If you want to know how to grow coleus from seeds at home and what you need to do this, read the article. We will tell you all the nuances. To begin with, a few words about the plant itself.
Coleus is often called the ideal flower for the garden: it is hardy, unpretentious, easy to care for and at the same time very decorative. Combining a variety of varieties that differ in the color of the leaves, you can create magnificent flowerbeds or borders from which it is impossible to look away.
Growing Coleus from seeds at home
The flower belongs to the Yasnotkov family, its closest relatives are mint, nettle. This explains its second name - nettle. In England, the plant is called croton for the poor, croton is poor.
More than 200 species of perennial plants, including shrubs, grow in the natural environment. Breeders replenished the list with varieties and hybrids with unusually flowered leaves, and it is very difficult to count them. The most popular nettles among gardeners and professionals:
- Coleus Blume (Scutellaria salinity) - a line of varieties of different heights. Bright representatives: White-green Candidum, dwarf mosaic Sabr, red-leaved Wizard Scarlett, green-cherry Wizard Pineapple. This species prefers partial shade.
- Vershaffelt is a variety of Blume with very large, up to 20 cm long leaf blades of raspberry red color with a green mosaic border.
- Black dragon in rich purple tones.
- Fantasy with a pale pink middle of the leaves.
- A magical sunset that combines many shades of red.
- Dark chocolate of lilac-brown color, sometimes with a thin green border.
- Freckles with bright yellow-orange spots of irregular shape.
- Saturn is a flashy emerald green exotica with a maroon border.
- Collins Gold with dissected leaf plates of sunny shades and a green stripe along the central vein.
- Many other very varied tones and intensities of tones, with whole and dissected leaves, erect and ampelous, one meter high and 10-centimeter dwarfs.
The flower panicle of the nettle is rather inconspicuous, faded, almost lost against the background of the luxuriously painted other parts.
The croton is propagated to the poor fellow at home, usually by cuttings or seeds. In both cases, the procedure does not cause any difficulties and gardeners, even if this is the first plant in their practice.
Sowing dates
In its historical homeland - in Africa - the plant is a perennial culture. At our latitudes in gardens it is grown as an annual, since any method of reproduction gives excellent results. As a perennial, they are grown at home, renewing the flower every 2 years. The natural feature of coleus is degeneration in the 3rd year of life.
Spring is considered the optimal period, from March to April, specific terms are determined by climatic conditions and weather forecasts - nettle loves warmth. Sprouts that appear during sowing during this period will be fully provided with light. And to the seasonal shutdown of heating, critical in many regions, they will get stronger enough and lowering the temperature to + 26 ... +18 ° С will be transferred without loss.
For the design of the summer cottage, you can plant seeds for seedlings in the winter or in the fall, but you will have to highlight the seedlings and seriously take care to maintain the required temperature. If the "croton for the poor" will grow on the home windowsill or balcony, any time will do, but there will be a need for additional lighting in the autumn-winter period.
Often, summer residents agree on a date with the lunar calendar, trying to land while the night star is in the growth phase.
Seed selection
Gardeners buy planting material in specialized stores, collect on their own, receive from friends in the country, friends.
It is important to remember that the seeds of hybrid varieties are unpredictable, the main decorative feature of coleus - the coloring of leaf plates in young plants will be completely unexpected, the parental characteristics will be repeated in isolated cases.
A similar situation occurs when growing seeds that were collected from existing flowers - they are prone to over-pollination.
Therefore, to obtain "purebred" plants using purchased seeds or cuttings. Fans of surprises willingly use seeds of unknown origin, they themselves embark on experiments with cross pollination.
Necessary soil
For germination, purchased formulations are suitable - universal or for flowering plants. Sometimes the soil mixture is composed independently according to the scheme:
- 1 tsp of garden land;
- 1 hour of river sand;
- 1 h. Universal soil for seedlings or peat.
Another variant of the nutrient substrate:
- 1 teaspoon of peat;
- 1 h. Humus; 1 teaspoon of sand;
- 1 h. Dry sphagnum.
All components are disinfected, mix well. To avoid black leg disease, crushed tablets of activated carbon are mixed. The result is a lush fertile substrate.
Pot preparation
Sowing is carried out in a common seedling tank - wooden or plastic. A prerequisite is holes in the bottom to drain excess moisture. Height 5-6 cm, so that there is enough space for a centimeter layer of drainage.
To protect the tender shoots from possible diseases, seedlings are pre-washed and disinfected with steam or a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
In the future, for seedlings, individual small containers will be required, for which disposable glasses, packaging for sour-milk products, and special containers made of pressed cardboard are usually fitted. If indoor cultivation is expected, a sweep is carried out immediately in permanent pots.
