What are the precautions for growing flowers in summer?

Growing potted flowers is not like growing flowers in the wild, where they can be left to fend for themselves, because most potted flowers are used to beautify the home. If potted flowers become wilted because of the high summer temperatures, they will not serve their original purpose, so during cultivation you must make sure to provide proper care.

I. Key points for summer management of potted flowers

1. Light must be appropriate: First of all, you must consider that summer is the height of the hot season, with a blazing sun, and many flowers cannot adapt to such excessively high temperatures. Generally, flowers that like sufficient light, such as Chinese rose, pomegranate, osmanthus, jasmine, plum blossom, and cacti, should be placed in a sunny spot for care after being moved outdoors in spring, but by midsummer they also need to be moved to a slightly shaded place to prevent strong light from scorching them. Generally, shade-loving or strongly shade-loving flowers, such as orchids, Monstera deliciosa, spider plant, ferns, and clivia, should be kept in summer in a well-ventilated place with dappled light under shade. You can also use reeds or bamboo blinds to build a shade shed and place the flower pots under it for care. In this way, the light intensity can be reduced, which is beneficial to the healthy growth of the flowers.

2. Prune in time: After many flowers enter summer, they tend to grow leggy, which affects flowering and fruiting. To keep the plant shape attractive and produce more flowers and larger fruit, timely pruning is needed. Summer pruning usually mainly consists of pinching, bud removal, leaf removal, thinning of flower buds, thinning of fruit, and cutting off leggy branches and spent flower stalks. After the start of summer is a good time for shaping flowers such as poinsettia, ornamental peach, and crown of thorns by bending and training.

3. Prevent and control diseases and pests early: Common diseases in summer include powdery mildew, anthracnose, gray mold, leaf spot, bacterial soft rot, viral diseases, and nematode disease. Flowers harmed by the above pathogens may, in mild cases, grow poorly and lose ornamental value, and in severe cases, the whole plant may wither and die, so pesticide spraying for prevention and control is needed early. There are also many common pests in summer, commonly including aphids, red spider mites, whiteflies, and scale insects. These pests often gather on leaves, tender stems, flower buds, branches, and trunks, sucking the sap from the flowers, causing leaves to turn yellow and curl, and leading to yellowing and dropping of branches and leaves. Therefore, timely prevention and control are also needed.

4. Lower the temperature, increase humidity, and water and fertilize reasonably: Summer temperatures are high and water evaporates quickly. Moisture-loving flowers such as narcissus, Monstera deliciosa, and calla lily require sufficient water; for moisture-loving flowers such as Milan, jasmine, oleander, and hibiscus, under normal conditions, water once in the morning and water thoroughly once in the evening.

5. Cuttings and sowing: Summer is a good time for cuttings of evergreen flowering shrubs, such as jasmine, azalea, and Milan. During the dog days, it is very suitable for bud grafting and approach grafting of ornamental peach, white orchid, plum blossom, and other flowers. For some annual herbaceous flowers, sowing can also be done in summer, such as pansy and cineraria. If sown in July, they can bloom after National Day.

II. How should flowers be shaded in summer?

First, shading flowers is mainly to prevent rain and help lower the temperature. All flowers under large-scale production should be grown within facilities, avoiding open-air cultivation as much as possible.

The high temperatures, blazing sun, and showers of summer can easily cause flowers to become diseased, scorched, and die. On clear summer days, the light intensity at noon will exceed the suitable light intensity for ordinary flowers by 1-2 times. If certain measures are not taken, most flowers will lose water and be scorched. Therefore, in summer flower production, appropriate shading should generally be used.

In addition to reducing the impact of direct light, shading also has the effect of significantly lowering the temperature. According to tests, shading can generally reduce the air temperature in a greenhouse by 4-5°C. Plastic shade nets can generally be used for shading; external shading works better than internal shading, and silver shade nets work better than black shade nets.

Shade nets all have certain specifications. In addition to size, there is also the shading rate. The specific shading rate to use should be determined according to the light requirements of the flowers.

The above is an introduction to the precautions for growing flowers in summer. When growing flowers in summer, the issue that requires attention again and again is mainly high temperature, because high temperature can cause phenomena such as excessive light and overly rapid water evaporation for plants, so you must pay attention to high-temperature prevention measures during cultivation.