A Detailed Guide to Propagating Cyclamen by Seed

The flowering period of cyclamen runs from November of the current year to March of the following year, blooming successively on flower stalks sent up from the corm, with peak bloom from late November to late January. From flower fade to seed maturity takes about two and a half months; when the fruit turns yellow and soft and its top shows slight cracking, it is ready to be picked. Its seeds are relatively large, with 30—40 seeds per flower, so they must be harvested promptly, dried in the shade for 3—4 days and then sun-dried; stored seeds must be protected from moisture and kept ventilated, and their germination capacity can be maintained for three years. Because different cyclamen cultivars cross naturally with ease, the characteristics and traits of a cultivar often vary; to prevent mixing and preserve pure strains, the flowers kept for seed should be bagged.

For propagating cyclamen by seed, sowing after the Start of Autumn or before Minor Snow is better; soaking the seeds in water overnight before sowing can speed up germination. The spot-sowing method is commonly used, generally raised in a pot, with a spacing of about 2 cm between holes, covered with about 1 cm of soil, and the pot surface covered with a piece of glass. Water thoroughly the first time after sowing, then keep the soil from drying out; seedlings emerge after about 40 days. Once the seedlings grow two cotyledons, they can be moved into small pots with a bamboo slice, and gradually moved into larger pots as they grow; if transplanting is delayed, the plants become weak and may fail to form a corm. For final planting, a pot with a diameter of 15 cm is best. The growing medium should be a sandy loam rich in humus; when planting, do not bury the small corm too deep, generally keeping its top level with the soil surface. Two years of cultivation will bring it into flower.

In terms of care, pay attention to watering, but do not water too much; keeping the soil constantly moist is enough. When misting, spray the water onto the leaves, not onto the flowers; if the plant becomes too dry it will wilt, and watering at that point can no longer restore it. Cyclamen likes fertilizer, but it must be given diluted and often; a single heavy dose of concentrated fertilizer will cause wilting and death. Generally apply a well-rotted liquid fertilizer once every week (1 part liquid fertilizer to 8 parts water is suitable), and do not pour it on the leaves; if water and nutrients are insufficient during the flowering period, the flowers will not be bright. The most suitable temperature for cyclamen growth is 15—20 degrees; when summer temperatures reach 28 degrees, the leaves tend to turn yellow and wilt and growth stops, so move the pot to a cool, ventilated place and do not let the small corm go dormant. It is sensitive to frost, so after October move it to a sunny spot indoors, pay proper attention to keeping it warm, keep the room from freezing, and let it bloom successively. Stop fertilizing when it flowers and water appropriately; if watered too much, the flowers fade quickly.

Experienced old flower growers often say of growing cyclamen, “grow them young, not old.” In a pot, cyclamen is full of flowers and leaves with vivid color for the first 2—3 years; afterwards, if left in the same pot, it declines day by day, often having flowers but no leaves or leaves but no flowers, or even a rotting corm. To deal with an old corm, dig it up after the Start of Autumn, remove the offset corms from the old corm, and cut away any decayed parts on the old corm; replace the soil in the pot with fresh fertile soil and replant, taking care not to plant it deep, with most of it exposed above the soil. If managed in the same way as offsets or small corms grown from seed, it can still grow vigorously with abundant leaves and flowers.

Cyclamen Propagation Methods, A Tutorial on Propagating Cyclamen by Division

Cyclamen is a very common indoor flowering potted plant that can be grown in water or in soil. So how do you propagate cyclamen to turn one pot into many? Fellow flower lovers all want to know this, and cyclamen can be propagated by three methods: seed sowing, division, and tissue culture. These three propagation methods are introduced below.

The main propagation methods for cyclamen are seed propagation, division and vegetative propagation. They are introduced below one by one:

First, harvest cyclamen seeds, dry them in the shade for 3-4 days, then sun-dry them; sowing after the Start of Autumn or before Minor Snow is better, and soaking the cyclamen seeds overnight before sowing can speed up germination. They are generally raised in a pot, watered thoroughly the first time, then kept from drying out, and they germinate in about forty days.

For cyclamen division propagation, first understand that the cyclamen tuber cannot naturally produce offset corms, so it cannot be propagated by dividing bulbs like ordinary bulbous flowers; it requires artificial cutting of the tuber. Generally in late August, when the tuber is about to sprout, cut the tuber lengthwise from the top into several pieces, each piece bearing a bud eye; coat the cut surfaces with plant ash, let them dry slightly, and then plant them separately in flower pots. With careful management, they will soon leaf out and flower.

For cyclamen tissue culture propagation, flower buds, tubers, leaves, young stems and so on can be used as explants, generally collected from one- to two-year-old young plants, among which the tuber is the easiest explant from which to induce seedlings.

A knife, potassium permanganate solution or medical alcohol, plant ash or sulfur powder, cyclamen tuber, flower pot, plain sandy soil, etc.

Division of cyclamen (cutting the tuber) is best done during August-September each autumn, and can be combined with repotting and changing the soil.

