How to care for gardenias bought online?
A mini guide on caring for gardenias purchased online, including tips and precautions for maintaining these flowers as pets. Let's delve into the details together below.
“Gardenias bloom, bloom,” He Jiong sang about gardenias to more young people, but actually, gardenias have long been favored by many. Over the years, through songs, more people who have never been exposed to horticulture have also come to know them. However, what many people do not realize is that gardenias are not only ornamental plants but also classic Chinese medicinal herbs and edible flowering teas. Therefore, gardenias are a plant that integrates "flora, medicine, and food," making them very suitable for home potted care. However, many gardening enthusiasts have repeatedly failed in their attempts to grow gardenias. Therefore, in this class, Yimu will use easy-to-understand language to thoroughly explain the techniques for caring for gardenias.
Overall difficulty in caring for gardenias: ★★★★☆
Caring for gardenias can be challenging for most新手 gardening enthusiasts. Over the years, Yimu has encountered countless gardening enthusiasts and found that many of them find gardenias difficult to grow. Most of these enthusiasts grow them in enclosed balconies, while others find gardenias very easy to grow, mainly because they cultivate them in open balconies. According to this pattern, if gardenias are grown in a well-ventilated and well-lit position, they are indeed not difficult to care for. However, they have a "bad habit" of requiring a lot of water and fertilizer. With modern people's fast-paced lives and busy work schedules, they often don't have time to water and fertilize, which is why Yimu believes gardenias are relatively difficult for ordinary gardening enthusiasts to grow. Below, Yimu will explain the specific techniques for caring for gardenias from multiple dimensions such as "light, water, soil, air, and fertilizer."
Light requirement: ★★★★★
Gardenias are typical light-loving plants with a very high demand for light throughout their entire normal cycle. If your home environment is severely lacking in light, Yimu suggests giving up on growing gardenias, because if gardenias are maintained long-term in conditions lacking light, they not only have weak growth momentum but are also very prone to excessive growth, ultimately leading to poor flowering and less fragrant blooms, greatly reducing their ornamental value and significantly increasing the risk of various pests and diseases. Does gardenia need sunlight all year round? The answer is yes. Whether it's cold winter or hot summer, gardenias should be maintained in a well-lit environment, which is the primary prerequisite for caring for gardenias.
Water requirement: ★★★★★
Gardenias are plants that love a lot of water. In Yimu's many years of flower cultivation experience, few plants requiring as much water as gardenias have been seen. They are very sensitive to water, and a slight lack of water can easily cause widespread flower and bud drop. Many新手 gardening enthusiasts have bought beautiful gardenias, only to have a large number of flower buds and flowers wither and fall due to a single forgotten watering, which is very regrettable. Over the years of communicating with gardening enthusiasts, Yimu has found that almost no one has killed gardenias by overwatering; almost all have died from accidental drought. Moreover, this "occasional one-time" drying is a lifelong injury to gardenias (cells die in large numbers due to drought), so it is essential to remember to "water generously" when caring for gardenias, adhering to the principle of "better to overwater than underwater," which is the key to watering gardenias. Additionally, gardenias are plants that thrive in humid climates. Gardeners (especially those in the north), should frequently spray water mist on the leaves of gardenias under good ventilation conditions to increase the humidity around the leaves and effectively prevent the occurrence of dry tips.
How to care for gardenias bought online?
Soil requirements: ★★★☆☆
The requirements for gardenias soil are not strict. In all the gardenias Yimu has seen cultivated, almost all commonly available soils in the market can be used to grow gardenias. However, there are still some preferences. In Yimu's own experience growing gardenias, two types of soil environments are most preferred. The first is slightly sticky soil, which Yimu usually makes by mixing nutrient-rich soil with garden soil, approximately 70% nutrient-rich soil and 30% garden soil. This soil is rich in organic matter, has moderate stickiness, and has good ventilation, water retention, and fertilization retention. The second is pure nutrient-rich soil. The benefits of growing gardenias in pure nutrient-rich soil are that not only is the soil rich in nutrients and the gardenias grow well, but the soil does not compact, making it easier to cultivate and repot in the future, which is the best choice. Here, Yimu reminds everyone that regardless of the soil chosen, gardenias prefer to grow in slightly acidic soil, so we need to control the soil pH properly, which will be discussed in detail in the section on fertilization.
Requirement for air permeability: ★★★★☆
Gardenias have higher requirements for air permeability. Yimu suggests that if conditions allow, gardenias should be grown in open balconies, terraces, or courtyards. However, many gardening enthusiasts have enclosed balconies with poor long-term ventilation. Can gardenias be grown in such conditions? Based on Yimu's own experience, gardenias can also be grown in enclosed balconies, but the difficulty of care is greater. In a closed environment, due to poor ventilation, gardenias are easily affected by various pests and diseases, especially in high temperatures, which are common times for pests and diseases to visit. Therefore, Yimu tells everyone that gardenias in enclosed balconies must be careful to avoid excessive humidity, try to open windows for ventilation as much as possible, and avoid placing gardenias too densely, as these can become causes of pests and diseases.
Fertilization requirement: ★★★★★
Gardenias have a high demand for fertilizer. Many gardening enthusiasts' gardenias can bloom for a long time, but the leaves are always slightly yellowish, which are signs of nutrient deficiency. Gardenias not only love a lot of water but also a lot of fertilizer. In home potted plants, we must fertilize gardenias regularly. Fertilization has many benefits, such as making the gardenias' flowers larger and more abundant, enhancing their resistance to pests and diseases, and speeding up their growth. So what kind of fertilizer should we use for home potted gardenias? Yimu recommends using plant nutrient solutions, which are a very clean liquid fertilizer that is not only quickly absorbed and effective but also nutritionally balanced, containing the basic elements needed by plants—nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—as well as many other macro and microelements that promote growth and resist diseases. Throughout the gardenia's entire growth and flowering period, we can apply plant nutrient solution to it about once a week. Remember to fertilize moderately and frequently, strictly following the dilution instructions on the fertilizer packaging and not to pursue excessive concentrations, as this can burn the seedlings and damage the roots. Additionally, ferrous sulfate is indeed a "iron fertilizer" that can supplement iron and is effective in treating and preventing "iron deficiency chlorosis" and can acidify the soil, making it suitable for gardenias. However, Yimu reminds everyone that ferrous sulfate is not a traditional fertilizer and should not be used too frequently. Generally, using it once every 2-3 months is enough, as soil acidification lasts for a long time. If ferrous sulfate is used excessively, it can cause plant poisoning and irreversible damage.