Lobelia belongs to
Campanulaceae family and the scientific name is Lobelia erinus. Lobelia is easy
to grow from seed. The seeds of lobelia are very tiny but you don’t need to be
scared because they are very easy to sow and to grow them. This plant has
shinny flowers that will make your garden look attractive. You can even grow
the trailing varieties if you have hanging baskets around your house. Some of
the bush varieties are mainly used in borders or smaller garden tubs.
Lobelia plants have
intensely colored flowers. Lobelia plants work very well as filler plants in
window boxes, hanging baskets, and garden borders. This plant has vivid blue
flowers that are highly attractive to butterflies and other pollinators.
Planting: Start by
sprinkling the lobelia seeds on the surface of good seed compost and don’t
cover the lobelia seeds with anything, the lobelia seeds actually need light to
germinate. Lightly firm the compost down after you sprinkled the lobelia seeds.
You have to keep the seed trays, pots at a temperature of eighteen to
twenty-four Celsius. The germination can take about fourteen to twenty days. Sow
the lobelia seeds from February onwards, generally about seven weeks before you
want to transplant the seedlings. Placing the lobelia seeds into a polythene
bag can give support to germination by keeping the flower seeds warm and moist.
Nearly all flower seed can be germinated this way. You need to water the
lobelia seeds always from the bottom, so that the water will not disturb the
small seeds.
Transplanting seedling:
When the lobelia seedling are large enough to handle you can easily transplant
them into a medium sized pots, tubs, baskets in bunches of about five to ten,
it is really not an easy task to transplant all the little lobelia plants
individually and there is no need to do that. Many gardeners just sow the
lobelia seeds into the tubs they want to grow the flowers in and later just
thin the seedlings as it is necessary. Gradually acclimatize the lobelia plants
to outdoor conditions before planting them outside after all the risk of frost
has passed in your area. Lobelias plant actually like a moist, rich soil, and a
shady location.
Furthermore, dumping off
is one of the common disease of the lobelia seedlings. This disease is a fungal
disease and it rots the stems by the soil surface. To actually avoid this
problem you can improve the circulation in the greenhouse, make sure you water
the lobelia plants from the bottom, don’t wet the foliage and also avoid
temperature fluctuation as much as possible.
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