This month, a House and Greenhouse guest, Ruby Winston, tells her methods for growing cinerarias on a small scale—the way other home gardeners want to grow them.
Ideal Temperature Requirements
Ideally, these magnificent late-winter and spring-blooming plants need a nighttime temperature range of 45° to 50° degrees Fahrenheit.
If other conditions are excellent, moisture in the air and at the roots of the plants, for example, nighttime temperatures of 55° degrees or slightly more, will not be harmful.
If you have a cool sunroom or greenhouse, cinerarias can be yours.
Sowing of Seeds in Midsummer
The cultural process starts with the sowing of seeds in midsummer.
It ends the following spring at the completion of the flowering season, when the plant matures and dies.
Other seeds to plant now are discussed in this month’s House and Greenhouse Check List, opposite page.
Cinerarias are enchanting, yet they have the demure simplicity of the daisy. The flowers of well-grown plants form a mound of blue, lavender, purple, pink, rose, or white.
The leaves, alone, are spectacular. Cinerarias may be brought into bloom at almost any time, but it is more usual to see them in winter and early spring.
Cinerarias Culture
Do I tempt you in vain, for you have no greenhouse? Cheer up, for I believe them to be easily grown. Much of their culture can be achieved outside during the summer.
If you have a cool sunroom in your home—temperature 45° to 50° degrees Fahrenheit at night, slightly higher during the day—cinerarias can be yours!
Grown From Seeds
Cinerarias are grown from seeds. Seeds sown in April will flower the following December. Seeds planted in July or early August begin to bloom in February.
By mid-March, they’ll be in glorious full bloom. However, at the end of this blooming season, the plants should be discarded as they are annuals and will not flower again.
When planting the seeds during the summer, find a cool spot for them in which to germinate.
Placing seed flats in the cellar or basement, or even under a shady tree, is satisfactory. Although the seeds are small, germination occurs in one to three weeks.
Sowing them atop moist vermiculite has proven excellent. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, usually after one true leaf has formed, transplant them to stand two inches apart in a flat.
Then place them in a cold frame, if possible, where they receive partial to full sun (shade the first few days with newspaper).
Caring For Cineraria Seedlings
I have found that cinerarias are sturdy when young and grow nicely in the hot summer sun. Just make sure they are watered often and never permitted to dry out.
In arid climates where extreme heat occurs in midsummer, cineraria seedlings will do best with morning sun, then shade for the rest of the day.
When autumn comes, they should be brought inside before the danger of frost. At this time, the seedlings should be potted individually.
Potting Cinerarias
You may start with a 3- or 4-inch pot, and gradually, as they grow, use a larger pot size, or they can be set immediately in 5- or 6-inch pots.
If you want gigantic cineraria to bloom a little later, use 7- or 8-inch pots. Be careful to enlarge the pot size as the plants grow.
Cinerarias will bloom ahead of schedule in small pots, but they look skimpy compared with plants allowed to bloom in 6-inch pots.
Florists use this schedule for cineraria: Seedlings are transplanted into 2 1/4-inch pots and remain there for four weeks.
They go then to a 4-inch size for five weeks and finally to 6″ inches to complete the growth cycle.
Soil Mixture
My soil mixture, with plenty of broken pottery at the bottom of each pot for drainage, is made of three parts sandy loam and one compost.
A standard potting soil for cinerarias can be made of equal parts garden loam, sand, peat moss or leaf mold, and well-rotted manure.
Fertilizer Application
Cinerarias seem to grow slowly from fall until bloom-time. However, applying a soluble fertilizer every few weeks will keep them coming.
Avoid high nitrogen types, however, for they encourage excessive foliage. Liquid manure is good after the buds appear.
Control Pests and Diseases
Keep the soil moist, and, as often as possible, syringe the foliage with water. This helps prevent infestation of the leaf-miner maggot and makes the plants look fresh.
Also, I spray occasionally with malathion to control aphids. If aphids attack budded cineraria, the flowers will be damaged or entirely ruined.
If the leaves edges turn brown, the plants may lack potassium. Conversely, yellowish leaves indicate the need for nitrogen.
44659 by Elvin Mcdonald