How to grow terry balsam

Terry balsam: characteristics, varieties and care

The balsamic family includes herbaceous plants of the order (order) heather. They can be both annual and perennial. Asia and Africa are considered the birthplace of terry balsam. The plant was brought to Europe from another continent back in the 16th century. It is believed that it was then that the home cultivation of this flower was born.

Of the five hundred different species growing in their historical homeland, just over fifteen varieties are found in the middle lane. Terry balsam can be a wonderful decoration for a flower bed or delight its owners at home on the windowsill. It is a plant about 50 cm tall, with an erect stem and branching system. The branches are smooth, with oval leaves of deep green color. The numerous petals of the flower are collected in a rosette and resemble a miniature rose in shape. Up to fifty flowers can form on one plant at the same time.

Video

Gardeners of Siberia (Tomsk) and Ukraine share their experience in growing Zephyr strawberries:

For several years she worked as a TV program editor with leading producers of ornamental plants in Ukraine. At the dacha, of all types of agricultural work, he prefers harvesting, but for the sake of this she is ready to regularly weed, pick, pinch, water, tie, thin out, etc. I am convinced that the most delicious vegetables and fruits are grown by your own hands!

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It is believed that some vegetables and fruits (cucumbers, stalk celery, all varieties of cabbage, peppers, apples) have a "negative calorie content", that is, digesting more calories than they contain. In fact, the digestive process uses only 10-20% of the calories from food.

Compost - rotted organic residues of various origins. How to do it? Everything is stacked in a heap, a hole or a large box: kitchen leftovers, tops of garden crops, weeds mown before flowering, thin twigs. All this is interlayered with phosphate rock, sometimes with straw, earth or peat. (Some summer residents add special composting accelerators.) Cover with foil. In the process of overheating, the pile is periodically ted up or pierced for the flow of fresh air. Usually compost “matures” for 2 years, but with modern additives it can be ready in one summer season.

Convenient Android applications have been developed to help gardeners and gardeners. First of all, these are sowing (lunar, flower, etc.) calendars, thematic magazines, a selection of useful tips. With their help, you can choose a day favorable for planting each type of plant, determine the timing of their ripening and harvest on time.

A novelty of American developers is the Tertill robot, which weeds in the garden. The device was invented under the guidance of John Downes (the creator of the robot vacuum cleaner) and works autonomously in all weather conditions, moving on uneven surfaces on wheels. In doing so, he cuts all plants below 3 cm with the built-in trimmer.

In small Denmark, any piece of land is a very expensive pleasure. Therefore, local gardeners have adapted to growing fresh vegetables in buckets, large bags, foam boxes filled with a special earthen mixture. Such agrotechnical methods allow you to get a harvest even at home.

It is necessary to collect medicinal flowers and inflorescences at the very beginning of the flowering period, when the content of nutrients in them is as high as possible.Flowers are supposed to be picked with hands, breaking off rough pedicels. The collected flowers and herbs are dried, scattered in a thin layer, in a cool room at a natural temperature without access to direct sunlight.

From varietal tomatoes you can get "your" seeds for sowing next year (if you really like the variety). And it is useless to do it with hybrid ones: the seeds will turn out, but they will carry the hereditary material not of the plant from which they were taken, but of its numerous “ancestors”.

Tomatoes have no natural protection against late blight. If late blight attacks, any tomatoes (and potatoes too) die, no matter what is said in the description of varieties ("varieties resistant to late blight" is just a marketing ploy).

The homeland of pepper is America, but the main breeding work on the breeding of sweet varieties was carried out, in particular, by Ferenc Horvat (Hungary) in the 1920s. XX century in Europe, mainly in the Balkans. Pepper came to Russia from Bulgaria, therefore it got its usual name - "Bulgarian".

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How to plant cascading and super cascading petunias

In order to achieve beautiful waterfalls and lush bloom from petunias, it is necessary to adhere to several recommendations for its care and cultivation. They relate to soil requirements, planting and watering technology, feeding and pinching.

Soil requirements

Cascading petunias live well in fertile soils, but they prefer loamy and sandy loam soils most of all. The soil should be loose, moist, light and neutral in acidity.

For planting in pots, you can use the following soil composition:

• sod land (2);
• deciduous land (2);
• peat (1);
• coarse river sand (1).

• sod land (1);
• peat (1);
• humus (1);
• sand (1).

Important!
The bottom of the pot must be covered with a layer of expanded clay to retain moisture in the soil, and do not forget that the bottom must be with holes to remove excess water.

