Recommendations for planting asters outdoors and caring for them

Aster is one of the most common flower crops among Russian gardeners. Planting an aster in the open field will not cause much difficulty even for novice flower growers. Unpretentiousness, easy care of the plant, long flowering make this flower a desirable decoration for any garden.

The homeland of the aster is the Far East, Korea, China. In another way, the annual aster is called Callistephus Chinese. This plant is quite cold-resistant and light-loving enough. The successful cultivation of asters will be ensured by a low air temperature and optimal soil moisture. Astra prefers light soil, with weak acidity.

Advice

When preparing the soil for planting asters during autumn digging, you can add humus or compost. In no case should manure be fertilized, its introduction contributes to the infection of plants with fusarium!

Aster varieties differ in the size of the flower baskets and the height of the stems. Tall varieties are good for cutting into a bouquet, undersized and small-flowered varieties will perfectly decorate flower beds and lawns. You can also plant asters on balconies and loggias.

2 ways to plant asters

Growing annual asters from seeds is possible in 2 ways: seedling and non-seedling. Germination lasts 2 years, so when buying seeds you need to pay attention to the expiration date - by the end of the second year, germination decreases. Which method of planting asters to choose depends only on the timing of flowering of a particular variety. The early varieties bloom after about 90 days after germination, the middle ones after 100, and the later ones after 120 days.

Seedling method

Growing asters from seedlings around mid-summer allows you to get flowering plants. Sowing for aster seedlings is done in the last decade of March - early April, if you plan to plant it in open ground by mid-May.

Growing asters for seedlings consists of several stages.

1. First you need to prepare the soil, it must be nutritious, abundantly fertilized and breathable. You can take soil from a garden or vegetable garden, add sand, compost or humus (or peat). For disinfection, a solution of potassium permanganate is prepared - 1 g per 5 l of water - and the soil is poured with a hot solution. Rinse boxes and pots for planting with the same solution. The drainage must be placed on the bottom so that the water can easily drain away.
2. The seeds are buried by 0.5-1 cm, warm water is needed for irrigation. The next watering is done only after the seeds have germinated. It is advisable to cover the seed boxes with foil to maintain temperature and humidity. After seed germination, the film is removed. Seedling care is to provide good lighting and not very high air temperature, about 18˚С.
3. When two full-fledged leaves appear, the seedlings need to be transplanted, preferably in separate pots. Although the aster is not too afraid of transplanting, the base of the stem of the seedlings is very delicate. It is desirable to water the seedlings abundantly, but rarely, avoiding excessive soil moisture, which contributes to the appearance of fungal diseases.
4. It is better to plant asters in open ground around mid-May, when the seedlings reach a height of 10-12 cm. It is better to plant the plants in the evening, the soil must first be watered and preferably mulched with grass or sawdust. Tall varieties are planted at a distance of about 30-40 cm so that the grown bushes do not interfere with each other. It is better to plant low species at a distance of about 20 cm, then adult plants form a continuous carpet during flowering.
5. A place for planting asters should be chosen well-lit, dry so that the water does not stagnate for a long time after watering. Growing asters in the place where tomatoes or potatoes grew is undesirable; pathogens of fungal plant diseases often remain in the soil after these crops. When planting, you must try not to bend the roots and not cover the growth point with earth.

Sowing aster seeds in open ground (seedless method)

With a seedless planting option, asters are sown in 2 terms: in early spring or in autumn. For spring planting, sowing is done by the end of April - beginning of May, when the soil warms up enough. In autumn, asters are sown, when the ground is already freezing, in shallow grooves prepared in advance. Asters, planted in the fall, bloom 10-15 days later, but bloom longer and more abundantly.

1. For sowing asters in open ground, grooves are prepared with a depth of about 2 cm, it is advisable to also water the prepared beds with a solution of potassium permanganate, as well as the earth in containers prepared for seedlings.
2. Seeds are sown in prepared grooves, lightly sprinkled with earth, watered with rather warm water and covered with foil before sprouting during spring planting. Instead of a film, you can mulch the grooves with garden soil or humus - with a layer of about 1 cm. Before the seeds germinate, the beds are not watered.
3. Plants are thinned out after the formation of the third or fourth true leaf, leaving the desired distance between shoots, depending on the variety. It is better not to pull out excess seedlings, but carefully get them out of the ground - and you can plant them on other beds.

