Indoor culture 31-61 centimeters high. The leaves are green, with serrated edges. The flowers are shaped like an orchid, arranged one at a time on a long stalk, have a spur, and are white, reddish, or pale pink. In an apartment, Impatiens can bloom throughout the year, the flowers replace each other, each blooms for about 2 weeks.

New Guinea

Most often grown as an indoor perennial. The plant is tall but compact. Grows up to 30-45 centimeters in height. Characterized by abundant and long-lasting flowering.Requires long daylight hours and high temperatures. It has large double flowers, mostly pinkish and scarlet.

Terry

Indoor plant with dark green shiny leaves and large double flowers. Impatiens blooms almost all year round. Flower petals can be pink, scarlet, snow-white, plain or variegated.

Growing from seeds at home

You can grow impatiens from seed yourself. It is recommended to buy seeds of hybrid plants in specialized stores. These plants are grown in small containers or single containers (plastic cups). Seeds of annuals are purchased for the garden, and perennials for indoor cultivation.

Sowing

The seeds are first placed in warm water for a day to swell. In March they are sown in containers filled with substrate. The soil should be loosened, without lumps, and well moistened. The seeds are sown, and the top is lightly sprinkled with sand and irrigated with water. The container is covered with glass or film.

Illumination

Seeds germinate after 1-2 weeks. Seedlings need to be provided with ten hours of daylight. It is advisable to place containers with growing seedlings on the windowsill, and in the dark, illuminate them with lamps.

Priming

For Vanka Mokroy, neutral and light soil mixtures are suitable. You can buy the substrate for planting ready-made or make it yourself. The soil for sowing seeds should consist of garden or leaf soil, sand and peat. Impatiens seedlings do not like organic matter. The substrate is pre-disinfected with boiling water or a solution of potassium permanganate. A little perlite is added to the soil, and a layer of drainage is placed on the bottom of the box.

Picking

Developing seedlings need to be regularly irrigated with water.When 2-3 true leaves appear on the seedling, it needs to be picked. Plants are transplanted individually into peat or plastic cups and the roots are pinched.

Top dressing

At the very beginning, the plants are irrigated with a solution of Fitosporin, to prevent possible diseases. After transplanting into separate containers, the seedlings are fed with complex fertilizer for indoor flowers (begonias, geraniums, violets) or Fertika-Lux, Kemira-Lux fertilizer.

Content temperature

Seedlings should be kept in a warm room. The optimal temperature for development is 20 degrees Celsius. Impatiens do not tolerate temperature drops of up to 10 degrees. Before you move the seedlings to the flowerbed, they need to be hardened off. For example, regularly ventilate the room where the plant is located. You can take pots of seedlings outside every day for several hours in May.

Conditions for growing a flower in the garden

Balsam is a heat-loving crop. Seeds, seedlings or ready-made purchased plants are planted outside at the end of May. Most often, gardeners grow balsam using seedlings. Seedlings grown indoors are transplanted into a flowerbed at the end of May, when the threat of night frosts has passed and the air has warmed up to 20 degrees Celsius. At a temperature of 5-10 degrees above zero, the plant may die.

First you need to prepare the soil for the flower bed. Impatiens grows on neutral, fertile, loose, light soil. The soil must allow water to pass through well. On clay, acidic and heavy soil, balsam will quickly wither. For Vanka Mokroy, suitable soil consists of garden, leaf, and turf soil mixed with peat, sand and humus in equal quantities.

Weeding

A flower bed needs to be constantly looked after.Remove grown weeds, loosen the soil, break up the soil crust. You can mulch the ground with sawdust. Weeds will not be able to break through from under the mulch layer.

Top dressing

The impatiens are fed once every 2 weeks. At the very beginning of development, nitrogen fertilizers are added to the soil. During the flowering period, the soil is fed with potassium and phosphorus supplements. For balsam, complex fertilizers for flowering plants or fertilizing for geraniums are suitable. For 1 square meter of land you need to dilute 30 grams of fertilizer in 10 liters of water.

