Plant bacopa (lat. Bacopa) belongs to the genus of the Plantainaceae family, which includes more than 100 species of aquatic, water-loving, succulent creeping rhizomatous perennials. Bacopa is native to South America and the Canary Islands. In nature, bacopa grows on the marshy shores of reservoirs in the tropics and subtropics of Asia, Australia, America and Africa. The second name of bacopa is sutera. The bacopa flower has been in cultivation since 1993. It is also grown in temperate climates, using it as an ampel and as ground cover plant.
Planting and caring for bacopa (in brief)
- Bloom: abundant, gradually weakening, but then increasing again.
- Landing: sowing seeds for seedlings - in March, planting seedlings in open ground or in suspended structures- in the middle of May.
- Lighting: bright sun or partial shade in areas protected from strong winds.
- The soil: drained, humus-rich fertile soils with a slightly acidic reaction.
- Watering: frequent and abundant, especially during drought.
- Feeding: Only young plants need feeding from spring to September. They use complex mineral fertilizers in line with organic ones.
- Trimming and pinching: For better tillering, shoots are pinched from time to time, and lashes that are too long are shortened. The plant is pruned when flowering becomes scarce and the lower part of the shoots becomes woody.
- Reproduction: seeds, from January to April - apical cuttings.
- Pests: at home - whiteflies, aphids and spider mites.
- Diseases: gray rot, sooty or mold fungus.
Read more about growing bacopa below.
Ampelous bacopa - description
The stems of bacopa are thin, creeping, creeping or lodging, reaching a length of 60 cm and growing greatly in width. The leaves are small, broadly elliptic or ovate, green or olive-green in color, linear, with a serrated edge. Ampelous bacopa blooms with axillary bell-shaped or tubular flowers (depending on the type and variety), small or large, simple or double, white, pink, lilac, blue, light blue, red, violet or lilac. Bacopa blooms for a long time and occurs in waves: after an abundant first wave, the formation of flowers dies out, and after a while it intensively resumes. The lifespan of the plant is short, but it reproduces easily. Cultivation of ampelous bacopa is carried out both in the garden and at home.
Growing bacopa from seeds
Sowing bacopa seeds
For the primary cultivation of bacopa, you will have to resort to the seed propagation method. Growing bacopa from seeds does not involve any particular difficulties, and purchasing high-quality seed material in the store is not a problem. When to sow bacopa for seedlings? Sowing is carried out in March in a peat substrate sterilized for 4 hours in the oven at a temperature of 100 ºC, which, after cooling, is placed in a container with transparent walls. There is no need to bury the bacopa seeds; just press them to the surface of a moistened substrate and cover them with film or glass. Bacopa germinates from seeds in the light, at a temperature not lower than 20 ºC. Shoots can appear in 10-14 days, and the full germination period can last 3-4 weeks.
Caring for bacopa seedlings
Caring for bacopa during the seedling period is simple. Once seedlings begin to emerge, it is important not to allow the substrate to dry out. Remember to carefully loosen the soil around the seedlings. At the stage of development of seedlings with three true leaves, the first picking of bacopa is carried out - transplanting the seedlings into separate peat pots with a diameter of 5 cm. After the seedlings have settled in the new place, they are fed with complex mineral fertilizer in half the dose recommended by the manufacturers. Optimal temperature for growing bacopa seedlings 22-26 ºC.
If you are going to plant seedlings in the garden, then most likely the bacopa seedlings will require a second picking - transplanting into pots bigger size, which, for the stability of the seedlings, is carried out with the stem deepened by one node. A week after the second picking, when the bacopa seedlings have taken root, they are fed with complete mineral fertilizer with a predominance of phosphorus and nitrogen, after which the temperature in the room during the day is maintained within 15-24 ºC, and at night – about 13-15 ºC.
If you are growing bacopa as indoor plant, then there is no need to carry out a second picking - the seedlings are immediately transplanted into a pot or basket.
Planting bacopa in the garden
When to plant bacopa
Bacopa is planted in open ground as soon as the threat of return frosts disappears, that is, approximately in mid-May. But first the seedlings must undergo hardening: they are taken out to the open air, gradually increasing the duration of the sessions until the seedlings can spend the whole day in the yard.
