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Verbena is a popular ornamental crop from the Verbena family. Distinguished by beautiful corymbose inflorescences with a pleasant smell and color from pinkish-white to yellow, red or deep purple. To breed a crop in your area, you can use the seed method, especially since other methods are sometimes ineffective. It is necessary to collect the material and properly prepare it for planting. Growing verbena from seeds can be a feasible task even for beginner gardeners, if you know all the secrets of planting and care.
Features of growing verbena from seeds at home
Planting verbena seeds for seedlings is practiced quite often, since the method of propagation by cuttings is not suitable for all varieties. When seed propagation, it is necessary to adhere to the rules that will help grow full-fledged specimens.
What do verbena seeds look like?
Verbena seeds are quite large in size and outwardly similar to aster planting material. Fruits – elongated linear, dihedral, convex, brown or brownish color.
Verbena fruits are prefabricated nuts, divided into four parts
How to collect verbena seeds (collection and storage)
The easiest way to buy verbena seeds in the store. However, many gardeners prefer to collect planting material on their own. Seeds are mined after the boxes dry out and acquire a pronounced brown hue. This color indicates that the seeds are as close as possible to full maturation.
The inflorescences are cut with garden shears, after which they are laid out on clean paper sheets and put away in a dry place.
To dry completely, they need to be turned over periodically. This step prevents the development of mold. Seeds are poured into a separate box and stored in a cool, dry place. It should be borne in mind that the seeds may not retain a number of quality characteristics inherent in the parent plant.
When to plant verbena for seedlings
Cultivation of verbena seedlings is carried out in such a way that seedlings are planted in late May – early June, when return frosts no longer pose a threat. Verbena seeds for seedlings are sown in late February or March. To determine the optimal day for planting seeds, experienced gardeners use the lunar calendar.
Planting verbena for seedlings
Verbena is an unpretentious crop that germinates excellently from seeds in open ground conditions. Usually seedbed preparation is not needed, but the seeds of some varieties of vervain have a too dense shell that makes germination difficult. In such cases, stratification (cold treatment) is used. After spreading the seeds on a damp piece of cloth, they are put in the refrigerator in an opaque plastic bag for 3-4 days.
Verbena seeds are characterized by uneven germination; in order to obtain friendly seedlings, they need pre-treatment with growth stimulants such as Heteroauxin, Zircon or Epin
Capacity selection
The container for sowing should not be too deep, but wide enough. It is filled with pre-prepared soil. The surface is leveled and compacted with a small plank. Seeds are evenly distributed over the entire area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe soil with a paper leaf. It is not necessary to sprinkle them with soil on top. Under favorable temperature conditions, the seeds begin to hatch already on the second or third day. After that, the container is transferred to a cool room, since verbena does not like hot and stuffy rooms, as well as window sills with hot radiators.
It is preferable to germinate seedlings in shallow containers made of wood or plastic with a sufficient number of drainage holes.
Soil Preparation
It is better to plant verbena seeds for seedlings in fertile soil. The soil should have neutral acidity, as well as airiness, friability and high water permeability. To prepare the soil mixture, garden soil, peat and sand are taken in a ratio of 1: 2: 0,5. You can use ready-made mixtures that are sold in stores, followed by the addition of washed sand.
For every 4 liters of soil, 1 glass of wood ash is added, after which the mixture is sieved. To neutralize the soil from weeds and pests, it is subjected to steaming for an hour. Disinfection of the soil mixture is done with a fungicide solution. To provide the soil with greater air permeability and moisture capacity, 2 glass of perlite is added for every 1 liters of the mixture. Increased soil acidity can be neutralized with dolomite flour or wood ash.
When planting verbena in open ground, you need to choose a place with high illumination, which is reliably protected from the winds.