Watering

Vanka Mokrogo needs to be watered regularly. The soil should not be allowed to dry out. With insufficient watering, balsam quickly withers. True, flooding a flower bed is also not recommended. In highly moist soil, the plant will begin to rot.

It is advisable to spray the leaves of Impatiens with cold water. This way you can protect your bushes from spider mites and aphids.

Illumination

Vanka Mokry prefers open, sunny places. It is advisable for the plant to be in partial shade during the midday heat. Impatiens blooms beautifully under trees with a sparse crown or on the northwestern (northeastern) side of the house. Balsam has very fragile stems that break when there is a strong gust of wind. It is better to plant the plant in places protected from drafts and wind.

Features of indoor growing in a pot

Impatiens feels great on the windowsill. True, in the summer, in the heat, the plant needs to be covered from the scorching rays of the sun. In the autumn-winter period, the Impatiens need to be provided with additional lighting, because this perennial has almost no rest period.

In summer, the temperature can be 20-25 degrees, in winter - 15-18 degrees Celsius. First, choose a pot for balsam that is tight, with a drainage hole at the bottom.Vanka Mokry will bloom after the roots completely fill the space inside the pot. As the root system grows, the Impatiens is transplanted into a larger container.

Soil and watering

For indoor Impatiens, light, slightly acidic or neutral soil is suitable. The soil should include garden or leaf (turf) soil, sand, peat, and perlite. Drainage made of expanded clay or stones is placed at the bottom of the pot.

The plant is watered regularly, the leaves are irrigated with water every other day. In summer, it is advisable to take flower pots out onto the balcony.

If Vanka Mokromy gets too hot, he may wither or drop flowers and buds. In summer, plants are irrigated in the evening; in the sun, the leaves may become covered with traces of burns due to remaining droplets of water. Once a month, along with water, complex fertilizers for flowering plants are applied to the ground.

Diseases and pests

Vanka Mokry can get sick if he is not properly cared for, if he is rarely watered, or, conversely, if the soil is over-watered. The plant's immunity weakens due to a lack of nutrients in the soil. Improperly cared for, balsam can become susceptible to fungal infections. It is found in the soil, and then passes through the roots and stem to the leaves and flowers. The leaves become covered with yellow, brown, grayish spots, turn yellow and dry out.

Spraying with Fitosporin helps prevent fungal infections.

The most dangerous pest of indoor balsam is the spider mite. This tiny, soft-bodied, red insect weaves a web on the leaves of the plant and feeds on its sap. Mites can be prevented by spraying with cold water and an insecticide solution (Akarin, Agravertin, Kleschevit). Leaves affected by mites that have turned yellow or are dotted with yellowish spots should be removed.

Popular types and varieties

Most varieties are derived from garden balsam, Waller or Hawker, which became the progenitor of the famous New Guinea hybrids. Plants vary in stem shape, height, structure and color of flowers.

Hawker Impatiens hawkeri

The plant that gave rise to New Guinea hybrids. The leaves are oblong, pointed at the end, shiny. The flowers are large, simple, with a spur, of various shades, with a white core. The height of balsam is 25-60 centimeters. Stems are erect, long, fleshy.

Large-flowered Impatiens hookeriana or Impatiens grandis

The plant is native to Sri Lanka. It has long, fleshy stems. The leaves are shiny, as if covered with wax, green. The flowers are large, orchid-like, white, pinkish, scarlet.

Creeping Impatiens repine

The plant is used in hanging pots; it has creeping, upward, very fragile reddish shoots that easily break off during strong winds. The leaves are small, shiny, bronze-green. The flowers are bright, yellow, large, with a spur.

Impatiens walleriana or Waller's Impatiens

A perennial plant, often grown as a garden annual. Waller's balsam is a low, highly branched, spherical bush. The flowers can be single or double, of various colors, located on top of lush green foliage.