Planting technology for cascading and super-cascading petunias (sowing scheme + timing).

A lot depends on the quality of the planting material - it is better to stop your choice on imported seeds. And be sure to buy them only in proven specialized stores.

For sowing, you need to take a shallow container with a drainage hole, fill it with a substrate, without adding 1-1.5 cm to the edge. Petunias are sown on the surface of the soil, without sprinkling with earth, otherwise they simply will not germinate. In order for them to be conveniently leveled, they resort to using a toothpick.

Did you know?
Insofar as petunia seeds are very small and when planting it is difficult to see exactly how they are located in the ground, you can plant them in the snow. It is easier to distribute them evenly on white snow.

The sown seeds must be sprinkled with water and covered with plastic wrap or glass, paper, agrotechnical cloth. (Some petunia breeders advise planting seeds in food containers with lids.)

The room where the seeds germinate should be well lit, it is important to maintain the temperature in it not lower than + 20 ° С (optimal - + 23 ° С). Since ampelous plants need a lot of light, it would be very good to arrange additional lighting for 14-20 hours.

At home, you can use a fluorescent lamp.

Periodically, the crops must be ventilated (within 10-15 minutes), and the soil moisture must be checked.

Seedlings should appear within one to two weeks. If after this period they have not appeared, it is no longer worth waiting for them - there will be no sprouts at all, or the plants from them will come out weakened and unsuitable.

Description and characteristics of the variety

Athena F1 - parthenocarpic hybrid for early cultivation in the spring turnover, suitable for winter cultivation in heated greenhouses.

Peculiarities:

• generative type (predominant fruit setting on the main stem);
• average height of bushes - shoot height within 80-90 cm;
• climbing ability is below average;
• indeterminate shoots with pronounced vegetation;
• the flowers are dominated by women;
• developed root system.

The fruits ripen together at an early date (30-40 days pass from the moment of germination). The crop is harvested before the autumn frost.

The fruits have a marketability of 81-97%.

What signs are inherent in cucumbers:

• length 10-12 cm;
• diameter 3-3.5 cm;
• the shape resembles a cylinder;
• weight in the range of 75-90 g;
• the tubercles are large, well expressed;
• whitish stripes on the skin from top to middle;
• white spines;
• pubescence is moderately expressed.

The variety is grown over large areas, these are such regions

• like the Krasnodar Territory,
• Crimea,
• Stavropol region,
• North Caucasus region,
• Ingushetia and Chechnya.

How to plant balsam seeds?

If you want to get your own healthy seedlings, then you must first study the advice of experienced gardeners on how to breed balsam at home, growing from seeds, when to plant a beautiful flower in unprotected soil. It is not necessary to purchase ready-made soil in stores, the nutrient substrate is easy to prepare yourself. You need to mix 1 part vermiculite, 1 part sand, 1 part leafy soil and 2 parts low-lying peat.

Planting balsam seeds for seedlings:

1. We pickle the balsam seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate for 10 minutes.
2. Next, we soak the material in warm water for a day.
3. It is advisable to choose a sowing container with a height of 8 cm.
4. In the bottom of the box we make holes for the liquid to drain.
5. At the bottom we lay expanded clay drainage up to 2 cm high.
6. Pour soil into the container.
7. For disinfection, the soil can be calcined in the oven a day before sowing or treated with "Fitosporin".
8. Soaked seeds should be planted in the ground without deepening, gently pressing them to the surface with the tip of a toothpick.
9. The substrate is moistened using a spray bottle and covered with a bag until sprouting, leaving a gap for air to enter.

Balsam - growing from seeds in peat tablets

When working with a small amount of planting material, it is more convenient to grow balsam in peat tablets. The sprouts in this case are strong, less dirt is formed, and the container is easy to place on the windowsill. The tablets are moistened with water until they swell. Then, from above, without sprinkling it with earth, we plant seeds one at a time, gently pressing them to the ground. It is advisable to cover the container with foil and place it in a warm and bright place, but not in direct sunlight.

How many days does balsam rise?

Under optimal conditions, balsam shoots appear in a week. Often the sprouts hatch uncommonly, but you should not despair. Planting material in stores is sold of different quality and shelf life. You need to wait up to 2 weeks, during which time all living change will germinate. It is imperative that after the emergence of sprouts, we remove the lid or bag and transfer the container to a bright place, we grow at a temperature in the range of 17-20 ° C.

Why doesn't balsam rise?

