If you need a plant that has a decorative crown, grows quickly and is unpretentious in maintenance and upkeep, we recommend that you pay attention to Japanese fatsia. It has all of these advantages, is a perennial and is able to create a rich leafy oasis at home breeding or in office premises. In this article you will find detailed recommendations for its cultivation and care.

Botanical description of the plant

Japanese Fatsia is an evergreen plant of the Araliev family, belonging to the group of decorative and deciduous. This is a typical representative of the dicotyledonous species. Ethnic homeland is Japan, Taiwan and Korea. In nature and home breeding, fatsia is characterized as a shrub with a well-developed crown; branching is weak. The height of an adult plant can reach 1.5 m, sometimes these figures are higher. Growth is adjusted by cropping.

The leaves are palmate-lobed, there is a pronounced segmentation, usually 5–9 lobes with sharp tips. The leaf is large, the diameter reaches 20–40 cm, has a brilliant decorative appearance. Outwardly resembles a chestnut leaf. In the classic version, the color of the foliage is bright green, however, there is a possibility of acquiring plant hybrids with contrasting color fringes or random patches that add to the bush more decorative.

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Fatsiya Japanese periodically blooms, although in indoor conditions this phenomenon is extremely rare. The flowers of the plant are small, bisexual, with inexpressive petals, gather in umbrella inflorescences of greenish-white color. The flower does not represent decorative value, so some gardeners remove them.

After flowering, fatsia produces fruits that look like spherical small berries with a diameter of about 0.5 cm. During the ripening period, they change color from green to dark blue, almost black with shiny skin. Seeds in fruits are able to ripen in rare cases. If you want to use them to breed plants, then the germination of the resulting material will be negligible.

Benefit and harm

Fatsia Japanese looks great in room and office interiors. It is used for landscaping halls, shop windows, foyers, saturation of winter gardens with green mass. A distinctive feature of the plant is its easy maintenance and rapid growth (up to 1-2 m), so the decorative look is easy to maintain without resorting to any special tricks. At the same time, a large leaf area contributes to excellent air purification in the room and filtering contaminants.

Did you know? Fatsia roots and leaves are widely used in folk medicine. The leaves are rich in essential oils and alkaloids, so they can be used in the preparation of tonic and stimulating agents. Roots are the basis for preparing an effective diabetes medicine.

The plant is a toxic species. Fatsia venom does not pose a threat to life, but can cause allergic reactions, especially in people located to this. Therefore, all manipulations on pruning and replanting the bush should be performed in protective equipment. In addition, you should be careful when the fatsia fades, and the fruits begin to set.Fruits can be used to obtain seeds and plant breeding. However, their shiny clusters and small rounded size can attract the attention of children and pets, cause acute food poisoning. It is also not recommended to grow the plant in child care facilities.

Features of care immediately after purchase

If you buy Fatsia yourself, then be sure to carefully examine not only the leaves, but the stem and petioles when choosing. The ideal state of the plant is when there are no spots on the indicated places or there is an altered pigmentation. If suspicious deviations are found, it is better to refuse the purchase, since, most likely, the bush has pest infection.

Soil, which is used for breeding plants in the greenhouse, is not suitable for their further cultivation. Therefore, it is recommended to immediately transplant Fatsia into a suitable soil mixture. For this purpose, a flower pot bought in a store is not watered for 1-2 days, so that the peat, which is most often used in greenhouse cultivation, dries well.

Next, you need to carefully remove the plant from the tank and leave it for a while, so that the inner layers of the soil are even more dried up. Carefully release the roots from the adhering peat, then moisten with any growth stimulant, for example, “Zircon” or “Kornevin” and plant Fatsia in a pot with prepared soil.After transplanting, for better plant adaptation, you can refuse watering for several days (3-4). If necessary, moisturize exclusively with a deciduous crown by spraying.

Conditions for successful growing at home

Fatsia grows and develops quickly enough. The plant is unpretentious to the conditions of detention, as well as the level of illumination and the temperature in the room. However, for its successful cultivation, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with a number of rules that will help to get a beautiful bush with lush healthy foliage.

