Since Lobelia is ampelous (planting and caring for photos and videos is quite easy), it is often used to decorate the garden, gardeners use it to create borders in the garden. Also, such a variety of lobelia is planted in small flower pots or drawers, so you can decorate a veranda or balcony, very often a cache-pot with such flowers hung from the street side of windows to decorate the house with flowers.
This plant was brought to our country from South Africa, and today scientists have been able to breed more than three hundred species of this delicate and fragile flower. Flowers grow best in subtropical and temperate zones, as in these areas the weather is more humid and resistant to temperature changes. But in order to properly grow a plant, it is necessary to purchase the plant variety that the gardener will grow in advance. For example, you can plant lobelia in the open air in the front garden, or you can pick up dwarf varieties of plants that are planted in pots and small boxes.
How to grow a plant from seeds?
The plant propagates best with the help of seeds, so gardeners use this particular method of obtaining ampel lobelia when planting and caring for photos and videos, but the seeds will germinate for a very long time, so it is recommended to start planting the first seeds not in spring, but already in the winter season, for example, in mid-February, or, in extreme cases, at the very beginning of March, this will make it possible to admire flowering plants earlier. I would like to note that it is quite difficult to work with seeds, since they have tiny sizes, we can say that they are a bit larger than a speck of dust, still growing such a plant at home will be an interesting occupation. Well, in order to plant seeds in prepared containers, it is best to take tweezers, since it will be easier for them to grab small seeds than to do it with your fingers.
If the soil is not bought, but simply prepared on its own, but it must be very light and loose, only in this case it will be easier for the seeds to put roots in it, humus cannot be added to the soil.
Every seed lobelia ampelous (planting and care with a photo in our article) is sown on the surface of the prepared soil, and in this case it is impossible to sprinkle the seeds with earth, since they need sunlight to germinate, and even the too small seed size will not allow the first glasses to grow break through a thin layer of earth.
To moisten the soil, only a sprayer is used, and it is necessary to moisten the soil very carefully so as not to nail the soil. A film is put on top of the container or glass is laid, it is necessary to carry out ventilation daily, five minutes are enough, it is also worth monitoring the humidified guest of the earth, and adding moisture if necessary. The air temperature in the room should be kept at twenty degrees or a little more, this temperature is more optimal for growing lobelia ampel, planting and caring for these plants. In just a couple of weeks, you will be able to see the first tiny seedlings, although sometimes they may not even be noticed, since the sprouts will be too small.
When the first seedlings appear above the surface of the soil with seed growing, the film can be removed, but it will be important to monitor how moist the soil is. The soil should have moderate humidity, if the soil ceases, this will certainly affect the health of small plants, but it is very dangerous to fill the soil, since the roots of the plants are thin and fragile, if they are washed by water, this will lead to the death of the plants.
After the first sprouts appear, you can not worry about the high temperature in the room, since the flowers will feel great at a temperature of fifteen degrees Celsius. Here, the sprout transplant can be done only three weeks after the appearance of the first shoots, it is necessary that the plants gain strength and become larger.
The transplant is carried out in separate small pots, the transplant is also done using tweezers, it will be much more convenient for them to grab a small sprout, seven small sprouts are transplanted into each container, since they are small in size. In addition, such a transplant makes it possible to obtain a large and lush bush, after the growth of seedlings. If the gardener noticed that the seedlings began to stretch very much, it is worth cutting off the tops with leaves, this will also help to create additional shoots of the plant so that the bush becomes thicker and stronger.
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Planting and flower care
To get really beautiful flowers of the lobelia ampelous “sapphire”, planting and care (photo below) must be done correctly and in a timely manner. Since it’s preferable to plant ampere lobelia precisely in drawers or flowerpots, it is best to hang them in a place where there will be enough sunlight for the flowers, it can be a veranda, a balcony or the street side of the windows, the main thing is that the plants have enough lighting. Although these plants can feel great in the shady corners of the house, still in the sun the plant will be able to please the gardener with beautiful and bright flowers.
For planting in a cache-pot, it is also preferable to use a looser and lighter soil, into which air will penetrate, you can not buy soil, but simply find loamy soil and use it to plant a plant. Many gardeners prefer to immediately feed plants with a large amount of organic fertilizer, but this approach will not be correct in relation to lobelia, because when organic matter is added to the soil, nitrogen appears, and although it allows the plant to develop its lush green vegetation, it still does not allow the plant to bloom , therefore, if you want to see bright and juicy flowers, then it is better to forget about organics.
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If the plants are located on an open veranda, then they will be planted at the very end of May, when frosty nights remain in the past, each bush should be at a distance of 7-10 cm from the other, but it would be better to plant one large bush in a cache-pot. As already mentioned, the plant loves water very much, so you will have to water the flowers quite often. If lobelia lacks moisture, this will immediately affect the flowering of the plant, so in hot weather it is worth paying special attention to watering. Often, the ampelous appearance of lobelia needs to be watered twice a day, since a small amount of soil dries out quickly in hot weather.
It is worth considering that these plants need additional cutting, this is done when the plants bloom for the first time, this will allow new shoots to grow, after such a cut, flowering begins with renewed vigor. For the whole summer, it’s worth at least two to make soil recharge so that Lobelia ampelous (planting and care is easy) took nutrients from the soil and bloomed well, for such feeding it is preferable to use only mineral fertilizers that are sold in flower shops.
Wintering plants
There are some varieties of lobelia that bloom for several years, so they need to properly survive the winter in order to bloom again in the new year. For example, a variety like erinus needs to be prepared for wintering.But this variety is dwarf and most often grown in vases and pots, you can transplant the plant together with the roots in a regular home pot, and let the lobelia winter in the apartment. In addition, in the warmth of the plant, it will bloom for some time as beautifully as in the summer. You can make the plant a haircut just Dima, so that in a few months the lobelia will give new shoots that will bloom again in the summer.
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Self-propagation of flowers
This plant is able to reproduce itself with the help of seeds, although flowering in this case will be much later. Often, gardeners simply collect seeds in late autumn and then plant them in the ground to get seedlings. Such bushes will sprout faster, but you can’t expect that plant varieties will not be mixed together, since pollination comes from all flowers.
These flowers are perfect not only for decorating your home and porch, but also for planting plants in flower beds. Although the ampere lobelia are quite small, they will look very beautiful in a flower bed. In addition, as already mentioned, they can be used to create borders, it is enough to plant plants on the sides of the paths in the garden.
We talked about Lobelia ampelous, about planting and care with a photo - we wish beautiful flowering!