When do gardenia seeds germinate after sowing?
Gardenia is cultivated in most parts of China, concentrated in East China and most areas of Southwest and Central South China. It likes light and can also tolerate shade; under shaded conditions the leaves are dark green but flowering is somewhat poorer. It likes a warm and humid climate, tolerates heat and is slightly cold-tolerant, and prefers fertile, well-drained, acidic light clay loam. It also tolerates drought and poor soil, but the plant tends to age easily. Now let's take a look at when gardenia seeds germinate!
When do gardenia seeds germinate?
Gardenia seeds will emerge about 20 days after sowing. Gardenia can be sown in spring or autumn, generally mostly in spring. Spring sowing is done around the time of Yushui, and autumn sowing around the time of Qiufen. After sowing, seedlings emerge in about 20 days. After emergence, be sure to remove the covering grass in time. During the seedling stage, weed frequently, taking care not to damage the seedling roots. After weeding, topdress with diluted human manure water each time. After one year of raising seedlings, they can be transplanted.
How are gardenia seeds planted?
1. Seed selection: Choose plump, dark-red ripe fruits and dry them in the sun or in the shade with the shells on to use as seed. After digging out the seeds, rub them apart in hot water to remove floating seeds or impurities, then scoop out the sunken, plump seeds and spread them on a bamboo mat, placing them in a ventilated place to dry off excess moisture.
2. Land preparation: Choose deep, loose, fertile sandy loam, plow 1-1.5 chi and then make beds. Apply 20-30 dan of human manure per mu. After the soil dries, level the bed surface. On the bed surface, open sowing furrows at a row spacing of 6-7 cun, with a furrow depth of about 1 cun.
3. Sowing: Gardenia can be sown in spring or autumn. Spring sowing is done around the time of Yushui, and autumn sowing around the time of Qiufen. When sowing, mix the seeds with plant ash and sow them evenly in the sowing furrows, then cover the sowing furrows level with fine soil or burnt soil, and keep the soil moist regularly to promote emergence.
4. Seedling raising: After sowing gardenia, water frequently to keep the bed surface moist, and seedlings will emerge in about 20 days. After emergence, remove the covering grass on the bed surface. When the seedlings grow 2-3 true leaves, thin them out, removing overly dense and weak seedlings, and topdress appropriately at the same time.
5. Field planting: For gardenia sown in autumn, when cultivated until late autumn or early winter of the second year and the seedlings are more than 30 cm tall, they can be field planted. For spring-sown seedlings, when the seedlings reach 30 cm tall in the second spring, they can be field planted. If they do not reach 30 cm tall, continue cultivating them until late autumn or early winter for transplanting.
How should gardenia be grown to do well?
1. Potting soil: Gardenia is an indicator flower for acidic soil, with a suitable pH of 5 to 6. For cultivation soil, you can choose leaf mold, peat soil, or composted sawdust plus half garden soil. Avoid old wall soil and coal cinder. Using commercially available clivia soil is more convenient and practical.
2. Watering: Gardenia likes moist soil and relatively high air humidity. During the growing period from April to September, keep the potting soil moist. Usually, water when the potting soil turns white, watering thoroughly at one time. However, after flower buds appear, watering should not be excessive, to avoid bud drop.
3. Fertilizing: Gardenia is a plant that likes fertilizer. Add 3% decomposed cake fertilizer to the growing soil as a base fertilizer. During the growing season, water once a week with alum fertilizer water made by composting cake fertilizer with ferrous sulfate. During the bud stage, watering 1 to 2 times with a 0.1% potassium dihydrogen phosphate aqueous solution can make the flowers larger and the fragrance richer.
4. Light: Gardenia likes light and can also grow in semi-shade for a long time, but the flowering branches will be longer and the flowers fewer. Except for the need for shading from strong midday light from July to August and during the winter dormancy period, it generally needs to be placed in sunlight for care in order to have abundant flowers and lush leaves.
5. Soil changing: It is better to change the soil for gardenia in March in spring. After taking it out of the pot, cut off some old roots, shake off half of the old soil, plant it in the pot with new soil, then water thoroughly, place it in a warm semi-shaded place, and when new buds sprout, place it in sunlight for care.
6. Pruning: After gardenia blooms each year, prune lightly, cutting off inner branches and diseased or weak branches, and shortening individual leggy branches. But remember that gardenia must not have the branch tips shortened in spring, otherwise it will not bloom that year.
7. Overwintering: In the Qinling area of China, gardenia can overwinter outdoors, but potted gardenia roots will be damaged after severe winter. You can place the potted flower in a cold room at about 5°C to make it dormant and protect the root system well. Place it in a windproof, sunny place to overwinter, and it will recover quickly and bloom early in spring.