Seat selection

Choosing the right place to install the plant in the house is the very first step that you will need to perform correctly. Fatsiya Japanese prefers to actively develop in shaded places, but with adequate lighting. It is important to choose a balance between areas with direct sunlight and a deep shadow.

Important! In shaded places, it is permissible to transfer a pot of fatsia specially if it has reached the desired growth. Large plants in such conditions continue to develop, but much more slowly.

Despite the good shade tolerance, too dark spaces can harm the plant, stopping its growth to a large extent. Therefore, the eastern or western window sills are acceptable places for installing a pot with fatsia, but it will feel good on surfaces of the northern orientation.You can also localize the plant in the back of the room: Fatsiya perceives illumination with artificial lighting positively and develops without problems. If you have a balcony or an open veranda, from May to September the bush can be moved there. Direct sunlight on the leaves of burns does not occur, but it is more advisable to avoid such phenomena, especially in the midday heat, so that the growth of the bush does not slow down.

If you grow fatsia with a heterogeneous color of leaves, then such bushes require more light than with evenly colored foliage. They are not recommended to be displayed on the north side and penumbra is organized, otherwise you can lose the decorative contrast of the color of the leaves.

Temperature and humidity

The temperature regime of Fatsia content depends on seasonality:

• in the spring-summer period, the recommended temperature is +16 ... + 21 ° С, air heating in a room with a plant up to + 25 ° С is permissible, but not higher;
• in cold weather, fatsia experiences a dormant period, species with evenly colored foliage can be kept at a temperature of + 12 ° C, for variegated plants, the maximum limit for lowering temperature is + 16 ° C.

If there is a glazed balcony in the apartment, you can transfer the flower there for temporary maintenance in the winter, but it is necessary to control the temperature to prevent freezing.

Humidity during the cultivation of Fatsia also depends on the season. At high temperatures, increased humidity is recommended. This can be achieved by spraying the crown and periodically showering - approximately every 2 days if active growth occurs. In the cold season, these procedures are not required, but if the temperature of the winter and summer contents is approximately the same, then only the frequency of spraying is reduced. During the heating season, it is advisable to rearrange the flower further from the radiator.

To increase humidity, you can additionally pour expanded clay or gravel, which is periodically wetted, into the container. This method is used if the air in the room is too dry.Fatsia tolerates ventilation well, but reacts negatively to drafts. Drafts are especially dangerous for plants in combination with cold air and plentiful watering.

Further care

Further care for Fatsia includes more complex activities, such as watering, top dressing, pruning and transplanting, which corresponds to the same stages of care for any decorative and deciduous indoor plants. Each action performed requires certain conditions and rules of compliance. Therefore, we recommend that you follow the recommendations so that there are no problems with your plant in the future.

Important! Fatsia needs periodic dusting of leaves. The procedure is performed with a damp sponge or a soft rag.

Watering

Watering for Fatsia is an important procedure. The bush does not like the drying of the soil and its excessive moisture. The lack of water will affect the appearance: the leaves will droop, and returning them to their former shape will be problematic, and the tips will dry out. Overmoistening is also undesirable, as it will cause yellowing of the crown, partial falling of leaves and will negatively affect the root system: it will begin to rot.

The frequency of watering in the summer should be controlled by drying of the topsoil. Volume is plentiful. Excess moisture that drains into the pan is immediately removed.In the cold season, the watering indicator is the air temperature. When it is reduced, the frequency of watering is reduced. If the temperature is not too different from the summer, then regulate the humidity by drying the soil.

For irrigation, water at room temperature is taken.

Top dressing

For the active growth and development of Japanese Fatsiye, periodic feeding is needed. Nothing extraordinary - the usual fertilizer complexes for ornamental and deciduous crops with a mandatory nitrogen content, even in high doses. Fertilizers are applied from March to early October, when the plant is actively developing. The frequency of fertilizer application is 1 time in 10 days. The dose is applied as indicated by the manufacturer on the package.

