Growing gloxinia from seeds is a very exciting and interesting activity. Having sowed gloxinia seeds, you will be able to watch how a tiny “speck of dust” will develop beautiful plant, which will delight you with flowering within 5-6 months after sowing. Of course, in order to achieve such results when growing gloxinia from seeds, it is necessary to follow agricultural techniques.
It is important to choose the right sowing time. You need to understand that for successful germination and development of seedlings it is necessary good lighting and warm (about 22-25 degrees). In natural light conditions, seeds should be sown in February-March, when daylight hours are already long enough. At the same time, make sure that the window sill is well insulated. If you are the happy owner of special lamps for lighting plants, you can sow throughout the year.
HOW TO GROW GLOXINIA FROM SEEDS: NECESSARY INVENTORY AND COMPONENTS
- small bowl: it is convenient to use transparent containers of various sizes. In this case, you get an excellent greenhouse (when the container lid is closed, heat is retained and high humidity);
- light soil, you can also use soaked peat tablets;
- sprayer for spraying soil;
- transparent film, zip bag and other analogues for creating a greenhouse (if you are using an opaque container);
- potassium permanganate (optional) – to prevent mold on the ground;
- a syringe with a needle - convenient for watering small seedlings.
SOWING GLOXINIA SEEDS:
Pour the soil into the container and level it well. Gloxinia seeds are very small, so they should not be allowed to fall into uneven ground. Prepare a pink solution of potassium permanganate (you will only need a couple of crystals per glass of water). If the solution is too dark, simply drain some and add clean water. Spray the soil with a spray bottle with the resulting solution; it should be moist, but not damp. Place the seeds on a white sheet of paper. Make a fold and, tapping the resulting groove, distribute the seeds throughout the container. If you use store-bought seeds in granules, simply spread them over the surface. After this, spray the soil again and cover with a transparent lid or film. When growing gloxinia seeds, you need good tightness so that the greenhouse is always moist. The sprouted gloxinia seedlings are very small and tender. Therefore, at an early stage of development, it is not recommended to frequently open and ventilate the greenhouse.
PICKING GLOXINIA
When the seedlings grow a little (on average 3 weeks to a month), you can make the first pick. For this it is convenient to use some sharp objects(for example, a bamboo skewer or knitting needle). Carefully pick up the sprout and transfer it to loose soil (to a new place), deepening it to the cotyledon leaves. Lightly press down the soil around the sprout.
Picking gloxinias from seeds can be done later if you are not sure that you can cope with such small seedlings. However, it must be remembered that to successfully grow gloxinia from seeds, you need to carry out at least 4 pickings - they significantly accelerate growth and contribute to the development of a powerful root system. After picking, do not forget to water the plants: do it carefully, using a teaspoon or syringe.
Starting from 2 months, you can stop using the greenhouse: gradually, first slightly open the lid/remove the film for a couple of hours, then leave it for a day. All this time, periodically observe how the seedlings react; if they wilt, return the greenhouse. Gradually, the seedlings will get used to the drier air, and you will be able to abandon the greenhouse completely. Important! Remember that now you need to be especially careful about watering, because the moisture will evaporate quickly.
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TRANSPLANTING GLOXINIA
As soon as the leaves of your seedlings reach 2 cm in diameter, you can provide them with a separate “living space”. To begin with, 100-200 ml cups are perfect, then it is recommended to transplant the plants into pots with a diameter of 9 cm.
Gloxinia indoors: growing from seeds and care at home
Gloxinia from seeds is a great way to get a gorgeous indoor flower without special effort and costs. To do this, you just need to create suitable conditions and follow the recommendations for cultivation and care.
Gloxinia: description and care
Indoor Gloxinia, or Sinningia - hybrid exotic plant Gesneriev family. Many subspecies and varieties of this plant appeared thanks to the efforts of V. Sinning, a Boston gardener and breeder.
Source: Depositphotos
Grow gloxinia from seeds at a temperature of 20–25 °C
Characteristic features of all types of indoor gloxinia:
- short stem;
- bright green velvety leaves;
- the flowers are velvety, bell-shaped, up to 7 cm in diameter.
Most types of gloxinia differ in the color of their buds: red, pink, purple, white. There are bicolor varieties, with a rim of a different color around the edge, or speckled. Hybridization was carried out on the basis of 2 varieties - royal and beautiful gloxinia.
Rules for caring for gloxinia at home:
- place it in a bright, spacious place, protected from sun rays;
- provide backlighting for 12–14 hours daily;
- avoid wind and drafts;
- artificially increase humidity using containers of water;
- during the waking period, room temperature is suitable for the plant, and during dormancy, provide a temperature regime within the range of 9–11 ° C;
- after flowering, before the dormant period, feed the soil with nitrogen-free fertilizer;
- during the flowering period, water generously in a tray or pot, try not to touch the stem and leaves;
- from the end of August, reduce watering by half;
- During wakefulness, feed the plant with complex fertilizer.
Never spray gloxinia leaves and buds. In conditions high humidity the flower may disappear.
After flowering, gloxinia enters a dormant state, at which time the stem and leaves die off. At the end of October, cut off the above-ground part of the plant and place the tuber in a dark, cool place until spring. Remember to water the soil moderately.
Growing Gloxinia from seeds
To sow seeds, take light soil. For example, a mixture of turf soil, peat and sand (1 part each). Ready substrate pour into a wide container, level and spray with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. This will help prevent the formation of mold and mildew.
Growing gloxinia from seeds at home:
- Sow the seeds evenly into the prepared container with soil, without sprinkling. For convenience, you can mix them with a small amount of sand.
- Moisten the soil moderately with settled water room temperature.
- Cover the container tightly with a lid or film and leave for 10 days.
- From day 11, start ventilating the container daily for 2 minutes.
- Every 2–3 days, increase the duration of ventilation by 1–2 minutes.
- Spray the soil if necessary.
- 30–40 days after sowing the seeds, when several leaves appear on the seedlings, you can transplant the seedlings into separate pots.
- After transplanting, carefully water the seedlings and cover the pot with film.
- Cover the flower with film for another 2 months, ventilate and spray the soil from time to time.
- At the age of 3 months, transplant the seedlings into permanent pots.
Sow seeds from January to February, and young gloxinia will begin to bloom in mid-summer.
Make sure that the air temperature in the place where the seedlings are stored remains within 20–25 °C. Choose a bright place for the container, protected from sunlight, and provide 12 hours of daylight. Observe these conditions, and within 3–4 months you will receive strong flowering plants.
It is much easier to buy a ready-made plant or its tuber in a store, but it is more interesting to grow it from seeds. This way you can observe the entire process of development of gloxinia from a tiny seed to an adult beautifully flowering plant.
How to grow gloxinia from seeds
The process of growing gloxinia from seeds is not difficult, but, like growing any plant, you will need to follow certain rules.
First, you should decide on the time of sowing, since seeds require certain conditions for successful germination.
Temperature
Gloxinia seeds
This condition is one of the main ones in the process of germinating gloxinia seeds, because seeds need temperature to germinate environment at least 20 °C, and ideal conditions are considered to be 22-25 °C. Before sowing the seeds, make sure that the window sill where you are going to germinate the seeds is exactly at this temperature, since at temperatures below 20°C, the seeds will not germinate, or the seedlings will be weak and most likely die.
Illumination
This is the second important condition for growing gloxinia from seeds. Daylight hours must be at least 10 hours, otherwise the seedlings will stretch out and grow frail and weak. If you decide to sow and the daylight hours are less than 10 hours, after germination the seedlings should be illuminated with fluorescent lamps. Ideally, the length of daylight should be 10 - 12 hours.
Greenhouse for sowing
Seasonality
From the two conditions described above, it follows that gloxinia seeds should be sown no earlier than the end of February - beginning of March, at which time the daylight hours are already sufficient, and the window sill, thanks to the heating radiators, is still warm. If you have a fluorescent lamp, sowing can be done at any time of the year.
Substrate for sowing
Any light soil is suitable for sowing seeds; you can use simple peat tablets. But ideally, the soil should have the following composition: turf soil - 1 part, sand - 1 part, high peat - 1 part. All components should be thoroughly mixed and poured into containers prepared for sowing gloxinia.
First shoots
Containers for sowing
There are no restrictions here, you can take ordinary pots, planting boxes, or simply existing ones at home plastic containers. Transparent ones work well for this purpose. plastic containers with a lid, with their help it will be quite easy to create a greenhouse for seedlings.
Under the right conditions, the seedlings will turn out friendly
Gloxinia - growing from seeds: pre-planting preparation
Take a pre-prepared container with soil previously poured into it, and smooth the surface of the soil well. After this, dilute a weak solution of manganese and pour it into a spray bottle. After this, you should spray the surface of the soil with a solution of manganese, this is necessary in order to avoid rotting of the soil or the appearance of mold in the greenhouse. The soil should become moist, but not wet.
Planting gloxinia with seeds
Planting gloxinia seeds is quite simple. Since gloxinia seeds are very small, they can be mixed with a small amount of clean and dry sand for ease of sowing. And only after that start sowing, distributing them evenly over the entire surface of the container.
Grown seedlings
Quite often, purchased seeds come in the form of granules; in this case, you can simply spread the granules on the surface of the soil. After sowing, the soil surface should be sprayed again, but with warm, settled water.
Now you need to create some kind of greenhouse or greenhouse over the seeds. In order for the seedlings to germinate well, the seeds need high humidity. It is not worth ventilating the greenhouse until the seedlings are sufficiently strong. Young gloxinia seedlings are very tender and changes in temperature or humidity can harm them. Ventilation of the greenhouse can begin no earlier than 10 days later.
Plants are ready for the first picking
Gloxinia picking
When the plants grow a little, they will have 2-3 true leaves, usually this happens after 30-40 days, they can be planted in separate pots, or simply planted. This event is necessary for the normal growth and development of plants, because when sowing it is difficult to avoid thickening.
Picking should be done carefully because the seedlings are very delicate. To do this, take a toothpick or just a thin stick and lift the plant and move it to the transplant site. The plant should not be deeply buried - only up to the cotyledon leaves; the soil around the transplanted seedling should be slightly crushed. It is recommended to continue further cultivation in a greenhouse until the age of 2-3.5 months.
Providing additional lighting mode
If you have doubts about picking so early, move it to a later time, when the seedlings become stronger. It is also worth noting that the agricultural technology of growing gloxinia from seeds involves 3-4 picking transplants. Such transplants contribute to faster growth and development of the plant, as well as the formation of a more powerful root system in gloxinia. After the plant is transplanted, it should be watered, but this should be done very carefully so as not to wash away the top layer and expose the roots. For such watering, you can use a spray bottle or syringe. It is recommended to continue further cultivation in a greenhouse.
Further cultivation and care
Plants are ready to bloom
When your seedlings are one and a half to two months old, you can begin the hardening procedure, so that you can subsequently abandon the greenhouse conditions. for hardening, you should begin to open the greenhouse or greenhouse slightly starting from 10 minutes and increasing this time daily by 15-20 minutes. If after the next ventilation you notice that the plants have begun to wither, reduce the ventilation time next time. After aeration, carefully monitor the soil moisture, as with air access the moisture will begin to evaporate faster.
Transplanting gloxinia to a permanent place
Plants can be transplanted to a permanent place at the age of 3 months or when they reach a size of 2 cm or more.
A plant of the Gerseniaceae family native to America. Gloxinia was named in honor of the botanist and doctor B.P. Gloxina. However, it has another name - Sinningia, in honor of the breeder who was breeding it, V. Sinning. It is grown only as a houseplant or greenhouse plant.
