How to Grow Potted Wintersweet and Points to Note

Chinese wintersweet is also known as golden plum, wax plum, wax flower, and yellow plum blossom. Wintersweet flowers can bloom alone in the biting cold wind, tenaciously competing with the harsh winter, no matter how cold the weather, still standing gracefully and giving off a captivating delicate fragrance, bringing a touch of distinctive color to the winter when all things wither, so today we will introduce to you how to grow potted wintersweet.

How to Grow Potted Wintersweet

1. Timely pruning: Prune at the right time to encourage more strong flowering branches to grow, so that it blooms more. It is generally best to prune at the right time after the flowers fade and before the leaves emerge, cutting off dead branches, overly dense branches, crossing branches, and diseased or pest-infested branches, and leaving 2 to 3 pairs of buds at the base of the current year's branches while cutting off the upper branches to encourage branching.

2. Timely fertilizing: Wintersweet is a flowering plant that likes fertilizer, and timely fertilizing can promote flower bud differentiation and more blooms. For potted wintersweet, because the potting soil is limited, the soil should be chosen as a loose, well-aerated sandy nutrient soil with high humus content.

3. Moderate watering: Wintersweet is characterized by being drought-tolerant and afraid of waterlogging; if the moisture is too high and the soil is too wet, the plant grows poorly and flower bud differentiation is affected. Therefore, for potted wintersweet, it is advisable to keep the soil on the dry side. Normally, do not water unless it is dry, and when watering, water thoroughly, but in high-temperature seasons water more to maintain normal plant growth and allow flower buds to develop normally.

Wintersweet Cultivation Methods and Points to Note

Cultivation methods:

1. Ground planting: For ground planting of wintersweet, choose a sheltered, sunny spot. Transplanting is mostly done in winter and spring, and the roots of the seedlings must be kept with a soil ball. Before planting, apply sufficient manure, barnyard manure, or decomposed soybean cake, etc., as base fertilizer in the planting hole. After applying the base fertilizer, cover it with a thin layer of soil to separate it, then place the seedling and fill in soil. After planting, water promptly and prune appropriately.

2. Pot planting: For potted wintersweet, the growing soil should be a loose, fertile sandy loam rich in humus. After potting, water thoroughly promptly and place it in a shaded shed to recover for about one month, then place it in a courtyard or on a balcony in a spot with ample sunlight for care.

Points to note:

1. Fertilizing

For ground-planted wintersweet, management can be somewhat extensive. Generally, from June to September each year, apply liquid fertilizer once every 20 days (you can soak bone meal and cake fertilizer in water and apply after fully decomposing), which can ensure good development of branches, leaves, and flower buds.

For potted wintersweet, usually apply additional fertilizer frequently to promote the formation of a large number of flower buds; otherwise, flowering will be sparse. Generally, from May to June each year, apply decomposed cake fertilizer water once every 7 days, and the fertilizer-to-water ratio can be 3:10. From July to August is the flower bud formation period for wintersweet, and fertilizing can be done once every 15-20 days, and the concentration of the fertilizer water should be thinner, with a fertilizer-to-water ratio of 1:5 being best. This helps flower bud differentiation. The fertilizer applied must be fully decomposed, otherwise it will cause root rot. After autumn, apply dry cake fertilizer once more to meet the nutrient needs during flowering. After winter begins, keep the potting soil on the drier side and stop fertilizing, otherwise the flowering period will be shortened.

2. Watering

For ground-planted wintersweet, water once before early winter, apply fertilizer once after the flowers fade, and water once, and normally do not water; only when the weather is too dry may you water moderately.

For potted wintersweet, watering should follow the principle of watering only after the soil has dried thoroughly. Do not water too much, and the potting soil should not be too wet; but it also should not be too dry, because if it is too dry the flowers will bloom unevenly.

3. Temperature and light

For potted wintersweet, move it indoors in December. If the room temperature is high, it can bloom before New Year's Day; but if the room temperature is low, the flowering period can be delayed until around the Spring Festival. After flowering, it should be moved to a cool place to prevent it from sending out new shoots and leaves too early, which would affect flower bud differentiation and be unfavorable for flowering the following year.

How to Prune Wintersweet

Wintersweet has strong sprouting ability, so prune promptly after flowering. Generally, cut off the part of the flowering branch above 20 cm, and shorten the elongated branches from the previous year, leaving 1-2 pairs of buds. This allows nutrients to concentrate on sending out new branches and creates favorable conditions for producing brightly colored, large flowers the following year.

Is Wintersweet Suitable for Indoor Placement

Placing wintersweet indoors is not harmful to the air, but if a person is allergic to the fragrance given off by the plum blossom, that is another matter. In addition, plum blossom is not suitable for indoor cultivation; plum blossom likes sunlight and grows better in places with ample sunlight.

There are thousands upon thousands of flowers to like, but in winter the most enchanting is still the wintersweet that gives off a delicate fragrance in the cold wind, with yellow petals that are especially crystal clear, and fine stamens that are especially endearing, and what is valued even more is its noble purity, its tenacity, and its uniqueness.