Baby's Breath: Cutting Propagation and Common Disease Prevention Methods

It is a herbaceous plant with high ornamental value. Nowadays it is a popular flower species and very well liked. During holidays, people often choose it as a gift, and especially to make it last longer, we can also make it into dried flowers. Below, let us take a look together at how it is done.

Baby's Breath Cutting Propagation Methods

In spring, cut about 10 cm of new branches from the plant, take 3 to 4 stems as a cluster, insert them into a sand bed, spray water to keep moist, and they will root in about 15 days. After another 20-plus days of cultivation, transplant them into soil and grow them into large seedlings for sale. Generally they root in about 30 days. In the plum rain season, softwood cuttings can be used; select the current year's tender tips for cuttings, and they will root 2 to 3 weeks after insertion.

The rooting rate of cuttings is not very high. It is advisable to choose cuttings with 4 to 5 pairs of leaves, treat them with rooting powder or other auxin, and insert them into a cutting bed with perlite as the substrate. This can be done without seasonal restrictions, but the best periods are from mid-to-late March to early July and from late September to early November. When the temperature is above 15°C, they generally root in 20 days.

Common Disease Prevention and Control Methods for Baby's Breath

1. Pests of baby's breath. There are very few pests on baby's breath. Common ones include aphids, mites, and red spiders. Their damage symptoms are basically the same, mainly harming the leaves, and in severe cases large numbers of pests will also gather on the flowers. When infestation occurs, promptly remove the branches, or spray with 40% omethoate emulsifiable concentrate at 1000 times dilution, or spray with dicofol at 1000 times dilution and fenvalerate at 1500 times dilution.

2. Diseases of baby's breath. Baby's breath is mainly harmed by leaf spot disease, which can be sprayed with 65% zineb wettable powder at 600 times dilution. Stem rot and stunt disease are fatal diseases of baby's breath, and before planting the soil must be disinfected with formaldehyde solution.

What Varieties of Baby's Breath Are There

1. Fairy

The most widely used in cut flower production, accounting for about 80%, a small-flowered type. The flowers are white, highly adaptable, able to withstand summer heat and winter cold, relatively easy to cultivate, and also easy for year-round production.

2. Perfect

Large flowers, short internodes, thick and upright stems. During high temperatures it easily forms rosette-like clusters, and flowering stops at low temperatures. Cultivation is difficult, but the price is high.

3. Diamond

A large-flowered variety selected and bred from Fairy, with short internodes, and delayed flowering at low temperatures. Year-round production is relatively difficult. 4. Flamingo

Flowers are light pink, small, with slender stems, flowering in spring.

5. Red Sea

Flowers are deep peach red, large, with hard stems. In high-cold regions it is planted in spring and sold in autumn; the flower color is very vivid and not easy to fade. In warm regions, it can bloom from autumn to spring. It is a newly bred variety today.

How to Make Dried Flowers from Baby's Breath

1. Introduction to the natural air-drying method

This method does not require any machine, so it is very simple. Time: we need to avoid the plum rain weather. Specific method: in dry air, hang the fresh flowers upside down. Be careful to stagger them, so as to maintain the shape of the flowers and avoid them colliding and deforming. After a period of time, we need to determine whether they are already air-dried well according to the humidity of the air and the specific form of the flowers. If the form already looks very good, then it is considered complete, and they can be inserted into a vase.

2. Introduction to the book-pressing air-drying method

This method is also relatively simple, much like making plant specimens. Tools: a book (relatively thick), and cardboard. Specific method: divide the flowers into branches, as small as possible. After dividing, arrange the individual flowers neatly in the book, then close the book. If you are afraid of dirtying the pages, you can place a layer of paper towel as a lining. After about three to four days, we can find that the flowers in the book have become dry and flattened. They can be framed and used as wall art.

3. Introduction to the heat air-drying method

The principle of this method is similar to the second method, but it is faster in terms of time. Specific method: first press the flowers with a card, then place the card and flowers on another sheet of cardboard. Fix them with a rubber band and put them into the microwave. The waiting time cannot be too long; generally 10 seconds to half a minute is enough. After taking them out, remove the card. After they cool naturally, take the flowers out.

Counting carefully, there are quite a few varieties of baby's breath. Whether fresh flowers or dried flowers, they are all very beautiful. Although such beautiful flowers have fewer pests, they still have natural enemies. Leaf spot disease does considerable harm to them, so before planting we must protect them.