Small compact bush with large bell-shaped flowers. The leaves are quite large, oval in shape, with a velvety surface, in various shades of green. The flowers are simply amazing with their colors. There are not only colors: white, yellow, pink, red, purple, brown, as well as various combinations of them. But there is also a pattern on the petals: specks, an ornament reminiscent of lace, a wide edging of the petal of a different color. Root system in the form of a tuber.
You can get gloxinia offspring in 5 ways:
Seed method
What do the seeds look like? Gloxinia seeds are very small. Ripens in large quantities in the seed pod in the center of the flower. They ripen in the fall, 1.5-2 months after flowering. When flowering ends and the petals fall, a capsule fruit forms in the center of the flower, which then cracks. How to collect them? At this point, you need to carefully cut off the box and place it in an open, dry container to dry. The dried box is opened, taking away the finished seeds.
What should I do to make them appear?
How to grow from seeds at home? To receive seed material it is necessary to pollinate the desired plant.
Advice! You can pollinate from one plant to another, then the pollen is taken from the same species. Or you can take pollen from another flower of the same plant.
Here it is necessary to take into account the timing of maturation of the reproductive organs of gloxinia. Pollen ripens 2-3 days after the flower opens, and the pistil opens on 5-6 days. The opening of the pistil can be seen by looking closely at its stigma, and it also becomes sticky to the touch. Accordingly, pollen is taken from flowers that bloomed later and transferred to the opened stigma of the pistil. This can be done using a brush. A couple of days after successful pollination, the flower will wither and a capsule will begin to grow in its center.
Features of cultivation
First you need to grow seedlings, followed by picking and.
Sowing time
Any seed contains natural biorhythms, for which it is natural to awaken early spring. That's why It is best to sow gloxinia seeds in late February or early March.
Soil preparation
Any universal peat-based soil or peat tablets are suitable for germinating seeds.
- Soil prepared independently must be disinfected. You can fry it in the oven, or place it in the freezer for 48 hours.
- Afterwards it should cool (warm) to room temperature.
- Then it is placed in a prepared container, 3 cm in height is enough, compacted a little, leveled well and sprayed with water. You can use a solution of potassium permanganate for spraying.
- Once the soil is saturated with moisture, you can sow the seeds.
Does planting material require preparation?
Gloxinia seeds do not require pre-soaking or other special preparation.
How to plant?
- The seeds are laid out on the surface of the ground and sprayed with a spray bottle. Then cover the container with glass or transparent film.
- Place in a warm and bright place, temperature 22-25 degrees. They try not to remove the shelter until the seedlings have become slightly stronger.
- At first, the container is left open during the day and closed at night.
- Then the shelter is removed completely.
Gloxinia seedlings are very delicate; any draft can destroy them.
You can learn about other ways to plant gloxinia from.
Gloxinias are transplanted 3-4 times. This procedure stimulates their root system.
Watering seedlings
As soon as the shelter is removed, the sprouts begin to be watered. Seedlings are watered often and little by little. It is better to do this with a spoon or syringe.
Attention! The soil should not dry out, and you should not pour water on the plants themselves.
Choosing a pot
It's time to choose a pot for the grown seedling. It will live in it until the dormant period after the first flowering. The pot for gloxinia needs to be small, up to 500 ml, low and wide.
The material from which the pot is made is not important. The main thing is that there are drainage holes in its bottom. Gloxinia roots are very often subject to putrefactive processes, so the outflow of excess water is necessary. A drainage layer is placed at the bottom.
More information about the choice the right pot for gloxinia you will find.
Soil
Adult gloxinia needs light soil. Suitable soil for violets, or another universal soil for flowering plants. If you are preparing the soil for planting yourself, you can use the following composition:
- soil from the trunk circle deciduous tree– 2 parts;
- peat – 1 part;
- sand – 1 part;
- rotted manure or compost in the amount of 1 cup per 5 liters of soil mixture.
Landing
- A small layer of soil is poured onto the drainage layer, a plant taken out with a lump of earth is placed in the center, and the voids are filled with new soil.
- The earth is slightly compacted to displace voids, and then the plant is watered.
For the plant it is necessary to provide the right conditions content:
- Watering. We have already talked about watering seedlings. An adult plant is watered so that the top layer of soil dries out between waterings. For irrigation, it is necessary to use settled soft water at room temperature, or 2-3 degrees higher. Most safe method watering - through the tray.
- Feeding. They begin to fertilize gloxinia as soon as flower stalks and bud buds appear. Do this 2-3 times a month at equal intervals. The plant needs complex feeding mineral fertilizers. Suitable compositions for flowering plants. You can learn more about the rules for watering and feeding gloxinia from.
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For gloxinia, it is necessary to change the conditions during the dormant period. It comes in the fall, after flowering has completed. The plant needs watering less and less, the flowers fade, and the above-ground part of the plant begins to die.
For the winter, the upper part of the plant is removed, the tuber is either put in a pot in a dark, cool place at 10-15 degrees, or dug up and stored in a bag of sand and peat on the refrigerator door. The tuber in the pot continues to be watered 1-2 times a month so that it does not dry out. - Spring awakening. IN last days In February, the tubers are removed from storage and planted again in the ground. Before this, you need to hold the tuber moistened with water in a warm, bright place until sprouts appear. Then it is planted in the ground at 2/3 of the height. After the sprouts get stronger and grow, the soil is added to the root collar.
- Prevention. Compliance with all care and maintenance measures is the most important preventive measure. Most diseases appear due to improper watering, high humidity and inappropriate temperature.
Insect pests attack plants that are exposed to dry and hot air.
Pests are destroyed with insecticides, and diseases are treated based on the situation.
- . Gloxinia does not require formation, but many species bloom in two stages per season. Between them it is necessary to cut off all flower stalks and most of the leaves. Afterwards, when the stepsons appear, remove the excess ones, leaving only 2-3 strong shoots.
You can learn more about caring for gloxinia at home.
Video on the topic
Conclusion
Growing gloxinia from seeds is not much different from growing other flowers. Subject to all conditions, you can grow any of the rarest and beautiful view this flower. I wish you friendly shoots and strong gloxinia seedlings!
The flowering of gloxinia is very beautiful, which is why the plant is very popular among gardeners - experienced and beginners. It is often propagated vegetative way, that is, cuttings or tubers. But another way is possible - with seeds.
How to grow gloxinia from seeds?
If you are ready to put a little more effort into growing this beautiful indoor plant Gloxinia from seeds will meet all your expectations. You will be able not only to see the rarest examples of varieties that none of your flower growers know, but also to develop new hybrids yourself. First, you need to gain experience and simply try to grow gloxinia from seeds at home, avoiding common mistakes in germinating and bringing seeds to an adult flowering plant.
How to plant gloxinia with seeds?
Regardless of whether you bought ready-made seed or collected it yourself, planting gloxinia seeds involves distributing them over the surface of moist soil without embedding them in the ground. The seeds are very small, so you need to try to scatter them as evenly as possible. It’s a little easier with purchased seeds - they are granulated, so there are no problems with sowing.
After this, you need to spray the seeds with water from a spray bottle, cover the container with polyethylene and place it in a room where the temperature is +20-25ºС until the first shoots appear, which hatch within 10-15 days. Until this point, there is no need to water the plantings. As soon as the first shoots begin to appear, gloxinia seeds at home need regular ventilation so that the moisture under the film does not destroy the plants. At the same time, moderate watering of the seedlings begins.
- the first after the appearance of 2 true leaves (about a month after the seeds hatch) in containers of 10-15 pieces;
- the second and third transplants are carried out as the seedlings grow into separate pots of 50-100 ml;
- the fourth picking occurs when the bushes are 10 weeks old; they are transplanted into pots 9-10 cm in diameter.
When to sow gloxinia from seeds?
If you plan to grow a flower before summer so that it blooms in July-August, sowing work should begin in January-February. In general, the time when you need to sow gloxinia and begonia seeds will largely depend on whether you only use natural light or use special lamps for additional illumination. In the first case, you need to sow no earlier than February-March so that the sprouts have enough light, since gloxinia is very light-loving. With additional lighting, you can sow seeds throughout the year.
