Step-by-step guide to planting salvia seedlings
Planting seeds for seedlings is a complex event that requires high-quality performance of all stages: the choice of seed, planting capacity, preparation of seeds and soil, and direct sowing according to the correct technology and scheme. This step-by-step guide will help you plant your salvia at home as efficiently as possible:
Selection and preparation of seeds
The choice of planting material must be treated responsibly. Poor quality seeds or expired material are unlikely to produce healthy seedlings.
The package with seeds should contain all the necessary information: expiration date, information about the variety, sowing time, planting, flowering, etc. (a good example is in the photo below).
It is recommended to disinfect the seeds before sowing. To do this, place them in a cloth bag or gauze, immerse them in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for 15 minutes. And then rinse in running water and dry.
Soil preparation
The land for sowing seeds and growing salvia seedlings can be bought at a store specializing in gardening goods, or you can cook it yourself at home. The main thing is that it is a light, fertile and neutral soil with a pH of 6-6.5. It is in such soil that the seedlings will be most comfortable.
You can prepare a soil mixture at home by mixing forest soil, lowland peat and clean river sand in a 1: 1: 1 ratio.
You can also make another soil mixture: 2 parts of leafy soil, 2 parts of peat, 1 part of coarse sand.
If you do not have the opportunity to prepare a substrate, then you can buy a universal soil for flower seedlings. But a little sand should be added there to improve the structure.
The choice of planting capacity
As a planting container for sowing seedlings, you can use various containers, each gardener himself chooses the appropriate option, depending on his capabilities and preferences.
Flower seeds can be planted at home in:
- peat cups;
- plastic cups;
- plastic cassettes;
- box (it can be made of plastic or wood).
Sowing scheme for Salvia seeds
The technology of sowing plant seeds is very simple, even a beginner and inexperienced gardener can cope with the task. If you are one of them or the first time you come across this crop, then a step-by-step scheme for planting salvia for seedlings will come to your aid:
- First of all, it is recommended to pour a drainage layer on the bottom, the layer thickness is one centimeter, you can use, for example, expanded clay.
- Fill the landing container with soil, there should be a gap of 2-3 centimeters between the edges of the container and the ground.
- Then you need to water the substrate well.
- Now you need to sow the seeds, and since they are very small, for convenience and even distribution, you can mix them with coarse river sand and scatter them over the surface of the soil.
- You do not need to cover the seeds with earth, just gently and very slightly press them into the soil with your palm.
- Spray crops with settled water from a spray bottle.
- Cover the planting box with glass or plastic to create a mini greenhouse.
If you want to sow seeds in peat tablets, you can also do that. For planting, you need to prepare peat products - put them in a container, fill them with warm water, let them swell for 30 minutes, then transfer the seeds to the middle of a peat tablet (preferably 2-3 seeds at once, then choose the strongest sprout). The container with tablets must also be covered with a lid, glass or film.
With proper sowing of seeds and subsequent care, the first shoots will appear in about 7 days.But most likely, at the first stage, not all seedlings will sprout, but there is nothing strange and dangerous in this, the rest of the seedlings will "catch up" to the leaders in about one or two weeks.
How to care for primrose seedlings
Regardless of whether the seeds have been stratified or not, seedlings need quality care that will help them get strong seedlings and beautiful flowers in the future.
You need to take care of the primrose seedlings as follows:
- For germination, it is necessary to provide the future seedlings with an optimal temperature regime. After stratification or normal planting (if hardening was not done), you need to move the container with seeds to a room where the temperature is maintained at 16-18 degrees Celsius. With proper care, shoots appear in about 2-3 weeks.
- You should also take care of the correct lighting. It is necessary to place the container in a sunny place, but the light must be diffused! If you have a fine-toothed primrose, Siebold or High primrose, then the container should be placed in the shade, but after the seeds germinate, they are rearranged to a sunny place with diffused light.
- Watch out for humidity. It is necessary to water moderately, do not add a lot of water and allow it to dry out. Before sprouting, water should be done by spraying from a spray bottle. After germination, the seedling can be watered from a syringe, watering can or other vessel, but very carefully. Watering is done immediately when the surface dries slightly.
- Before emergence, the container must be ventilated daily. To do this, remove the cover or film for about 15-20 minutes every day. Wipe off the formed droplets from the covering material.
- After the emergence of seedlings, the cover or film is permanently removed, but you need to remove the mini-greenhouse gradually! First, the lid, film or glass is removed for half an hour, every day the time increases and after about 10 days the covering material is completely removed.
- Seedlings should be fed as needed, for example, the plants grow too slowly, they look frail. Fertilizers can be applied from the moment the first leaves appear. It is recommended to use complex mineral fertilizers, but the concentration should be 2 times lower than the dosage indicated on the preparation. The frequency of feeding is once every 10-14 days. If everything is fine with your seedlings, they are strong, healthy, growing well, then you can feed only once or twice for the entire time from sowing to planting in open ground.
Preparing for landing
Primrose blooms early enough. Terry and fine-toothed varieties bloom in early spring.
Godetia flower - growing from seed at home
If a primrose is grown, planting requires some preparation. To do this, you need to do the following:
- Choose the right seeds for the climate.
- Find time for sowing.
- Choose a container.
- Prepare the ground.
Selection of containers and their disinfection
How to plant a primrose? First you need to choose shallow containers wisely. For this purpose, it is permissible to use peat pots, wooden boxes, glasses or tablets.
For your information! The containers should have drainage holes to help prevent moisture stagnation. The liquid causes rotting of the root system and the development of pathologies.
Before planting primrose, the container should be disinfected. To do this, it can be treated with a fungicidal solution or potassium permanganate.
Soil preparation
Before planting primrose in a pot, it is worth preparing a nutritious substrate. For this plant, it is allowed to use ready-made soil or make it yourself. If you plan to use garden soil, it must be disinfected.
Primroses need a light substrate. It can include garden soil, fine sand, peat, or humus. To disinfect the soil, you must use phytosporin or potassium permanganate.This procedure will help to avoid the development of black leg and other diseases.
Disinfection of seeds
The main trick of sowing primrose seeds for seedlings is the disinfection of the planting material. You need it for 3 minutes. soak in hydrogen peroxide. Its concentration should be 3%. First, the seeds should be wrapped in a cloth.
Note! Disinfection helps to protect the sprouts from pathologies and strengthen them
Sowing dates for primroses
At home, primroses, as a rule, begin to germinate in late winter - early spring: February-March. If there is artificial supplementary lighting and an appropriate temperature regime (preferably not higher than 18 ° C), then you can sow earlier.
Experienced growers begin to germinate seeds at home, starting in October-November. In this case, the seedlings of primroses usually bloom earlier than those that are sown in late winter - early spring. Often already in the spring of the current season, seedlings of autumn sowing bloom for the first time. But do not forget that the seedlings of primroses, although small, grow quite quickly, by the beginning of the summer season there may not be enough space on the windowsills and glazed balconies. However, with such early germination of seeds, other problems can arise.
Personally, I prefer not to rush and start sowing primroses at home no earlier than early to mid-February or early March. Primroses sown at these times usually bloom in the spring of the next season (i.e. next year). Sometimes seedlings bloom in late summer or autumn in the year of sowing. With such a sowing time, artificial supplementary lighting is not required. The compact content of seedlings and the natural stimulus of spring awakening noticeably accelerate the process of growing primroses.
I don't use the lunar calendar. I tried it - I did not notice the promised effect. However, I will not argue that astrological agricultural techniques are completely useless. This requires comparative experiments and convincing evidence, for which I simply do not have enough time.
You can sow primroses in open ground as soon as the snow melts. It is best to do this in a container (in a pot), which is dropped into the ground. In this case, care must be taken that the soil surface does not dry out, it is not washed away by rains, and that crops are not damaged by pets. Buried seedlings of primroses usually bloom next spring.
Spring primrose shoots
In the summer, primroses are sown in open ground, when the seeds on the peduncles are ripe. If the seeds are purchased, then sowing is possible throughout the summer (June, July, August). In this case, a lot of seeds are needed: not all seedlings will survive in summer conditions, when the soil surface often dries up, which is detrimental to young seedlings. With such a sowing time, primroses seedlings usually bloom in the spring of the next season.
Often in the summer (if peduncles with seed pods were not removed in time) primroses self-seeding occurs. This proves once again that the seeds of many primroses do not need cold stratification, but germinate at positive temperatures without any particular problems. Surprisingly, most of the summer primroses' seedlings tolerate wintering well and come out from under the snow in the spring in excellent condition, as if there were no winter at all.
