Household Flower Care: Fertilizing and Watering Experience
Today, the editor will explain the related topics of flower care knowledge, including the experience of fertilizing and watering flowers at home. Let's take a look together.
There are no strict rules for fertilizing and watering flowers at home. It's all about going with the flow and following your instincts. These are personal experiences for reference only.
About Watering Flowers at Home
Watering is very critical, and I personally advocate for "better dry than wet." It should be thoroughly dry before watering, and when watering, make sure water flows out from the bottom of the pot, which is commonly referred to as "seeing dry and seeing wet."
Special attention should be paid to some flowers; water flowing out from the bottom of the pot does not necessarily mean it is thoroughly watered. For example, flowers like cyclamen and kaffir lily have very loose soil, which retains water poorly. Watering causes it to leak immediately, but it's not really watered thoroughly. The immersion method is often used. That is: place the pot in a saucer, let it leak, and then immerse it in the water in the saucer for a period of time, depending on the actual situation, about an hour is fine, and a bit longer is okay too. The purpose is to allow the roots, stems, leaves, and flowers of the plant to fully absorb water.
Some friends never water their plants and instead use a saucer filled with water for long-term immersion as a substitute for watering, which I do not advocate.
Most flower enthusiasts know that flower pots have holes at the bottom, one or more. The first function is to let out excess water to prevent the accumulation of water in the potting soil, and the second is to facilitate ventilation between the top and bottom of the pot. If you look closely, you will see that the edges of the pot bottom are in contact with the ground, while the holes are suspended in the air.
Additional watering precautions:
In winter, it is best to water in the afternoon and can add some hot water.
It is also recommended to water on sunny days, as it is not suitable to water on cloudy or rainy days.
About Fertilizing Flowers at Home
I remember several friends have said: "Don't fertilize during the blooming period, and don't fertilize in winter."
But from my personal experience: to make flowers bloom beautifully during the blooming period, it is necessary to ensure sufficient nutrients. Therefore, I recommend fertilizing, but it must be light and frequent.
I use several beverage bottles to soak water all year round (a lazy method I've developed): bone meal, plant ash, soybean cake fertilizer, and monopotassium phosphate (soybean cake fertilizer, bone meal, and monopotassium phosphate are available at flower markets for one yuan per pack, and plant ash is collected from the countryside by a colleague). I also use fermented fertilizer water made from vegetable leaves, apple peels, rice washing water, soybean pods, and spoiled milk (when fermenting fertilizer in the summer, the bottle cap should not be too tight, or the cap should be loosened from time to time).
Here's how I do it:
During the growing season, I mainly use the self-fermented fertilizer water and soybean cake fertilizer, and apply it at the same time as watering. I dig a groove around the edge of the pot, add water to dilute it, and mix it. Remember: do not always use the same fertilizer, it's important to mix and rotate.
During the bud stage, phosphorus fertilizer is mainly used. I often use bone meal water, and a small amount of monopotassium phosphate or plant ash water.
During the flowering stage, potassium fertilizer is mainly used. I often use water soaked with plant ash and a small amount of monopotassium phosphate water.
About Fertilizing After Flowering
My method is to always fertilize after the flowering period. Many people think that after the flowering period, the flowers wither and lose their ornamental value, so they don't bother to fertilize. But I believe that the flowering period consumes a lot of nutrients, and to ensure that the flowers are lush next year, it's necessary to provide enough fertilizer for nutrient storage.
About Flower Soil for Home Flower Care
I don't particularly like to use the nutrient-rich soil bought directly, often using ordinary garden soil, and occasionally mixing in some fine sand. Recently, I learned a trick that works well for me, which is using honeycomb coal soil.
I collect used honeycomb coal from street food stalls, soak it in clean water for one or two days, then dry and crush it. Large pieces are very suitable for growing cacti, and the fine powder makes excellent potting soil, best mixed with some ordinary soil.
It is said that when making honeycomb coal, soil and clay are used to synthesize it, making it nutrient-rich and the burning process sterilizes it. Soaking in water removes the "fire" from it. It makes sense to me.
Some friends are very particular and sieve the crushed coal through different screens to make it evenly sized for planting different flowers.
About soil sterilization, some friends use a microwave oven, but I'm not that fussy. Sometimes I just put it on the balcony to let it bask in the sun.
The above is an introduction to the methods of household flower care, fertilizing, and watering experiences, which can be used as a reference suggestion.