Rack for indoor violets (Saintpaulia)

Lovers of indoor violets sooner or later face the need to increase the places for placing their treasures in the interior. The collection is gradually growing. It is usually impossible to expand the area of ​​an apartment, but on the other hand you can effectively use the height of the space with shelving.

Usambara violet Is not just a common house plant, but also an object of endless selection. It is hard to believe, but until 1892 the Europeans did not know Saintpaulia. These flowers first came to America in 1927. Today it is impossible to name the exact number of varieties.

The largest database leads American Association AVSA (African Violet Society of America). There are more than 16 thousand varieties in its register of Saintpaulias. But, according to experts, the full list may be twice as large, since registration in AVSA is paid and is advisable only in cases where breeders plan to present the variety at exhibitions in the United States.

In 2013, Russian enthusiasts compiled a register of varieties bred in our country and in the CIS countries. This also includes a retro collection of violets created during the Soviet era. At the time of its creation, the register described more than 2,000 domestic names. But new items appear every year, the numbers are constantly growing.

A convenient way to compactly place many pots of flowers in one place is choose a reliable rack. In the classical sense, this is cabinet furniture, consisting of several shelves. However, in the context of talking about miniature violets, we will add wall and suspended ones to the floor structures. All of them provide storage organization by developing the functionality of the space vertically.

If the passion for violets has grown into a business, and the collection has turned into a nursery, then practicality, functionality, economy and ease of maintenance. And if there are few colors, then when choosing a style and material focus on the overall interior design.

Can choose glass, wooden, openwork forged or brutal riveted rack. Shelves are made of plywood, laminate and other materials that are strong enough.

The distance between the shelves of the rack does not have to be the same. Saintpaulias in the collection periodically "move" from place to place, because at different periods of their life on the way from a cutting to a flowering plant, they need different conditions.

However, there is general recommendations... For example, the distance between the tiers should be at least 25 cm, even for miniature varieties, since it is necessary to provide a place for installing lamps. And with the technology of cultivation using wick irrigation, the distance between the shelves should be at least 45 cm, since the flower pot and the vessel with water form a tall structure.

Part of the collection of violets for many housewives is located on the windowsill. In order to fit more flowers on the window, you can make a stand from glass shelves on brackets fixed to the end walls. Transparent glass does not interfere with the penetration of natural light into the room, and metal brackets securely hold the structure.

However, now there is a huge selection on sale. inexpensive flower stands made of metal, wood and other materials. You can choose from compact corner models, vertical structures on a spacer post or forged options in the form of an openwork arc. Ready-made stands are usually equipped with multi-tiered planter holders.

Despite the fact that the saintpaulias always look great on the windowsill, here they lack sunlight... This is due to the short daylight hours, and with cloudiness, and with the orientation of the windows to the cardinal points. Therefore, the best solution for placing a collection of Saintpaulias would be backlit shelving... The choice of luminaires can be the most difficult part of your journey towards the perfect Saintpaulia display rack.

For many years, for these purposes, mainly were used fluorescent lamps, but now they are gaining more and more popularity LEDs. For the device of home flower beds, they are used relatively recently, are produced in the form lamps or strips with LEDs... Phyto-LEDs have also appeared on the market, producing light in a plant-friendly range with a predominance of the red and blue spectrum.

Many collectors have gained their experience in the selection of artificial lighting through trial and error. Violetkova - a friendly community, people willingly share advice. However, you need to be prepared for the fact that when calculating the number and power of light sources, you will have to refresh your knowledge in the field of physics. The thing is that specialists use different terms of the International System of Units... Someone prefers to count in lumieres (designation - lm, measures the luminous flux), someone in lux (lx, illumination index) or in watts (W, determines the source power). Therefore, do not be surprised if you hear a conversation between two botanists in this language: “1 lux is equal to the illumination of a surface with an area of ​​1 square meter. m with a radiation flux of 1 lm ".

We won't go into technical details in this article. We only emphasize that Saintpaulias are very sensitive to lighting conditions. They need additional insolation 12 hours a day. If you want to get a strong plant with a bouquet of flowers for the exhibition, you need to bring the period of artificial lighting to 15 hours a day for some time: this should be done gradually, increasing the time by one hour a week. It is important to observe the regime, it is necessary to turn on the lamps at the same time. It is not always convenient to do this in manual mode, therefore you need to take care of the timers in advance.

Please note that different varieties of Saintpaulias require different phytolamps, since the perception of color shades is influenced by the spectrum of LEDs. Popular lamp models include the following:

• AquaGLO emits lighting mainly in the red and blue spectra - this combination gives pink light;
• the models FloraGLO, Tropic Su, Plant soft warm light;
• phytolamp spectrum LifeGLO correspond to natural sunlight; to people, it seems very bright, since, in addition to red, it emits many yellow and green rays, to which we are susceptible, and the blue spectrum is less represented;
• PowerGLO: blue, green, yellow rays predominate; much less red spectrum radiation;
• Life-, Sun- and PowerGLO give a yellowish light, they can be combined with phytolamps with pink light to neutralize the obsessive purple hue;
• model Blue Sky and Daylight Brilliant emit light in a similar spectrum;
• Fluora gives pink light, enhances the brightness of saintpaulias with red colors;
• Aquarelle: the spectrum is dominated by blue rays, gives lilac light; it is suitable for violets with blue colors, as well as for pale pink and white varieties; it is recommended to supplement this phytolamp with models with a predominant red spectrum.

If everything is done correctly, you can become the proud owner of a "smart" home flower garden, which, thanks to the wick irrigation technology and lamp timers, irrigates itself and regulates the lighting mode. All that remains is choose a shelf unit with an eye-pleasing design and enjoy the bloom of Saintpaulias, which have glorified the name of their discoverer Baron Walter von Saint-Paul for over 100 years.

In the video below, you can visually see what a rack for indoor violets looks like and how to correctly arrange flowers on it.