Summer self-seeding of polyanthus primrose
In the fall, as soon as the soil begins to freeze, in late October - early November, you can also sow primroses in open ground. At such times, the seeds of those primroses that need cold stratification are usually sown, or the florist does not want to waste time on sowing primroses at home in the winter-spring period. The percentage of germination is high - in spring there are excellent conditions for germination: it is humid, there are practically no dry periods, the temperature is not too high, etc. With such a sowing time, primroses seedlings usually bloom in the spring of the next season. I will only add that, as a rule, seeds are sown in open ground that are large enough in size (polyanthus, stemless, high primrose hybrids, etc.), and, again, a lot of seeds will be required, becausein open ground there is a high risk of force majeure.
How to grow small seedlings in yogurt cups
But you have small cups of yogurt or other small jars or boxes, they are quite possible to do.
Drainage holes must be made without fail, since all of the above plants, especially petunias, do not tolerate excess moisture and at the same time, when the soil dries out, they easily die. But the holes should not be made at the bottom, as is usually recommended, but on the side surface at the very bottom. Such holes are not clogged with earth, and excess water easily flows out of the cups into the sump.
The cups should be filled up to three quarters of their height with moderately moist prepared soil. Pour a thin layer of snow on top of the soil, compact with a teaspoon and sow seeds on the snow.
The fact is that there are several nuances when sowing very small seeds. For seedlings, they need light, which is why it is recommended to sow them on the surface. In addition, they have a very short hypocotal knee, that is, the distance from the root to the cotyledonous leaves. Therefore, when filling such seeds with soil at least with a layer of only one centimeter, the seedlings simply cannot get to the surface and die.
And one more nuance: seedlings do not tolerate thickening well. In order not to thicken the crops, pour the seeds into your left palm, bend it slightly. A hollow forms on the edge of the palm. It is through this hollow that you will drop the seeds onto the snow using a toothpick or a pointed match, 2-3 seeds in each glass. In the snow, the seeds are clearly visible, and you can push them apart with the same toothpick at a certain distance from each other, say, 1.2–2 cm.
Preparatory stage
Before you start sowing seeds, you need to decide on a place, prepare the land and select seeds.
Seat selection
Sowing mallow seeds in open ground involves choosing a permanent place, which is why this issue should be approached with full responsibility. It should be borne in mind that both annual and perennial species grow quite quickly and are quite tall plants. Therefore, it is recommended to plant at a close distance from the fence or pergola, as strong winds can break the stems.
This, of course, will not lead to the death of the entire plant, but it will definitely deprive it of flowering. The area chosen for mallow should be well lit at any time of the day, otherwise the plants will start to stagnate and bloom poorly. In addition, the site must be protected from wind and drafts. To do this, you can build a man-made screen or choose a quiet place near a wall or fence.
The soil
Mallow is an unpretentious plant and not too demanding on the soil. This is due to the long root system of the flower, through which it receives nutrients from the lower soil layer. The best option for mallow is a light loam with a neutral pH level and a sufficient humus content. If clay prevails on the site, then a mixture of sand and humus, taken in equal parts, is added to it.
The flower grows well on moderately moist soils, without stagnant water. Before planting seeds, the site is dug to a depth of 20-30 cm, weeds are pulled out and the missing components (humus, compost, sand, peat or wood ash) are added. If sowing seeds is planned for obtaining seedlings, then the substrate is bought in the store or prepared independently.
To do this, the garden soil is mixed with sand and humus in a ratio of 2: 1: 1, calcined in an oven at a temperature of 200 degrees for 20 minutes. If this is not possible, then the soil mixture is spilled with boiling water or with a solution of potassium permanganate. This will help prevent the occurrence of such a dangerous disease for mallow as black leg.
Seedling container
When choosing a container for sowing mallow seeds, it must be remembered that the plant has long and very vulnerable roots, and therefore it needs tall peat pots.
When transplanting into open ground, the seedling is buried in a flower bed directly with the container, thus keeping the roots intact. If you use reusable containers or common boxes for seedlings, then when planting on a flower bed, most of the seedlings may die. If it is not possible to purchase peat pots, then the seeds are sown in high boxes with a depth of at least 10 cm.The distance between adjacent seeds should be 4-5 cm.
Seed preparation
When choosing a seed, you should be aware that the use of hybrid seeds is not recommended. This is due to the likelihood of the loss of many maternal traits in the second generation of flowers.
Before starting sowing, the seed material must be prepared, and this is especially true for one-year-old seeds. To wake up, it is recommended to leave them in warm water for 10-12 hours. This procedure helps to soften the seed coat and stimulates rapid germination.
