One spring I went to visit my employee and saw a flower on the windowsill that looked like a small cherry tree. A friend said that this is the so–called “Cuban cherry” – decorative nightshade, or solanum. Its exact name is Solanum pseudocapsicum.
At this time, the berries on it were already quite ripe, even slightly wrinkled, and I asked my friend to let me take one of the berries for my seeds.
How to plant decorative nightshade
At home, I soaked the seeds for half an hour in hot water (about + 40 ° C). This is necessary so that later on the plant does not develop a disease from pathogenic fungi — “black leg”.
The soil for planting was prepared from a mixture of turf, humus, peat earth and sand in a ratio of 1:2: 1: 1, the prepared mixture was doused with hot water. When the earth in the pot cooled down, I planted seeds.
I watered the crops, and after 10 days the first shoots appeared. Nightshade seedlings at about a month of age dived, and after another 2 months, choosing a few of the strongest, planted them in pots with the same light substrate.
Care for indoor nightshade
In order for the young plants to bush better, I carefully pruned them a couple of times. I started feeding nightshade from five months with the usual universal fertilizer. I have grown a few cute “cherries” — that’s what they are now called in our family.
In summer, these low spreading green shrubs are covered with numerous small white star-shaped flowers.
It is very interesting to observe how gradually round green berries are born from them, which then acquire an orange color (there are also berries of bright red and yellow). However, their maturation usually lasts longer. But when nightshade is kept in a cool room, the berries last for several months and look very elegant.
By the way, in winter nightshade should be kept in a bright, cool room at a temperature no higher than + 18 ° C and rarely watered, protecting it from drafts.
To form a compact fluffy plant, in the spring I always prune the long shoots of nightshade, and during the summer I pinch the tops of the tallest branches.
I transplant my “kids” in early spring into loose nutritious soil, and in summer I take out pots with nightshade into the yard, water them abundantly and often spray them. Somewhere from March to August, I feed 2 times a month with small doses of full mineral fertilizer with trace elements.
What else is important to know about Solanum pseudocapsicum
The propagation of Solanum pseudocapsicum by seeds has its own little secret. If you want to have a lot of berries on the bush, then you need to dust the white flowers of this plant with a cotton swab or brush.
Of the pests of Solanum pseudocapsicum, aphids sometimes annoy. You can treat the affected bush with an insecticide.
Nightshade is a perennial plant. It is not necessary to grow nightshade from seeds every time. It is easier to prune the bush in the spring and transplant it into a fresh substrate. Soon solanum will start to grow and bloom again in summer. But the propagation of nightshade seeds allows you to get a lot of plants at once that you can give to friends, or you can put them in the garden, where they feel great in summer and early autumn.
It must be remembered that nightshade berries are quite poisonous and dangerous for children and animals.
There are no small children in our family. But those who have them, you need to be careful if you decide to have this incomparable plant in the house for its original beauty, because all parts of the nightshade are poisonous. Therefore, place it so that the child does not get it, and your pet would not feel abandoned.
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