How to plant bacopa
Bacopa grows best in sunny areas protected from the wind. You can plant it in partial shade, however, the less the plant receives sunlight, the fewer colors there will be. In the shade, bacopa generally loses its decorative properties - its shoots become elongated and few flowers are produced.
Bacopa is undemanding in terms of soil composition, but it is best suited to well-drained, fertile, humus-rich soils with a slightly acidic reaction. When planting in open ground, the distance between seedlings, depending on the variety, is kept within 10-25 cm - the taller the plant, the more space it will need.
Bacopa care in the garden
Growing bacopa in the garden involves performing such usual gardener activities as watering, weeding, loosening the soil, fertilizing, pinching and pruning, as well as protection from diseases and pests. Delete wilted flowers no need - bacopa can clean itself. The plant needs to be watered frequently and abundantly, especially in dry, hot summers. After watering, you should lightly loosen the soil, being careful not to damage the surface root system of the plant. Weeds also need to be removed carefully, and it is better to do this manually.
As for fertilizing, only young plants need them. Fertilizers are applied from spring to September, but as winter approaches, fertilizing is stopped. Fertilize bacopa with complex mineral solutions, alternating them with organic solutions bird droppings or mullein.
Bacopa care at home
How to care for bacopa at home
The conditions for growing bacopa in an apartment are not much different from those in the garden. How to grow bacopa indoors? The plant is planted in a substrate with approximately the following composition: humus, sand, garden soil and peat in a ratio of 2:2:1:1. The soil for ampelous bacopa should prevent waterlogging, since the fragile roots of the plant are prone to rotting, and that is why a thick layer of drainage material must be placed in the pot. Homemade bacopa, like garden bacopa, should be watered frequently and abundantly, but avoiding, however, long-term and chronic waterlogging of the soil, since this is much more dangerous than rare and insufficient moisture. After watering, the soil in the pots must be carefully loosened. Once every 10-14 days, liquid mineral fertilizer for flowering plants is added to the irrigation water so that the bacopa greens are always juicy and bright, and the flowering is abundant. The fertilizer solution is poured at the root, trying not to get on the leaves of the plant.
Placement of Bacopa
Bacopa at home, just like in the garden, requires good lighting and a certain amount of direct sun rays daily. It grows well in partial shade, but if you place it away from the light, you may not wait for flowering. Since the plant normally tolerates temperature changes and even frosts down to -5 ºC, bacopa is in flower pots from spring to late autumn can decorate a balcony, terrace, veranda or loggia.
Bacopa pruning
In order for bacopa to bush well, the ends of its shoots are pinched from time to time, and if the lashes of the plant become too long, they are cut off. The apical cuttings remaining after pruning are used for propagation. Bacopa is also pruned when the lower part of its shoots begins to become lignified and flowering becomes scarce. In this case, the shoots are shortened by a third of their length, and it is better to do this pruning in the fall.
Pests and diseases of bacopa
At improper care or non-compliance with growing conditions, bacopa can be affected by gray rot, sooty or mold fungus, especially if the planting is too dense. If bacopa is damaged by fungi, its crown must be thinned out, and then the plant must be treated two or three times with a solution fungicidal drug with breaks of two weeks.
Among the pests, bacopa is affected by whiteflies, aphids and spider mites. All these insects are sucking, that is, they feed on the cell sap of bacopa, so they can be destroyed with acaricidal preparations in two or three stages.
Bacopa propagation
Except seed method propagation for breeding bacopa, cuttings are used, for which they use apical cuttings about 10 cm long. They take root easily and quickly in moist, loose soil consisting of vermiculite and sand in equal parts. The cutting is buried 5 mm so that one node is underground - it will give new roots. The other node should remain above the surface of the soil - shoots will develop from it. The roots grow within 2-3 weeks, but to speed up root formation, it is advisable to treat the cut of the cutting with a growth stimulant or phytohormones. To create a greenhouse effect, the cuttings planted in the ground are covered with a transparent cap, and then placed in a well-lit place, protected from direct sunlight. During rooting, the soil should be slightly moist. When the cutting begins to form shoots, pinch it to encourage tillering.
The best time for cuttings is from January to April - at this time, adult bushes are divided into cuttings. It is also good to root cuttings at the end of summer, when there is a lot left after pruning. planting material. Cuttings of white bacopa take root best; other types of plants are more capricious and require the use of drugs that stimulate root growth.
Perennial bacopa in winter
In the open ground or in the garden, perennial bacopa will not survive the winter, so with the onset of cold weather it must be brought into a room where there are no drafts, high air humidity and the temperature is maintained at 12-15 ºC. IN winter time Bacopa should be watered infrequently, as its growth will be stunted. The wintering plant also does not need fertilizing.
Many gardeners do not plant perennial bacopa as a whole bush in the spring, since it still loses its decorative value over the winter. They take the overwintered plant into cuttings.
After pruning, homemade bacopa is also placed in cool conditions until spring. It can be glass balcony, loggia or unheated veranda or room.
In addition to the types and varieties of bacopa existing in nature, in Lately Many varieties and hybrids have appeared, bred by breeders. The most popular of them in amateur gardening are:
- a plant native to the eastern United States, reaching a height of 30 cm. It has thick, erect stems, planted in pairs with cross-shaped oval leaves, light green in the shade, and copper-red in bright sun. Small bright blue flowers open at the ends of the stems. This is aquarium bacopa - it is often grown in water under glass. In gardens, Carolina bacopa is planted along the banks of reservoirs, artificial or natural, or directly in them. The depth of the water in this case should be at least 30-35 cm;
- a low-growing plant with thin stems that grows in the water column. The shoots of Bacopa australis are covered with light green oval or rounded opposite leaves up to 18 mm long. The light blue flowers of the plant open on the above-water part of the shoots;
- a succulent with creeping stems, oblong sessile leaves from 8 to 20 mm long, entire or sparsely toothed and rounded at the apex. The flowers of this plant are axillary, with a blue, white or purple corolla up to 1 cm long;
Bacopa cordata
– herbaceous perennial up to 15 cm high with small or medium-sized green leaves;
Ampelous bacopa with correct selection its varieties can decorate not only a balcony, loggia or terrace, but also the most exquisite interior country house.
The Plantainaceae or Norica family contains a large number of interesting flowering plants suitable for growing in the garden or for home decoration. One of the very popular is the whole genus Bacopa, which includes both garden and aquarium crops. Growing in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, America and Australia, it can boast of a fairly large variety of its species, of which there are about 70 by the way.
Many of them are used for growing in summer gardens, flowerpots and hanging planters as an ampelous representative (blutopia and snowtopia), they are often presented as ground cover specimens. Ampelous bacopa is quite unpretentious; growing from seeds with your own hands begins with sowing seedlings around mid-February, timely picking and planting permanent place development.
In this issue we will learn about the most prominent representatives of the sutera genus, look at the flowers of ampelous bacopa in the photo and understand what kind of beautiful plant this is and how to care for it.
Different types of ampelous bacopa
Types and varieties of ampelous bacopa for the garden, balcony, apartment and aquarium (with photo)
These are annual garden crops, often used to decorate gardens. But there are perennial species and varieties of ampelous bacopa related to house and aquarium plants. Herbaceous representatives on average can reach 70 cm in length, the stems of some ground cover species extend up to 1 meter. Sutera shoots are thin, creeping along the ground and can be easily directed upward due to the fact that they tend to wrap around a support. Thus, by the way, some gardeners create beautiful partitions from crops on the site.
On lodging shoots there are a lot of nodes, which, upon direct contact with the soil, begin to take root - this should be taken into account when caring for the plant. The fact is that even though ampelous bacopa has a superficial rhizome, it will be very difficult to direct the stems upward when they take root in the soil of the garden, which happens quite quickly. When choosing a plant for an apartment or aquarium, garden or balcony, you should pay attention to the recommended agricultural practices of the variety. 
Small leaves, shaped like an egg, have shades depending on the type of ampelous bacopa and the plant variety. For example, beautiful leaf plates of golden, olive and dark green shades can create openwork tops. Most species have an alternate arrangement of leaves with a serrated edge, but there are also those in which they are located opposite on the stem. 
