Alyssum "Snow Carpet": proper cultivation from seeds

The name of alyssum "Snow Carpet" accurately conveys the impression of the area on which these flowers grow. Alyssums - one of the most common ground cover plants. They are valued for their unpretentiousness and beautiful inflorescences of white, pink, yellow, purple.

Content:

• Alyssum: description
• Sowing seeds for seedlings
• Cultivation of alissum "Snow carpet"
• Sowing seeds directly into the ground
• Diseases and pests
• Using the "Snow Carpet" alissum

Alyssum: description

Alyssum is a low plant covered with small flowers collected in the inflorescences of the brush. Each flower has 4 rounded petals of a specific color, surrounding bright yellow stamens.

There are 5 types of alissum in total, each of which has several forms and varieties.

Among them are annuals and perennials. Other names are lobularia, beetroot or stone stone. The latter name is due to the fact that alissum grows well in rocky areas. Branched shoots, leaves are round and dense. But behind the flowers they are almost invisible. Alyssum seeds are very small. There are a thousand of them in 1 gram.

The most common varieties:

• "Snow carpet" - a bush, no more than 8 cm high, with a spreading crown. An annual plant.
• "Mountain" - with bright yellow flowers. The height of the bush is up to 15 cm.
• «Nautical»- a tall plant (30 cm) with a lot of branches.
• "Aphrodite" is a short annual cultivar with red flowers.
• "Purple Queen" with flowers that change color from white to purple. As a result, the center of the inflorescence is white, the middle is light pink, and the edges are purple. Plant height up to 15 cm.
• "Pallet" with flowers of various colors.

Sowing seeds for seedlings

The most effective way is to grow through seedlings. You can get the seeds yourself. To do this, at the end of September, ripened seed pods are rubbed with hands, shaking out the seeds on a piece of cloth. Dry in a well ventilated room. Seeds remain viable for 3 years. You can collect the crumbling seeds from under the bush, rewind and use to grow seedlings.

Plant seedling growing technology:

1. Sow seeds early, 7 weeks before flowering... This is most often done in the last week of March. In this case, alyssum will bloom in June.
2. Growing utensils must be deep enough. Plastic containers can be used.
3. The soil for growing seedlings is prepared loose so that the air passes to the roots, and the sprouts easily come out. Acidity is neutral or slightly alkaline. You can add a little lime.
4. Small seeds of alyssum "Snow Carpet" are sown over the surface of the moistened soil. Press lightly, but so that they do not sink into the soil. Sprinkle with warm water.
5. Seeds need bright light to germinate. Therefore, you do not need to sprinkle them with earth. During the period when the day is still short, the seedlings need to be illuminated. For this, you can use LED phytolamps.
6. The containers with the sown seeds are covered with a transparent film or a lid. She should not touch the ground so that the sprouts have room to grow. The room temperature should be around 18 ° C.From time to time, the lid is removed for ventilation. If the soil is dry, moisten it. After 5 days, sprouts appear. When the first leaves of the seedlings grow and the bulk of the seeds germinate, the cover is removed.
7. They begin to feed with complex fertilizers immediately after the first real leaves appear. At the stage of three true leaves dive in a separate dish or in a large drawer, at least 5 cm apart. The temperature is lowered to 12 ° C. Once a week, seedlings are watered with a solution of complex mineral fertilizers.

When it gets warmer outside, they begin to take out the seedlings to the balcony or to fresh air. Do not overmoisten or overheat.

Cultivation of alissum "Snow carpet"

Alyssum is planted in open sunny areas. The soil should be loose, neutral acidic. Lime is added if necessary. If natural drainage is weak, gravel or expanded clay is laid on the bottom. Slabs and large stones are used for this purpose. You do not need to apply a lot of fertilizer, otherwise the plant will grow leaves and not bloom.

Seedlings are planted in a permanent place at the end of May.

Lateral shoots are preliminarily removed. The distance between plants should be at least 20 cm. The holes are shallow, slightly larger than the root. Plants are planted shallow. Water abundantly. If the bush has grown well at the time of planting, you can divide it and plant the parts separately. For feeding alyssum, you can not use fresh organic. Mineral fertilizers they are fed four times during the summer, the first time before flowering.

Water it sparingly, only after the ground dries out 3 cm deep. The soil around the bushes should be loosened regularly. This will prevent the weeds from drowning out the seedlings. In order for the alyssum to bloom profusely and for a long time, the shoots are pruned by 3 cm. Old and dried stems are cut off. The same is done if the "Snow Carpet" dries up in dry weather. After the procedure and watering, new buds are formed, and it begins to bloom again.

Sowing seeds directly into the ground

If there is no possibility or desire to grow alissum from seedlings, you can sow seeds directly into the ground. This is done in the last week of April. Organic fertilizers can be applied 2 weeks before sowing.

The soil should be of neutral acidity, well-drained.

The plot is chosen sunny. Slightly buried the seeds in the soil, watered. After the young plants appear, it periodically thinns the seedlings, leaving a distance of 15 cm between them. If you make it smaller, the shoots of alyssum will stretch out and bloom worse. In 40 days after the emergence of shoots, the alissum "Snow Carpet" will bloom. But it will be already the middle of summer. To speed up the process of the appearance of flowers, sometimes the crops are covered with non-woven material. But with heavy rains, this can lead to infection with fungal diseases.

It is possible to sow the seeds of alyssum "Snow Carpet" in November, before the formation of snow cover. Then the seeds will germinate in advance, the weak will die during the winter, and the strong will be strong and hardened. Deepen the seeds into the soil by one and a half centimeters. Sown or grown once alissum "Snow Carpet" will germinate next year in spring or, if the spring is dry, in summer. Still, every few years it is better to sow new seeds or plant seedlings.

Diseases and pests

Alissum - a cruciferous plant. It also includes cabbage, radish. Therefore, alissum can be damaged by pests of these plants. This is:

1. The cruciferous flea can spoil the appearance of the flower "carpet". You can fight it by treating adult plants with a solution of vinegar essence. You can use insecticides before flowering. During flowering, bees and other beneficial insects flock to the sweet smell of alyssum. Therefore, it is not worth treating with chemicals at this time. The flea stops harming the plant when it grows up.
2. White moths and their caterpillars are destroyed with lepidocide and other insecticides.
3. When growing alissum in shaded areas or when the area is thickened, the plants may be affected powdery mildew... It is manifested by yellowing and falling leaves. You can deal with it using fungicides... The infected parts of the plants are burned, and the rest are treated with a soapy solution with colloidal sulfur.
4. Sometimes alyssum is affected by white rust or brown rot. These are dangerous diseases that can lead to the death of many plants. Therefore, the affected plants are removed from the flower garden and burned.

Using the "Snow Carpet" alissum

Alyssum is planted in rockeries, where he feels good next to large stones. Places in the foreground of mixborders and beddings. In flower beds it serves as a backdrop for large-flowered plants. It closes the places in landscape compositions on which there are faded bulbous ones.

Alyssum is also grown in hanging pots, containers, flowerpots.

With their help, you can decorate a balcony, terrace. The best neighbors will be forget-me-nots and viola, which are grown with alyssum in the same container. The scent of alissum "Snow Carpet", planted on the balcony, will penetrate the room and improve sleep.

Looks great on the alpine slides. Alyssum fills any space, even between stones or tiles. The best neighbors for alyssum are dwarf irises, marigold, phloxes, carnation, lobelia... In spring it goes well with muscari and late tulips.

More information can be found in the video: