Interesting about asters and the rules for their cultivationperennial asters are one of the most popular flowers in our gardens. How to properly grow asters from seeds, when to plant seedlings, and is it possible to get flowering plants after sowing directly into the ground? Numerous types and varieties of asters attract florists with their pomp and variety of forms, an incredible palette of colors and extremely simple agricultural techniques. Non-selective plants, even with minimal care, willingly bloom, but before this happens, asters need to be grown.
How to plant asters with seeds? When at home it is better to start sowing so that by the time of transfer to the open ground the seedlings are large and strong?
Terms of sowing and preparation of aster seeds for planting
The timing of aster bloom depends on the species or variety. Annual plants are covered with buds 90–120 days after sowing, and perennial plants bloom only the next year. Therefore, more often they are planted in beds of seedlings, after young asters grow out of seeds at home.
Since aster seeds lose their germination after 2-3 years, fresh, better than last year material should be used for sowing.
Seeds from proven companies after opening the package are ready for planting. Another thing - the seeds collected from the flowers you like or purchased with the hands. The spores of harmful fungi could remain on their surface, so the planting material is necessarily adhering to the instructions, they are etched with fungicide.
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When to plant aster seeds for growing seedlings? Young seedlings are transferred to the flower bed when the time of spring frosts is over, and the ground warms up to at least +15 ° C.In the middle lane, this happens not earlier than mid-May.3-4 weeks before this time, that is, in the first half of April, they begin to sow.
Soil for growing asters from seeds at home
Asters are unpretentious, they sprout well and grow in the soil of different composition, the main thing is that it should be moderately nutritious, always loose and light. For sowing, you can take a ready-made universal or floral substrate, and then add to it a little washed river sand and loosening moisture-retaining perlite.
In order to protect the seedlings, the soil mixture should be well heated in an oven, for example, in a roasting sleeve, or sterilized using other available methods. In extreme cases, it is possible to soak the soil abundantly with a saturated solution of potassium permanganate.
Ate at hand there is garden soil and turf soil, suitable for planting asters with seeds, the substrate can be made independently, by adding part of the sand and half a portion of perlite or vermiculite to two parts of the soil.
Sowing aster seeds for seedlings
The seeds of asters are rather large, but light, and the seedlings that appear from them are susceptible to putrefactive and fungal infections. Therefore, when sowing, seeds are distributed over a pre-moistened substrate, but they are not buried, but carefully, with a layer of up to 8 mm, they are sprinkled with dry, calcined sand. After this, watering the contents of the container is not necessary.
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In the light, warm, at a temperature of 15–20 ° C and high humidity, the seeds quickly wake up, swell and hatch. The first shoots can be seen in less than a week.
This period is the most important and responsible. To lower temperatures, excessive watering and other changes in the growing conditions of asters respond to a lesion with rot. If a black leg is seen on the seedlings, such plants are carefully, together with the radical clod of soil extracted and destroyed. The rest of the seedlings need to be treated with
fungicide 
When a couple of true leaves appear on the asters, they dive, transferring them to individual cups or a common container, but they are planted further away from each other. It is convenient to use peat cells in which:
- there is no risk of plant flooding, which reduces the risk of fusarium disease;
- does not suffer from the root system during transplantation into the ground, the seedlings are not sick and immediately start growing.
It is useful to add a complex fertilizer containing not only nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the substrate for young plants, but also trace elements.
After picking, the seedlings are exposed to a light, protected from drafts and direct sunlight. Plants acclimatize for 7–10 days. When 4–5 true leaves unfold on them, it’s time to quench, each day increasing the time you spend outdoors. With the establishment of warm weather, asters grown from seeds at home can be planted in the garden.
Sowing asters with seeds in open ground
If the seedlings can die at low sub-zero temperatures, then the ripe aster seeds tolerate winter frosts and give friendly shoots in spring. This property of culture is used by flower growers who do not want to mess with sprouting and planting at home. Seeds are sown immediately in the ground at the place of their future growth and flowering.
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How to grow asters from seeds in this way? There are two options to choose from:
- sowing in late autumn, when it is already quite cold, and there is no risk of unwanted shoots;
- in early spring in the snow or just thawed ground, under the film or covering material.
The seeds planted in autumn pass through a natural stratification, therefore, their seedlings tend to be stronger, more friendly and less affected by changeable spring weather and diseases.
When planting aster seeds when grown outdoors? In the fall, sowing is conducted from mid-October and, if the weather allows, until the end of November. In spring, you can even sow in snow on the ground prepared from autumn until mid-April. In this case, the planted areas are covered. The second term of the spring planting of asters by seeds begins in May, when heat and additional protection are no longer required.
So that the crops are not too thick, and the sprouts are weakened, the seeds are buried:
- on well-moistened soil;
- into the grooves 1–1.5 cm deep;
- at a distance of one and a half centimeters.
Top crops sprinkled with peat-humus mixture. If a cover is required for crops, it is removed as soon as mass shoots appear on the site. At the stage of formation of this sheet, thinning of seedlings is carried out. Excess should not be thrown away, asters grown from seeds in open ground will take excellent root if moved to another place.
Interesting about asters and the rules of their cultivation - video