U garden species sutera there is very abundant powerful flowering. During it, are formed small flowers, with a diameter of no more than 2 cm. The funnel-shaped tubular corolla vaguely resembles a bell bud. Single flowers are formed at the very base of the leaves, which gives the flower an even more solemn and elegant appearance during the growing season. Like many garden annuals, the suter plant begins to bloom when warm weather sets in and ends with the onset of frost. 
Crops grown in aquariums also bloom, but not as brightly as garden hybrids and cultivars. The buds are formed above the water level, colored white or pale pink.
Garden flower ampelous bacopa snowtopia and bluetopia
As garden decoration Very often, ampelous bacopa bluetopia and snowtopia are grown, and almost always it is a ground cover plant with bright, uninterrupted flowering with small buds. In total, there are 110 hybrids and varieties in the genus, but let’s talk and look at the photos only those that deserve it more than others and are more popular.
The largest number of hybrids are bred on the basis of the double species, which is distinguished by very voluminous foliage and a large number of small axillary buds of pale pink color with a yellow throat. In the photo of ampelous bacopa below you can see several very beautiful varieties garden flower to decorate the area:
Examples of using ampelous bacopa snowtopia in decoration landscape design garden 
This is how you can use suteru white V flower arrangements From garden hybrids You can often find ampelous bacopa bluetopia and snowtopia on loggias and balconies, differing only in the shade of the corolla petals. The average length of the stems of these cultivars is no more than 30-35 cm; they bear olive-colored leaves that form dense foliage. Bluetopia has axillary flowers blue color, and in snowtopia they are white. 
Often, a sutera variety called Snowflake is used for growing in flowerpots. This is a very large terry hybrid with shoots about 1 meter long. The creeping stems are strewn with small leaves, creating openwork luxurious foliage with small buds. It is important to know that representatives of this variety are perennials, but in conditions harsh winters- it is better to grow them at home, and take them out into the fresh air in the summer. Sunbathing plays an important role in plant flowering. 
Looks very decorative in gardens annual variety Olympic Gold due to golden foliage framing white flowers. During the flowering period of this plant, the green tops shimmer in the sunlight. Hanging and climbing specimens are perfect for growing in summer gardens and flowerpots.
Snowtopia (ampelic bacopa with white buds) 
Blutopia and snowtopia in the photo Another pretty big one terry variety- this is Snowstorm, its corolla petals are pale blue. The flowers of this plant rarely reach 2 cm in diameter, but this makes it even more decorative, since there are a lot of buds. Look at the photos of bluetopia and snowtopia, where ampelous bacopa is presented from the most elegant angles: 
Growing ampelous bacopa at home from seeds
In order to get a beautiful sutera plant for your garden or home, you will need a lot of effort and patience. Be sure to pay attention to the fact that when propagated by seeds at home, not all of them will have a good germination percentage, which, by the way, decreases every year. Also, you should be aware that the process of obtaining a new plant largely depends on where exactly the ampelous bacopa will be grown - in the garden or in closed ground. We will try to talk in more detail about all these nuances, about how ampelous bacopa is grown from seeds at home and on the site.
To begin with, for the sutera to grow beautiful and strong, you will need the right substrate. To do this, you can take a slightly acidic mixture of garden and peat soil in a ratio of 1/1. Before sowing seeds, the soil is disinfected with boiling water or by keeping it in an oven heated to 100 degrees for 4 hours. After the soil is sterilized, its surface must be compacted and sprinkled with a small layer of snow. Snow is needed so that after the seeds are carefully laid out on it, melting will facilitate proper burial. 
It is important to know when to sow ampelous bacopa seeds for seedlings - most often it is advisable to do this in mid-February or early March, when daylight begins to arrive. Sowing time occurs in mid-winter - February. Some gardeners do not use snow, but spread the seeds on a loose substrate, repeating the sowing twice. In this case, the first wave is without deepening, and the second with slight deepening.
For good seed germination, a certain amount of temperature regime- from 18 to 23 degrees. Its preservation can only be ensured by creating a distribution mini-greenhouse. To do this, the container is covered with cling film or covered with glass. Also, for growing and propagating seeds, you should take dishes with transparent walls. The penetration of sunlight and light into the soil will have a beneficial effect on seed germination.
After sowing ampelous bacopa with seeds, it is also important to observe high humidity soil, for this purpose careful drip irrigation is used. 
