How to grow baby's breath from seed? Sowing time and potted planting methods

Baby's breath (Gypsophila) is a plant with strong vitality and grows best in a warm climate. Baby's breath is now a very popular flower, and because of its beautiful appearance it is deeply loved by people. Many people now want to grow it, but before planting, you need to have a comprehensive understanding of its growing techniques.

How to grow baby's breath from seed (when to sow)

1. Soil. Actually, you don't need to buy flower soil, just dig some outside. Before planting, soak the soil thoroughly, scatter the seeds after it has settled, then cover with a thin layer of soil. Sunlight and temperature are essential. The watering principle is to water only when the soil has dried out; once past the seedling stage, reduce the amount of watering. As baby's breath grows, it tends to become leggy, so you need to keep adding soil to stabilize it, and it should not be too densely planted. If you are planting quite carefully, it is recommended to disinfect the soil before planting by leaving it in direct sunlight for a few days.

2. Raising seedlings: choose loose soil to make a bed, sow in September, cover lightly with fine soil, germination takes about 10 days, and before winter begins move them to a cold frame to overwinter.

3. Cultivation: in the following spring, transplant them with soil into the open ground; after the seedlings have established and survived, pinch out the growing tips once to encourage more branching. Once the plants are more than 20 cm tall, reduce the amount of irrigation; slight drought can promote flowering. They flower in mid-to-late May. This species can also be sown directly in the open ground before the ground freezes in November, or sown in early spring.

4. Mainly propagated by cuttings. In spring, take hardwood cuttings: cut 10-15 cm lengths of mature branches from the previous year and insert them into a sand bed; they generally root in about 30 days. In the plum rain season, softwood cuttings can be used; select the tender tips of the current year for cuttings, and they root 2-3 weeks after insertion. When repotting each spring, add fresh fertile soil. During the growing period, keep the potting soil moist and fertilize once every 2 weeks to encourage abundant foliage and branching and lush flowering.

Potted planting methods for baby's breath

1. Soil preparation: the roots rot easily. Generally, well-drained slightly alkaline calcareous soil or gravelly loam is best. For acidic or neutral soil, apply some lime as appropriate to adjust the soil pH. Before planting out, dig the soil deeply to 40-50 cm, apply enough organic fertilizer, and appropriately add some phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Make raised beds with a bed surface height of 30-40 cm.

2. Planting out: plant 2000-2500 plants per mu, using double-row planting, with a row spacing of 50 cm and a plant spacing of 35-50 cm. Before planting out, irrigate thoroughly, then choose a cloudy day to plant out, and water thoroughly after planting. Planting time: for cut flower cultivation, if produced in a greenhouse, they can be planted out in summer, autumn, or even early spring. In this way, flowers are harvested from early autumn until early summer. After harvesting the flowers, the plants should be dug up in June-July, then cold-stored until August-September, and then planted out again.

How to fertilize and water baby's breath

1. Water: baby's breath has a relatively high water requirement during the seedling stage. After pinching, sufficient water and nutrients are still needed so that the plants can gradually change from the vegetative growth stage to the reproductive growth stage, that is, enter the bolting stage (flowering stage). Until the small flower spikes emerge and the petals grow out, water should be reduced slightly, to prevent the quality of the cut flowers and their water uptake from decreasing, and also to promote neat and uniform flowering.

2. Fertilizer: like other herbaceous flowers, baby's breath has a relatively high demand for fertilizer and water, but it is most afraid of indiscriminate fertilization, concentrated fertilizer, and one-sided application of nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium fertilizer. It should follow the two fertilization (and watering) principles of “apply dilute fertilizer frequently, use small amounts but more often, with complete nutrition” and “alternate dry and wet, dry means thoroughly dry, do not water if not dry, and water thoroughly when you do water”. Also, after fertilizing, keep the leaves and flowers dry at night. After planting out, apply topdressing in stages: mainly nitrogen fertilizer in the early stage, and mainly phosphorus and potassium fertilizer in the later stage.

Pest and disease control methods for baby's breath

1. Pests of baby's breath. Baby's breath has few pests; the common ones are aphids, mites, and red spider mites. Their damage symptoms are basically the same, mainly harming the leaves, and in severe cases large numbers of the pests will also gather on the flowers. When they occur, 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 stunting disease are fatal diseases of baby's breath; before planting out, the soil must be disinfected with formaldehyde solution.

Baby's breath is generally planted in autumn more commonly, and can also be sown in spring; everyone can choose according to actual needs. Baby's breath does not tolerate waterlogging, so drainage must be done well when planting. In the later stages of planting, pest and disease control should be strengthened; only in this way can baby's breath grow healthily.