Soil for gloxinia
Land for gloxinia has crucial. From its quality and proper preparation the entire success of the event will depend. A ready-made universal peat soil will do, but you need to add a little vermiculite and fine charcoal. You can prepare a mixture yourself from peat, turf and leaf soil with the addition of sand. It is important that the substrate is light, nutritious and breathable.
To get rid of microbes, the soil must be sterilized. You can bake it in the oven () at high power for 10 minutes, freeze it in the freezer for at least 2 days, or pour it over with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. To prevent stagnation of moisture in the soil and improve air exchange in it, holes are made in the bottoms of planting containers.
Gloxinia seeds - possible difficulties
There are several reasons why gloxinia does not bloom:
- The plant grown from seeds did not have time to form a tuber. This is especially true for late-planted plants. Full flowering of gloxinia is observed at the age of 6-7 months, and it should form 6 pairs of leaves. If this moment coincides with wintering time, there is no need to send your plants to rest, because you risk ruining them. Another likely reason for late tuber formation is excessive watering.
- The plant lacks nutrients. When gloxinia is planted in poor soil, its growth and development are slowed down, and flowering is delayed. An excess of nitrogen can also cause a lack of flowering.
- The flower does not have enough light. For full flowering, gloxinia needs good lighting. To ensure that the buds form and do not turn out to be barren flowers, it is necessary to place the pots on sunny windowsills or provide them with additional artificial lighting.
- The pot doesn't fit. The container in which gloxinia is grown from seeds at home should be low and wide. Ideally, its diameter and height should match. In deep and too big pot the flower will grow a tuber for a very long time, and until the process is completed, flowering will not occur.
Gloxinia - care and cultivation
During the last flower transplant, soil for flowering plants is used, which consists of equal parts of leaf and peat soil, sand and sphagnum. There must be drainage at the bottom of the pots. You need to water the plants very carefully so that drops of water do not fall on the leaves. Knowing what gloxinia likes and how to care for it, already at the age of 3 months you can expect the first buds to appear from it.
For rapid and proper development, the plant requires periodic feeding with complex fertilizer, and during flowering - with fertilizers for flowering plants. It is extremely important for this indoor flower correct lighting– without direct sunlight, but still bright. Optimal temperature in growing season– 20-22ºС.
How to care for gloxinia after flowering?
Gloxinia requires special care after flowering, which will ensure the gradual onset of a dormant period for its tubers. So, what to do next if gloxinia has faded:
- reduce watering with the onset of September;
- reduce the amount of light by moving it to a darker place;
- stop feeding with fertilizers;
- reduce the temperature to +14ºС.
Gradually the leaves will turn yellow and fall off, and the stem will dry out. As soon as this happens, you can cut off the above-ground part of the plant, and put the pot with the tuber in a room with a temperature of +10ºС and keep it there until spring, slightly moistening the soil once a month. To prevent moisture from the soil from evaporating quickly, you can cover it with a layer of sand on top. Another way to store a tuber is to dig it out of the ground, cover it with sawdust or sand and put it in the warmest compartment of the refrigerator.
When to replant gloxinia?
After the end of the dormant period, you can transplant the plant tubers into fresh soil. Gloxinia transplantation should be carried out after examining it for damage and removing them, followed by sprinkling the “wounds” charcoal. It wouldn’t hurt to pre-soak the tubers in a steep solution of potassium permanganate. The prepared roots should be planted in moist soil to a depth of 5 cm and the pot should be placed in the sun.
Gloxinia - dormant period
It is important that gloxinia winters properly. A short winter without complying with all conditions invariably affects flowering. The tuber simply does not have time to prepare for the new season. For good flowering Gloxinia needs rest for 4 months. An inexperienced gardener may have a question about why gloxinia does not sleep. The reason for this is incorrect conditions for wintering - non-compliance temperature regime and light level.