You can buy 2 complexes - mineral and organic fertilizers, and feed alternately. Some flower growers recommend mixing different complexes, for example, Argikol, Effekten and Leaf, in a solution of water. It is allowed to top dress not only basal, but also use weak solutions of fertilizers to spray the crown. For example, such drugs as “Drop” (1 tbsp. L. To 3 l. Of water), “Bud” (1 g. Per 1 l. Of water).In the winter period of rest, feeding is not carried out at all, even under the condition of room keeping at a normal, not reduced temperature. If feeding is continued, then during this period the flower will acquire weak ugly shoots with the formation of a small leaf, the decorative appearance of the crown will deteriorate.

Pruning

Fatsia bush needs to be formed and trimmed, which is performed in early March before the start of active growth. It is recommended to carry it out in the morning, so that by the evening the cutoff places have time to dry. The trimming process includes:

• thinning the bush by removing old branches or those that began to dry out;
• removal of thin non-viable processes;
• shortening the developed branches by about 1/3 of their length in order to achieve the appearance of lateral processes and the formation of a lush bush, the place of pruning is chosen slightly higher than the last leaf left;
• removal of one or several stems under the root to achieve the splendor of the bush;
• if the Fatsia bush is young enough, then you can limit yourself to pinching the apex also to stimulate the formation of lateral shoots.

Important! If you ignore the pruning of Fatsia, the plant will quickly go vertically to growth. The lower leaves will eventually fall off from old age, the crown will not resemble a decorative bush, but rather a strange palm.

Transfer

Young plants require a mandatory annual transplant. This is primarily due to the active growth of Fatsia. Subsequently, the frequency of transplants is reduced to 1 time in 2-3 years. The bush is always transplanted in early spring. Fatsia has no special soil composition requirements. It can be planted in any light slightly acidic or neutral soil (pH = 5.5–8). A prerequisite is drainage, about 1/3 of the height of the pot is poured.Soil can be prepared independently, taking 2 parts of sod land and 1 part peat, sand, humus. It is not necessary to mix the substrate yourself; you can buy ready-made soil for deciduous house plants in a garden store. Fatsia can also be successfully grown hydroponically.

Important! You can find out what a transplant for Fatsia was needed by looking at the bottom of the pot: if the roots are about to appear from the drainage hole, it's time.

The transplant process is divided into the following stages:

1. Take protective gloves and put them on to work with the plant.
2. Fatsia is carefully removed from the old container. At the same time, they try not to shake off the lump of earth.
3. If there are dried or rotten roots, they are removed, and the cut points are treated with “Kornevin”.
4. If the bush growth is enough for you, then you can slightly shorten the length of the roots with a sharp knife.
5. You can trim or pinch the stems at a time.
6. A new container for transplantation is chosen slightly larger than the previous, but not by much, only 1–1.5 cm wider in diameter.
7. Drainage is poured at the bottom, for example, perlite, a plant is placed there, the rest is filled with prepared moistened soil.
8. The transplanted bush is watered only after 2-3 days.

Fatsia, as a rule, does not tolerate a transplant very well. After that, she adapts for a long time and can get sick. However, this procedure is necessary.

Video: Fatsia Japanese

Propagation at home

Fatsia Japanese bushes can be propagated in several ways: by cuttings, layering and seeds. Each of these methods has its own characteristics that affect the experience of the grower and the success of the new planting. You can choose any of them that you consider more acceptable to yourself. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with each of them in detail.

Apical cuttings

Reproduction by apical cuttings is carried out in early spring. The process can be combined with pruning a bush. In this case, the cut stems are not thrown away, but are used with benefit. Each stalk intended for planting should have several buds.At the initial stage of germination, several cuttings can be placed in one tank, which is filled with a mixture of peat and sand: in such soil, rooting is more intense. The stem is treated with a root growth stimulator and buried in a well-moistened soil so that the lower kidney is in the ground. Then the landing is covered with a transparent container, organize the temperature +23 ... + 27 ° C and good illumination.

When the cuttings take root (in 7–16 days), each plant is planted in a separate pot with a diameter of 9–11 cm. The soil is already taken as for normal cultivation.

Air layering

Breeding by air layering is not such a classic method as the propagation of Fatsia by cuttings. It requires some skills and is used only on adult plants. An additional plus of this method is updating the old plant.On a healthy, well-developed stem, a small incision is made with a sharp knife or blade.The damaged part is wrapped with sphagnum moss soaked in a nutrient solution. The solution is prepared from any complex fertilizer for deciduous in the calculation of 1 g per 1 liter of water. Moss is covered with a film. Until air roots emerge from the incision, the preservation of sphagnum moisture should be monitored. Be patient, the roots appear after a few months. After 3-4 weeks, you can cut the stem below the root formation. The resulting process is planted in ordinary soil for Fatsia in a separate small container.