Often, among amateur flower growers, young shoots die or there is a poor percentage of healthy seedlings. This occurs among inexperienced beginners who do not observe the temperature regime, water the balsam incorrectly, cultivate from seeds, when they plant, they do not meet the deadlines. There are several reasons that significantly affect the pecking of planting material, some depend on the gardener himself, and others on weather factors.

Why balsam seeds do not sprout:

1. The soil is poorly warmed up - the optimum temperature for the development of balsam is from 18 ° C.
2. If a box with crops is installed under the scorching sun and the soil warms up above 25 ° C, then the seedlings will die in the embryos.
3. The seeds were not soaked during planting.
4. Too dense soil structure - choose a loose and soft soil for this crop when growing from seeds.
5. Using expired seeds - for balsam, the shelf life is 7 years.
6. When grown in an acidic environment, germination decreases, we prepare the soil for seedlings with a neutral reaction (approximately 6.2-6.5 pH).

Balsam seedlings stretched out, what should I do?

Often there is an unpleasant stretching of the shoots, which makes it difficult to leave, picking, and leads to lodging of plants on the soil. The reason lies in the early sowing of seeds, poor lighting in early spring, and elevated indoor temperatures. If the balsam seedlings are strongly elongated, then the seedlings can be saved by adding soil to the level of the cotyledon leaves. When grown in deep containers or boxes, it is more convenient to do this, otherwise you will have to build up the sides to the desired height using waterproof material.

Balsam pick from seeds

Timely picking of balsam is made no earlier than two true leaves of a young plant will fully develop. Before this operation, we water the soil with seedlings to reduce the risk of injury to the roots and thin stem. Use a spoon or a spatula to pry on the seedling and take it out of the common box. The sprouts should be deepened up to the cotyledon leaves. A pick can be done in plastic bags, glasses, cassettes. We make a hole in advance in an individual container for draining excess water.

7 features

Description of the variety:

1. Bred by Danish breeders in the middle of the last century. Since the mid-60s, it has been actively cultivated in Norway, which speaks of its unpretentiousness. The berries are fast and transportable, therefore they are grown both in the private sector and on an industrial scale.
2. The variety is early ripening, the first berries in the open field are removed in mid-June. And when grown indoors, strawberries ripen in mid-spring, so they are often grown in greenhouses for sale. Under the film, Zephyr ripens by mid-May.
3. The bushes are erect, rather tall, with a compact crown. Pedicels are long, each with up to 20 ovaries.
4. Berries are blunt-conical or scallop-shaped, can be ribbed if large. The average weight is 35-40 grams, but the first harvest is much larger, usually there are many berries for 50 grams. Over time, strawberries become shallower, the fruiting period is about 2 months.
5. Plants tolerate cold winters well and withstand frosts down to -35 degrees, subject to abundant snow cover. Without snow, the root system is damaged at a temperature of -10, and the ground part freezes at -16 degrees.
6. Productivity - about 1 kg per bush. Without proper care, rates go down. And if you follow agricultural techniques and apply fertilizers on time, you can collect much more. The taste is excellent, strawberries are suitable for any purpose.
7. The variety is resistant to a number of diseases: powdery mildew, fusarium, all types of spots and rot. But at the same time it is easily damaged by strawberry mites and mold.

A lot of berries are tied on each color outlet.

Terry balsam care

As mentioned above, terry balsam is considered a non-capricious flower and quite easy to care for both at home and in the open field. However, in order for a flower to please with its bright festive look, some recommendations must be followed.

• When growing an indoor balsam specimen, choose a container that is not too wide. Having a lot of free space around them, the roots of the plant begin to form appendages, thereby taking away nutrition from the stems and, as a result, inhibiting the flowering process.
• Terry balsam should be kept in a well-lit place.However, too strong sunlight can burn the plant, so in summer the flower should either be removed from the windowsill, or a protective barrier should be created for it (for example, from tracing paper or baking paper).
• The ideal soil for indoor balsam is a mixture of river sand, leaf humus, turf and peat.
• During the flowering period, the plant needs organic fertilizers. For additional nutrition, you can use dry onion husks, mowed nettles, bird droppings, ground fish bones. It will also be useful to sprinkle the flower with crushed eggshells and sprinkle with milk whey.
• The optimum temperature for indoor balsam is from +15 to +25 degrees. To avoid overheating the plant in the sun, it is either removed from the heat source (it can be the sun or a battery), or sprayed twice a day.

Growing and care

Seedling bushes are transplanted into pits 35-40 cm deep. Organic matter is added locally. It is convenient to place a corn line nearby for support, protection from wind, excessive sun.

