How do you grow orange jasmine (Aglaia odorata)? A brief guide to orange jasmine cultivation methods

Orange jasmine is a type of flowering plant that many flower lovers enjoy growing at home. Below, we give a comprehensive Q&A-style explanation of orange jasmine.

1. Why do so many flower lovers like to keep a pot of orange jasmine indoors?

It is a symbol of bravery and passion, and it is also a flowering plant that people love; when it blooms, its fragrance is striking. As an edible flower, it can be used to extract essence. Potted orange jasmine can be displayed in the living room, study and porch; it is fresh and elegant, and soothing to body and mind. In southern courtyards, orange jasmine is also an excellent landscape tree. Placed in a room, it can absorb sulfur dioxide and chlorine from the air and purify the air.

2. What key points should be noted in the daily care of orange jasmine?

It likes a warm, humid environment with plenty of sunlight, is not cold-tolerant, and is slightly shade-tolerant. The best soil is loose, fertile, slightly acidic soil, and the winter temperature should not be lower than 10°C. Orange jasmine likes humidity, and watering during the growing period should be moderate. If watered too much, it easily causes root rot, and leaves turn yellow, dry up and fall off; if watered too much during the flowering period, it easily causes flowers and buds to drop; if watered too little, it will cause the leaf edges to dry up and buds to wither. Therefore, when summer temperatures are high, in addition to watering 1-2 times a day, also frequently spray and wash the branches and leaves with clean water and sprinkle water on the ground where it is placed to increase air humidity. At the same time, fertilizing should also be appropriate. Because orange jasmine blooms many times within a year, after each bloom it should promptly be given 2-3 additional applications of fully decomposed dilute liquid fertilizer, so that it can bloom continuously and have a rich fragrance. Orange jasmine likes acidic soil, and for potting, a growing medium based mainly on leaf mold should be chosen. During the vigorous growth period, spray once a week with 0.2% ferrous sulfate solution. For potted orange jasmine seedlings, pay attention to shading, and strictly avoid strong direct sunlight. After the seedlings grow new leaves, fertilize once every 2 weeks, but the amount of watering must be controlled, and it should not be too wet. Apart from shading at noon in midsummer, it should receive plenty of sunlight; in this way, orange jasmine will not only bloom more often, but its fragrance will also be richer. In areas north of the Yangtze River, it must be moved indoors for care in winter. Common diseases and pests include leaf spot, anthracnose and sooty mold, which can be sprayed with 70% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at 1000 times dilution. Pests include mites, aphids and scale insects. Mites and aphids can be killed with pesticides such as yamancha, yakesi and yamanjing. Scale insects can be killed with neonicotinoid insecticides., then the leaves will be green and the flowers abundant.

3. What are the key technical points for growing orange jasmine in northern regions?

Orange jasmine originates from China's Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan and Yunnan, as well as Southeast Asia and other places, and belongs to the subtropical tree species. It likes a mild and humid climate. Because orange jasmine is a southern plant, cultivating it in Beijing, especially indoors, is somewhat difficult. It needs careful care. Your orange jasmine is dropping leaves; because I am not on site, the causes may be many-sided, such as soil pH, water pH, and fertilizer problems.

Some technical points for growing orange jasmine in the north are given below: in the north, orange jasmine is mostly planted with peat, leaf mold plus coarse sandy soil. At home, you can use (old) clivia soil and plain coarse sandy soil mixed half and half as the growing medium. Do not use too large a pot, and do not add alkaline fertilizer to the soil; the bottom of the pot should be lined with a good drainage layer. After the seedlings are planted, first place them under deep shade for care. When the weather is dry, spray water daily on the leaves and the ground around them to keep the environment humid. After new leaves grow, move it to filtered shade, and afterward gradually adapt it to strong light; then the flowers will be more fragrant.

For flower seedlings potted in spring, start topdressing around the Beginning of Autumn, preferably with dilute organic liquid fertilizer. From the second year on, during the peak growing season, apply organic liquid fertilizer once every 20 days. If it can be applied alternately with a mixed solution of 0.1% urea and 0.2% monopotassium phosphate, the flowers and leaves will appear even more luxuriant.

The potting soil should always remain moist; do not miss watering and let it dry out, but it also must not be waterlogged and wet for a long time. If placed indoors, strengthen ventilation, and rotate it outdoors about every 15 days. In winter, when moved indoors, it needs sufficient sunlight, and the minimum room temperature must not be lower than 8°C. Control water and stop fertilizing, and at the same time pay attention to opening and closing doors and windows to avoid direct cold wind and smoke and dust pollution. Prevent damage from scale insects and sooty mold. In North China, after the dry winds from late April to early May have passed, move it outdoors for care. Orange jasmine can be repotted once every two years.

Orange jasmine should be pruned and shaped starting from the seedling stage, keeping a section of main trunk 15 cm to 20 cm high; do not let the main branches grow in a cluster from the soil surface. Instead, prune and branch above the 15 cm high main trunk, so that the plant shape is full. The lower branches of perennial old plants often age and die. Therefore, in the north it is advisable to shorten-prune once every other year during the high-temperature season, to encourage adventitious buds on the lower part of the main branches to sprout and grow new side branches, thereby maintaining a well-proportioned tree shape, strong tree vigor, and abundant leaves and flowers.