Content
Among the many garden flowers, Turkish carnation is especially popular and loved by gardeners. Why is she preferred? What did she do to deserve such recognition? Unpretentiousness, variety of flower colors, long flowering - these are the main reasons that influence the choice of gardeners.
However, sometimes even professionals have a number of questions: how difficult is it to grow Turkish carnations from seeds, when to plant them, how to properly grow seedlings, what does this picky flower like and dislike? What rules must be followed so that bright, inimitable flowers decorate your flower garden? In fact, agricultural cultivation technology is not as complicated as it seems at first glance.
Brief characteristics of the plant
The Turkish carnation, or Dianthus barbatus, is a member of the clove family and prefers mild, temperate climates. Sometimes it is also called “bearded”. This flower has a very close relative - the Chinese carnation. These plants are so similar that they are easy to confuse.
Carnation is a biennial plant.In the first year after planting, a root system and small bushes are formed, consisting of several rosettes with leaves. From the second year, the plant forms both flower stalks and additional rosettes.
Carnations usually bloom in the second year. But some varieties gain color in the first year, but in this case the flowering will be sparse. The duration of flowering can last up to 1.5-2 months, depending on the variety and compliance with the rules of agricultural technology.
Turkish cloves are grown by sowing seeds into seedlings or directly into open ground. With proper care, it can be grown as a perennial flower. In one place, a plant can grow for up to 4-5 years without losing varietal characteristics.
On each peduncle, from 10 to 30 flowers bloom simultaneously. Small in size, they form bright, lush umbrellas. The size of the inflorescences is on average up to 15 cm. Some varieties exude a delicate, subtle aroma.
The leaves of the flowers are long, narrow, and have a characteristic greenish-blue tint. The plant has an erect, strong stem, on which there are often nodes from which leaves grow in pairs.
At the moment, about 500 species of carnation are known, which are replenished annually thanks to the work of domestic and foreign breeders.
Despite the large number of species, the classification of Turkish cloves is quite simple. The carnation family is divided into low-growing (up to 20 cm in height) and tall (above 40 cm in height) flowers.
Low-growing varieties are often planted as ground cover, border, and balcony plants. They are often planted when creating compositions in landscape design.
Plants of tall varieties have very strong stems. This feature is of great importance when growing Turkish cloves, which is called “for cutting”.
Carnations are often divided into groups according to the complexity of the inflorescences: simple, semi-double, double. The palette of spherical inflorescences is amazing - from dazzling white to strict burgundy. Typically, the color scheme is represented by two contrasting colors. But there are varieties whose flowers combine 3 or even 4 different shades.
Just some 20-30 years ago, the color range of flowers was quite scarce - pink, white and burgundy. But in recent decades, the range of colors has expanded significantly. Among the traditional white-pink-raspberry tones you can now find lilac, maroon, purple and even black tones.
Methods for growing cloves
Before planting Turkish carnation seeds, it is important to understand how, in what time frame and by what method you can grow flowers.
From seeds, cloves are grown either using seedlings or by direct sowing directly into open ground. While almost all flower growers are familiar with the seedling method, the seedless method has several nuances.
You can sow Turkish cloves in the spring, as soon as the weather is warm and the threat of frost has passed. In this case, seedlings appear quickly, flowers suffer less and are more resistant to diseases and temperature drops. Considering that the process of picking and transplanting to a flowerbed is eliminated, the seedlings do not experience stress and grow faster.
However, you can also sow Turkish cloves with seeds in the fall, when the first frosts hit. It is important to remember that flowers germinate very quickly, which means you need to completely exclude the possibility of their germination before winter.
What soils and locations are preferable?
Turkish carnation is an unpretentious plant that does not require strict conditions for growth and abundant flowering. These flowers look perfect in a flower bed, in a garden, in a flower garden in combination with other garden flowers, on a balcony, in containers and flowerpots.
The only thing this plant is critical of is lighting. The flower does not like too bright, sunny places. Therefore, it is advisable to plant Turkish carnation seeds in partial shade or in areas that are illuminated in the morning and in the shade in the afternoon.
Flowers grow well in any region of Russia, tolerate frost well and react relatively calmly to short-term heat.
