How to grow blue plumbago (Plumbago auriculata)? Detailed growing methods and precautions

Last year I grew blue plumbago for the first time and had a small success. At the request of fellow gardeners, I am sharing my experience with everyone. The following points are my summary of how to grow blue plumbago, and I hope they will be helpful to fellow gardeners growing blue plumbago.

1. Growing environment: An L-shaped fully enclosed balcony, with the east side curved and the south side straight, each about 7 m long, with poor ventilation. The flowerpot is placed in the southeast corner of the balcony, where in summer the sun shines from 6 am to 12 noon.

2. The flowerpot is a porcelain pot costing 10 yuan, with an inner diameter of 20 cm and a height of 20 cm. The growing medium is a bag of commercial potting soil costing 15 yuan per bag. When planting, I mixed in about one third sandy loam soil, buried a little compound fertilizer and bone meal, and also prepared a homemade flower support.

3. The seedling was a seed-grown seedling bought online in October last year. The seedling was very slender, and despite looking frail, it produced its first flower in November.

4. After the first flowering, growth was slow. After entering the long winter, the seedling stopped growing. Spring came especially late in Changsha this year, and blue plumbago did not wake up until the end of March, then immediately entered a vigorous growth period.

5. After the seedling woke up, it produced three strong shoot buds that surged upward rapidly. At this point the homemade flower support came in handy. The flower support is made of three bamboo sticks each more than 1 m long and three wire rings. The first, second, and third wire rings are about 40 cm, 65 cm, and 95 cm above the ground respectively. The purpose of the flower support is to guide the seedling upward, and at the same time, as soon as any branch grows past a wire ring, it is immediately pinched back, until it reaches the next higher wire ring, where the same pinching measure is taken, until it grows past the third layer and is pinched back, only then is the pinching project officially declared finished.

6. Fertilizer: I used the Cuijun three treasures: Bilu, Biwang, and Bikaihua. Remember, before the plant's shape reaches the ideal condition, only Bilu can be used, applied once every 7 days by spraying and root drenching at a ratio of 0.2 percent. When the seedling grows to near the third wire ring, stop using Bilu and switch to Biwang and Bikaihua, alternating once a week. Once flower buds emerge, switch to Bikaihua once a week.

7. Watering: In the high-temperature summer season, water once in the morning and once in the evening each day.

8. If flower buds appear when the plant is still small, be sure to pinch them off; do not be reluctant to do so.

9. As long as you follow the above steps, haha, just wait for the scene of blue plumbago blooming explosively.

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