Conditions for New Guinea Impatiens to Bloom in All Four Seasons and Flowering-Period Care Methods

New Guinea Impatiens has the characteristics of producing more flowers and a longer flowering period than ordinary domestic impatiens, and it is more tolerant of partial shade, so it is more suitable for indoor cultivation. Below, the editor will share with you how to cultivate New Guinea Impatiens so that its flowering period is longer and its flowers fill the pot?

The flowering period of New Guinea Impatiens

The flowering period of impatiens is very long, and it can bloom from spring to autumn, which is also the reason it is suitable for indoor cultivation. During cultivation, as long as we manage it well, we can make its flowering period longer, with continuous blooming and bright flower colors.

Key care points for New Guinea Impatiens

New Guinea Impatiens is a lower-layer plant in tropical rainforests. It likes warmth, is not tolerant of high temperatures, cold, drought, or waterlogging, and belongs to the rather delicate plants (but the flowering period is long, the flowers are beautiful, and we like them, so we still have to grow them; good looks are justice). Based on the above characteristics, we should pay attention to the following issues during care.

1. Temperature requirements for New Guinea Impatiens

New Guinea Impatiens likes warmth and is suitable for temperatures of 25-30 degrees, but it is not tolerant of high temperatures. It will go dormant when the temperature exceeds 30 degrees, so in summer when the temperature is high, we should carry out shading, misting, and other cooling work.

It is not tolerant of cold, so in winter we must cultivate it at above 10 degrees.

2. Light requirements for New Guinea Impatiens

Although New Guinea Impatiens is shade-tolerant, it also needs appropriate light during the flowering period, which is good for the formation of its flower buds. This is also an important condition for making it bloom more and have bright flower colors!

3. Light requirements for New Guinea Impatiens

New Guinea Impatiens is neither tolerant of waterlogging nor drought, and likes a humid environment. Special attention must be paid to watering. It cannot be missed or overwatered. If watering is missed for one day, it may wilt; if overwatered, water may accumulate and cause root rot, because its root system is also quite fragile, so loose soil is needed so that water does not easily accumulate.

Usually we can mist the leaf surface more and sprinkle some water around the plant to ensure a humid environment for it.

4. Fertilization methods for New Guinea Impatiens

During the growth period and flowering season, New Guinea Impatiens needs additional phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Because its flowering period is long, fertilizer can be added during the flowering period to ensure sufficient nutrients and provide full conditions for its blooming.

The above are the flowering-period care methods for New Guinea Impatiens. For more information, please continue to follow Huayugu Web!

Cultivation points for New Guinea Impatiens

If New Guinea Impatiens is in an environment with suitable temperature, it can bloom continuously throughout the year. New Guinea Impatiens is a horticultural hybrid variety with bright colors. It should be noted that New Guinea Impatiens is afraid of cold, and if it encounters frost, the whole plant will wither.

New Guinea Impatiens

1. Light and temperature:New Guinea Impatiens likes warmth and sufficient light, is not tolerant of cold, and avoids exposure to blazing sun. The suitable growth temperature is around 20 degrees. If it exceeds 25°C, the flowers will become smaller. If it exceeds 30°C, the relative humidity must be increased so that the plant can continue to grow. When the temperature is relatively low, plant growth pauses, and if the temperature drops below 7°C, it will suffer cold damage.

2. Soil mixing:It likes moisture and fears drought, and avoids waterlogging. When water is insufficient, it easily causes flower and leaf drop. It has strong adaptability to soil, and the pH value should be controlled between 5.5 and 6.5. It is advisable to use leaf mold, vegetable garden soil, and sand mixed at 5:3:2 to form a loose, fertile, well-aerated sandy culture soil. The pot should not be too large. The pot soil should be watered by the see-dry-see-wet method: water as soon as it is dry, and stop when water flows out from the bottom of the pot. Waterlogging will rot the roots, and excessive dryness will cause branches and leaves to wither and drop. The most important part of home care is maintaining a certain air humidity, and it is advisable to mist the plant often.

3. Fertilization:New Guinea Impatiens has a long flowering period and usually needs many nutrients. During the seedling stage, a little nitrogen fertilizer can be applied appropriately. During the growth period and flowering period, a nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium compound fertilizer should be applied once every 10 to 15 days. Do not apply nitrogen fertilizer alone, otherwise there will be many leaves and few flowers. If fertilizer accidentally gets on the leaves during fertilization, spray water in time to wash it off.

Greenhouse pot cultivation of New Guinea Impatiens

New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri) is a plant in the Balsaminaceae family, Impatiens genus. It has rich flower colors, including red, white, pink, and bicolor, with bright and cheerful colors, a full and rounded plant shape, blooms in all four seasons, has a long flowering period, and unique leaf color and leaf shape. It is widely used for flowerbed arrangements, hanging cultivation, and so on. Especially as a potted flower supplied year-round, it is quite popular in European and American markets, and market sales are increasing rapidly. New varieties appear every year, not only with richer flower colors, but also with improvements in plant stress resistance, disease resistance, and other aspects.

China began introducing ornamental varieties of New Guinea Impatiens in the early 1990s and promoted them to the market as fashionable potted flowers. They are increasingly favored by people, in short supply, and have broad market prospects.

Production of rooted seedlings

New Guinea Impatiens seeds are usually difficult to obtain. Except for F1 hybrids propagated by seed, almost all are propagated by cuttings. Flower producers can obtain New Guinea Impatiens cuttings through various channels, but they must ensure that they are high-quality propagation material free of pests and diseases.

Selection of cuttings: Choose well-grown plants free of pests and diseases as mother plants, specifically used for cutting cuttings. Tip cuttings 2-2.5cm long with terminal buds are the best propagation material, and they are required to have no more than 2 fully unfolded leaves and 3-4 not fully unfolded leaves. Leave 1.0-1.3cm of stem below the lowest leaf so that it can be inserted into the substrate. The cutting density should be such that the leaves of the cuttings do not cover each other. If the cuttings have already produced flower buds, all flower buds should be removed, or they should be discarded. When domestic propagation of New Guinea Impatiens by cuttings is carried out, cuttings are sometimes as long as 6-7cm, or even more than 10cm, causing difficulties in mother plant care and wasting propagation material. In addition, longer cuttings have a higher degree of maturity and may have already completed flower bud differentiation, making rooting difficult, and they are more likely to carry various pests and diseases, disrupting the uniformity of plant growth. Cuttings should be inserted as soon as they are cut. If they cannot be inserted in time, they should be placed in an open bag and continuously misted. The rooting rate of New Guinea Impatiens cuttings is close to 100%, and rooting hormone treatment is generally not needed.

All items related to cutting need to be kept clean, and everything that comes into contact with the cuttings needs to be disinfected. Cutting tools can be soaked in 10% medical disinfectant for 60 minutes, or disinfected with 10% household bleach for 30 minutes.

Cutting substrate

A variety of cutting substrates can be used, such as peat soil, vermiculite, perlite, plain sand, and so on, but all substrates must have good drainage and relatively high air permeability. Practice has proved that peat soil and vermiculite mixed at a 1:1 volume ratio is very suitable for rooting New Guinea Impatiens cuttings. The soluble salt content of the cutting substrate should be lower than 0.75mmhos/cm (EC=0.75ms/cm), and the pH value should be maintained between 5.5 and 6.5.