The first shoots can be seen in 15-20 days; if this does not happen, then re-sowing in the same soil is required. After the appearance of 3 leaves on a young stem, the plants dive into peat pots with a diameter of about 5 cm.
Bacopa can be planted in open ground after warm weather sets in, at the end of May or beginning of June. Well-drained soil with some peat soil is suitable for this. Broken crushed stone or brick can be used as drainage. Often, river sand is often added to garden soil to make it lighter. 
In closed ground conditions, ampelous bacopa is grown in soil with the addition of humus or sand. 
To preserve ampelous bacopa for next year, you will need to know how to propagate it from cuttings. The fact is that even if you manage to create for her favorable conditions, next summer there will be less flowering. Therefore, the mother bush is placed for the winter at a temperature of 10-15 degrees, and in the spring the strongest shoots, 12-15 cm long, are cut off from it. The cuttings must be placed in clean water which needs to be changed daily. Roots form within 2 weeks, after which bacopa can be planted in a permanent place.
Caring for ampelous bacopa
Like any beautiful flowering plant, the sutera is not picky and takes root well even at home if you provide it with proper care. Most often, plants are grown in flowerpots and hanging pots, which makes their maintenance much easier. Providing decent care for ampelous bacopa snowtopia and bluetopia is not difficult if you know the simple agricultural techniques of this crop - we’ll talk about them further, but for now, look at the next portion of the photo: 
Many types of sutera tolerate small temperature changes well, but severe frosts turn even hardened perennials into annual crops. If you want to save the plant for next year, then in winter it is best to keep it in a dormant period, at 10-15 degrees Celsius. Sunbathing for bacopa they are not only useful, but also necessary. The fact is that if you put it in the shade, it can completely drop all the buds, which, by the way, also happens when the soil moisture is insufficient. 
Regular watering using large quantity water is the basis proper care. In the hot season, in the fresh air, it is recommended to water the plant at least 2 times a day - in the morning and in the evening after sunset. Spraying is also important for active growth and bacopa flowering. It is worth making sure that the earth ball does not dry out, but stagnation of moisture can seriously affect its health and cause rotting of the rhizome. That is why it is necessary to provide a strong drainage layer and loosen the soil after watering in order to avoid its cracking, which, with the shallow root system of ampelous bacopa, can cause the death of the plant. 
Look at others for the garden and apartment - a huge number of different shapes, colors and representatives of families.
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Flowers - best decoration home and personal plot. Every year gardeners get acquainted with new types of ornamental and fruit plants and master methods of growing exotic crops.
In this article we will talk about bacopa - we will talk about growing from seeds and the features of caring for this unusually beautiful South African flower. Today, in addition to the traditional white bacopa, there are many varieties with flowers different shades– lilac, blue, pink, yellow, blue, red, violet. But the plant with white flowers is the most stable, unpretentious and resistant to various kinds of external influences. In addition, many bacopa varieties tend to degenerate and cross-pollinate, turning from colored to white forms after a few years.
Bacopa: planting and care
Bacopa (sutera) is a low perennial with many small single five-petaled flowers (about 2cm in diameter), blooming almost continuously from spring (March) to autumn (October). Most often, bacopa is grown as a plant (decorating fences, pillars, and walls of buildings with flowerpots), but it also looks great as an unpretentious and spectacular perennial ground cover. If desired, other types of hanging plants can be grown in the same pot with bacopa: petunias, nasturtiums, fuchsias, lobelias, aregatum. In ground plantings, bacopa is used as an attractive background plant that forms a lush blooming carpet around the central plant of the composition. The advantages of the plant also include resistance to long rains - bacopa does not lose its attractiveness even in such conditions. In addition, even in the absence of flowers, the plant is quite decorative, due to the presence of many small bright green leaves.
The very first thing anyone who wants to grow this should find out beautiful flower– how to plant bacopa. After all, it is correct landing makes it possible to grow quality seedlings, which means healthy and beautiful plants. Planting bacopa is not a difficult task, but here, as in any other matter, you should adhere to a certain algorithm of actions.
First of all, you need to choose the right soil. For bacopa, a slightly acidic mixture (peat and garden soil 1:1) is best suited. To grow in flowerpots, you will also need to add humus and sand to the mixture (2 parts each). It is also necessary to ensure good drainage, since stagnation of water has a bad effect on the condition of the root system.
