Marigolds: growing and caring at home. What will help preserve the plant's health and beauty?

Marigolds are a wonderful plant which, with due and, moreover, completely uncomplicated care, will be able to please the plentiful flowering of any, even inexperienced gardener / florist.

It will decorate both a small flower garden and any home, adding a touch of comfort and orange joy.

Next, we talk about the features of growing marigolds at home, about the methods of their reproduction, as well as about possible diseases.

Plant description

Marigolds can be both annual and perennial plants. Their homeland is considered South America. Presented in the form of a bush with a height of 30 to 130 cm, consisting of erect rather strong stems. The root system of the plant is fibrous, the leaves are cirrus dissected.

Marigolds bloom with luxurious round-shaped baskets of various shades of orange, yellow and brown.

On a note. The duration of flowering is quite large: from the first month of summer until the onset of the first autumn / winter frosts.

What is noteworthy, the seeds of the plant can give self-seeding and retain their germination for several years.

Growing

Marigolds - a very unpretentious plant, therefore, they can be grown not only at home, but also in the open ground.

Since marigolds tolerate cold and even frost perfectly, they can be planted immediately in a permanent place, without shelter, because young marigold sprouts do not need protection at all.

Determining the optimal time for planting, you should focus solely on weather conditions: when planting in open ground, the air temperature at night should be above +5if the plants "live" at home, planting can take place throughout the spring.

When growing marigolds at home, you should provide the plants with a sufficient amount of sunlight. Immediately after sowing / planting, marigolds should receive not only natural, but also, if necessary, additional lighting. They are very fond of sunlight, so do not be afraid to leave the plant in the open sun: it will only be happy for this and will certainly respond with lush flowering.

Marigold is very fond of nutritious light neutral soil, therefore, it is advisable to land exactly in such soil. If it will not be as fertile as necessary, you will have to increase the number of fertilizers.

Important! Marigolds will feel quite comfortable in the shade and will certainly grow, but flowering from them is unlikely to wait.

Since in most cases marigolds are annuals, after flowering they are simply pulled out of the ground. If you want to use them for growing next year, carefully collect the seeds and leave them in storage (with the advent of spring, you can plant them again).

Breeding methods

At home, it is best to grow marigolds using the seed method. To do this, first of all, you need to collect seeds from previous plants: you need a faded bud (or you can buy ready-made seeds).

1. The soil for sowing seeds must be thoroughly heated. First mix it with a small amount of sand and pour it into a container for growing (it must have a drainage layer). Put it in a very warm place (you can even have a battery) for high-quality heating.
2. Before sowing, the seeds are soaked for 15 minutes in a weak manganese solution, and then carefully dried.
3. In the heated soil, small grooves are made with a depth of about 1 cm. Seeds are sown at a distance of about 2-3 cm from each other. Since the seeds are very small, you should carefully sprinkle them with earth and sprinkle with water from a spray bottle. Then cover the pot with foil and place it on the windowsill in a room with a temperature of at least +22 degrees.
4. After a few days, the first shoots should appear. Immediately after this, you can remove the film and rearrange the pots in a cooler place with a temperature of about +18 to strengthen the young seedlings.
5. When the height of marigolds reaches a mark of 4 cm, you can dive into individual pots. Immediately after transplanting, the plants are carefully watered with warm water.
6. A couple of days after transplantation, be sure to feed the young plants with minerals (root top dressing), and a couple of days later - fertilizer for the green part of the plant. Before the first flower ovaries appear, try periodically spraying the seedlings with warm water.

Note! Before transplanting into a separate container, it is desirable to pinch off a small part of the root of the plant: this will stimulate it for active growth.

You can find out how to grow marigolds from seeds in open ground or in pots here, and from this article you will learn about when and how to plant seeds for seedlings, and then plant them on your summer cottage.

Care Rules

In order for marigolds to please you with their beautiful flowering, it is necessary to provide them with proper care, which is most often represented by the following procedures:

• Watering. Watering should be of high quality and regular. If the plant is grown at home, it should be watered daily (in especially hot weather - twice a day), but you should not flood the earthen lump so that there is water. During the flowering period, watering ceases, otherwise you can provoke rotting of the root system, which will lead to the death of the plant.
• Top dressing. Since the soil in pots and any other closed containers is rapidly depleted, it is necessary to provide the plant with quality timely top-dressing (you can find out how to feed marigolds for plentiful flowering here). Marigolds respond well to complex fertilizers for flowering plants. The first time fertilizer is applied when the plant reaches 10 cm in height, the second time - when the first buds appear and, finally, the last time - with the beginning of flowering.
• Soil treatment. The root system of marigolds loves to "breathe", so it is important to provide access to the roots of the plant oxygen. To do this, at least once a week, loosen the topsoil in the pot with a small spatula, chopsticks or cultivator. Believe me, the plant will only respond positively: it will begin to grow faster and may bloom earlier.
• Pruning. If the bush grows bulky enough, you can trim some stems, giving the plant the desired decorative look. It is also advisable to remove faded inflorescences in a timely manner: this will stimulate the rapid emergence of new ones.

Read about the proper care and planting of marigolds in open ground here, and from this article you will learn about
features of growing marigolds in pots or crates at home.

Diseases and pests, possible problems

Marigolds rarely get sick, but in some cases they can nevertheless be exposed to the negative effects of pests or various ailments (for how to detect the disease and pests of marigolds and how to treat the bush, read here). So, a plant can be affected by gray rot, appearing in the form of a white coating on the stems and leaves, turning over time into gray fluffy spots. Fighting the disease is extremely difficult. The simplest option is to immediately remove diseased plants so that they do not infect the rest.

In a very dry summer, a spider mite may appear on the marigolds. It can be eliminated by periodically spraying the plant with onion infusion or pepper (red hot pepper infusion). To avoid the appearance of a pest on marigolds, you can, at least several times a week, increase the humidity level in a room with marigolds (spray water from a spray near the plants).

It is also important to properly care for the plant in order to avoid possible problems.

Attention! With regular waterlogging of the soil, fungal diseases can occur that will destroy the root system of the plant, so be careful. An insufficient amount of moisture in the soil can slow down the growth of marigolds.

Do not “overfeed” marigolds in spring, combining this process with quite high temperatures in the room: this can lead to the rapid growth of green mass and poor flowering.

That's all the subtleties that you should know for growing marigolds at home. Follow simple care rules and you can grow a strong, healthy plant. Good luck

Useful video

Marigold. Cultivation and care: