Countdown to the 35th Wuhan Golden Autumn Chrysanthemum Exhibition 2018: This is how you grow beautiful chrysanthemums
The 35th Wuhan Golden Autumn Chrysanthemum Exhibition (2018 Wuhan Golden Autumn Chrysanthemum Exhibition) is in countdown mode. Are you ready to keep the appointment for the chrysanthemum-viewing "gathering"?
Why are the chrysanthemums displayed at the 2018 Wuhan Chrysanthemum Exhibition so brightly colored and large-flowered, stunning everyone, while the chrysanthemums you grow at home are sparse and unsightly? Below, the editor shares some tips on growing chrysanthemums. Do these, and the chrysanthemums you grow at home can be as beautiful as those at the 2018 Wuhan Chrysanthemum Exhibition!
Pot and soil selection
For growing chrysanthemums, it is best to choose fertile sandy soil, starting with a small pot and then a larger one, repotting 2 to 3 times, and the pot can be fixed in July. For the final pot, a mixed soil can be made with 6 parts leaf mold, 3 parts sandy soil and 1 part cake fertilizer residue. After watering thoroughly, place it in a shady spot, and once the plant is growing normally, move it to a sunny spot.
Scientific water and fertilizer management
In the early stage, it is best to restrict water and control fertilizer, keeping the leaves from wilting as the limit, to prevent excessive growth. Along with watering, apply 5‰ urea as a foliar fertilizer to enlarge the leaves and improve the efficiency of photosynthesis.
Apply a light organic fertilizer solution once a week to ensure the nutrients needed for root growth. In autumn and winter, as the weather gradually turns cooler, increase the amount of fertilizer and water from light to concentrated, and at times use potassium dihydrogen phosphate as a supplementary foliar fertilizer to promote normal flower bud differentiation and budding.
Suitable light
Chrysanthemums are typical short-day flowers; only when the daily sunshine is relatively short do they form flower buds and bloom. When planting, generally the surviving chrysanthemum seedlings should gradually receive light, which helps the roots that absorb nutrients develop quickly. Under longer sunshine, they only grow stems and leaves and cannot form flower buds.
Generally, during the vegetative growth period they need 14.5 hours of sunshine per day, and during the flower bud differentiation period they need 12 hours of sunshine per day.
Timely pruning
Pinching can prevent chrysanthemum seedlings from growing too tall and becoming weak and spindly. Simply put, pinching can make the plant branch, effectively controlling plant height and shape, so it grows short and strong. When the seedling grows to the height of the pot rim and the soil is filled to 3 cm below the pot rim, pinch once, keeping two side buds near the top of each plant and removing all the rest.
When it is time to view chrysanthemums in golden October, the 2018 Wuhan Chrysanthemum Exhibition will also arrive as promised. Get your mood ready and let's go enjoy the chrysanthemums together!