Anyone who loves ornamental grasses will love this variety. The red pipe cleaner grass is an extremely decorative plant that is ideal as a container plant and can be left outdoors even in winter in mild regions. You can find out how to properly care for this feather bristle grass in the following article.
How do you care for red pennisetum?
The care of the red pennisetum includes regular watering without waterlogging, fertilizing during the growth phase, moving and dividing if clumps are too large, pruning in spring and overwintering in a bucket or outdoors with protective measures.
Watering and fertilizing with feeling
The red pennisetum reacts quite sensitively to waterlogging and overwatering. Therefore, let the soil dry out and always water when the surface feels really dry.
Fertilization is carried out during the growing season with a commercially available product for green plants (€14.00 at Amazon). Compost soil is also a good source of nutrients.
Implement and Share
This ornamental grass is often cultivated in pots. It is undemanding in terms of substrate; simple potting soil or special soil for potted plants are ideal. Mix these with some sand or gravel to ensure good water drainage.
In mild regions you can transplant the red pipe cleaner grass outdoors. Here too, a drainage layer and soil improvement with sand or gravel are recommended.
Share large nests
If cared for well, the red pennisetum can form very large clumps. You can easily divide these and get several identical plants. Proceed as follows:
- Carefully remove Pennisetum from the pot.
- Separate the root ball into two or three parts using a trowel or clean, sharp scissors.
- Place these in fresh soil and containers that are not too small.
The pruning
Do not cut back the red-leaved pennisetum in autumn, but only in spring. Before the start of the growing season, all stalks are shortened to about a hand's breadth above the ground.
Wintering
You should only overwinter this Pennisetum species, which is not completely hardy, outdoors in very mild regions. In this case we recommend:
- Tieting the ears of grain together in autumn.
- Spread a thick layer of brushwood, leaves, bark mulch or straw in the root area.
- Cover the lower half of the plant with a fleece to protect against severe frost.
Place potted plants in a cool but frost-free room. A cellar, garage or stairwell that is not completely darkened would be ideal. Make sure that the root ball does not dry out and water if necessary.
What diseases and pests are threatening?
The red pennisetum is very resilient and is rarely attacked by diseases or vermin.
Tip
For a time, the red pennisetum was considered a neophyte and was on the Union list of legally prohibited plants that could no longer be sold or cultivated. This has been revised because the red pipe cleaner grass and varieties derived from it can be assigned to the independent species Pennisetum advena. So you can cultivate the pretty ornamental grass in your garden without any worries.
