Flower Seed Sowing Management Methods and Edible Mushroom Disease Prevention and Control Techniques

Home flower growing generally uses pot sowing. Sowing is generally not limited by season and can be done as needed, but plants such as cineraria and calceolaria are mainly sown in autumn.

When sowing, choose a new or clean wide-mouthed shallow pan or wooden box, cover the drainage hole at the bottom with a tile piece, lay a layer of coarse sand or furnace ash about 3 cm thick as a drainage and aeration layer, then add medium-coarse culture soil (commonly prepared by mixing one part each of garden soil, leaf mold, and rice husk ash), and place 3-4 cm of finer culture soil on the top layer. Each time a layer of culture soil is added, gently shake the flower pot to settle the soil. Finally, use a bamboo strip to scrape the soil surface flat and remove larger particles. The final soil surface should be about 2 cm below the pot rim, and then sowing can begin. For very small seeds, such as those of begonia, calceolaria, and gloxinia, to prevent the seeds from overlapping during sowing, the seeds can be mixed evenly with fine soil before sowing. The covering depth should be just enough that the seeds are no longer visible. After sowing extremely fine seeds, it is only necessary to make them closely contact the pot soil; no covering soil is needed.

General seeds are mostly sown by broadcasting, that is, the seeds are evenly scattered over the pot soil, and the covering soil thickness is about 2 times the seed diameter. Large seeds such as clivia and cyclamen can be sown by dibbling, sowing 1-2 seeds per hole at a certain spacing, with a somewhat thicker soil cover.

Regardless of the sowing method used, after sowing, level the soil surface with a small wooden board or by hand and press gently so that the seeds make close contact with the pot soil. Finally, water by the immersion method, that is, place the sown flower pot into a larger basin containing water, with the water level about 5 cm below the pot soil surface. When the pot soil is completely moistened, take out the flower pot, place it in a semi-shaded area, and cover the pot surface with glass or kraft paper and plastic film to keep it warm and moist, so as to promote germination. After the pot soil dries slightly, water again by the immersion method. After the seeds germinate, remove the covering and gradually increase the light duration. After the seedlings grow 2 true leaves, use a small bamboo strip to transplant the seedlings with soil into prepared pots. After the seedlings recover, apply a thin fertilizer. After some more time, transplant the seedlings into small pots with a diameter of about 8 cm, and repot again after the plants grow slightly larger.