Master these 4 flower-growing tips, and you'll never have to fear killing your plants again
Many people often say they're the type who can kill even a cactus, and they have zero confidence in growing flowers - for example, root rot. Today, for those who love growing flowers, I'll share a few tips accumulated by countless veteran growers, for your reference.
1. For flowers to bloom well, fertilizer is essential
Never expect that a pot of flowers will stay exactly the way it looked when you brought it home, sitting there with no care, and keep looking that way forever. Just watering regularly is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of your flowers. If you want them to grow lush and bloom vibrantly, give them fertilizer at least once every 1-2 months. If you're lazy, you can buy some ready-made organic fertilizer, compound fertilizer, and the like to keep at home. If you're diligent, you can make some flower fertilizer yourself. Here are a few simple, effortless fertilizer recipes:
Rice washing water: the water from pre-washed, no-rinse rice actually has almost no effect. It's best to use the kind of rice from your rural hometown that's hulled yourself. Put the rice washing water in a container to ferment for about 1 month, then dilute it each time you use it to water your flowers. It does a great job promoting the growth of flowers and trees.
Peanut shells and walnut shells: wash them clean, sun-dry them, then mix them into the soil. They both improve soil aeration and serve as flower fertilizer.
2. Water with moderation
Even flowers of the same variety have different water needs in different homes, because the indoor environments differ. So how many days between waterings is not a hard-and-fast rule. Please decide your watering frequency based on your own home environment, temperature, and air humidity, and be sure to check at least once a week whether your flowers are short of water. The easiest way is to lift the pot yourself and feel its weight. If it's noticeably lighter, add water promptly. For large potted plants, just check whether the soil surface has turned pale?
3. Deal with pests and diseases promptly
The most annoying thing about growing flowers is running into pests and diseases. Don't expect your flowers to heal on their own. When you see pests or diseases on certain plants, promptly isolate them from healthy plants and treat the affected ones. If you're lazy, just buy the corresponding medication; if you're diligent, consider making some remedies yourself for prevention.
Cigarette butt solution: soak cigarette butts and tobacco shreds in hot water for a day or two. Once the water turns dark brown, sprinkle part of it on the stems and leaves, and dilute the rest to water into the flower pot. The ants will be wiped out.
Washing powder solution: dissolve one tablespoon of washing powder in 4 liters of water, and spray it on the leaves every two weeks. It can completely wipe out whiteflies and bacteria.
Milk solution: mix 4 cups of flour and half a cup of milk into 20 liters of water, stir, filter through gauze, then spray on the leaves. It can kill spider mites and their eggs.
So when buying flowers, be sure to choose plants suited to your actual light and ventilation conditions. Don't just haul everything home because it looks pretty. Some flowers love sun, some love shade. If your home doesn't get good light, try to choose plants that can survive well even with insufficient sunlight. For households with good light, choosing flowers is relatively easier. Be sure to choose based on your actual situation!
Three little secrets for growing flowers - from now on, no more yellow leaves or root rot
Why is it that even when growing flowers, some people's plants are truly thriving - leaves growing lush and green, flourishing beautifully all year round, with fat roots and sturdy leaves, blooming countless flowers, never getting yellow leaves, never getting root rot, and the potting soil never compacting. Yet others' plants grow thinner and thinner, until in the end only an empty pot is left. The editor has put together three little secrets for growing flowers - from now on, no more yellow leaves or root rot!
It turns outThe secret to potting soil that never compactsis this: if your family often eats peanuts and walnuts, you used to just throw the shells away, but later you collect them all. When planting flowers, place the peanut shells and walnut shells at the bottom of the pot before planting. Peanut shells and walnut shells can be broken into smaller pieces and mixed into the soil for even better results. This way the soil is both airy and well-draining, so the potting soil won't compact for ten years. Its roots grow well, and naturally the flowers grow well too! You have plenty of these things at home, so there's no need to buy clay pebbles or anything like that. You can also place some brick and tile pieces at the bottom of the pot. This little detail lets the plant's roots breathe smoothly, grow vigorously, and bloom often.
