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Our tips for a successful cultivation

The right substrate

The plant seeds of most plant species contain a supply of nutrients which, after germination, ensures that the young plants can develop their basic organs, roots, shoot shafts and leaves, before they are able to carry out photosynthesis and feed themselves with their then green leaf organs nourish (autotrophy). The nutrient reserves are usually stored in the cotyledons, and in some species also in a special nutrient tissue (endosperm) that is located in the seed.

Therefore, normal potting soil is not particularly suitable for sowing. It contains too many fertilizer salts. This means that the seeds can rot in them or that germinated plants can die because the fertilizer salts leach out their fine roots. Therefore, always use potting soil or coconut substrate. Both are low in nutrients, germ-free and permeable to water.

At the beginning of growth, the sowing substrate is primarily used to give the seedlings an opportunity to anchor and to supply them evenly with moisture. As already explained, minerals (fertilizers) are not initially necessary because the seeds essentially “bring” these plant nutrients with them.

There is another advantage if the sowing substrate only has a low fertilizer content: the plants then form more root mass (main and lateral roots, nourished from the nutrient tissue of the seed) and thus, anthropomorphically speaking, increasingly “search” for minerals , which enable vigorous growth after photosynthetic activity begins. Plants grown in well-fertilized soil (for example potting soil from garden shops) invest more in shoot and leaf growth and less in root growth, which often leads to less stability of the plants after planting.

Why we recommend coconut fiber substrate for cultivation

Commercial sowing soil is often made from peat, a raw material that needs to be assessed critically from a nature conservation perspective. Peat comes from raised bogs, which are increasingly threatened as habitats. With these, endangered plants and rare animals also disappear.

A standard 80 liter peat bag pollutes the environment with 19 kg of carbon dioxide (CO 2). That's more pollutants than a car emits per 100 km of travel. And it takes around 2,000 years for a 2 meter thick layer of peat to grow. An excavator destroys this natural heritage in just 2 minutes.

The coconut, on the other hand, is a renewable raw material that can be harvested every 3 months - and is completely climate-neutral. The coconut fiber substrate is an environmentally friendly alternative to peat. The coconut blocks are made from leftover coconut fiber that is left over from processing the fiber into cords and mats. The use of an original waste product creates new jobs and additional sources of income for coconut farmers and small businesses.

With a view to careful use of natural resources and the development of environmental awareness aimed at sustainability, you should pay attention to using environmentally friendly products when growing from the very beginning. Coconut fiber substrate as a renewable raw material is an ideal replacement for potting soil because, like it, it is low in nutrients, permeable to air and largely germ-free.

The preparation

Fill your breeding vessel up to the upper edge with growing substrate. The surface is then slightly pressed, so that a watering edge of approx. 0.5 cm is created in the pot. Make sure that there is so much soil in the potty that it is not too compacted when watering. You can recognize the right amount of earth by the fact that the earth's surface "springs" slightly when pressing, that is, offers a slight resistance. If there is too little soil in the potty, the future plants have too little root room available and they dry out faster.

Water and proper irrigation

The water should be as low in lime as possible. Unfortunately, in most cities the water is hard and calcareous. Rainwater is ideal, even if the air in some large cities is polluted and the water collected is not entirely pure. Garden retailers also sell water softeners that you can simply add to tap water. Of course, you can also boil tap water and water your plants.

It is optimal if your watering water is at room temperature and you do not shock your flowers with hot or ice-cold water.

After the entire growing substrate has been moistened once at the beginning, it is best to fill the water into a spray bottle during cultivation and spray the growing substrate daily. In this way the moisture is applied more finely and you avoid the seeds becoming muddy. This is the best way to fulfill the famous and difficult to explain advice “Keep the substrate moist, but not wet”.

It is well known that plants need water. The fact that plant roots also need air and breathe oxygen is often overlooked. Therefore, care must be taken to ensure that the soil is not compressed tightly, that the pots are not directly in the water and that air can reach the roots again after watering.