How to sow vervain for seedlings
For seeds, you do not need to prepare large holes. You just need to evenly spread them on the surface of the earth and sprinkle with a thin layer of fine sand or humus. The container is filled with soil, which is poured with a small amount of warm water, followed by leveling the surface. Verbena seeds are carefully pry off with a wooden toothpick and transferred to the prepared hole. When sowing verbena for seedlings, a distance of 2-3 cm should be left between the seeds, which will allow you to create a planting with a normal density indicator.
After 7-8 days, shoots appear from the seeds, and after 2 weeks, the young shoots will turn green in orderly rows in containers.
How to grow verbena seedlings
To get beautiful plants, you need to know the tricks of sowing verbena seeds for seedlings. In case of late planting, the flowering time will shift. You can not plant seeds in cold soil, because they simply rot in it. It is not necessary to use a special thermometer to determine the soil temperature. It is worth paying attention to the famous garden tips. For example, by blooming crocuses, you can understand that the soil has warmed up enough.
Planting in separate pots is resorted to 8 days after the germination of verbena seeds. The container can be taken outside only after relatively warm weather without frost is established. Since verbena has a compact root system, it can be grown both outdoors and in a container. Indoors, verbena retains decorative qualities for 9-10 years. However, she will need an annual transplant.
Microclimate
Verbena seedlings tolerate negative temperatures down to -3 ° C, however, in case of severe frosts, seedlings will die. Therefore, it is necessary to sow the seeds at a time when the seedlings will not be threatened by frost and severe temperature changes. To get early shoots of verbena, you can plant them at home or in greenhouse conditions. Seeds placed in containers with humus soil are kept under glass or under a film at a temperature of +17 to +21 ° C.
Until the emergence of seedlings, the mini-greenhouse must be ventilated by removing the glass cover or polyethylene from it for 20-30 minutes a day. Accumulated condensate must be disposed of in a timely manner with a napkin. When the first shoots appear, the covering material can be removed. In order for young plants to better adapt to changes in external temperature conditions, it is recommended to remove the cover gradually, increasing the airing hours every day.
Young seedlings require a long daylight hours (up to 14 hours), so the seedlings are provided with additional illumination.
Watering and top dressing
Young verbena sprouts need moderate watering, because in case of excess moisture, their root system can rot. If the soil is too dry, then before planting the seedlings, you need to pour a glass of water into each hole and wait until the moisture is completely absorbed. If verbena is planted after rain, pre-moistening of the soil is not required. After planting verbena with seeds for seedlings, up to the moment of germination of seedlings, watering is done exclusively from a spray bottle.
With proper care, verbena blooms from mid-summer to early autumn. Excessive addition of fertilizers to the soil is fraught with delayed flowering. The plant needs periodic top dressing. The first application of nutrients is carried out before flowering, all subsequent – when the plant blooms. It is recommended to fertilize with a complex solution no more than once a month. Excess nitrogen affects the abundant growth of leaves and delays the moment of flowering.
The plant needs watering when the soil underneath is completely dry. Otherwise, there is a high risk of waterlogging and a number of problems, such as rotting of the root system. When shoots appear, watering is carried out under the root using a syringe. Moisture should not fall on the seedlings themselves.
Picking seedlings of vervain
When the first 2-3 leaves appear on young plants, they are planted in separate pots, which should have drainage holes. You can additionally pour fine expanded clay or pebbles on the bottom. The plant requires deepening to the cotyledon leaves, followed by careful compaction of the soil and moderate watering.
To form a bushy structure, after the appearance of the fifth pair of leaves, pinch the top
Transfer
Developed specimens are dug out of the soil along with a clod of earth and transferred to wintering inside the premises. The temperature in the room should not exceed +10 °C.
Conclusion
Growing vervain from seeds is not the easiest task, but feasible. Some gardeners believe that it is much easier to propagate the culture by cuttings. However, the seed method has a number of advantages, and with a competent approach, it allows you to get healthy specimens with decorative qualities that are not inferior in beauty to mother plants.