When sowing in the autumn, it is impossible to plant seeds in the ground, since the soil is already frozen. Therefore, the seeds are mulched with humus with a layer thickness of 3-4 cm or compost. In the spring, when the ground thaws, you need to loosen the aisles, leaving the mulch in place until sprouts appear.

Caring for asters in the open field: watering and feeding

If the land for planting flowers was properly prepared, caring for aster in the open field is so simple that it allows beginner growers to grow them. Only timely watering and weeding of the beds will be needed.

• Planting should be watered as the soil dries up, avoiding waterlogging. Growing asters on damp heavy soils with a close occurrence of groundwater is highly undesirable, since it leads to decay of the roots. In addition, asters need to loosen the soil to saturate it with oxygen. Regular weeding and weeding help prevent disease.
• If the summer is dry, you can mulch the land under the asters with dry grass, sawdust or pine needles. This will keep moisture in the soil between waterings.
• Leaving in the form of top dressing will be useful for the aster. Plants are fed with mineral fertilizers: superphosphate, ammonium nitrate, potassium sulfate. You can also use wood ash. But nitrogen fertilizers should not be used for feeding, since this leads to increased leaf formation and reduces the number of inflorescences.
• Fertilizers can be applied by dissolving in water or dry. The first feeding of asters is done 2 weeks after planting in the ground. Fertilizers are applied the second time during bud formation, and the third time at the beginning of flowering.

Diseases and pests affecting asters

Asters are quite often affected by various viral and fungal diseases, even despite rather careful care. Let's list the most common hazards.

• Fusarium.

The soil is usually infected with fungi, their reproduction is facilitated by excessive moisture in the soil and high air temperatures when growing asters. Annuals fall ill more often, the disease manifests itself in the form of dark stripes, and only on one side of the plant. Then the leaves begin to turn yellow, the buds wither, the plant dies.

To combat the disease, you need to lower the acidity of the soil by adding lime to it, spray the flower garden with copper chloride, make sure that there are no aphids.

• Blackleg.

The fungi that cause this disease are found in any soil. They affect mainly young shoots near the base of the stem, which becomes thinner, blackens, and the plant quickly dies. Acidification and high soil moisture contributes to the spread of the disease.

You can fight the disease by disinfecting equipment and soil with a strong solution of potassium permanganate, removing diseased seedlings, maintaining optimal moisture and careful care.

• Septoria (brown spot).

The causative agents of this disease are localized on plant debris. Rusty or light brown spots appear on the affected leaves, which spoil the appearance of the plant. Sick leaves dry up and fall off. Fungi actively proliferate at temperatures of 23-25 ​​° C and high humidity.

Caring for a diseased flower bed consists of spraying with copper oxychloride or Bordeaux liquid every 2 weeks - this will help stop the spread of the disease. It is imperative to destroy the affected plants.

• Mosaic disease, or jaundice.

The virus is transmitted by insects: aphids and cicadas. Light veins appear on the leaves, the plant stops growing, the buds do not bloom. It is impossible to fight this disease, there are only preventive measures: immediately remove diseased specimens, destroy insects.

• Bacterial spotting.

The bacteria live in plant debris and can also contaminate seeds. Brown spots appear on the leaves, stems and buds, the disease begins during the period of bud formation and greatly spoils the appearance of the plant. All leaves are gradually affected, dry up and fall off.

If signs of the disease appear, the plantings should be sprayed with Bordeaux mixture or copper chloride 2-3 times every 10 days.

Advice

For the prevention of fungal diseases, you can add infusion of nettle or celandine to the water for irrigation. To prepare the infusion, you need to pour 1 kg of raw grass with a bucket of hot water, leave for 2-3 days, strain. When watering, add about a glass of infusion to a bucket of water.

To make the flower garden happy until late autumn, it is enough to adhere to simple recommendations and take care of the plantings:

• use proven healthy seeds;
• carry out seed treatment before planting;
• deal with pests that carry diseases;
• remove diseased plants immediately;
• avoid waterlogging of the soil;
• regularly loosen the row spacing.

Astra is a real star of autumn flower beds. Not a single florist does not ignore her variety of colors. There are about 600 varieties of this flower, striking in a variety of shapes and colors. Growing special varieties in greenhouses will allow you to get blooming asters in early spring or late autumn. Simple rules for planting and caring for this flower will allow each grower to grow asters on their site.