Environmental conditions

During cutting, the light intensity should be controlled at around 250μmol/m2.s. After rooting, the light intensity can be increased to around 400μmol/m2.s to increase root growth speed. The daytime temperature is 24℃, and the night temperature is controlled at 21℃-22℃. The most suitable substrate temperature for rooting is 22℃-24℃, preferably by bottom heating. If indoor full-light mist cutting is used, depending on the weather, the misting frequency decreases from 5 seconds every 15 minutes on sunny days to 5 seconds every two hours on cloudy days; there is no need to mist at night, otherwise it is unfavorable for growth. If small arched tunnels are used for cutting, mist 1-2 times a day, ventilate appropriately during the day, and cover at night. Under conditions of high temperature and high humidity, callus tissue forms in 5-7 days; after 10-14 days the root length reaches 0.6cm, and the misting frequency is reduced to once every half hour; after 3-4 weeks, the roots grow to a sufficient length and can be transplanted into pots. No fertilization is needed during cutting. After the cutting roots grow to a sufficient length, they should be transplanted into pots immediately, otherwise the free development of the roots will be restricted.

Production of finished flowers

Cultivation substrate

The cultivation substrate for New Guinea Impatiens requires good drainage and aeration, but its water retention should be slightly better than the cultivation substrate of other flowers, because all its varieties need a large amount of water and cannot be allowed to wilt. A substrate with relatively high water retention can provide sufficient water for its normal growth. During production, peat soil and perlite are generally mixed at a ratio of 2-3:1 as the cultivation substrate, and an appropriate amount of vermiculite, fermented bark, sawdust, rock wool, and so on can also be added according to actual conditions.

When preparing the cultivation substrate, use lime to adjust the pH value to 5.8 to 6.2. For each cubic meter of substrate, 2 kg of superphosphate can be added, along with a small amount of trace element compound fertilizer. The pH value of the cultivation substrate cannot be lower than 5.8, otherwise it easily causes trace element toxicity.

Fertilizer and water management

In a greenhouse with relatively good conditions, it is best to provide fertilizer and water by drip irrigation. Before the plant canopy reaches the edge of the cultivation container, do not fertilize or fertilize only a little. When fertilizing, the concentrations of nitrogen fertilizer and potassium fertilizer should be roughly equal. If superphosphate is used in the cultivation substrate, the concentration of nitrogen and potassium fertilizer is 150ppm to 200ppm; otherwise, fertilization should contain 50-75ppm of phosphorus. Some data show that when the N fertilizer concentration is 12mmol/L (about 170ppm), New Guinea Impatiens grows fastest. New Guinea Impatiens absorbs different amounts of nitrogen at different growth stages. In the early stage, it does not require much nitrogen, but in the later growth stage (after 40-70 days), it requires sufficient nitrogen fertilizer supply. The total nitrogen absorbed during its entire growth period is 0.5 grams per plant, and the absorption of nitrate nitrogen (Nitrate-N) is greater than that of ammonium nitrogen (Ammonium-N). Too much ammonium nitrogen often leads to leaf and flower bud drop. Therefore, during management, nitrate nitrogen should be mainly used. If fertilizer cannot be applied every time watering is done, then it should be ensured that a nutrient solution is applied once after every three waterings, with the concentration: N300-350ppm, P100ppm, K300-350ppm. New Guinea Impatiens likes lower-concentration fertilizer. Practice has proved that when the electrical conductivity (EC) of the nutrient solution exceeds 1.5mS/cm, the plant grows poorly. If the substrate salinity is too high, the leaves become narrow, small, curled, and not stretched out, root growth is inhibited, and they may even rot, but if fertilizer is lacking, the leaf color becomes mottled. New Guinea Impatiens is relatively sensitive to trace elements. Excessive trace elements cause toxicity, causing necrotic spots on lower leaves or leaf margins, dieback or rot of the shoot tip, and impaired development of upper leaves. Magnesium deficiency is very common in New Guinea Impatiens and can be treated by applying magnesium sulfate once a month, at a concentration of 600 grams of magnesium sulfate per 100L of water.

When fertilizer and water management conditions are good, New Guinea Impatiens plant leaves are bright, thick, firm, and stretched out, and the leaf area is large; otherwise the leaves are thin and shrunken, and the plant grows slowly.

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