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Gloxinia or Sinningia speciosa is very popular with gardeners. Most often, this plant is propagated vegetatively, but there is another way - to grow gloxinia from seeds at home.
. Although it will require some great effort, the result will meet the expectations. Only in this way can a grower:
- become the owner of his own created hybrids;
- see rare varietal blooms on its window sill, which are not present among local houseplants.
Unfortunately, not everyone has enough patience and perseverance to get adult flowering plants from gloxinia seeds. At times, annoying mistakes in sprouting and nursing interfere with success. How to avoid them and where to start when you want to multiply this indoor culture with seeds? First you need to take care of the planting material.
How to get gloxinia seeds at home?
If the seeds of varietal or hybrid plants are purchased in a store, they do not need special preparation, and they are fully prepared for embedding in the ground. But when the grower’s goal is to get his own copyright hybrids, he will have to go all the way: from pollination to collecting mature seeds of gloxinia.
After the pollen from one flower has been transferred to the pistil of the other, a few days later the rim fades, and the future seed box remains on the peduncle. The development and ripening of seeds, depending on the variety and conditions of detention, takes from 6 to 9 weeks.
Seeds are very small. Therefore, before planting Gloxinia seeds, they need to try to collect. As soon as signs of opening of the box appear, it is cut off and carefully transferred to a separate dry container. So it will be easier to collect the brown, oval-shaped seeds necessary for planting.
How to plant gloxinia with seeds?
Sowing is carried out on the surface of a wet loose substrate without embedding in the thickness of the soil. At this stage, there is no need to make a special mixture, it is enough to add a little vermiculite and crushed charcoal into the finished universal soil based on peat. Good gloxinia seedlings feel in small peat tablets.
The soil for home grown gloxinia seeds must be sterilized using a microwave oven, oven or freezer. In the latter case, it takes at least 1–2 days to get rid of pathogens and pests.
Home-grown gloxinia seedlings can be obtained in shallow containers at home. During the growth, the senets dive several times, therefore, for sowing, a layer of soil no more than 3 cm is enough.
When the seeds are evenly distributed over the surface of the substrate, it is additionally sprayed with a spray bottle, taking care not to smear fine seed. Then the container is tightly covered with a film to eliminate the evaporation of moisture, and placed in a warm, bright place for germination.
In order to facilitate the cultivation of seeds and care of the gloxinia in autumn and winter, when development is hampered by a lack of light, you need to take care of the additional lighting of the room greenhouse.
A light day, regardless of the season, should be at least 12–14 hours, and the temperature should be 20–24 ° C.
After 7–10 days, tiny green shoots appear on the surface of the substrate, and in the future gloxinia from seeds at home need watering and a few picks.
How to grow gloxinia from seeds?
Obtaining tiny gloxinia seedlings is not as difficult as growing independent plants that can bloom. Receiving enough light, heat and moisture in the conditions of the greenhouse, the sprouts continue to develop until, after about a month, real leaves appear on them, and individual gloxinia begin to crush each other.
At this time, young specimens should dive. This procedure, important for growing and caring for gloxinia, activates the growth slowed down due to planting density, and as a result, the plants will get stronger faster.
From sowing to seating young rosettes in separate pots, it may take from 3 to 4 picks. Their number depends on the varietal characteristics of the plant, the conditions created and the planting density.
Carefully obtained from the seeds of gloxinia is carefully removed from the old container, taking care not to damage the roots and crown of adjacent rosettes. The first transplant is carried out in a fresh substrate of 10-15 pieces. And after that the plants are again placed in a greenhouse under the lamps.
At the stage of the second and third picks of the gloxinia, it is already possible to repot individual pots of no more than 50–100 ml. Such sockets are already strong enough to temper them, gradually accustoming them to the air in the room.
No additional fertilizing of young gloxinia from seeds is required, since during picks they are transferred to a nutrient substrate that meets the needs of small seedlings.
By the ten-week age, young bushes are transplanted into their own pots. It is better to take small containers with a diameter of 9 - 10 cm, whose width is equal to the height. For a constant soil moisture, you can use a simple wick, passed through a drainage hole, or a room drip irrigation system.
With good care, growing gloxinia from seeds gives a consistently high performance. And already at the age of three months the strongest seedlings pick up the first buds.
