How to grow carnations best? Latest care methods shared

Carnations are plants of the genus Dianthus in the family Caryophyllaceae. Carnations include many varieties and hybrids, and in a greenhouse they can bloom almost continuously. They usually bear double flowers, with diverse and vivid colors and a fragrant scent. Carnations are one of the most popular cut flowers, representing health and good wishes, and can be used for flower arrangements, corsages, and so on. Below, the editor will introduce to you how to grow carnations.

Growth habits of carnations

1. Light conditions: Carnations are long-day plants that prefer abundant sunlight. Apart from the seedling stage and full-bloom stage, there is no need to worry about damage from strong light, and with supplementary light, the flower diameter and color vividness can be increased. Light intensity has a clear positive correlation with cut flower yield per unit area.

2. Temperature conditions: Carnations prefer cool conditions and are not tolerant of heat, but can endure a certain degree of low temperature. If the summer temperature is above 35°C or the winter temperature is below 9°C, growth is very slow or even stops. During high-temperature periods in summer, corresponding cooling measures should be taken, while in winter plastic film should be covered or plants should be moved into a greenhouse to maintain an appropriate temperature.

3. Moisture conditions: The root system of carnations is fibrous. Long-term water accumulation in the soil or medium, excessively high humidity, or prolonged high temperatures on the leaf surface are all unfavorable to their normal growth and development. Therefore, drip irrigation is advocated, and attention should also be paid to water quality and the salt content of the water.

4. Soil conditions: Carnations prefer soil that retains fertilizer well and has good aeration and drainage, with heavy loam being the best. The suitable soil pH for their growth is 5.6-6.4. Some soil analysis experiments show that within a pH range of 5.95-7.9, soil organic matter content has no obvious effect on flowering, and flowering mainly depends on soil texture.

Propagation methods of carnations

Carnations are mainly propagated by seeds and by cuttings. The optimum germination temperature for sown seeds is 20°C, and seeds take a relatively long time to germinate, requiring 10-15 days. After sowing, it takes 140-160 days to bloom. The optimum growth temperature for the plants is 5-20°C. When the temperature is above 30°C, the plants stop growing or even die. Therefore, in South China, cultivation is suitable in winter and spring. When production is intended for blooming at Spring Festival, sowing and cultivation should be carried out from August to early September in cool areas (on high mountains). The potting medium for carnations requires good drainage and rich organic matter, and the cultivation environment requires abundant sunlight. If the temperature is too high or light is insufficient, the plants are prone to excessive vegetative growth, with slender branches, poor plant shape, and difficulty in flowering.

Seedling-raising techniques for carnations

For a long time, most flower growers relied on self-propagation and self-cultivation, consistently using the method of selecting middle side shoots from mother plants in flower-harvesting fields and cutting them for propagation. Seedlings were reused for many generations, causing seedling quality to decline. The quality of the seedlings directly affects the growth vigor of the field plants after planting and the subsequent yield and quality of fresh flowers. Therefore, when cultivating, a mother plant nursery and a cutting shoot nursery should be established. The techniques are as follows:

1. Seedbed preparation: Carnations belong to plants with fibrous roots and require loose, well-aerated soil conditions that hold water and retain fertilizer well for growth; the seedbed soil is best as peat or other media based mainly on peat; sufficient fertilizer should be added into the medium, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and some trace elements; three days before planting, water heavily to make the soil fully moist; the medium thickness should be at least 20 cm to ensure that the carnation mother plants have enough soil layer to grow roots, absorb nutrients, and grow and develop normally; seedbeds or beds should be built according to the specifications of the greenhouse or plastic tunnel; the suitable height of the seedbed is 80-100 cm, and the suitable depth of the seedbed is 25-30 cm, and it must not be less than 20 cm;

2. Introducing mother plants: Select varieties according to market requirements and the local cultivation ecological environment, introduce excellent varieties with high yield, excellent quality, robust growth, strong disease resistance, and good stress resistance, and carefully tend them according to the characteristics of each variety; then take healthy cuttings, root them by cutting to obtain high-quality strong seedlings, establish a cutting nursery, and produce commercial seedlings;

3. Mother plant nursery cultivation

① Rain sheltering: To ensure robust growth of seedlings, using plastic tunnels for rain-sheltered cultivation of the carnation mother plant nursery and cutting nursery is a very good measure.

② Density: The planting density has a great relationship with cutting yield; choosing a reasonable cultivation density is beneficial both for ventilation and light transmission of the plants and for forming a high-yield population structure and increasing effective branches; generally, a density of about 50 plants per sq m is used; when planting carnations, the principle of planting as shallowly as possible without lodging should be mastered; after planting, water thoroughly and sufficiently to moisten the roots so that the root system fully contacts the soil; if planted too deeply, stem rot is likely to occur.

③ Field management: A large number of white roots growing from the root area indicates that the mother plants have survived, and at this time moisture should be gradually controlled to ensure a well-developed root system; every 7-10 days, apply fertilizer once according to seedling condition, and spray an insecticide and fungicide once; when the plants grow to 7 leaves and 1 heart, pinching can begin; according to differences in branching ability among varieties, leave 5-7 pairs of leaves to prepare for later side branch development for cutting shoots; normally they are generally not used for seedling raising, and can be used as tissue culture material for rejuvenation and seed preservation; when side branches grow to 7 leaves and 1 heart, cutting shoots can begin to be harvested; generally, keep 3-4 pairs of leaves on the mother plant, bind every 25-30 cuttings into a bundle with a rubber band, place them in a cardboard box or plastic box, and store them in a 1-2°C cold storage for later use.