How to plant gardenia seeds
Today, the editor will explain in detail how to plant gardenia seeds and the correct sowing methods for gardenia flowers in the aspect of green plants and flowers, which will surely help you. Let's learn about it together!
Gardenia is a green shrub of the Rubiaceae family, distributed in the central and southern parts of China. Its leaves are bright green, evergreen, with large and clean white flowers, fragrant and rich. It can be planted in groups or arranged around forests, courtyards, corners, and roadsides. It is also very suitable for balcony greening, potted flowers, cut flowers, or bonsai. Let's take a look at how to plant gardenia seeds together!
What conditions are needed to plant gardenias?
1. Light: Gardenias like light but can tolerate shade. Under shading, the leaves are darker green but the flowering is slightly poorer.
2. Temperature: Gardenias prefer a warm and humid climate, can tolerate heat, and slightly cold (-3℃).
3. Soil: Gardenias prefer fertile, well-drained, acidic light clay loam and can tolerate dry and thin soil, but the plants age easily.
4. Water: Gardenias prefer moist soil and higher air humidity. During the growing period, it is necessary to increase watering appropriately.
How to sow gardenia seeds?
1. Seed selection: Choose mature fruits with full and deep red color, dry the shells in the sun or shade, and then rub the seeds in hot water to remove floating seeds or impurities. Then collect the sunken full seeds and spread them on a bamboo mat, placed in a well-ventilated area to remove excess moisture.
2. Land preparation: Choose deep, loose, and fertile sandy loam, plow 1-1.5 feet deep, and make ridges. Apply 20-30 loads of human waste to each mu after the soil is dry. Level the ridge surface, then make播种gullies at a row spacing of 6-7 inches on the ridge surface, about 1 inch deep.
3. Sowing: Gardenias can be sown in spring or autumn. Spring sowing is done before and after the rainy season, and autumn sowing is done before and after the autumnal equinox. Sow the seeds evenly in the sowing gullies mixed with ash, then cover the gullies with fine soil or ash soil, and keep the soil moist to facilitate seedling emergence.
4. Seedling raising: After sowing gardenias, water frequently to keep the ridge surface moist. Seedlings can emerge in about 20 days. Remove the covering grass from the ridge surface after seedlings emerge, thin the dense and weak seedlings when the seedlings have 2-3 true leaves, and apply fertilizer appropriately.
5. Planting: For autumn sowing, the seedlings can be planted in the late autumn or early winter of the following year when they are more than 30 cm tall. For spring sowing, the seedlings can be planted when they reach 30 cm tall in the following spring, or continue to cultivate until the late autumn or early winter if they do not reach 30 cm tall.
How to cultivate gardenias well?
1. Potting soil: Gardenias prefer acidic soil with a pH range of 5 to 6. The potting soil can be a mixture of decomposed leaf mold, peat soil, or half rotten sawdust with garden soil. Avoid using old wall soil and coal slag. Using market-purchased soil for clivia is more convenient and practical.
2. Watering: Gardenias prefer moist soil and higher air humidity. During the growing season from April to September, keep the potting soil moist. Water when the soil turns white, and water thoroughly. However, do not water too much after the flowers form buds to avoid bud drop.
3. Fertilization: Gardenias are plants that like fertilizer. Add 3% rotted cake fertilizer as a base fertilizer to the growing soil, apply rotted cake fertilizer mixed with ferrous sulfate weekly during the growing season, and apply 0.1% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution once or twice during the flowering period to make the flowers larger and more fragrant.
4. Light: Gardenias prefer light, but they can also grow in semi-shade for a long time, although the flowering branches are longer and there are fewer flowers. Besides the need for shading during the strong sunlight in July and August and the dormant period in winter, they generally need to be placed in the sun to bloom and have lush leaves.
5. Soil replacement: It is better to replace the soil for gardenias in March. After turning the pot, cut off some old roots, shake off half of the old soil, plant in new soil, water thoroughly, place in a warm semi-shaded place, and move to the sun when new buds appear.
6. Pruning: Light pruning is done for gardenias every year after flowering, removing inner branches, weak branches, and shortening a few long branches. But remember, do not cut the top branches of gardenias in spring, or they will not bloom in the same year.
7. Overwintering: Gardenias can overwinter outdoors in the Qinling area of China. However, the roots of potted gardenias may be damaged after severe winter. Place the potted flowers in a cold room at about 5℃ to make them dormant and protect the roots. Place them in a sheltered and sunny area for overwintering, so they recover quickly and bloom early in spring.
The above () introduces how to plant potted gardenia seeds and the correct sowing methods for gardenias in detail. I hope this article can bring you some help in green plant management!