How to create suitable conditions for nasturtium seedlings at home?

Nasturtium is a very attractive plant with large, rounded leaves and bright large flowers. Flowers have a delicate scent and many colorful shades. Another name is also known - capuchin. Nasturtium is used for decorating flower beds, balconies, window sills, vertical trellises and hanging baskets. Its homeland is America (South and Central). In nature, it occurs in mountainous or rocky areas, as well as in lowlands and forest thickets. Capuchin is represented in horticulture by many species and varieties. Depending on where the plants will be planted, ampel, shrub or vine varieties are chosen. This flower is used both in the culinary arts and for medicinal purposes.

Among the main advantages of this ornamental plant are its long and lush flowering, as well as unpretentiousness. These features have made nasturtium very popular with flower growers.

There are annual and perennial varieties of nasturtium. Both those and others grow in their homeland. In our climate with cold winters, sowing this flower in open ground is possible only as an annual plant.

How to grow nasturtium in the country or at home?

There are three ways to propagate a plant:

• directly by seeds;
• seedlings;
• cuttings.

Rare species are propagated by cuttings when seeds are difficult to get on sale. The same method is used to develop new varieties.

Sowing nasturtium can be done directly into the ground, using seeds for this. This method is preferred by many summer residents, as it is very simple.

Sometimes it is advisable to first grow seedlings at home and then transplant them to a country flower bed or vase. This is usually done to speed up the onset of flowering.

Let us dwell in more detail on the seedling method of breeding capuchin.

How to prepare seeds?

Before the future seedlings are planted, it is necessary to carry out a special treatment of the nasturtium seeds.

• First, you need to sort out the seeds and choose the best ones. Small, underdeveloped and with defects are immediately removed.
• The second step is disinfection. To do this, peas of seeds are placed in a strong solution of potassium permanganate for a short time (up to 15 minutes). You can take hot water for these purposes (up to 50 degrees Celsius).
• Then the peas are wrapped in cheesecloth and placed in water for a day. If the seeds are prepared for seedlings, then they can be soaked for a longer period. For example, until the small sprouts appear.

All these actions will help to soften the dense shell of the seeds and create conditions for their accelerated germination.

Planting seeds for seedlings

Pea seeds are planted in late March - early April.

The prepared seeds are planted in separate containers with a diameter of up to 10 cm. You can use peat cups or pots in which the bottom is removed.

Advice

Containers are chosen from which it is then convenient to transplant plants into the ground by transferring them together with a lump of earth. The roots of nasturtium are weak and easily damaged, for this reason the plant does not tolerate transplanting well. The seedling method of reproduction is not very convenient, it is better for beginners not to use it.

Varieties intended for cultivation in an apartment are immediately planted in a pot of soil and remain to grow there constantly.

Choosing the right soil

The soil where the seeds will be planted can be bought ready-made in the store (a special composition for flower seedlings). Another option is to do it yourself. For example, peat is combined with sand and leafy soil.

Biocontainers, peat tablets are good for future seedlings. What it is?

• Biocontainer Is a compressed vermicompost in granules. Contains an optimal composition of nutrients of organic origin, no chemical additions. Biohumus is created by earthworms, processing manure. You can plant seeds in such a container. After the seedlings germinate, they are placed in the ground. There, the special shell of the biocontainer disintegrates, and a favorable environment for further growth is created in the soil for the plants.
• Peat tablets - products of a rounded shape from a pressed top layer of peat. It contains nutrient mixture for plants, and thanks to special pores, the roots receive more air. It is convenient to transplant seedlings in tablets. The entire tablet is placed in the soil and the material used to create the tablet is dissolved. It won't take long to fertilize the planted plants.

The planting is carried out as follows: in the ground (or in the finished substrate in the form of a tablet or granule), recesses of 2-3 cm are made. 2-3 peas are placed in each hole.

We create conditions for growth

In the room where the germinated seeds were sown, they maintain a comfortable temperature (slightly more than 20 ° C).

When two weeks have passed, the temperature should be reduced by a couple of degrees. At this time, the seedlings should already sprout.

An important condition is the availability of sufficient lighting. Lack of light creates prerequisites for the development of weak and painful seedlings. It will stretch out and bloom poorly.

Ready-made seedlings are planted in open soil at the beginning of summer; by this time, the sprouts should be at least 7 cm high. Nasturtium is afraid of the cold, it is unacceptable to sow the plant if frosts still occur on the soil at night.

Transplanting ready-made seedlings: tips

• Plants should be transplanted into open ground in early June (in good weather, it is possible from mid-May).
• The gap between individual plants should be at least 20 cm. If the variety grows strongly, then a distance of 30-40 cm will be required.
• The weather should be warm and sunny.
• It can still be cold at night; during the adaptation period, it is better to cover young shoots with a film at this time of day.
• The seedlings must be carefully transferred into the ground along with a clod of earth, without damaging the root system.
• Before transplanting, preferably seedlings temper about three days in the open air.
• The place for future nasturtiums should be well lit, sheltered from drafts.
• Let the soil be selected optimally: too wet will destroy the plants, too fertilized will cause an abundance of greenery and a modest size of flowers, poor soil will not give lush flowering. It is better to choose a land with low acidity, airy and fertile enough.
• Mineral fertilizers are good for nasturtium. Fresh organic ones are best avoided.

How to care for seedlings?

Caring for nasturtium is simple, but it should not be neglected. The requirements for the care of germinating seeds and planted seedlings will be the same.

1. Timely sufficient watering is required. Especially during the growing up of seedlings. When the nasturtium blooms, watering should be minimal. It is forbidden to spray leaves and flowers, they prefer dry air.
2. The grown seedlings must be thinned out, leaving only large and strong ones.
3. Remember to weed and loosen (be careful not to damage the roots).
4. Fertilize once a month. Avoid excessive use of nitrogen supplements, but potash and phosphorus should be preferred.
5. When the grown seedlings enter the flowering phase, it is necessary to remove the dead flowers so that new ones appear in their place. Dried shoots and leaves are cut with special scissors or a knife.
6. A plant affected by pests must be sprayed with a special substance from garden parasites.

Long colorful flowering, bright green leaves, a variety of species and varieties, unpretentiousness - all this is a capuchin. Choose the variety that you like, decorate your house, balcony, summer cottage. Compliance with simple but important rules for breeding nasturtium (how to sow and care) is within the power of everyone.

When you want to speed up the onset of the flowering pore, grow the seedlings in advance at home for further transplanting them in the open ground. The use of modern biocontainers for seedlings will greatly facilitate this task, especially for novice growers.