Lobelia: planting and care

Such a wonderful culture, like lobelia, planted in the country, can become a real decoration, pleasing the owners with their magnificent flowering. Planting, as well as subsequent care for her do not represent significant complexity.

In our latitudes, flowers of lobelia are often grown as annual plants, overwhelmingly being neat globular bushes( 10- 20 cm high).This culture is characterized by the presence of thin, branching directly from the base of the stems, generously covered with lanceolate leaves. During flowering( June-September), lobelia, as in the photo, is covered with elegant axillary bilabiate colors of white, purple, violet, blue, dark blue,( depending on the grade) with small( about 2 cm) pedicels. The fruits of the plant are many-seeded boxes.

Sowing

The priority method of growing lobelia is seed. Also, the seedling method with the preceding seed reproduction is not excluded. To the question: when to plant a lobel?- Experienced gardeners answer the following: in early February, you need to prepare cassettes for seedling( depth of cells - 5 cm);lay in them a drainage layer of pieces of bark or expanded clay;then, from above pour a light, thoroughly mashed ground, to which river sand, coconut fiber was added.

Prepared soil should be watered, wait for its settling, sow seeds mixed with sand in it. Seeds do not need to be embedded in the soil, as this can prevent them from ascending. It will be enough to perform their minimal dusting with sand to avoid excessively rapid evaporation of moisture from the ground. The cassette should be covered with a glass or a film, put in a place illuminated by bright, diffused sunlight.

Seedlings of culture

Shoots of lobelia are not afraid of excess moisture, but overly warm, overdried air, dry ground can be fatal for them, as the shoots can become thinner and die. As a consequence, it is not recommended to leave the cassette without covering it in a room with a temperature of + 22ºC or more. Also, strict observance of the watering schedule of the culture will be required.

Experienced gardeners recommend newcomers who are afraid to pour or chill shoots, perform their irrigation directly into the cassette tray. But coolness to shoots is not terrible, as they are resistant to temperatures up to -2ºC.During the first month, the growth of seedlings is quite slow, almost imperceptible, but in the next month it will noticeably accelerate. When the seedlings reach a height of 3 to 4 cm( after two months from the time of sowing), it is necessary to perform their picking in disposable cups( with a capacity of 100 grams) for 3 to 4 pieces. When the height of the shoots reaches 6 - 7 cm, they need to be pinched to stimulate branching. It is interesting that the flowering of lobelia begins at the stage of seedling.

Landing of the

lobelia In the open ground lobelia is planted in May( usually in the second half of the month), when the saplings will no longer be afraid of night frosts. When deciding how and where to plant a lobel, it is necessary to give preference to a solar plot with loose soil( sandy loam or loam).When preparing the soil before planting, do not abuse the application of nitrogen fertilizers, because it is fraught with the obtaining of lush beautiful greenery to the detriment of flowering. In all the holes( the interval between them: 10-15 cm), using the method of transshipment, it is necessary to drop the contents of the cups.

There is an alternative method of growing lobelia( without using the seed method).It involves digging a plant with its subsequent hibernation in a cold greenhouse, due to which, lobelia turns into perennial. For winter storage, it is possible to put a plant in a house in a cool room with good lighting. On the eve of spring, the culture bushes are dismantled for cuttings, seated in prepared containers for rooting and then planting in the soil. The use of the vegetative method is considered rational in the case when the gardener is not sure of varietal characteristics in the lobelia grown from seeds.

Care of lobelia

It is quite easy to look after lobeliness. The most important point is the timely irrigation of the culture, since the soil under it should always be retained in a moistened state, which is especially important in a hot period. Also, it is important to prune the plant, which should be performed at the end of the first flowering. Trimming of the stems is performed at a level of 5 cm from the soil, which contributes to the rapid growth of the next shoots, as well as repeated abundant flowering. In addition, 2 - 3 times in the summer period, additional fertilization of the crop with the use of complex mineral fertilizers should be carried out.

Seed collection

In autumn, after the flowering of the plant, you should get rid of its residues by performing( if necessary) seed collection. Leaving this work for spring, you need to be ready for the possibility of multiplication of lobelia by self-sowing, which will provoke its later flowering. The best option is to collect the seeds and perform their sowing, according to the above recommendations. To collect seeds, it is necessary to cut the bush, shake well over the spread paper, collect the fallen seeds, place them in a matchbox, sign and send storage.

Photo flowers lobelia

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