Content
Daisies are one of the most famous flowers and can be found everywhere. These unpretentious garden plants decorate flower beds of personal plots, park areas, and are used by landscape designers to create various compositions. Basically, gardeners prefer to plant daisies with seeds, although other methods can be used to propagate them.
Description
Daisies are low herbaceous flowers of the Asteraceae family. They are widespread in the wild, found in North Africa and Mediterranean countries. They are grown everywhere for decorative purposes, usually in a two-year cycle. In the first year of life, seedlings are obtained from seeds, which are later transferred to a permanent place. During this period, the plant takes root and forms a rosette of leaves. In the second year, daisies begin to bloom. For many varieties, this process occurs at different times.That is why daisies are so often used to create flower beds of continuous flowering, pleasing to the eye from spring until the onset of cold weather.
Blooming daisies can create a real living carpet
A brief description of the main parts of this plant is given in the table:
Parameter | Meaning |
Plant type | Perennial herbaceous. |
Appearance | A small bush 10-30 cm high. |
Root system | Superficial lobe of many fine roots. |
Stem | Naked, cylindrical, rather hard, green. |
Leaves | Spatulate, green, growing in a rosette from the root zone. |
Flowers | Ligulate male and tubular female, collected in chamomile-type inflorescences. The color of the petals is varied, from white to lilac and burgundy, the central part is yellow or greenish. |
Timing for sowing daisy seeds for seedlings
Daisies are planted as seedlings about 2 months before transferring young plants to open ground. The following must be taken into account:
- If the weather conditions of the region allow, then sowing the seeds can be done in January or February. It is important to take into account that by the time of transplanting into open ground the soil must have time to warm up. In this case, you should expect daisies to bloom in the first year.
- In colder regions, it is better to plant seeds for seedlings in March or April. Postponing the dates to a later time will allow the earth to warm up and also avoid the threat of recurrent frosts. In this case, you should not wait for daisies to bloom in the first year after planting; this will happen only the next season.
It is convenient to keep daisy seedlings on the windowsill
How to grow daisy seedlings from seeds
Growing daisy seedlings from seeds is quite simple. It is better to purchase planting material from trusted sellers, on specialized Internet resources or in stores for flower growers. It is better to give preference to pelleted seeds; their shell contains all the necessary nutrients and does not require additional feeding.
Seed preparation
Pelleted seeds do not require special preparation before sowing. If the planting material is collected independently or is in normal condition, then it must first be disinfected by immersing it in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 20-30 minutes.
Self-collected seeds must be disinfected
After this, the seeds should be rinsed with clean water and dried, spread on a cloth.
The soil
You can prepare the soil mixture for sowing daisy seeds yourself by mixing leaf soil, humus and sand in equal parts. Before use, it should be heated in the oven for 20-25 minutes at a temperature of + 200 °C. This procedure will kill pathogenic microflora and fungi. Regular seedling soil sold in stores is also suitable for germinating daisy seeds.
Sowing
You can plant daisy seeds for seedlings in any container; they should be wide and shallow. Before planting, such dishes should be disinfected by thoroughly washing and treating with boiling water or a solution of potassium permanganate if they are made of unstable plastic.
After filling the containers with soil, you need to draw shallow parallel grooves on the surface with a sharp object, into which the daisy seeds will be sown.
For planting small daisy seeds, it is convenient to use a sheet of paper folded into a corner.
With its help, the seeds are evenly distributed along the grooves, then sprinkled with soil and moistened with a spray bottle. After this, the container is covered with a transparent film or glass and put in a warm, dark place.
Transplanting
The first shoots of daisy seedlings usually appear 1.5-2 weeks from the moment of sowing. Until this time, the film cover must be removed periodically to ventilate the soil.
Growing daisy seedlings need to be planted in separate containers
If the soil dries out, it must be moistened with a spray bottle. After the first shoots appear, the film should be completely removed and the container with seedlings transferred to the windowsill.
Growing conditions
At home, seedlings will last approximately 1-1.5 months. During this time she will have to grow up and get stronger. In order for the plants to gain strength as quickly as possible and prepare for transplanting to a permanent place in open ground, they need to create comfortable conditions.
Light
Daisies are light-loving plants. At the beginning of the year, the length of a normal day is clearly not enough for them, because of this the seedlings lighten, become very thin and elongated. To avoid this, artificial lighting is installed above the containers.To illuminate seedlings, you can use various lighting devices, but special phytolamps that produce radiation of a certain spectrum have proven themselves best in this capacity.
Phytolamps allow you to artificially increase the length of daylight hours
Watering
Daisy seedlings require regular but very moderate watering. Excess moisture negatively affects the condition of the root system of plants and can cause fungal diseases. It is not recommended to use a spray bottle to moisten the soil; water falling on the leaves can harm them.
Watering daisy seedlings needs to be done very carefully.
Feeding
Daisy seedlings do not require large amounts of nutrients. There are quite enough of them in the ground, so no additional fertilizing is required. It is especially convenient in this case to use pelleted seeds. Their shell, gradually dissolving in the soil, enriches it with all the necessary nutrients and microelements.
Spraying
Daisy seedlings rarely get sick if they are properly cared for. All preventive spraying is carried out later, after transplanting the plants to a permanent place in open ground.
Pest prevention
After planting in open ground, daisies can be damaged by various pests. Mice, moles and shrews pose a danger to these flowers, as they can seriously damage the root system.Among insects, significant damage can be caused by mites, various caterpillars, and slugs. Some of them are collected manually, against others they use various baits and traps, and also treat the plants with special preparations.
Features of growing in the garden
Daisies are very unpretentious plants; they do not require serious care. They can be grown not only in open ground, but also as potted flowers. For good growth and abundant flowering, they must be fed; at the beginning of the season, this can be done with urea or nitroammophoska. The root zone should be loosened and cleared of weeds.
Lack of moisture can lead to a decrease in the decorative value of the daisy bush
Plants need to be watered regularly; if there is a lack of moisture, the flowers lose their fullness and dry out quickly. It is better to cut off dead inflorescences; this stimulates the growth of new flower stalks and prolongs the period of active flowering.
Conclusion
Planting daisies with seeds is not difficult; these flowers have excellent germination rates and do not cause much trouble. You can collect planting material of your favorite varieties yourself. Daisies are unpretentious and at the same time very decorative; these qualities are valued by many gardeners and landscape designers.