Excess moisture is the main enemy of plants. In overly moist soil, the root system of flowers is quickly affected by fungal diseases. As a result, the flowers may die. Therefore, to grow cloves, select areas where rain or melt water does not stagnate.
Pay attention to groundwater. Lying them too close to the surface of the earth can negate all your efforts - the flowers will simply rot. When planning planting in such areas, you need to take care of drainage in advance, be sure to add sand to the soil and raise the flower beds by 30-40 cm.
Getting ready to land
When growing Turkish cloves from seeds, it is important to properly prepare the soil before planting.Unlike other garden flowers, it is completely undemanding to the composition of the soil.
However, for lush flowering and preservation of varietal characteristics, it is necessary to take into account that carnations love sandy loam, sandy, or fertile soils with neutral acidity. If possible, add compost, humus or wood ash to the soil before planting Turkish clove seeds.
Most gardeners prefer to grow carnations the old fashioned way, using seedlings. You can sow seeds either in store-bought soil mixture or in garden soil, diluting it with sand in a 2:1 ratio.
Any container is suitable for growing Turkish cloves from seeds at home. You can sow both in individual cups and in bulk containers. Immediately prepare a sunny, warm place for the flowers. The optimal temperature for seed germination is +20˚С.
Before planting, clove seeds can be soaked in water with the addition of a growth stimulant. However, they germinate very quickly - 7-10 days after sowing. Therefore, in principle, no additional processing is needed.
Seedling method
When growing Turkish cloves from seeds, as a rule, no special difficulties arise. You can start sowing flowers at the end of February - beginning of March. In warm regions, sowing work begins no earlier than the end of March - beginning of April.
When determining the sowing time, keep in mind that flowers must be transplanted into open ground before the onset of extreme heat.
A peculiarity of growing Turkish cloves for seedlings is the fact that the plant does not like transplanting.Therefore, it is advisable to sow flowers in peat cups or tablets in order to eliminate the subsequent picking process and facilitate transplantation into open ground.
When sowing Turkish cloves for seedlings, you must perform the following steps:
- Place a layer of drainage on the bottom of the container that has drainage holes, as usual, and fill it with prepared soil to 2/3 of the volume.
- Place the clove seeds on the surface, the minimum distance between them being 1.5 to 2 cm.
- Lightly sprinkle the flower seeds with soil or sand; a layer of 0.5-1 cm will be enough.
- Cover the container or container with film and place in a warm place. It is advisable that direct sunlight does not fall on the plantings.
- You need to water the seedlings as needed, but not more than 2-3 times a week. It is advisable to provide the flowers with gentle watering - moisten the soil with a spray bottle.
- If you follow the rules for planting Turkish carnation seedlings, the first, bright green loops appear within 7-10 days. After germination, the film should be removed from the container and the seedlings should be moved to a brighter place.
- Provide flowers with regular watering. But do not forget that carnations do not like overly wet soil.
- After 2-3 weeks you can start picking seedlings. If you sowed flowers in separate containers, this stage of growing Turkish carnation seedlings can be eliminated. Seedlings should be picked exclusively by transshipment, keeping a distance of 8-10 cm between them.
- Flower seedlings are transplanted into open ground in late May - early June. Before replanting cloves, be sure to harden off the plants.When transplanting, you must follow the recommended planting pattern.
- Immediately after transplanting, the flowers need to be covered with film or lutrasil until the rooting process takes place. As soon as it is clear that the plants have taken root, the cover can be removed.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated in growing Turkish carnation seedlings. It is only important to follow the recommendations, and soon your flower beds will be covered with a bright, floral, fragrant carpet.
Sowing seeds in open ground
In spring, you can plant Turkish cloves with seeds as soon as the outside temperature is stable at +15˚С +18˚С. The optimal planting time in central Russia is mid-to-late April. In regions with a harsher climate, cloves can be sown no earlier than early to mid-May.
A few days before planting, the flower garden needs to be carefully dug up and moistened. There is no need to soak or process the seed material before planting. Flowers easily tolerate short-term frosts. But wet clove seeds can die when the temperature drops.
Make neat, even grooves 1-1.5 cm deep. The distance between the rows should be at least 15-20 cm. Fill the grooves with warm water. Place the flower seeds in 1.5-3 cm increments. Lightly sprinkle the plantings with soil.
