Growing viola seedlings
Viola, better known as pansies, is enduring and completely unpretentious to care for. Its bright color will decorate any flower garden, so growers are eager to plant this flower. In sunny areas, the viola blooms profusely, in partial shade its flowers are somewhat smaller. However, buying ready-made seedlings every spring is quite expensive, so many grow viola seedlings on their own. It should be borne in mind that this plant is biennial and, when sown with seeds, will bloom only in the second year.
When to plant viola seedlings?
Having bought several bags of bright viola, note that this flower is sown in summer. Many inexperienced growers make the mistake of sowing viola in the spring and expect to get a lush bloom in the summer. It is a biennial crop, so it is important to know when to plant viola seedlings.
In June-July, a place is allocated in the flower garden for sowing pansy seeds. The seeds are pretreated with a growth accelerator. The seeds are buried 0.5 cm into the groove, sprinkling it with earth without lumps. The soil is carefully shed with water, trying not to wash out the sowing site. It is useful to mulch the sowing site with fine sawdust, which will keep moisture in the soil.
Care for viola seedlings grown in the open field consists in warming them with straw or spruce branches before winter. Such a "cover" will protect the plant's root system from freezing.
In the spring, young plants are fed with a complex fertilizer solution twice - before the formation of buds and at the beginning of flowering.
It is unacceptable to use fresh manure, as it provokes the disease "black leg".
Growing from seeds
In regions with harsh climates, planting viola seedlings from seeds becomes the only way to grow this flower.
The complexity of this method of growing viola lies in the need to create a number of conditions:
- Additional lighting;
- Compliance with the temperature regime;
- Selection of the optimal soil.
In late February - early March, you can sow viola seedlings at home. First, the seeds must be soaked in a solution of Zircon, Epin, or EM-1. this will accelerate seed germination and make the seedlings more resistant to pathogens.
The optimal substrate for growing viola is made from peat, the pH of which is 5.5-5.8. It is not necessary to apply fertilizers to such a soil; it is necessary to feed viola seedlings in the phase of formation of two true leaves.
To obtain good seedlings, it is important to create drainage in the container. Sow viola seeds on seedlings on top of a moistened substrate, sprinkling them with a thin layer of vermiculite. Before emergence, the container is covered with plastic wrap or a piece of glass. This will speed up the seed germination time. Periodically, the shelter must be removed for ventilation, which will avoid the formation of fungus in the soil. If you use cups for growing, 3-4 seeds need to be sown in each of them.After germination, the strongest and most well-developed sprout is left in the cup, removing the rest.
For container growing, viola seedlings are dived twice:
- The first time the plants are planted when two real leaves have formed.
- The second pick is carried out at 5 weeks of age. For this, separate pots are used, the diameter of which does not exceed 10 cm.
If the plants dive into large seedling boxes, it is important to maintain a distance between the plants of about 6 cm. Unheated greenhouses in the summer cottage are suitable for growing seedlings.
Since sowing viola seedlings is carried out in peat soil or pills without fertilizers, the first feeding is done in three weeks.
To do this, use any mineral fertilizers, pouring the solution under the root. Further feeding is repeated every month. You also need to be careful with watering. Water should be directed under the very root, avoiding drops on the leaves.
In the open ground, the grown viola seedlings are planted in mid-May, when return frosts are not expected.
When transplanting to the bottom of a hole 5 cm deep, you need to pour a handful of sand as drainage and plant pansy seedlings with a lump of earth. The distance between plantings should be about 10-15 cm. For larger plants with large flowers, the distance between the bushes is 20 cm. The seedlings are watered abundantly at the root and slightly shaded for several days. The sand will allow the water to quickly go deep into the soil without forming stagnation. This reduces the risk of blackfoot viola disease.
This is the basic scheme for growing pansies. But how to grow viola seedlings healthy so that they do not stretch out in a container on the windowsill?
Since sowing is carried out at an early date, seedlings need illuminate, for which they use ordinary fluorescent lamps or phytolamps, which belong to the category of special lighting devices. Viola requires at least 14-16 hours of daylight. Growth regulator Alar somewhat limits the growth of seedlings, but subject to the use of additional lighting.
As for the temperature regime, 18-30 degrees of heat is required for seed germination. Deviation in any direction negatively affects the germination of viola seeds.
Even an increase in temperature up to 23 degrees becomes the reason that viola shoots are delayed up to one month. As soon as sprouts appear above the soil, the temperature should be reduced to 12-15 degrees. The grown viola seedlings easily tolerate low temperatures, even at 5 degrees, they feel good. At the same time, development slows down somewhat, but in conditions of a lack of light, the seedlings stretch less.