Identification and Control of Flower Diseases and Common Irrigation Methods for Potted Flowers

The method for testing soil moisture in potted flowers is to press the potting soil with the index finger; if it sinks down to 1cm, it indicates that the soil moisture is suitable. If the flower pot feels lighter when moved, or if a wooden stick tapped on the side of the pot produces a crisp sound, it indicates that watering is needed. According to the biological characteristics of potted plants themselves, different watering methods should be used for different plants. Directly delivering irrigation water into the pot so that the root system first contacts and absorbs the water is the most common watering method for potted flowers. There are also several common watering methods for potted flowers: the immersion pot method, the watering can sprinkling method, and the fine-hole mist spraying method.

1. Pot Immersion

This is mostly used for sowing and seedling raising and for the period of transplanting into pots. First place the pot into water and let the water slowly seep in from bottom to top along the hole at the bottom of the pot until the surface of the potting soil appears moist, then take the pot out of the water. This method can not only allow the soil to absorb sufficient water, but also prevent the potting soil from becoming compacted, and it will not wash out the seeds or seedlings as direct watering would. Depending on weather conditions, this method can be carried out once every 2~3 days.

2. Sprinkling

This method sprinkles water evenly, makes it easy to control the amount of water, and can supply water in a planned way according to the actual needs of the plant. When sprinkling with a watering can, the first watering should be sufficient, until water is seen seeping out from the hole at the bottom of the pot. Sprinkling can not only lower the temperature and increase the relative air humidity, but also wash away dust on the leaf surface and improve the plant's photosynthetic efficiency.

3. Mist Spraying

This is a method of using a fine-hole watering can to turn water droplets into mist and spray them onto the leaf surface. This method helps increase air humidity, can also wash away dust on the leaf surface, and can also prevent heatstroke and lower the temperature. It is an effective watering method for some cuttings, newly potted plants, or tree-stump bonsai. Fully automatic mist spraying technology is an important method of water supply for large-scale seedling cultivation.

Potted flowers can also be given some special water management methods, such as spot watering, water withholding, flushing with clear water, and heavy watering. Spot watering is supplementary watering, that is, separately watering individual plants that lack water, without being limited by the normal watering time and frequency. Heavy watering refers to increasing the amount of watering during the peak growth season in combination with topdressing, so as to meet the needs of branch and leaf growth. Water withholding means suspending watering at a certain stage of plant growth to carry out drought hardening or appropriately reducing the frequency and amount of watering, such as "seedling hardening" at the seedling stage, and it is often used when root pruning wounds have not yet healed, during the flower bud differentiation stage, and before and after entering the greenhouse. Flushing with clear water is watering after fertilizing potted plants; it requires a large amount of water and must be watered thoroughly, because only a large amount and thorough watering can dilute the locally overly concentrated soil solution, so that the fertilizer nutrients can be evenly distributed in the soil and the phenomenon of "root burning" caused by locally overly concentrated fertilizer will not occur.