Before seedlings emerge, the beds need to be covered with film. As soon as the Turkish carnation seedlings grow up, the seedlings need to be thinned out. Excess seedlings are either removed or carefully transplanted to another location.
The ideal distance between plants is 15-25 cm, depending on the variety and height of the flowers.For carnations, it is important that the plantings are not thickened, otherwise the flowers will often suffer from fungal diseases.
Before winter, clove seeds are sown no earlier than the first autumn frosts. Early to mid-October is the most favorable period for planting. The sowing technology is practically no different from planting cloves in the spring. There is only one difference. Neither the soil nor the seed material should be watered or soaked. Dry seeds of Turkish cloves are sown in dry furrows, lightly sprinkled with soil and mulched.
If you wish, you can cover the future flower garden with spruce branches, hay or straw. In the spring, as soon as the snow melts, the covering material is removed. As in the first case, do not forget to thin out the plantings.
Aftercare for flowers
Turkish carnation is a non-capricious and hardy plant, therefore caring for it comes down to carrying out simple measures familiar to all flower growers - proper, moderate watering, regular loosening, weeding and fertilizing.
Water the cloves sparingly and only as needed. Due to constant excess moisture, the weak root system of flowers is quickly infected with fungal diseases, and it will be almost impossible to save the plants. Therefore, there is no need to flood the flower beds.
Weed the flower garden as often as possible - the less weeds there are, the better and more magnificent the carnation grows. Loosening, as usually done after rains or watering.
Considering the unpretentiousness of carnations, the flowers do not need fertilizing. However, in some cases you can still feed the plants:
- if you want to accelerate growth or provoke lush, friendly flowering;
- if you grow cut flowers;
- or subject to soil depletion.
Superphosphates, urea (or urea), and potassium sulfate are used to feed cloves. You can also use complex mineral fertilizers. The feeding scheme looks like this:
- when the plant height reaches 10-12 cm - with urea or any other nitrogen-based fertilizer;
- during the budding period, use superphosphate or a complex of minerals;
- after flowering - potassium sulfate or superphosphate.
If desired, you can feed Turkish cloves grown from seeds with humus or compost. However, it is worth considering that it is not advisable to feed flowers during the flowering period: you will provoke active growth of green mass, and flowering will be sparse.
After the end of flowering, it is recommended to trim the flower stalks with seed pods so that the plant directs all its efforts to the formation of new root rosettes.
How to extend the life of plants
Turkish cloves, grown from seeds at home, are a biennial plant. However, it also reproduces by self-sowing, only flower growers note that the flower bushes are quite rare, bloom less and less every year, and gradually lose varietal characteristics.
Therefore, most often, carnations are propagated using layering. At the end of summer or beginning of autumn, plant stems are laid out on the ground, directing them from the center in the form of a radius. The top of the flowers is either cut off or left above the ground.The cuttings are carefully pinned to the ground with a V-shaped hook and sprinkled with a thin layer of soil, lightly compacted and watered.
In spring, a large number of young, green rosettes will appear in this place. You can leave the bushes in the same place, or you can plant them around the garden or share them with friends or neighbors.
What or who can threaten plants
In general, cloves are highly resistant to many diseases. However, dampness and wet soil can provoke the occurrence of diseases such as fusarium (or root rot) and heterosporiosis. In both cases, the affected plants must be immediately removed from the site, and the soil must be disinfected using fungicides. It is advisable not to grow Turkish cloves in this place for at least 2-3 years.
Among the pests in flower beds with carnations you can find spider mites and aphids, which suck all the nutritious juices from the plant. If you find insects on flowers, take immediate control measures. You can use insecticides or resort to folk remedies.
In spring, young, tender shoots of carnations are attacked by rodents. After their invasion, it is almost impossible to save flowers. Therefore, take care of the cloves prematurely. Place poison or rodent traps around the plants.
The author of the video will tell you about the rules for planting Turkish cloves for seedlings.
Conclusion
Variegated, neat bushes of Turkish carnation, grown from seeds at home, will decorate any corner of your garden plot. The advantage of this unpretentious plant is its versatility.After all, it looks great in flower beds and can be grown as border or balcony flowers. Carnations look harmonious in combination with other garden flowers. With a minimum of effort, you will soon be able to enjoy bright, inimitable flowers that give your garden a cozy, unique look.