Forest

An annual, herbaceous, poisonous plant. It grows one meter in height. The stem is erect, covered with leaves, and can branch. The flowers look like a shoe. May be pale pink or lilac.

Planting and care in open ground

Impatiens can be planted in front of the windows of your home or in a city flower bed. Seeds are sown for seedlings in March.Grown seedlings are transferred outside at the end of May or at the very beginning of June. Before transplanting, seedlings are accustomed to outdoor conditions.

The optimal temperature for planting outside is 18-20 degrees Celsius.

Landing Features

Vanka Mokry is grown in the garden as an annual plant. Loves non-acidic, light, well-drained soil. It is better to plant balsam in a bright place well protected from the wind. Before planting, the soil needs to be fertilized with humus, add a little sand or peat, loosen well and moisten. The seedlings are planted in shallow holes, with a little sand poured into the bottom. The distance to the neighboring plant should be 30 centimeters.

Watering and fertilizing

Impatiens will bloom profusely if watered regularly. It is not advisable to flood the soil with water. In swampy soil, the Impatiens will begin to rot. Adult plants are watered and irrigated with water every other day. True, in rainy weather watering is stopped.

Young plants are additionally fed with nitrogen substances during watering. During the flowering period, the soil is fertilized with potassium and phosphorus. You can use complex purchased fertilizers for flowering plants. The impatiens are fed once a month.

Reproduction

Impatiens are propagated by seeds or cuttings. Seeds are sown for seedlings in March. At the end of May, the seedlings are transferred outside. Cuttings from growing impatiens can be rooted all summer.

Seeds

Vanka Mokrogo can be propagated by seeds. Typically, seeds are sown no earlier than March, when daylight hours become longer. Before sowing, prepare the substrate. The soil mixture can be purchased or prepared independently from garden soil, leaf soil, with the addition of sand and peat. Seeds are sown on moist soil and covered with film. After 1-2 weeks, shoots appear.

The optimal temperature for germination is 20-25 degrees Celsius.

Cuttings

Impatiens can be propagated using cuttings, that is, cuttings in spring, summer and even autumn. The top branches that have broken off need to be placed in water, and after a week they will sprout roots. Rooting can be done in damp sand or vermiculite. Then the cuttings with roots are transplanted into peat soil.

How to get seeds correctly

Impatiens bloom all summer, and in the fall juicy fruits appear in the form of a box with seeds. Collecting seeds is not so easy. After all, the boxes explode from a light touch, and the seeds scatter to the sides. You can cover the boxes with a bag or bag and carefully collect the seeds in it.

They practice collecting fruits that are not yet fully ripened, which ripen in a dry room for several weeks. In the fall, after the fruits ripen, the annual plant is removed from the flowerbed, and new seeds are sown the next year. The seed remains viable for 3-5 years.

Growing by seedling method

Impatiens is a heat-loving plant with a long growing season. When the temperature drops to 5 degrees Celsius, it may die. To get a flowering bush in June, you need to sow seeds for seedlings in March.

Disinfection

Before sowing seeds, you need to prepare the soil. You can buy a ready-made peat-based soil mixture. You can prepare the substrate yourself. To do this, you need to take garden soil, turf or leaf soil, peat, and sand in equal proportions. It is advisable to disinfect the substrate with boiling water, a solution of potassium permanganate or Fitosporin.

Planting scheme

Balsam seeds are sown in boxes filled with substrate at a distance of 1 centimeter from each other. First, the soil is loosened and moistened.The seeds are lightly sprinkled with sand on top and irrigated with water. When the seedlings sprout, they will need to be picked and planted in separate containers.

Film or glass

The seeds sown in the ground are irrigated with water and covered with transparent glass or film. Every day the glass is lifted and the ground is lightly irrigated with water. When shoots appear, the film is removed.

Planting in the ground and subsequent care

At the end of May, the grown seedlings are transferred outside. Plants are carefully planted, together with a lump of earth, into the dug holes. In the summer, the Impatiens needs to be watered regularly, weeds removed from the flower bed and fed with complex fertilizers once a month.

