Marigolds - flowers that not only decorate the interior with a living carpet, phytoncides in the leaves will disinfect the indoor air, create a healing effect. This article will tell you whether and how to grow these flowers at home. You will learn how to care for these flowers, what conditions they need for growth and flowering. We also recommend to watch a useful video on this topic.
What are these flowers?
There are many species of this plant: differ in structure, color, are annual and perennial, with straight stems and sprawling bushes. Inflorescences - fluffy and bright, a variety of shades of yellow and orange.
Learn more about marigold varieties, as well as see the description and photo of flowers here.
Is it possible to grow at home?
Planting marigolds at home on the windowsill, or in boxes on the balcony is not difficult. They will easily adapt, take root well and will soon fill the room with the aroma of essential oils.
Features of growing
To grow marigolds in a house, you need to know how to do it right. Features of growing at home:
The apartment can be planted in any month of the year. But better in January. In this case, the buds will appear in the spring, but for the growing season will require additional artificial lighting. You can also sow seeds in mid-April: there is more light for flowers, there is no winter dryness from apartment heating, which means that the whole process becomes easier (you can learn how to harvest marigold seeds in order not to buy them here).- To shrub magnificently bloomed, you need a lot of sunny color. Pots of flowers should be placed on the window sills of the southern windows. When shading, the plant will not die, but will stretch, the buds will be smaller.
- The soil substrate in the home containers dries much faster than on the outdoor flower garden. Therefore, watering should be regular.
- Also, the soil in the tank is faster than on a flower bed. Therefore, in the house need fertilizing.
The apartment can be planted in any month of the year. But better in January. In this case, the buds will appear in the spring, but for the growing season will require additional artificial lighting. You can also sow seeds in mid-April: there is more light for flowers, there is no winter dryness from apartment heating, which means that the whole process becomes easier (you can learn how to harvest marigold seeds in order not to buy them here).Marigolds grow at home, not only because they decorate the interior and unpretentious. They also saturate the air in the room with phytoncides, help other plants in the room to fight against fungal diseases.
The necessary conditions
In order for marigolds to grow at home, it is necessary to create optimal conditions for them:
- Choose a suitable place. It should be sufficiently illuminated - the plant is very light-requiring. Therefore, if the balcony or the windows face north, it will grow, but without lush flowering.
- Pay attention to the choice of capacity for landing. To get bushes sprawling, not to compete, everyone needs to provide free space. Therefore, flower pots or balcony boxes are selected in width, not in depth. For a marigold stem root system, the capacity may not be deep.
- Prepare the soil or purchase in a specialty store. To get a nutritious loose substrate with low acidity, you need to mix leaf and sod land with peat and sand (2: 2: 2: 1).
- To avoid contamination, the soil can be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate or steamed. The soil purchased in the store, as a rule, does not need treatment.
- Pour drainage into the bottom of the tank: shards, expanded clay or pebbles. Sprinkle with prepared substrate.
- The distance between the flowers when planting depends on the marigold variety: for undersized - 12-15 cm, for medium in height - 20-25 cm, for tall bushes - 35-40 cm.
- After landing it is necessary to ensure that the air temperature in the house was above + 22 ° C.
On the balcony
In the summer, on the open balcony, marigolds can be grown in special boxes or containers of flowers taken out of the apartment. For lush flowering, keep the pots on the balcony should be in a sunny position..
If the balcony is glazed and comes out to the south, and in early spring it is already up to + 10 ° C, then you can sow flowers in boxes in January. But in order for the seedlings not to stretch, additional illumination is needed.
Varieties for the balcony is better to choose among the undersized flowers:
- "Bonanza Orange".
- "Bonanza Flame".
- "Bonanza Bolero".
- "Ursula".
- "Paprika".
- "Lulu".
- "Dwarf".
Further care
After landing in pots or balcony drawers, marigolds require additional care. Let us consider in more detail what it is:
- Watering and humidity. Daily watering is an important condition for home care. If the summer is dry, then water the soil twice a day - in the morning and evening hours. A dried clod of earth will not contribute to flowering, the leaves will turn yellow.
When the buds appear, you need to water no more often than the earth dries out. It is recommended to maintain moderate air humidity, spray flowering bushes, periodically ventilate the room.
- Lighting. Marigold - a flower that needs lighting. If the light in the apartment is not enough, you can buy phytolamps to additionally highlight the bushes.
- Temperature conditions. They are cold resistant. But low temperatures will be answered by poor growth and flowering. They should not be supercooling.
Top dressing. Flowers need to be fed. For this purpose, suitable balanced complex mineral fertilizers. During the growing season is enough to feed no more than three times.- Pruning. It is necessary to cut off the flowering buds, otherwise the seeds will ripen in them, and they will delay the life force of the flower. You can also trim pruned long shoots, and give the plant a ball shape. It is also recommended to cut the small buds. On such a haircut bushes will respond to a new wave of flowering. Lush flowering can be achieved if the roots are cut by a third during transplantation.
- Soil loosening. It is recommended from time to time to loosen the ground. This technique will improve the flow of oxygen to the roots, and the plant will look healthier.
- Disease prevention. Flowers are resistant to diseases. Due to the sharp characteristic odor scare insects and pests. But, if the soil is systematically over-humidified, or, conversely, moisture is not enough, they can become infected: spider mite, root rot or blackleg. In this case, the fungicides will help: "Phytosporin", "Ridomil Gold" (how to protect marigolds from spider mites and other pests and diseases, read here).
Top dressing. Flowers need to be fed. For this purpose, suitable balanced complex mineral fertilizers. During the growing season is enough to feed no more than three times.Important: So that the disease does not spread to neighboring bushes, infected plants should be removed.
Read more about how to properly plant and care for marigolds at home and outdoors, read our article.
In the apartment in the winter
Marigolds successfully grow in an apartment and in winter. If you sow the seeds in August, then before winter there will be seedlings, and in winter the flowers will bloom. Bright spherical flowers growing in pots on the windowsill, will create a home comfort and pleasant atmosphere in the winter cold.
The marigolds require a lot of light for the growing season, so in the winter period you cannot do without additional artificial lighting. In winter, the air in the apartment is overdried, periodically you need to moisten the air near the flower pots, spray the upper part of the soil with water.
Warnings and Tips
Marigolds on the balcony or on the windowsill is not only aesthetically pleasing, flowers are beneficial. What can you advise, what to pay attention to or what to protect yourself from when growing marigolds:
Fitontsida released from the leaves and buds, disinfect the air in the room.- Insects do not like the sharp spicy smell of flowers: mosquitoes and flies do not fly where they bloom. And aphids and thrips do not hurt all the other indoor flowers.
- You can use the leaves and inflorescences in cooking. Add to sauce or marinade. By grinding the dried inflorescences into powder, you can make a famous spice - Imeretinsky saffron.
- According to popular belief marigolds protect the house from the envy of enemies.
- In folk medicine, dried flowers are used in the treatment of cataracts and cardiovascular diseases, cleanse the body of toxins. Treat asthma. Read more about the medicinal properties and contraindications to the use of marigolds here.
Fitontsida released from the leaves and buds, disinfect the air in the room.Learn more about the use of marigolds in traditional medicine and cooking here.
Simple care combined with decoration - the advantages of growing marigolds at home. If you follow no complicated rules of care, then this plant will create comfort and make your home brighter!
