| Life form | Herbaceous |
| Family | Gesneriaceae |
| Origin | China |
| Ease of cultivation | Requires special conditions |
| The size | Usually from 5 to 12 cm in diameter |
| Growth rate | Low |
| Lifespan | Several years with proper care. |
| Temperature | It prefers cool temperatures from +50 to 77 ° F, maximum temperature + 86 ° F, minimum + 41 ° F. At high temperatures, it is necessary to increase the humidity of the air by all available methods. |
| Humidity | High. Do not spray, you should put the pot in a tray with wet pebbles. |
| Lighting | Scattered light. Suitable for east, west and north windows. Among the Gesnerian petrocosmia, it is the least demanding for lighting conditions. The main condition in case of insufficient lighting is to turn the socket in time to uniformly form it. It grows easily under conditions of artificial illumination for 12 hours a day (lamps placed at a height of 12 cm above the plant). |
| The soil | Suitable light breathability for senpolia. For the soil of own preparation, you can take 1 part of the garden land, 1 part of coarse-grained sand or perlite, 1 part of wet peat or humus (leafy earth) and a little lime. You can mix peat, perlite and vermiculite in equal proportions. In the substrate, a little bit of dolomite flour should be added The Petrocosmium requires a less acidic substrate, compared with the senpolia. It is mandatory to use drainage. |
| Watering | Watered the same way as the city. During flowering, regular irrigation, the top layer of the soil should dry slightly, but overflowing is dangerous. In summer, watering can be done by immersing the pot in a container of water (lower watering), especially if the plant has grown and the leaves have covered all the soil in the pot. Use only soft water at room temperature. You can use a wick watering. |
| Fertilizer | From spring to autumn, once a month, a liquid fertilizer, diluted two-fold. |
| Reproduction | Easily propagates leaf cuttings in spring in a greenhouse (or covered with polyethylene) with a lower heating in a mixture of sphagnum and perlite, or simply in water. The smaller the leaf petioles, the faster it takes root. However, the long petiole can be partially cut off when rotting. Small plants formed around the leaf, it is better to separate only when they reach significant size and develop a root system, i.e. through a sufficiently long period. It also multiplies by seeds that grow better in cool conditions, the air around the sprouts must be moistened, but not the seedlings themselves, but the air around the pot. After germination, they dive twice, transplanting. Also multiply by the separation of outlets during transplantation.Blooms approximately at the age of two. |
| Bloom | Blossom blue or blue (sometimes there are pink and white) campanulate flowers on long peduncles. |
| Transfer | For petrocosmia, small and shallow pots are needed; it has a weak root system. The maximum diameter of the pot for the largest species – 12-13 cm, for most types of suitable size of about 7.5 cmPlants do not like too frequent transplants, but they are necessary to improve the fertility of the substrate. To transplant it is possible not more often than once in 2 years, after transplanting plant to place under a polyethylene package for the best survival. Some growers practice constant fertilization of the substrate and its periodic washing with water to remove excess salts. In this case, transplantation can be less frequent, because a plant does not like to be disturbed by its root system. |
| Features of care | As a hygienic procedure, it is necessary to regularly wash the plants under the shower, however, petrocosmic can not be sprayed and dusted with a brush. It is necessary to remove faded flowers in time. In contrast to senpolium, petrocosmia does not require rejuvenation, because does not form a trunk. |
| Difficulties | It is affected by a spider mite, mealybug, thrips, whitefly. To prevent the appearance of pests, the plant is useful to ventilate. It is possible to decay the roots of the plant with excessive watering when growing in heavy soil. When water hits the leaves, yellow spots form on the sun. |
| Air cleaning | – |
| Toxicity | – |