Care features:

1. Sprinkle with warm water.
2. Fertilizers are introduced - organic matter, minerals, complex compounds.
3. Mulch to retain moisture.
4. The soil is pierced to a depth of 10-15 cm to aerate the roots.

The hybrid is an indeterminant, agronomists advise to form a bush in 1 stem (stepchildren are left on 1-3 leaves).

Expert opinion
Valentine Rarely
Chief editor Repka.online. An experienced summer resident and gardener.

Athena F1 is an early ripe tasty hybrid with juicy crunchy fruits. The cultivar allows you to eat all year round with health benefits, replenishes the supply of vitamins and minerals.

Overall grade rating5

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Anna
02.05.2019, 10:18

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Town: Voronezh
Where was grown: Greenhouse
Manufacturer: Prestige seeds

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How and when to plant

To grow balsam from seeds, you need to prepare a wide container and take care of the drainage. Place one seed at a time in a container, crush it with earth and water. Moreover, it is not necessary to carry out a pick after the formation of two leaves.

It is necessary to plant the planting material in light and loose soil, in which there is no organic matter. If compost is used to fertilize the soil, the seedlings will hurt. It is also impossible to plant seeds in acidic soil, as this will kill the plant.

It is best to use universal soil for planting balsam, which can be purchased at the store. It contains the required amount of nutrients. Such soil must be combined with sifted river sand in a 1: 1 ratio.

On the video - the cultivation of balsam:

Sprinkle the surface of the soil with water from a spray bottle, but it is not necessary to tamp it. The soil should remain loose and allow air to flow perfectly to the root system. Spread the seeds on the surface of the soil, keeping a distance of 2-3 cm. Then crush them a little with earth. In order for friendly shoots to form, it is necessary to install a container with seedlings on the windowsill, where there is diffused sunlight.

How the planting from seeds takes place and the care of the Aubrieta cascade is carried out, this information will help to understand.

You may also be interested in learning about how the cornflower is grown.

Before the seeds begin to hatch, the humidity in the container must be increased. So you need to take care of the construction of a greenhouse. For these purposes, you can simply cover the container with foil or glass. For germination of seeds, it is necessary that the temperature in the room is 22-24 degrees.

If the temperature is reduced by at least one degree, then it will not be possible to get friendly shoots. And if the temperature is increased, then the embryos in the seeds die. As soon as the grains begin to hatch, then reduce the soil moisture. After 5 days from the moment the seeds are planted, it is worth opening the container for airing.Do this 2 times a day for 10 minutes. After that, the duration can be increased.

Thus, young seedlings will be able to adapt to other temperatures. The temperature regime in the room should be between 22-24 degrees. The humidity will still be high. When the first 2 leaves appear, then lower the temperature to 20 degrees.

When germinating the seeds of the culture, it is necessary to achieve excellent illumination. Daylight hours should be 12 hours. To do this, you can use diffused sunlight or take care of artificial light lamps. If this condition is not met, the seedlings will begin to stretch.

As soon as 2 leaves are formed, then you can start picking

It doesn't matter which variety you use to grow the plant, the balsam will sprout quite tall. So that the seedlings do not fall during the dive, the seedlings should be buried

For a pick, it is worth using plastic cups with a volume of 200 ml. They will be high enough so that it will not be difficult to deepen the seedling. In addition, you need to prepare a universal soil. In the process of transplanting, it must be borne in mind that the balsam seedlings are quite branched, and the root system is fragile.

If it is damaged, the plant may die. When transplanting, you must use a special spoon. Remove seedlings from a container with an earthen clod that surrounds the roots.

And although the culture in question is a moisture-loving one, with excessive watering it can die. It is necessary to irrigate the plant regularly, but in moderation. If the weather is rainy, there is no need to water. If you want balsam to delight you with long flowering, then you need to make top dressing. This should be done first before budding. For these purposes, mineral fertilizers with nitrogen are used. And when the plant blooms, then nitrogenous fertilizing should be stopped. It will also be interesting to know how to make a DIY irrigation sprinkler.

The video shows how to care for flowers:

When balsam blooms, you can use complex fertilizers designed for flowering crops. They are applied in combination with watering every 14 days. It is also worth using fertilizing with potassium and phosphorus. At the end of summer, stop all feeding.

Balsam is a flower that can decorate any flower bed. He fell in love with flower growers for the magnificent appearance and colorfulness of flowers. It is easy to grow it yourself from seeds if you know the technology and follow the advice of experienced growers.