Agapetes is native to Southeastern Asia. It is found in the Himalayan highlands from India and Nepal through China to Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. They are found predominantly in upper rain forest or moss forest above 1000 m and up to over 3000 m.
Agapetes, from the Greek "agapetos" meaning beloved or desirable, is a genus of the Ericaceae family. This genus was described by David Don ex George Don in 1834.
IDENTIFY AGAPETES PLANT
Agapetes is native to Southeastern Asia. It is found in the Himalayan highlands from India and Nepal through China to Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. They are found predominantly in upper rain forest or moss forest above 1000 m and up to over 3000 m.
It is a shrub, evergreen, epiphytic, rarely terrestrial trees, usually with a swollen rootstock. The leaves spirally arranged, subopposite, or pseudoverticillate, subsessile or shortly petiolate, margin entire or serrate.
The 5-merous flowers are axillary, in racemes, corymbs, or fascicles, or solitary. Pedicel articulate, sometimes expanded and forming a cup apically; bracteoles basal, small. Calyx sometimes 5-winged or -angled; limb 5-fid or deeply -lobed. Corolla red, rarely white or yellow, plain colored or with dark colored zig-zag horizontal bands, tubular, rarely globose, urceolate, or campanulate, often more than 1 cm, usually shortly 5-lobed. The plants simultaneously displayed multiple stages of phenology from bud break to fruit development. Fruit colors included pink, bright red, fuchsia, purple, and black.
Some common species and varieties: Agapetes serpens (flowering begins in November or December and lasts up to 4-5 months; the fruit is a fleshy, spherical shape and a bluish-colored berry), Agapetes buxifolia (bright red flowers occurs from March to May, blooms profusely within two months).
AGAPETES PLANT CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light:
Agapetes is light-loving plant. For several hours a day, this plant can place in direct sunlight. Optimal for it is the placement of a window of eastern and western exposure. The young growth need shaded during the spring and summer months to help prevent scorching.
Temperature:
In spring and summer, the optimum temperature range in 18-20 ° C. In winter, it is desirable to provide a temperature in the range of 8-15 ° C, since flower buds are not laid at a higher temperature, and the plant ceases to bloom. If it is not possible to keep the plant in a cool room, then it is enclosed with glass or film on the window.
Substrate and growing media:
Agapetes are usually grown in plastic half pots, also called pans, or baskets but they also grow well as epiphytes on pieces of cork bark. The substrate consisting of a medium-sized potting bark with horticultural charcoal.
The plants are generally repotted on when required but do not suffer if they remain in the same pots for a number of years. The best time to repot is in the spring.
Watering:
Agapetes are drought-tolerant and irrigation is weather- and season-dependent with a daily watering in the summer which is reduced to about once a week in winter. They can quite easily miss a watering without any damaging outcomes. The substrate should dries out between the irrigations.
Fertilizer:
A weak balanced feed (NPK 1:1:1) is applied at half-strength once or twice a month in spring and summer. It is not recommended to feed the plant in the autumn-winter period.
Pruning:
To improve flowering and the formation of a lush crown, it is recommended to pinch the tops of the shoots, you can also conduct a short pruning of the shoots.
Propagation:
Propagation is mainly carried out with semi-ripe cuttings which strike well in a mix of propagating bark (2–7 mm) with added medium-grade vermiculite or perlite, charcoal and chopped sphagnum moss depending on availability. Cuttings are then put in a closed case with bottom heat and daily misting as required.
Seed can also be successful if sown on sterilized small-grade propagating bark (2–7 mm) or grow bark (0–6 mm). Pots are then placed in a three-quarter-closed case suspended on a metal grille above a reservoir of heated water (21°C) to keep humidity high, and a fan at one end to encourage good air movement and ventilation.
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