The remaining trunk can be cut to the state of a small hemp and take care of it as before for the flower. After some time, new sprouts will appear at this place.

Seeds

Fatsia is easily grown from seeds, but collecting the material itself is problematic: the plant rarely blooms, and although there are many fruits, their germination is low. If the fruits were collected, they are cleaned of pulp, washed, dried. Sown immediately after harvest.For planting, use any container in which nutrient soil is poured. The soil is bought in a store or prepared from peat, humus and sand, taken in equal proportions. You can add to the composition of 1 tbsp. "Agricola" and mix well. The soil is well moistened with water at room temperature. Next, seeds are laid on it and each is buried by about 1 cm.

Sowing is covered with a film on top to create greenhouse conditions and left to germinate at a temperature of +18 ... + 20 ° С. The first shoots should appear 3-4 weeks after planting, the shelter must immediately be removed. Once the plants are a little stronger, they can be transplanted into separate containers.

Possible growing difficulties

When growing Fatsia, you may encounter some problems. The flower rarely gets sick, the attack of pests is also infrequently exposed, however, you must be prepared to deal with these troubles, especially if gaps in care were allowed. Distinctive signs that the plant needs help:

1. The sheet is curled. This problem is caused by a spider mite. First, a visual inspection is carried out. In the presence of small insects or a thin spider web coating, the first step is to wash off all the signs from the bush, and then treat them with modern insecticides designed to control the pest. You can choose such effective drugs as Actellik, Fitoverm, Neoron and others.
2. The leaves of the bush began to fade and turn yellow. These signs clearly indicate the development of root rot. To do this, an unplanned transplant should be carried out, during which the bush is carefully removed from the pot, its root system is carefully examined, all rotted roots are removed, and the cut points are processed by Kornevin. Next, the bush is transplanted into the same pot, but with a complete replacement of the soil.
3. The tips of the leaves began to turn yellow. This symptom indicates that you are not sufficiently moisturizing Fatsia: it does not have enough water, so the intensity and volume of irrigation should be adjusted.
4. The tips of the leaves dry and become brown. This reason indicates insufficient humidity. It is required to take measures to eliminate it.
5. Yellow spots that are uncharacteristic for the color appear on the leaves. This is a rare case, and it means that your plant was under prolonged exposure to direct sunlight and received a light burn. It is required to immediately shade the bush.
6. The lower leaves turn yellow and fall. This is a natural bush aging process.
7. The bush stopped growing. If the phenomenon is observed in winter, then this is normal: Fatsia has a dormant period. If the problem arose in the summer, then this means that the plant does not have enough light and fertilizers.
8. Swollen spots of yellow-brown color are noticeable on sheet platinum. The plant was struck by a scale insect. This pest is dangerous for its rapid reproduction and spread to neighboring flowers, so measures should be taken immediately. They are treated with insecticides (Aktara, Aktellik, Inta-Vir, Fitoverm).

Can I keep in the house: signs and superstitions

Fatsia belongs to the group of indoor plants that are attributed to exaggerated properties bordering on superstitions. For example, there is an opinion that this beautiful bush cannot be kept at home because of its toxicity. The poison contained in the juice of the plant is not life-threatening to humans and animals, although in some cases it can cause allergic reactions. You should be careful and careful when working with the plant, especially when pruning and transplanting it and not leaving fresh slices unattended if you have pets.On the other hand, Fatsii attribute the property to radiate positive energy in the room where it grows. Often you can hear the equivalent of its name, like a flower of family happiness. People believe that where this magnificent bush stands, there are no quarrels, expressions of other negative emotions and bad mood.

Fatsia is an ornamental plant, but it is quite simple to grow it, and it is only necessary to observe the conditions of detention: water correctly, trim and transplant on time. In exchange, this plant will delight the owners with its wonderful growth, spreading crown and, possibly, flowering.