Blossoming gloxinia is very beautiful, because the plant is very popular with florists - experienced and beginners. Often, it is propagated in a vegetative manner, that is, cuttings or tubers. But another way is possible - by seeds.
How to grow gloxinium from seeds?
If you are willing to exert a little more effort to grow this beautiful houseplant, the gloxinia from the seeds renders all your expectations. You can not only see the rarest varieties of varieties, which none of your acquaintances of florists have, but also independently to bring out new hybrids. At first you need to gain experience and try simply to grow gloxinium from seeds at home, avoiding common mistakes in germination and bringing seeds to an adult flowering plant.
How to plant gloxinia seeds?
Regardless of whether you bought the finished seed or collected it yourself, the planting of gloxinia with seeds is to distribute them over the surface of the moistened soil without being grounded. The seeds are very small, so try to spread them as evenly as possible. With purchased seeds a bit easier - they are granular, so there are no problems with sowing.
After that, sprinkle the seeds with water from the spray gun, cover the container with polyethylene and put it in a room in which the temperature is + 20-25 ° C until the appearance of the first shoots, which are pecked for 10-15 days. Until then, there is no need to water the planting. As soon as the first shoots begin to appear, the gloxinia of their seeds at home needs regular airing so that the moisture under the film does not destroy the plants. Simultaneously, a moderate watering of seedlings begins.
To achieve the desired results, it is recommended to conduct 4 sprouts of seedlings:
- the first after the appearance of 2 real leaflets (about a month after pitting the seeds) in a container of 10-15 pieces;
- the second and third transplants are made as the seedlings grow into separate pots of 50-100 ml each;
- the fourth picking falls on the 10-week age of the bushes, they are transplanted into pots 9-10 cm in diameter.
When to sow gloxinium from seeds?
If you plan to have time to grow a flower before summer, so that it will blossom in July-August, the sowing works should be started in January-February. In general, the time when you need to sow the seeds of gloxinia, begonias will largely depend on whether you use only natural light or use special lamps for lighting. In the first case, it is not necessary to sow before February or March, so that the shoots have enough light, since gloxinium is very photophilic. With additional lighting, you can sow seeds throughout the year.
Soil for gloxins
The earth for gloxinia is crucial. The whole success of the event will depend on its quality and correct preparation. Suitable ready-made universal peat, but there you need to add a little vermiculite and fine charcoal. You can prepare the mixture yourself from peat, turf and leaf land with the addition of sand. It is important that the substrate is light, nutritious and breathable.
To get rid of microbes, the soil must be sterilized. You can burn it in an oven ( microwave oven ) at high power for 10 minutes, freeze in a freezer for at least 2 days or pour a weak solution of potassium permanganate. To prevent stagnation of moisture in the soil and improve air exchange in it, holes are made in the containers for planting.
Gloksiniya seeds - possible difficulties
There are several reasons why gloxinium does not bloom:
- The plant, grown from seeds, did not have time to form a tuber. This is especially true for late planted plants. A full bloom of gloxinia is observed at the age of 6-7 months, while it should form 6 pairs of leaves. If this moment coincided with the wintering time, you do not need to send your plants to rest, because you risk ruining them. Another possible cause of late tuber formation is excessive watering.
- The plant lacks nutrients. When gloxinium is planted in poor soil, its growth and development slows down, and flowering is delayed. An excess of nitrogen can also cause a lack of flowering.
- The flower does not have enough light. For a full flowering, gloxinia, good lighting is necessary. In order for buds to be planted and not to be empty, it is necessary to put pots on the sun-sills or to organize additional artificial lighting for them.
- The pot is not suitable. The container in which gloxinium is grown from seeds at home should be low and wide. Ideally, its diameter and height should coincide. In a deep and too large pot the flower will grow the tuber for a very long time, and until the process is completed, the bloom will not come.
Gloxinia - Care and Growth
At the last flower transplantation a soil is used for flowering plants, which consists of identical parts of leaf and peat land, sand and sphagnum. At the bottom of the pots must necessarily lie drainage. Watering plants should be very careful so that water drops do not fall on the leaves. Knowing that he likes gloxinia, how to take care of her, at the age of 3 months you can expect from her the appearance of the first buds.
For rapid and proper development, the plant requires periodic fertilizing with a complex fertilizer, while flowering the same - fertilizers for flowering plants. It is extremely important for this room flower correct lighting - without direct sunlight, but at the same time bright. The optimal temperature during the vegetative period is 20-22 ° C.
How to take care of gloxinia after flowering?
Requires special care for gloxinia after flowering, which will ensure a gradual onset of the rest period for its tubers. So, what to do next if the gloxinia has faded:
- reduce watering with the onset of September;
- reduce the amount of light, rearranging it into a darker place;
- stop feeding fertilizers;
- Reduce the temperature of the contents to + 14 ° C.
Gradually leaves will turn yellow and fall off, the stem will dry out. As soon as this happens, you can cut off the ground part of the plant, and put the pot of the tuber in a room with a temperature of +10 ° C and keep it there until the spring, slightly moistening the earth once a month. So that the moisture from the soil does not evaporate quickly, you can seal it with a layer of sand. The way to store the tuber is to dig it from the ground, pour it with sawdust or sand and put it in the warmest compartment of the refrigerator.
When to transplant gloxinia?
After the end of the dormant period, you can transplant the tubers of the plant into fresh soil. Gloxinia transplantation should be performed after examination of it for damage and their removal followed by sprinkling of wounds with charcoal. It will not be superfluous to pre-soak the tubers in a steep solution of potassium permanganate. Prepared roots should be planted in moist soil to a depth of 5 cm and put the pot in the sun.
Gloxinium is a rest period
It is important that gloxinia properly winter. Short wintering without observing all conditions invariably affects the flowering. The tuber simply does not have time to prepare for the new season. For a good bloom of gloxinia, rest for 4 months is necessary. An inexperienced florist may have a question about why gloxinia does not sleep. The reason for this is the incorrect conditions for wintering - non-observance of the temperature regime and the level of illumination.
Gloxinia - Diseases
There are several reasons why the gloxinia is curled leaves:
- too dry or, on the contrary, excessively humid air in the room;
- presence of a spider mite on the leaves;
- an overdose of potassium;
- virus disease that can not be treated (to prevent spread, the affected plant should be discarded);
- The presence in the soil of larvae of mowers or earthworms, brought with garden ground.
With the initial observance of all necessary conditions, planting seeds and growing gloxinia will not become something excessively complicated. Moreover, an adult plant is not at all capricious, and caring for it is simple and understandable. The result of your work will be incredibly beautiful velvet flowers of different shades that will decorate the windowsill and the room as a whole.