Cyclamen division propagation is in fact the process of cutting its tuber and then planting the pieces separately in soil to grow young plants. The specific steps are as follows:

a. Sterilizing tools

Wipe the cutting tool evenly once with medical alcohol, or soak the tool briefly in a 5% potassium permanganate dilute solution; this serves to disinfect and sterilize the tools used.

b. Cutting the tuber

First cut the tuber lengthwise into pieces according to the distribution of the buds, making sure each piece of tuber has at least one young shoot, and that it is an intact, healthy young shoot.

c. Disinfecting the wounds

After cutting the tuber, we need to use the previously prepared plant ash or sulfur powder to disinfect the wounds; generally simply apply the plant ash or sulfur directly to the wounds.

d. Potting and planting

Considering the permeability of the growing medium, plain sandy soil is recommended as the potting soil, because planting cyclamen tubers does not require fertile soil; fertile soil contains various impurities and therefore more easily causes wound infection. After treating the tuber wounds and letting them dry, we can plant these tubers in pots.

e. Care and management

After the cyclamen tubers are planted, with proper care and management afterwards, they will take root and sprout in about 1 month. When new leaves grow smoothly, we can repot and change the soil together with the corm and move into the normal care and management stage, and they can flower that same year.

[Cyclamen Sowing] Cyclamen Sowing Methods

Cyclamen likes warmth and fears heat, growing best in a cool environment and in fertile sandy loam rich in humus. Seed propagation is one of the common methods of propagating cyclamen; cyclamen seeds can only be obtained after artificial pollination, and the seeds generally mature in May and should be harvested promptly. Many people ask how to sow cyclamen and what the sowing method is. Below, the editor will explain it for everyone.

Analysis of Cyclamen Sowing

The sowing soil should preferably be sandy loam rich in humus, and can only be used after being sifted through a fine sieve. When sowing, first put the soil in the pot, spray thoroughly with a watering can, and once the water has completely seeped down, immediately spot-sow the seeds into the pot at a spacing of 1~1.5cm; after sowing, cover with 0.5cm of soil and cover with glass or plastic film to retain moisture, placing it in a semi-shaded spot at 20~22℃. When the potting soil is slightly dry, use the bottom-watering method to soak it thoroughly, keeping the potting soil constantly moist; under normal conditions seedlings emerge in about 20d.

After sifting, the potting soil is mixed as follows: 2 parts leaf mold, 2 parts garden soil, 5 parts fine yellow sand, 1 part rotted manure powder. When transplanting, keep as much of the small soil ball as possible and set the plant level with the soil surface; after transplanting, water thoroughly and place in a sunny spot indoors. Once the seedlings resume growth, water and fertilize promptly. Generally they will flower by the winter of the second year.

Cyclamen Sowing Methods

1. Soaking seeds in warm water: Cyclamen seeds are relatively large, with a thousand-seed weight of about 10g, and a germination rate of generally 85%~95%. To promote germination, the seeds can be soaked to speed up sprouting before sowing, either in cold water for 24h or in 30℃ warm water for 2~3h; if the water temperature is lower, the time can be extended appropriately, but not exceeding 24 hours. Then wash off the sticky matter on the seed surface, wrap them in a damp cloth to speed up sprouting, keeping them at 25℃ for 1~2d; once the seeds show slight movement they can be taken out and sown. Sowing time is generally September~October, and an ordinary flower pot is fine for sowing.

2. Bury appropriately deep: Cyclamen is a "light-avoiding" seed, and large-scale production often covers with black film to block light after sowing. My method is to bury the seeds 0.5~1cm in leaf mold. Covering with too little soil is not good for "removing the cap" (that is, the seed cannot shed its shell smoothly); covering too deep makes seedlings emerge too slowly and prone to rot;

3. Sow in autumn if possible: Cyclamen is best sown in September~October; if the indoor temperature in winter is above 15℃, sowing before New Year's Day is also fine, only the growth will be relatively slow. After New Year's Day it is recommended not to sow any more, otherwise even if the seeds germinate, because the temperature rises quickly, the seedlings will find it hard to survive the summer heat.

4. Transplanting seedlings: When the seedling leaves have fully unfolded, the first transplanting can be done. For transplanting, an ordinary flower pot can still be used, with the same potting soil as for sowing; the seedlings should be about 3cm apart, and after transplanting water thoroughly immediately with a watering can. Afterwards just keep the seedling pot moist. When the seedlings grow 3 leaves and the small corm reaches 5~6mm in diameter, divide and pot them up promptly. They can be transplanted directly as single plants into small pots with a 9cm diameter.

Office workers need to pay special attention: first, when going out on holiday without taking protective measures, the seedlings dry to death; second, soaking the pot at night before bed and forgetting to take it out, drowning the seedlings. When the seedlings grow two leaves, one transplanting into a nursery bed should be done. The nursery substrate is still leaf mold, and when covering with soil, ensure the upper third of the corm is exposed above the soil surface, which effectively prevents root rot. When the seedlings grow 3~4 round true leaves, they can be potted up for final planting.

The above is the article on cyclamen sowing methods. Cyclamen has a strong resistance to the toxic gas sulfur dioxide in the air. Its leaves can absorb sulfur dioxide and, through oxidation, convert it into non-toxic or low-toxicity substances such as sulfates. Cyclamen is suitable for potted ornamental display, can be placed indoors, and is especially suitable for decorating sunny shelves and desks in the home. Because of its beautiful, distinctive plant shape, abundant flowers and vivid colors, and the fact that some cultivars are fragrant, it is deeply favored by people.