Growing Eustoma

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Eustoma is one of the most amazing plants among flower crops. It can be grown from seed and eustoma placed outdoors

By the way, this flower is often also called the Irish rose or the Texas bell. Recently, among flower growers, eustoma has gained particular popularity and demand. After cutting, such flowers can stand in a vase for a long time and delight the owner with their attractiveness and pleasant fragrance. The color range of different varieties of this flower is also striking.

More about eustoma

An interesting flower culture belongs to the Gentian family. Often, eustomas are planted in flower beds in the garden, where the plant can grow up to eight dozen centimeters, in rare cases up to a meter. The color of the leaves is gray, and the surface seems to be covered with wax. Eustoma inflorescences are expressed by the terry and funnel shape, although in fact their appearance is simple and laconic. The size of one flower is about eight centimeters. North America is considered the homeland of the plant, but there the culture is recognized by the blue flowers. However, modern breeders have invented many new varieties and hybrids, thanks to which the color options for the inflorescences have become different - from pink and white to bright purple. Even more interesting are the options for flowers, when along the contour they are painted in a different shade. Seen from afar, the eustoma bush with already formed buds resembles a rose. But when the flowering is already in all its glory, then the appearance of the eustoma is somewhat similar to large-sized poppies. The strong branching of the stems is surprising, as well as the fact that up to thirty-five inflorescences can be located on one bush. Now the most popular eustoma in countries such as Poland and Holland.

Growing eustoma from seeds

Every year, breeders develop new species and varieties of eustoma. When purchasing seeds for planting flowers on your site, you need to know that it is best to choose large-sized varieties for flower beds. But for growing on a balcony or window sills, low plant bushes are suitable. Also on the package you can immediately see which type a certain variety belongs to - two-year or one-year. Initially, it is worth trying to grow the second type, since the first is more suitable for growing in a greenhouse or at home. For the garden, you can use such varieties - Purpl, a mixture of "Cinderella" or Misty Blue. Also, they will successfully fit into the general atmosphere of the Champagne, Twinky or Rose Piccoti garden.

Eustomas also have one drawback. In the case of their reproduction, there is no way in the form of cuttings, as well as using the root system. However, this does not stop many flower growers, because it is not so difficult to propagate this plant by seeds.

The size of flower seeds is almost always tiny, which is why they can be found in packages from flower shops in the form of pills or granules. Those growers who already have considerable experience in growing such crops begin to plant material for sowing at the beginning of winter, during the period of December and January. The first buds on flowers appear fifteen, or even twenty, weeks after the formation of the first shoots. But if you plant a flower in March, then there is a risk that the snow cover will appear on the eustoma at the very beginning of the flowering phase. Experts advise planting eustoma in small glasses, where they put loose soil with peat and add sand and perlite to give it airiness. For the same purposes, shop soil is sometimes used, intended for planting violets.

Before sowing, you should moisten the soil well and then sow three seeds by pressing them inward a little (tweezers are useful for this). Next, you need to cover each glass with plastic wrap and wrap it with an elastic band in a circle to create the climatic conditions necessary for the flower inside. The glasses themselves will then need to be put in a low box, which is subsequently transferred to the windowsill. The optimum temperature for growing eustoma is twenty-one degrees. In the period from the first to the second week, the first shoots will form, of course, provided that good and high-quality seeds were taken for planting.

The film is not removed for a long time, as it retains the air humidity well inside the mini-greenhouse. When several leaves can be observed on the seedlings, the eustoma dive into larger containers. This usually happens thirty days after sowing.