Fruit taro, also known as arrow leaf taro, is a plant of Araceae. Fruit taro has beautiful plant shape, changeable leaf shape and elegant color. It is known as the representative of indoor foliage plants in Araceae together with green radish and Vitex negundo. It is also a very popular indoor hanging basin decoration material in Europe and America.
Fruit taro is widely used all over the world because of its easy propagation, simple cultivation, especially shade tolerance and excellent decorative effect. At present, oglesby Plant Company in the United States, Aige Trading Company, Benze Nursery in Israel, Goya Nursery and Agrex Agricultural Center, Menvan Company in the Netherlands, Wolfgang Company in Germany and burbank Biotechnology Center in Australia all use tissue culture technology to propagate fruit taro. So far, fruit taro has become one of the most popular indoor potted foliage plants in the international market.
Fruit taro is widely planted in southern provinces of China. It is not only used for indoor foliage potted plants, but also for hanging pots for viewing or column modeling, and is more used for outdoor semi-shade ground covers. It is an evergreen liana herb with great development prospect.
Morphological characteristics and varieties and taro is a perennial evergreen herb. Stem nodes have aerial roots and contain milk. Young leaves are simple, arrow-shaped or halberd-shaped, old leaves are palmately 5-9-lobed, primary leaves are light green, and mature leaves are dark green. The Buddha flame is light green. Common varieties are arrowhead taro (Albelineatum), with arrowhead-shaped young leaves, palmately 3-lobed leaves, green leaves, silvery white veins on both sides, and dark green mature leaves. Albo-virens has narrow arrow-shaped young leaves, light green, light white inward and wide green leaves. PinkButterfly's leaves are shield-shaped, with light green and light pink in the middle. Silver-leaf taro (SilverKnight) has heart-shaped leaves, ivory leaves with light yellow, green leaves and long petioles. Variegata has arrow-shaped green leaves with irregular white patches and short petioles. White butterfly with shield-shaped leaves, pale white and green stripes on the leaf margin and long petiole.
The common ornamental species in the same genus is Lysimachia christinae, which has palmlike leaves, 3-lobed young leaves, 5-lobed mature leaves and the largest middle lobe. The leaves are thick, dark green and shiny. Red-leaf orchid, with arrow-shaped leaves, 3-lobed mature leaves, copper-green leaves, slightly pink or red. Buxus macrophylla has heart-shaped leaves, which are large, undivided and light green. Green-gold taro (S.xanthopHilum) has arrow-shaped narrow leaves and yellow-green leaves. S. wendland ii has long dark green arrowhead leaves with silvery white stripes on both sides of midvein.
Biological characteristics Jutaro is native to tropical areas of Central and South America. I like high temperature, humidity and semi-cloudy environment. Not cold-tolerant, afraid of drought and strong light.
The optimum temperature for the growth of taro is 22 ~ 30℃, the growth is slow at 65438 05℃, and the stem and leaf stop growing below 65438 05℃. In winter, when the temperature is below 5℃, the leaves will freeze. When the temperature exceeds 10℃ in spring, taro begins to sprout new buds, and with the increase of temperature, the growth rate of stems and leaves gradually accelerates.
Fruit taro prefers wet to dry. During the vigorous growth period in summer, it is necessary to fully water and keep the basin soil moist, so as to facilitate the rapid growth of stems and leaves. Increase foliar spraying water every day to maintain high air humidity, and the leaves grow strong and full, which has good ornamental effect. Insufficient water or suffering from drought, the leaves are rough and smaller.
Fruit taro has a strong adaptability to light. In bright light, the leaves are bigger and lighter. Under the condition of semi-shading, the leaves become smaller and darker. However, under the condition of long-term weak light, the stems and petioles are elongated, the plant shape is loose and the leaves become smaller. The suitable light for the growth of taro is 15000 ~ 30000 lux, that is, 70% ~ 80% shading is needed in summer and 40% ~ 50% shading is needed in winter.
Rich, loose and well-drained sandy loam is suitable for this kind of soil. Potted soil is a mixture of humus soil, peat soil and coarse sand. At the same time, fruit taro is also very suitable for soilless culture.
Common propagation methods include cutting and tissue culture.
Cutting propagation: Cutting can be carried out when the temperature is above10 in May. Cutting can cut 2 ~ 3 nodes at the top or middle of the stem, and new branches can continue to sprout at the base. River sand, vermiculite or moss can be inserted into the bed and take root after 10 ~ 15 days. Sometimes when the air humidity is high, aerial roots often grow on the stem nodes, so you can directly cut off the potted plants and keep them in a semi-shady place. The stems of some lianas grow close to the ground, and the adventitious roots at the nodes of their stems grow directly into the ground, so they can be potted simply by digging holes.
Tissue culture and propagation: explants are usually used for the shoot tips and lateral buds of taro. After routine disinfection, the shoot tips were inoculated on MS medium containing 5 mg/L 6- benzylamino adenine and 2 mg/L indoleacetic acid. After 45 days, the adventitious buds were transferred to 1/2 MS medium containing 2 mg/L indoleacetic acid to induce different roots, and complete plantlets were formed after about 20 ~ 25 days.
Potted taro is commonly cultivated and managed in 10 ~ 15 cm pots, and 15 ~ 18 cm pots can be hung. Fertilize every half month 1 time or use "Huiyou" for 20-8-20, and use high-nitrate potassium fertilizer in the four seasons to promote the vigorous growth and many branches of plants. When cultivated outdoors, stems and vines should not be left too long to avoid strong winds. In summer, stems and leaves grow rapidly, and potted plants need pruning and shaping. In hanging pot cultivation, stems and vines are drooping, too long or too dense, which need pruning and shaping to maintain a beautiful plant state. Adult plants can be regenerated by cutting again when changing pots in spring. Indoor maintenance in winter, not too wet,