The seed germination

Depending on the plant, it only takes a few days, but sometimes even a few months, for the seedling in the seed to develop into a seedling plant and for the so-called cotyledons to develop. Sometimes they lift the seed coat above the ground and only then pull themselves out of it. The first real leaves, the so-called primary leaves, can already be seen between the cotyledons.

How quickly a plant grows depends on various conditions. The seedling plant initially grows due to the nutrients stored in the seed, which are transported to the growing parts and used there as building materials. A large seed contains many nutrients. The seedling plant is correspondingly large right from the start. When the cotyledons are unfolded, light for photosynthesis, temperature and water supply play a role in growth.

Even if the seedlings suddenly and apparently stop growing, there is initially increased root growth in the soil as the basis for the optimal supply that your seedlings need for vigorous above-ground growth.

The damping-off disease

The joy of the first seedlings can quickly be marred if they fall over for no apparent reason. The cause is usually seeds that are sown too densely, whose roots get in the way of each other and/or heat in the ground, moist soil and high air humidity - i.e. all the conditions that were previously ideal for cultivation. You can prevent this by keeping the soil a little drier after germination, ventilating the container from time to time and/or using a root strengthening agent.

Repotting

Plants are only repotted when the old pot has roots and is therefore too small. You will notice that you have to water much more often than usual because there is no longer enough soil in the pot to absorb the moisture.

Choose the new pot about 2 to 3 sizes larger than the previous one. For palm trees, the planter should be more high than wide because the roots go deeper. Repotting is necessary every 2-3 years with normal growth. Some plants are particularly sensitive at the roots (e.g. palm trees); Therefore, do not cut off too many roots and do not fertilize for 2 to 3 weeks after repotting.

Plant out outdoors

For plants that can later be kept outdoors in colder latitudes, you should take a few precautionary measures in order not to jeopardize your cultivation success. Young plants grown indoors must first be prepared for outdoor use, i.e. hardened off. To do this, they are placed in a place that is protected from the wind and shady, but still bright, for about a week. This hardening makes the plants more stable and the leaves develop a thicker cuticle (a superficial protective layer), which also protects against the higher levels of UV radiation outdoors. If you were to plant directly from the room in a place in full sun, you would have to expect that the leaves and sometimes the stems would suffer UV damage, i.e. a kind of sunburn. If night temperatures lower than +8°C are predicted, it is recommended to bring the plants indoors at night for the first few days/weeks.

Nutrient supply/fertilization

Fertilization plays a very important role in plant husbandry. Especially if your plants are not developing as desired or are only blooming poorly, they are often simply lacking nutrients. Fast-growing and lushly flowering plants in particular require plenty of special nutrients.

We recommend liquid fertilizer for supply, because the nutrients are immediately available to the plants and the distribution in the irrigation water enables a more even distribution than with granular fertilizers.

Liquid fertilizer contains minerals in a balanced ratio. You can see that these are dissolved salts when the liquid dries up. Minerals that contain nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) or potassium (K) are particularly important for plants. That is why we also speak of NPK fertilizers.

The proportion of the three main components is usually given as a percentage. The minerals are absorbed by the plants along with the water from the soil. Together with the raw materials from photosynthesis, they are used to build up a wide variety of compounds that they need for healthy growth.

A sufficient supply of minerals is a fundamental requirement for healthy plants. Therefore, you should fertilize your plants following the instructions on our seed packages. Without fertilizer, plants in mineral-poor soil will quickly show deficiency symptoms. Nitrogen deficiency, for example, can be recognized by the fact that the leaves, especially the older ones, are no longer a strong dark green but turn yellowish

Since the nutrient requirements of different plants are different, in addition to general fertilizers such as pot plant fertilizer, there are also special fertilizers:.

Potted plant fertilizer: Plants in pots and tubs place particularly high demands on the nutrient supply, as the nutrients in containers are used up more quickly than in the open ground. Adequate fertilization is therefore a prerequisite for lush flowering and healthy growth.