Features of care

Vanka Mokryi is a non-capricious plant. It does not require any special care, just a minimum of attention. The main thing is to provide the Impatiens with regular watering and timely application of fertilizers.

Watering

You need to water the Impatiens regularly, making sure that the soil does not dry out. Impatiens immediately react to a lack of moisture - its leaves curl and its flowers droop. If there is insufficient watering, the plant may drop flowers and buds.

Spraying

It is advisable to irrigate the balsam with cold water every other day. This procedure will protect the plant from spider mites and saturate the Impatiens with moisture.

Pinching and trimming

You need to not only care for the balsam, but also pinch it correctly. When the plant grows a little, it is advisable to shorten its top. The balsam will no longer stretch upward, but will begin to form side shoots. The plant will take the shape of a spherical, compact bush. True, for this you need to constantly cut off stems that are too elongated.

Top dressing

For abundant flowering, the Impatiens need to be fed 1-2 times a month with complex fertilizers for flowering plants.

It should be remembered that if there is an excess of nitrogen supplements, the plant will get lush greenery, and flowering may not occur.

Hardening

Usually, Impatiens sown as seedlings are hardened off before being transplanted outside. The room where the seedlings grow is regularly ventilated. In May, in warm weather, boxes with seedlings are placed in sunlight for several hours.

Wintering

In autumn, yellowed and fading garden balsam is cut off, the roots are dug up and removed from the flowerbed. It will not be possible to preserve the bush in winter. When frost sets in, it will quickly die. A new plant is sown the next season.

Trimming

Impatiens need to be pruned in spring or early summer so that the plant takes the form of a compact, low bush. Usually the top of the stem, 30-40 centimeters long, is pinched off. Impatiens begin to actively form side shoots.

Diseases and pests

In rainy and cool weather, balsam growing in a flowerbed may become sick. The plant is often affected by fungal infections, which is why its roots rot, the stems darken, the leaves become covered with brown and gray spots, and subsequently wither. Preventive spraying with fungicides (Fundazol) helps prevent fungi.

Spider mite

Impatiens are often attacked by insects, for example, aphids, whiteflies, thrips, and mites. Most often, balsam suffers from spider mites. This is a small reddish insect that spins webs and sucks sap from leaves.

Mites can be prevented by spraying with cold water, soapy water, or treating with insecticides (Iskra).

Viral mosaic

Impatiens are affected not only by fungi, but also by viruses. Diseased leaves become covered with yellow spots, and then dry out and wither. Protecting balsam from viral mosaic is not easy.The best way to prevent it is proper care and sufficient mineral supplements.

Bronzing of leaves

If balsam is not properly cared for, there is a lack of potassium, or after heavy liming of acidic soils, the leaves may become covered with small dots of dead tissue, acquire a bronze color, become wrinkled, and curl downward.

Bronzing of leaves can be caused by a virus. As a preventative measure, before planting balsam, the soil is disinfected with potassium permanganate and a sufficient amount of potassium and phosphorus is added.

Ring mosaic

Light round spots appear on the affected leaves of the plant. The disease is caused by a virus. Its vital activity can lead to the death of the plant. Proper care, timely application of fertilizers, removal of weeds, spraying the soil and plants with a weak solution of potassium permanganate will save you from the virus.

Flower arrangements

Vanka Mokryi is an irreplaceable plant often used in flower arrangements. Impatiens goes well with begonia, boxwood, violets, and bells. Impatiens are used to decorate city flower beds, alpine slides, and create mixboxers.

Impatiens are planted in pots, hanging flowerpots, and decorated with flowers on loggias and balconies.

Reviews

Irina Anatolyevna, 49 years old

“I took a cutting of Vanka Mokroy from my friends and put it in water. A week later, roots appeared. The cuttings quickly took root in a pot of ordinary garden soil. Now it is a low bush with bright red flowers. In the summer I put the pot with Vanka Mokry on the street.”