Sowing technology
Decorative nettle seeds are small, like poppy seeds, so the process is performed carefully.
Perform the following steps step by step:
- The seeds are treated with a weak solution of manganese or another fungicide, if they were not purchased at the store. They are immersed in a liquid for 10 minutes, then dried, be sure to separate. For purchased planting material, the procedure is not needed.
- The seedling box is filled with the substrate, after having poured drainage into the bottom with an even layer - expanded clay or pebble of a small fraction, broken brick. The soil is not rammed so that the seeds do not suffer from a lack of air.
- Each seed needs to be sown separately. It is convenient for this to use an ordinary match, slightly moistening its tip.
- It is not necessary to fill in crops. Even the thinnest layer of soil will delay the emergence of seedlings.
- Humidify a nursery from a finely dispersed atomizer. This will prevent unwanted burial of seeds.
- The container is covered with glass or a transparent film, put in a warm, well-lit place. The optimum temperature of the content is +23 ... +25 ° С.
Crops are aired daily for 30 minutes, water drops are removed from the film. If necessary, additional irrigation is carried out. The first sprouts appear after 10-15 days.
Cole seedling care
Young plants obtained from seeds do not need special care. Water them as needed. It is aired 2-3 times a day, so that they are accustomed to conditions other than greenhouse ones.
When the sprouts form the first pair of true leaves, they pick. The soil is well moistened per day. Each sprout is carefully dug with a teaspoon and transferred to a prepared cup, where drainage and nutritious soil mixture have already been poured. The seedling is placed in a new place, they add earth. From this moment, nettle no longer needs a mini-greenhouse. But be sure to protect the delicate sprouts from drafts.
After a dive, you need:
- watering - every 2-3 days so that the soil does not dry out;
- top dressing - after 2 weeks with complex fertilizers for flowers or universal, diluted three times stronger.
It should be remembered that varietal characters - the form of leaf blades and their color - do not appear immediately, but only on 2 or 3 pairs of real leaves. During this period, young coleus begin to accustom to fresh air - they temper them.
At the same time determine what lighting conditions young animals need. The bright color of the leaves suggests the need for bright diffused lighting. Green spots or stripes - this plant needs shading, especially in the afternoon.
Seedlings are planted in open ground when the weather is finally warm. For all their unpretentiousness, plants do not like night cold. For them, they choose well-lit areas with fertile soil, protected from the north wind and drafts.
If sowing was carried out in winter, after the first dive, young nettles are transplanted into larger pots every 25-30 days. Such a long-term growth of seedlings requires fertilizer 2 weeks after each transplant.
Experienced flower growers advise, before planting seeds, to carefully familiarize themselves with the varietal characteristics of the plant. Some species are recommended to be planted in open ground only at 4-6 months of age.
Mr. Dachnik recommends: growing coleus from seeds in peat tablets
This is really a great invention that facilitates the work of summer residents. Seedlings do not need a pick, landing also does not take much time.
Germination order:
- Peat tablets with a diameter of 3-5 cm are taken.
- Place them on a pallet.
- Water is poured into the pan in small portions until the peat is completely swollen.
- In peat bollards, small deepenings are made with a match and one seed is placed.
- Cover the pallet with a transparent lid.
Further care is carried out as in the traditional approach: heat, light, regular supply of moisture - every 3-4 days.
If there are no small tablets, the seeds are planted in large ones. In this case, they are sown in 2-3 pieces, and when they sprout, carefully cut the columns with a sharp knife to separate the plants.
Since peat contains few nutrients, seedlings feed. Use common complex fertilizers of low concentration, for example, Agricola, Fertik for ornamental-deciduous plants, diluting them in a concentration half to three times lower than recommended by the manufacturer. Water the composition every 10-12 days.
They prompt the timing of transplanting seedlings into pots: thin roots begin to break through the mesh of tablets.
It is carefully cut with disinfected manicure scissors and placed in a glass. Then add soil, moisturize. If by this time the weather was warm.
Peat tablets have the only drawback - the high cost. Their use requires sufficient financial costs, especially if there is a large-scale landing. But resourceful summer residents overcame this difficulty. The trick is to use the cellulose coating of regular tea bags. They are carefully opened, a metal clip, if any, is removed, and the soil mixture of peat, sand and fertile soil is added. Then the substrate is moistened and the seeds are laid out.
Most gardeners using this technique prefer the remains of green tea, since it is guaranteed to have no dyes that can harm seedlings.