Palm Fertilizer: Palm tree lovers like to see their plants grow quickly. Palm trees require increased nutrients to build new leaves, flowers and roots. Liquid fertilizer guarantees that the nutrients reach the roots immediately with the irrigation water.

Iron fertilizer: The yellowish/white leaf discoloration (leaf yellowing/chlorosis) is due to iron deficiency. The iron necessary to build chlorophyll is no longer available to plants. Iron fertilizer is a highly effective liquid fertilizer and is very compatible with plants.

Conifer/sequoia tree fertilizer: A liquid special fertilizer for mountain, coastal, prehistoric sequoia, araucaria, golden pine, etc. The nutrients counteract needle browning. Particularly helpful for transplants in spring and autumn. The liquid complete fertilizer is effective immediately via needles and roots.

wintering

When overwintering, it is important that your plant does not receive any fertilizer during this time and also receives significantly less water than usual.

Some species lose their foliage and can be overwintered in cold and dark conditions. Others, on the other hand, require light and some heat. However, the rule for all plants is that they should not grow in winter, otherwise they will form weak shoots, which then wither away. Even typical plants that otherwise thrive all year round in their homeland stop growing on their own in other latitudes because the temperatures are lower in winter and the light is less intense.

Plant protection

Most pests such as whiteflies, spider mites, red spiders, aphids and scale insects occur when the air in the room is too dry. In this case, either ventilate more often or spray the leaves of the plants with water that is as low in lime as possible to increase the humidity. This method is very successful.

There are other plants that are avoided by pests or drive them away (such as the blue lantern flower / Nicandra physalodes). You can place these species between your other plants.

For fast-growing plants, the stubborn pest is removed by cutting back the plant. It grows back quickly and does not have to be fought for a long time and with great effort using pesticides.

Prevention is even better than fighting!

Spray leaves and the surface of the soil with a plant broth, for example. To do this, place 100g of any fresh herbs in 1 liter of water and let them steep for 24 hours. Then bring to the boil for half an hour, let it cool down and strain it through a sieve. Dilute this broth with 2 liters of water and pour into an atomizer. So you can now largely protect your green and flowering favorite plants.

Another problem is often waterlogging. Leaf tips turn brown, leaves wilt or fall off. The best prevention against wet feet is good drainage and drainage holes in the planter. You can sprinkle pottery shards or clay granules a few centimeters high on the bottom of the pot. This allows water to flow through the roots.

Why having a green thumb takes time and experience

In general, Mother Nature is extremely wasteful with the number of seeds it produces each year, and if all of those seeds germinated, there would very quickly be no room for anyone on the planet.

The abundant seed production is of course due to the fact that, due to various circumstances, only a small proportion germinate successfully and/or later grow into a strong plant.

With an optimal growing environment and some helpful tips on our seed cards, you and we try to significantly increase the success rate, but even then 100 percent success is not guaranteed and sometimes no seeds germinate at all.

Gardening professionals know that the path to a green thumb is full of failures, but they are not deterred by this and instead try to increase their success through ever new cultivation options.

Below we have put together the most important stumbling blocks that can make success more difficult or delay it. The word - too - has a crucial meaning: How do you actually define too wet or too dry? Not at all! This is exactly the experience that needs to grow like your seedlings.

stumbling blocks

• If the growing substrate is too wet, the seeds can become moldy
• If the growing substrate is too dry, even for a short time, the germination process can be interrupted and many seeds will not resume the process even if there is sufficient moisture
• The temperature ranges we specify during cultivation are based on experience, but seeds still react individually and are also sensitive to temperature fluctuations
• The germination time we provide is also an average empirical value and should not be interpreted too narrowly. Even in nature there are sometimes considerable delays, so that germination can occur very, very late
• And of course it can also happen that the germination capacity of the seeds does not correspond to the quota promised to us by our collectors. We generally try to rule out this using our own germ samples.

The Saflax Team wishes you every success and experience on the way to the green thumb!

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Manufacturer of this product:
Saflax * MSL GmbH & Co. KG * Gropiusstraße 7a * 48163 Münster * Germany