"Pansies" - Indoor Flower

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

Summer ends quickly. Sometimes you want to extend its variegated variety of flower carpet longer, so that the fabulous viola inflorescences will delight us with their beauty in winter. Most often they leave in bloom under the snow. Most grow pansies as a garden plant. Few people know that they feel great in indoor conditions. They bloom profusely, grow and delight all winter with a unique rainbow of colors

15 years ago I was lucky to make an unusual discovery. Autumn has come. Some viola bushes bloomed so luxuriantly that it was a pity to leave them in the garden. I decided to transplant them into small pots up to 1.5 liters and try the luck of growing at home.

The experiment worked. Over the winter, the bush has increased in size, taking up the entire volume of the container. Bloomed continuously and gave seeds.

Only collecting them is not very easy. While the boxes are closed and green, it is too early to cut off. They are not ready. When fully ripe, the balls immediately crack. The seeds fly in all directions. Therefore, the entire window sill was strewn with them.

In the spring, with the onset of warm weather, she returned her beauties back to the garden. Now I want to share my experience. Tell the whole technology of cultivating viola at home in more detail.

There are 2 growing options: take a finished plant from the garden or sow with fresh seeds. Let's take a look at the pros and cons of each.

Adult bushes

Positive points:

• finished flowering plant;

• minimum labor costs;

• selection of the copy you like;

• guaranteed result.

There are also pitfalls in this method:

1. With ready-made bushes, pests and diseases can be brought into the house.

2. Beautiful large viols, as a rule, biennials. This means that the length of stay in the house is reduced. In a year, you will have to plant new ones.

3. With late entry into the room, individual specimens dry out from a sharp temperature drop (it is hot at home, cold outside).

4. Two weeks will be needed to restore strength disturbed by the transplant of the root system.

Sowing with seeds

The pros of this method:

• instant adaptation to home conditions (temperature, humidity, lighting);

• when using factory soil, the risk of diseases and pests is minimal;

• long flowering period of two years (horned viola is much longer);

• obtaining compact bushes without additional pruning.

The disadvantages include a long waiting period. It takes 2-2.5 months from sowing to flowering. The resulting specimens are not always the most beautiful colors and large sizes. How lucky!

Growing technology

For clarity, we will "go through" the entire cycle from seeds to the adult stage.

There is no specific sowing period. At home, this is done at any time. But the best date, in my opinion, is the end of July. In October, the bushes will bloom. At this time, the growing season on the street ends. Home specimens will take over from the garden ones.

We prepare a small container. We fill in peat mixed with sand in a ratio of 10: 1 (violets love a loose fertile mixture). Water with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. We spread the seeds at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other in order to exclude an additional pick.

Sprinkle with a thin layer of soil. You can leave seeds on the surface. In my practice, they germinate better this way (in nature, self-seeding gives good seedlings, no one buries them in the soil there). But deep embedding reduces germination to zero.

We close the box with foil. We put it in a dark, warm place with a temperature of 20-25 degrees. Shoots appear in 10-12 days. We transfer the dish to a slightly cool place with diffused lighting. After a week, we gradually remove the shelter.

In phase 2 of true leaves, the first feeding is given. The complex fertilizer "Baikal" is diluted, reducing the rate by 2 times from that recommended on the package.

Throughout the growing season, we closely monitor the moisture content of the earthen coma. It should be moderately spilled, but not soggy. At the same time, we try not to fall on the leaves. The water droplets act as a lens and cause burns on sunny days.

To prevent the appearance of root rot and black leg, I use a weak solution of potassium permanganate for watering. I practically don't use pure water.

In the phase of 4-5 true leaves, I transplant plants with a large clod of earth into separate pots with a volume of at least 1.5-2 liters. You will be pleasantly surprised at how powerful the root system has grown by this period. At first I shade the viola. After a week, the bushes will actively grow.

In the future, care consists in regular watering and feeding 1 time in 2-3 weeks with complex fertilizers for indoor flowers.

Viola will thank you for your attention and care with abundant flowering of its surprised "eyes".