Zinnia - outdoor cultivation and care
Content:
Zinnia is a flower with an attractive appearance. The popular name is "major". It is a perennial or annual plant that is a low-growing shrub with many or one bud. The flower belongs to the Aster family and came from southern Mexico - the homeland of cacti. A lush flower requires special care in terms of care at every stage of development, flowering and growth.
Zinnia - outdoor cultivation and care
There is a huge variety of varieties of majors, each of which has its own characteristics in terms of color, bush height and bud shape. The petals can be any color: red, blue, pink, yellow, orange, mixed, and even lavender.
Blooming zinnia
If we consider the botanical description, then zinnia is a shrub or herbaceous plant with the shape of a basket at a flower. There are perennial and annual varieties that are actively used to decorate plots and flower beds.
Flower in the garden
Zinii: planting and care in the open field
Zinnia, whose cultivation and care in the open field has its own nuances and difficulties, is always pleasing to the eye and attracts attention due to the presence of lush inflorescences. This result can only be achieved through painstaking and constant care.
What is needed for landing
The flower will look attractive and bloom profusely in the future, if you do not make mistakes from the very beginning, namely during the planting process. Therefore, landing is impossible without such devices:
- garden shovel;
- substrate;
- watering cans;
- measuring tape.
Gardening Tools
Additionally, you may need an ordinary shovel to sow seedlings.
Choosing the best place: zinnia in a flower bed
Zinnia in a flowerbed can take any place, as it gets along well with any similar crops and even undersized shrubs. But you need to choose a place based on the lighting. You should not plant the plant in flower beds that are in the open sun all day. In the hottest part of the day, partial shade should fall on the flowers. The presence of drafts or a space closed from the air is also not the best option.
Place in the flowerbed
Step-by-step planting process
So that there are no questions as to why the major does not bloom or the plant does not develop well, you need to correctly plant the planting procedure.
You can plant zinnia in this way:
- Prepare the garden bed in advance. Apply organic fertilizers in small amounts. Loosen the soil well.
- Use a garden trowel to make indentations in the soil.
- Place lumps of peat and substrate in the formed pits.
- Moisten the soil by watering it abundantly.
Planting zinnia
Zinnia care tips
Zinnia flowers are quite capricious in terms of care and require a lot of attention and care.Watering, feeding, removing weeds and loosening the soil should be done strictly on schedule. If everything is done correctly and in a timely manner, then the flower bed will delight you with lush flowering.
Major
Watering mode
Zinnia is quite demanding for watering. Majors are very fond of moisture. But watering must meet the following criteria:
- It is worth watering the plant 2 times a week. The schedule should be fixed.
- It is advisable to make abundant watering, which guarantees the ingress of moisture 20-30 cm deep into the soil.
- After each watering, it is imperative to loosen the soil to ensure the flow of air to the root system.
Features of watering zinnia
If irrigation is carried out correctly and according to the schedule, then the root system will not rot, and the plant will receive enough moisture for development and flowering.
How to feed zinnia for growth and flowering
To get a lush bright bush, you need to know how to feed the zinnia for growth and flowering. Majors spend a lot of nutrients from the soil to support growth and flowering, which is why you need to follow the following feeding rules:
- Apart from feeding at the time of growing seedlings, after planting in open ground, after 10 days, you can add compost or humus.
- Additionally, superphosphates, potassium sulfate or nitrophosphate are added. Dilute the substances in water. The proportion is equal to 1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water.
- Do not overuse fertilizers, otherwise there will be a syndrome of gigantism without flowering or rotting of the root system.
Fertilizers should be applied regularly, but in small portions. Feeding becomes more frequent only during the flowering period.
Do I need to pinch the zinnia
First, you need to decide under what conditions you need to pinch the plant. It is impossible to cut off the tops of tall majors, which are intended for bouquets. If this is done, then the plant will actively develop lateral shoots, which means that several pedicels can form on the top of one trunk.
Pinching seedlings
If there are no restrictions, then pinching the zinnia is a must in the framework of quality care. If you do not cut the top of the bush, then it will begin to dry. This endangers the life of the entire specimen.
The procedure can be carried out even in room conditions, when the plants have already been dived and after that more than 5 days have passed, then you can cut off the top leaving 5 lower leaves.
Pinching an adult plant
Pinching can be done after 10 days of planting in open ground. It is enough to pinch off the top of the bushes with your fingers. If you skip the period for the procedure, then you can not wait for flowering at all, since the flower will recover for a long time.
Features of care during the flowering period
During the period when the zinnia blooms, you need to make a weekly feeding in a small amount. Liquid mineral fertilizers are ideal. During the flowering period of zinnia, care requires especially careful care, in addition to fertilizing, you need to monitor the degree of wilting of the buds and remove them in time.
Features of care during the rest period
The preparation for the rest of zinnia, planting and care in the open field, which was carried out according to all the rules, consists of the following aspects:
- feeding stops;
- watering is reduced to 1 time per week;
- all wilted parts of the trunk are cut off.