Bacopa should be watered often, but little by little, avoiding drying out or waterlogging the soil. From time to time, the plant should be fed with liquid complex mineral fertilizers.
Depending on the variety, the distance between plants should be from 10 to 25 cm (the taller the plant, the more space it will need).
Bacopa can be planted in open ground as soon as the threat of night frosts disappears.
Bacopa grows best in sunny, wind-protected areas. Growing in partial shade is also possible, but remember: the less sun, the fewer flowers. When completely shaded, bacopa stretches out and somewhat loses its decorative effect.
For wintering, bacopa is hidden in a cool, damp room (with an air temperature of 8-15°C). The plant can withstand short frosts down to -5°C. When wintering in too hot rooms, the risk of diseases increases - gray rot, sooty fungus, shoots may stretch and become exposed.
Do I need to pinch bacopa?
Pinching bacopa is not a mandatory procedure, but it significantly increases the number of flowers, which is why it is very popular among gardeners.
It is performed according to classic scheme– growth points on young shoots are pinched, which stimulates the development of lateral shoots and flower buds. You can pinch shoots at any length.
Bacopa: reproduction
This plant can be propagated various methods: sowing seeds or cuttings.
The seed propagation method involves growing through seedlings; bacopa is not grown by direct sowing into the ground.
The seeds are small, 1 gram contains more than 5 thousand seeds. Germination persists for 2-3 years.
For germinating small seeds, light, light, moisture and breathable soil is best suited. The optimal temperature for germination is 20-23°C. At air temperatures below 18°C, seeds do not germinate. The seeds should not be planted deeply - they are light-germinating, it is better to just lightly press them to the surface of the soil. For the same reason, you should not cover pots with sown seeds with light-proof materials - without light, the seeds will not sprout. It is also important to ensure high air humidity during seed germination.
The first shoots appear on days 10-14.
At the stage of one or two true leaves, the first picking is carried out (2 cm between plants). From this moment on, regular fertilizing with diluted fertilizer is required (50% of the norm specified in the instructions).
During the second picking, the seedlings are transplanted into separate cups (with a drainage hole). In this case, specimens should be buried into the substrate by one node. After the second picking, the plants begin to harden, gradually reducing the temperature from +22-23°C to +15-22°C during the day and +13-15°C at night.
How to take bacopa cuttings?
Bacopa cuttings are carried out in January-March and August-September. To do this, select healthy young shoots, cutting them off 
the apical part with two nodes (up to 10 cm) and root them in a moist, light substrate to a depth of about 0.5 cm so that bottom knot was below the soil surface (it will form a root). The node remaining on the surface forms ground shoots and leaves. To increase rooting, you can treat the cuttings with phytohormones or stimulating drugs.
The container with the cuttings should be placed in a warm, humid environment (you can cover it with a bag and place it in a warm place). Rooted plants are planted in the ground (in a permanent place) in early May.
White varieties of bacopa take root best.
The South African plant bacopa, also called sutera, from the Norichinaceae family is gaining increasing popularity among gardeners. And it’s not surprising, because ampelous sutera is a perennial that is ideal for vertical gardening of balconies and terraces, and growing in flower beds it turns into a real ground cover carpet, covered with many small flowers from March to October.
Sutera has decorative qualities not only with flowers, but also with bright green, lanceolate leaves with jagged edges, reaching about 2 cm in diameter. The leaves are arranged in pairs on drooping shoots 30-60 cm long. From the axils of the leaves along the entire stem grow small, no more than 2 cm in diameter, five-petal flowers in white, pink, blue, lilac shades. Since sutera is a creeping plant, roots quickly form at each node of its shoots, which must be taken into account when planting in a flower bed.
Despite the title of a perennial, bacopa, which is grown from seeds in our conditions only through seedlings, the lifespan of one plant is often limited to one flowering period, since in the future the old bushes bloom less abundantly and in the spring they are divided into cuttings to produce young plants.
In climatic conditions middle zone In Russia, sutera can be grown from seeds exclusively by seedlings. So, ampelous bacopa: growing from seeds.
