With the bushy and bright red inflorescences above the evergreen foliage, the flowers of Callistemon are reminiscent of bottle brushes. In order to maintain its extraordinary appearance, the cylinder cleaner should receive plenty of care.
How do you properly care for a Callistemon?
Callistemon care includes regular watering with lime-free water, fertilizing from spring to autumn, frost-free overwintering at 5-10 °C and cutting after flowering. Avoid waterlogging and remove dried leaves to promote he althy growth.
How crucial is watering?
The soil around the roots of Callistemon should not dry out. At the same time, it is important to avoid waterlogging. Water the plant when the top layer of soil has dried out. Low-lime to lime-free water is suitable for watering. Excess water that can collect in the saucer in pot culture is poured off. Basically, the soil should be kept moist.
When, how and with what should you fertilize?
The fewer nutrients the callistemon has available to it, the sparser its flowers will be. Therefore, it is advisable to add fertilizer.
- Fertilize spring to autumn
- keep regular distances
- conventional pot plant fertilizers (€15.00 on Amazon) are suitable for pot cultivation
- compost, manure, etc. are suitable outdoors
- fertilize every 2 weeks in the summertime
- Stop fertilizing from the end of August
- Use lime-free fertilizers
- do not fertilize in winter
Would you rather spend the winter indoors or outdoors?
Callistemon is considered sensitive to frost. If you want to enjoy this plant for several years, it is best to overwinter it frost-free. Choose a bright (evergreen), cool room as your winter quarters. Temperatures between 5 and 10 °C are ideal.
During the winter, Callistemon should be watered sparingly. Adding fertilizer is not necessary and, on the contrary, would actually harm the plant. It is also recommended to ventilate the room regularly. From May onwards, the sensitive plant can go outside again. But give yourself some time to get used to the location.
Cutting Callistemon needs to be learned
This plant quickly turns out to tolerate cutting well. Among other things, you should cut Callistemon after flowering. The flower buds can then form for next year. If you cut the plant in spring, you cut away its flower buds at the same time. The cylinder cleaner blooms on last year's wood!
The plant should also be thinned out regularly and trimmed if necessary. This results in a compact and well-branched growth. Callistemon also tolerates severe pruning.
Tip
Remove dried leaves on the plant to prevent them from rotting and to preserve their pristine appearance.