Some flower-growing friends seem to have filled a whole balcony with flowers without spending money - of course, because they know how topropagate by cuttings. In their hands, a single stem segment can become a new potted plant. But that doesn't mean you'll be able to get your cuttings to root. The reason is?
The secret to successful flower cuttings, according to a flower friend: when taking cuttings of hydrangea, bougainvillea, spider plant, begonia, and so on, don't plant them in a separate pot. Instead, take the cuttings in a pot where plants are already growing. This makes it easier for them to survive, root, and sprout! There are several reasons: watering is easier to control - they won't dry out, and they won't get waterlogged; second, the other plants provide shade, so rooting is faster.
Why is it that potted plants bought from the flower and bird market start out so fresh and lush, yet within a month they're alwaysdropping leaves, turning yellow, and withering？
A flower friend revealed: when you bring home a bought potted flower, you must dump out the soil and replace it. Even if you didn't buy the kind of greenhouse-grown flower with a soil ball, you should still remove the soil ball.
Soak it in clean water for three hours, then replant it with fresh soil. After planting, water it thoroughly once - this is also called the settling water. Only then can it adapt to your home environment and grow more and more vigorously.
A flower-growing tycoon shares practical flower-growing tips - learn these and you'll become an expert grower
In the process of growing flowers, fellow growers always run into this or that problem, and sometimes it really catches us off guard. Actually, many problems that come up in flower growing can be solved with just a few little tips. For this reason, I specifically went to ask a flower farmer about some of these tips, and I'll share them with you here. Just sharing - whether they suit you still depends on your own actual situation. If you like them, take a look:
1. If indoor flowers are fertilized with a fermented solution, it will give off an unpleasant smell. If you put orange peel into the fertilizer liquid, the smell will disappear. At the same time, the orange peel itself is an excellent fertilizer.
2. Use a baking soda solution to water your flowers. For home flower growing, when the flowers are about to bloom, water them with a baking soda solution at a concentration of one part in ten thousand, and it will promote abundant blooming.
3. For northern households growing southern flowers, you can mix an appropriate amount of rice vinegar (choose the salt-free kind) into the water when watering the potting soil. This can promote the absorption of elements like phosphorus and iron and prevent yellowing of the leaves and branches.
4. Soy milk makers have become common in today's households, and many people make homemade soy milk for breakfast. The okara left over from grinding soy milk is an excellent fertilizer. It is non-alkaline and still contains a considerable amount of protein, various vitamins, carbohydrates, and so on. After being processed, it is most suitable for the growth of flower seedlings.
Put the okara into a container, add 10 times its volume of clean water, and let it ferment (about 10 days in summer, about 20 days in spring and autumn). Then add another 10 times its volume of clean water and mix evenly. Use it to water various potted flowers - the results are good.
5. Using beer to water flowers can make them grow vigorously, with green leaves and bright blooms, and it is absorbed especially quickly. Method: mix beer and water evenly at a ratio of 1:50, then water the flowers.
6. Wipe flower leaves (such as pothos and lucky bamboo) with beer. This can make the leaves even more emerald green and glossy, and the leaves will also appear thicker and more substantial in texture. Method: dip absorbent cotton or a clean soft cloth in beer and gently wipe the leaves.
7. After milk spoils, add water and use it to water flowers - it benefits the growth of the flowers. But it's best to add plenty of water. Unfermented milk should not be used to water flowers, because during fermentation it produces a large amount of heat, which will "burn" the roots (root rot).
8. Collect the onion skins you peel off. Take 10 grams of onion skin, tear it into pieces, and soak it in 2 liters of water at about 40-45°C. After soaking for a week, the onion skin liquid is a good flower fertilizer containing multiple trace elements.
9. The bran in rice washing water is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and various other trace elements. Applying rice washing water is very beneficial to the growth of flowers and trees. Rice washing water must be fermented before it can be used to water flowers - about half a month sealed in summer, and more than 20 days in other seasons. When using rice washing water on flowers, it must be diluted, otherwise it is harmful to the flowers' growth. Rice washing water has an acidic reaction, and regular application can help acid-loving flowers grow well. Rice washing water also contains phosphorus, which can promote flower bud differentiation and ensure blooming and fruiting.