Preparing for sowing bacopa for seedlings
1. Soil. To sow bacopa, loose, breathable and moisture-absorbing soil with a low acidity level is required. The plant feels best on soils consisting of a mixture of humus, peat, leaf soil and sand (2:1:1:1). Also, wet compost is used to germinate seeds before the first picking.
2. Capacity. There are no special requirements for choosing a bowl for growing bacopa seedlings. The main thing is that you can create greenhouse conditions for crops by covering the container with film or glass.
3. Sutera seeds are very small, and 1 g can contain about 5 thousand grains. They retain a high degree of germination for 2-3 years, which must be taken into account when choosing seeds in the store.
When to sow bacopa for seedlings?
The growing season of bacopa from sowing to flowering is quite long, so they begin to sow it for seedlings in early March. If it is possible to provide the plant with additional lighting, then some gardeners resort to sowing bacopa seeds as early as February in order to get earlier flowering.
How to grow bacopa from seeds: technology of sowing and growing seedlings
1. Planting bacopa seeds and germination conditions. Given the small size of the seeds, sowing is carried out superficially on a moist substrate. There is no need to cover the seeds with soil; just press them lightly to the surface and sprinkle them with water from a spray bottle.
It is critically important to create greenhouse conditions with high humidity for bacopa, so the crops are covered with film, placed in a transparent bag, or covered with glass. Seeds germinate in light at a temperature of 20-23 degrees and high humidity. The first shoots appear within 10-14 days.
2. Caring for seedlings. At this stage, caring for ampelous bacopa is not difficult: the seedlings are gradually accustomed to being kept without shelter. Since the plant is moisture-loving and many of its relatives grow in bodies of water, it is important to maintain a sufficient level of humidity by carefully watering the sutera seedlings using a sprayer.
3. Picking. When talking about how to grow bacopa from seeds, you cannot miss such a technique as diving. Moreover, bacopa bluetopia, grown from seeds, is picked twice. The first picking is carried out in the phenophase of two true leaves. In this case, the plants are transplanted with a ball of soil into boxes of larger volume according to the 2x2 cm scheme. At this stage, the temperature regime for optimal growth of bacopa is 22-26 degrees.
When the plants have grown noticeably, the bacopa is picked again into separate pots with a drainage hole. If during the first transplant the plants were not deepened, then during the second the seedlings are deepened by one node. During this period, the plants begin to gradually harden and the temperature of growing bacopa snowtopia from seeds is reduced to 15-23 degrees during the day and 13-15 degrees at night.
4. Feeding seedlings. Bacopa, grown from seeds by seedlings, is ready for fertilizing after the first picking. To do this, use complete mineral fertilizers in a concentration half as much as indicated in the instructions for the drug. After the second picking, complex fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus are used for feeding.
5. Pinching shoots. In order for the ampelous sutera to bush better, the growing points of young plants are pinched. This can be done at almost any shoot length, although some gardeners recommend pinching when the shoot reaches about 10 cm in length.
It should be noted that ampelous bacopa, the cultivation of which from seeds at home is not particularly difficult, is generally not whimsical at the seedling stage. To grow it, basic care with regular watering, periodic fertilizing and good lighting. When consistently warm weather has established itself and the threat of frost has disappeared, the hardened seedlings are planted in open ground.
A plant from the Norichnikov family. From South Africa. Bacopa has appeared in culture since 1993. She was named Sutera. The plant blooms almost continuously from March to October, dividing its flowering time into two stages, each stage has a peak of abundance and a time of decreasing flowering, in other words, flowering is wavy. Bacopa ampelous is an unpretentious perennial plant. It is grown as a hanging or ground cover.
Bacopa ampelous
Bacopa ampelous looks beautiful in hanging baskets. Used to decorate fences and walls.
Bacopa leaves and flowers are small, blue, white, pink. Bacopa is a creeping plant, therefore, when it is grown in the ground, it forms roots in each shoot node in contact with the soil.
Bacopa goes well with lobelia, petunia, ageratum, nasturtium, and fuchsia. Bacopa is grown by amateurs beautiful compositions in hanging flowerpots to form an unusual screen.
Bacopa can be planted as a background plant, emphasizing the brightness of the colors of nearby plants. It is planted with standard-shaped plants. However, like a separate plant, it will conquer everyone with its sophistication.