Other manipulations are carried out depending on the condition of the bush.
Preparing for winter
Zinnia, cultivated in accordance with the rules, requires attention before wintering:
- it is necessary to cut off the above-ground part, leaving a few cm from the ground;
- loosen the ground at the base of the aboveground part;
- cover the soil with leaves poured with thorns from Christmas trees;
- lay the material with a windproof base on top.
Perennial plant in a flowerpot
Usually, perennial varieties are transplanted into flowerpots, which in turn are installed in warm rooms.
Zinnia: annual or perennial
In our country, mainly annual varieties are grown, which bloom violently in the summer and die with the onset of frost. Florists collect seeds from such specimens, which are used for plant propagation. Thus, the life cycle of an annual continues from year to year.
Reproduction of zinnia
Perennial is quite rare. Such a specimen can grow only in flowerpots on the street in the summer and in a greenhouse in winter. Perennial majors can be an excellent decoration for a greenhouse or winter garden.
Zinia breeding methods
Zinnia reproduces exclusively in a generative way (seeds). If you properly care for the planting material and observe all germination norms, then in a few weeks you can get not only a good, but also a diverse harvest.
Propagation by cuttings
Some growers try to propagate the majors at home by grafting. The option is not suitable for this flower culture. The condition for the development of roots from a branch is not met. Most likely, the cutting will simply dry out or rot.
Zinnia: growing from seed
The method of reproduction of a flower by seeds is the best option. The plant develops normally, blooms on time, and the buds are large and lush. The seedlings will grow and develop better if they are initially sown in boxes, and not in open ground.
When to plant zinnia seeds for seedlings
Sowing in boxes is done in late March or early April. The most laborious and time consuming is the preparation of the seed and its germination (2-3 weeks). It is necessary that the room temperature is 19-22 ℃ above zero. Lighting and watering should be moderate. Then, after 5-6 days, the first shoots will appear.
Seeds for planting
After the first germination, you can sow the seeds, which will germinate a little later. Thanks to this technique, you can get seedlings of different ages. This will become relevant during flowering, when the timing of each specimen will be different due to different sowing times.
What does zinnia seedlings look like
After germinating the seeds, you can observe the first sprouts, which outwardly resemble cucumbers or tomatoes, but with rounder and denser leaves. After the third sheet appears, you need to make a pick - put each copy in a hotel container.
Zinnia seedlings
Further cultivation of seedlings will be done individually for each specimen. After picking, you can start hardening the seedlings. It is enough to take out the planting material 2-4 times a week to the street or balcony. The time of such hardening starts from 10 minutes and each time increases by 5 minutes.
Planting zinnia seedlings in open ground
The ideal time for planting on a flower bed is spring, namely the end of May. The main thing is that it is warm outside, and the seedlings are well seasoned. Regarding planting, there are several important points, non-observance of which can lead to the death or poor harvest of flowers.
Grown zinnia for seedlings, when to plant in a flower bed and how:
- First, you need to decide which variety is being grown - undersized or tall.
- If this is a tall variety, then the distance between the seedlings should be at least 40 cm.
- When planting low-growing plants, the gap can be maintained at 20 cm.
Planting seedlings
The distance between the rows should be 30 and 15 cm, respectively. Before planting, you need to prepare the soil - prepare the correct substrate and feed the soil. Choose a sunny spot and form shallow holes or beds. If everything is done correctly, then in 10-12 weeks the dacha will be full of all the colors of the rainbow.
Zinnia disease: how to treat
To grow a healthy flower, you need to prepare to defend it from diseases and pests. The most common problems are:
- Fungi - root rot, fusarium, powdery mildew. Fungicide (Bordeaux liquid) can help.
- Viruses - mosaic is manifested by a change in leaf pigmentation. It is necessary to completely remove such areas or the entire plant.
- Rot. The problem requires radical solutions - the destruction of the instance. The reason for the appearance is excessive moisture in the soil. Gray mold appears in a similar way.
- Alternaria is manifested by the appearance of brown spots on the leaves. Remove the affected parts and treat the bush with a special antiseptic.
- Powdery mildew - white bloom on the leaves. It is necessary to isolate such an instance so that it does not infect others. The affected areas are washed with warm water and treated with a special solution.
An example of a disease
In addition to diseases, the bush is also affected by all kinds of pests - aphids, slugs, spider mites, scoops. If you do not cope with the problem in a timely manner, then such plants will not bloom.
Why zinnia leaves turn yellow and what to do
The problem can be identified by which leaf began to turn yellow. To avoid yellowing of the leaves, you need to know exactly how to feed the zinnias. An oversupply of fertilizer or improperly selected raw materials can cause discoloration of the leaves.
Major in the flowerbed
Growing zinnias is easy as long as you give the flower proper attention and follow the instructions for watering, feeding, and caring for the soil. The major will thank you for the painstaking care with a lush bloom in the flower bed.