Bacopa directed upward along the support in vertical gardening combines with morning glory and nasturtium. In the garden, ampelous bacopa is used to decorate bald areas, forming a dense thin carpet. The plant grows quickly and with the help of bacopa you can easily achieve decorative effect. The richness and brightness of the color of bacopa foliage is created through the use of various microelements in fertilizing.
Bacopa is grown as an ampel plant in flowerpots, hanging baskets, and can also be grown in mixed plantings and greenhouses. The length of bacopa shoots reaches about 60 cm.
Bacopa does not need to remove the flowers because it is self-cleaning. The plant is attractive even during periods of long rains; it does not lose its decorative effect. Its small leaves on flexible long shoots are also attractive.
Bacopa varieties with different shades of inflorescences and flower sizes are common in culture. Bacopa comes in blue, white, blue, pink, purple, and red.
The average size of flowers is 2 cm in diameter. Bacopa flowers are single, five-petaled. The inflorescences are two-lipped, they are formed in the axils of the foliage. The leaf blades on the stem of bacopa are placed in the same order. The foliage is lanceolate, small, entire.
Today it has gained great popularity bacopa spreading . The work of breeders is focused on saturating the flowers of Bakovy with color, increasing the size of the inflorescences, and developing new flower colors.
New varieties of bacopa have a red and lilac color. In the center of the flower there is a yellow eye.
Growing ampelous bacopa
The plant can be grown as a canopy or ground cover. If you want, the bacopa shoots can be directed upward by installing supports and fixing the branches with wire or soft twine.
It is best to grow bacopa in sunny areas, but it is not at all afraid of slight shading. If there is a lot of shading, the plant will not have enough light, and its shoots may become elongated. Bacopa flowering in partial shade is not as lush as in the sun.
Bacopa prefers slightly acidic soil.
For a lush form, it is advisable for the plant to pinch out its growth points.
The distance between specimens in one pot should be 10 cm. Plant height is from 10 to 24 cm. The bush is dense, in the shape of a hemisphere. The shoots of ampelous types of bacopa are about 40 cm long, the columnar bacopa is 24 cm high, and the shoots are erect.
Bacopa should be planted outdoors after frost has passed. The soil in the pot should be kept slightly moist. It is not advisable to overdry the earthen lump. With watering, mineral fertilizer must be added to the substrate.
Bacopa care
Consists of constant watering and fertilizing complex fertilizers. Loosening should be easy, because the root system is superficial.
Bacopa ampelous can tolerate temperatures down to -5°. In winter, the plant should be kept in a bright room with reduced watering. The temperature in winter should be up to 14 °C.
It will be best for her on a balcony or loggia. If there are no such conditions, then monitor watering and moisten the soil more often, spray the shoots to increase air humidity.
The experience of flower growers shows that in a cool room bacopa does not lose its decorative effect, but in a plant wintering in warm room The leaves dry out, the shoots become bare and are strongly retracted.
Bacopa ampelous is practically not affected by pests. It is only afraid of aphids and whiteflies. If infestation occurs, treat immediately with an insecticide.
Bacopa propagation
Bacopa propagates by seeds and also by cuttings. To get cuttings, you need to cut off the top of the shoot. Rooting time is from January to March, or from August to September.
Bacopa cuttings are rooted in a light substrate.
The container with bacopa cuttings can be placed in a greenhouse or covered plastic bag. When the plant takes root and begins to grow, you need to pinch the top so that the bacopa bushes and forms side shoots.
The experience of flower growers has shown that the percentage of rooted cuttings of ampelous bacopa with white flowers is high. Snow-white varieties of bacopa have greater disease resistance. The cuttings are planted in May.
When growing bacopa from seeds, they need to be sown as seedlings.
Sowing should be superficial, only pressing the seeds onto light soil.
After sowing, the container must be placed in a room with a temperature of at least 18°C and high humidity. Best temperature 20-24°C heat. Seedlings appear two weeks after sowing.
Picking is done when several true leaves appear. Dive at a distance of at least 2 cm between plants.
The second picking is done in separate cups or pots with a drainage hole. After the second picking, you can feed it with mineral fertilizers.
After the second picking, the seedlings are hardened. The growing temperature decreases; it should be around +15-23°C.
