Fill your seedling container to the top with potting mix. Gently press down the surface to create a watering rim of about 0.5 cm. Ensure there is enough soil in the pot so that it doesn't become too compacted when watering.

You can tell you have the right amount of soil by the fact that the surface of the soil gives a slight "spring" when pressed down, i.e., it offers a slight resistance.

If there is too little soil in the pots, the future plants will have too little root space and will dry out faster.

The water should be as low in limescale as possible. Unfortunately, in most cities, the water is hard and contains limescale. Rainwater is ideal, even though the air is polluted in some large cities and the collected water isn't completely pure. Garden centers also sell water softeners that you can simply add to tap water. Of course, you can also boil tap water and use it to water your plants.

Ideally, your water for watering should be at room temperature, and you should avoid shocking your flowers with hot or ice-cold water.

After thoroughly moistening the entire growing medium at the beginning, it's best to fill a spray bottle with water and mist the growing medium daily during germination. This distributes the moisture more evenly and prevents the seeds from being washed away. This is the best way to fulfill the famous, yet difficult-to-explain, advice: "Keep the substrate moist, but not wet.".

It's common knowledge that plants need water. However, the fact that plant roots also need air and respire oxygen is often overlooked. Therefore, care must be taken to ensure that the soil is not compacted, that the pots are not standing directly in water, and that air can reach the roots again after watering.

Depending on the plant, it takes only a few days, but sometimes also several months, for the seedling to develop from the seedling inside the seed and for the so-called cotyledons to unfold. Sometimes they lift the seed coat above the soil and only then emerge from it. Between the cotyledons, the first true leaves, the so-called primary leaves, are already visible.

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

Even if the seedlings suddenly and seemingly stop growing, increased root growth initially occurs in the soil as a basis for optimal supply, which your seedlings need for strong above-ground growth.

The joy of seeing the first seedlings can quickly turn sour if they fall over for no apparent reason. The cause is usually seeds sown too densely, whose roots then interfere with each other, and/or soil warmth, moist soil, and high humidity – all the conditions that were previously ideal for germination. Prevent this by keeping the soil slightly drier after germination, ventilating the container occasionally, and/or using a root strengthening product.

Plants only need repotting when the old pot is completely filled with roots and therefore too small. You'll notice this because you'll need to water them much more frequently than usual, as there isn't enough soil left in the pot to absorb the moisture.

Choose a new pot that is about two to three sizes larger than the old one. For palms, the pot should be taller than it is wide, as their roots grow deep. Repotting is necessary every two to three years with normal growth. Some plants have particularly sensitive roots (e.g., palms); therefore, do not remove too many roots and do not fertilize for two to three weeks after repotting.

For plants that will later be kept outdoors in colder climates, you should take some precautions to ensure successful propagation. Young plants grown indoors must first be prepared for outdoor conditions, meaning they need to be hardened off. To do this, place them for about a week in a sheltered, shady, yet still bright location. This hardening-off period makes the plants stronger, and the leaves develop a thicker cuticle (a protective outer layer) that also protects against the higher UV radiation outdoors. If you were to plant them directly from indoors to a spot in full sun, you would have to expect UV damage, and sometimes even sunburn, to the leaves and sometimes the stems. If nighttime temperatures below +8°C are forecast, it is advisable to bring the plants indoors at night for the first few days or weeks.

Fertilization plays a crucial role in plant care. If your plants aren't developing as expected or are only flowering poorly, they are often simply lacking nutrients. Fast-growing and profusely flowering plants, in particular, require plenty of specific nutrients.

For nutrient supply, we recommend liquid fertilizer, as the nutrients are immediately available to the plants and the distribution in the irrigation water allows for 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. The minerals containing nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are particularly important for plants. This is why they are also called NPK fertilizers.

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

Adequate mineral supply is essential for healthy plants. Therefore, you should fertilize your plants according to the instructions on our seed packets. Without fertilizer, plants in mineral-poor soil will quickly show signs of deficiency. Nitrogen deficiency, for example, is recognizable by the leaves, especially the older ones, no longer being a vibrant dark green, but turning yellowish

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

Fertilizer for container plants: Plants in pots and containers have particularly high demands on nutrient supply, as nutrients in containers are used up more quickly than in open ground. Sufficient fertilization is therefore essential for abundant flowering and healthy growth.

Palm fertilizer: Palm enthusiasts like to see their plants grow quickly. Palms have an increased need for nutrients to develop new leaves, flowers, and roots. Liquid fertilizer ensures that the nutrients reach the roots immediately with the watering can.

Iron fertilizer: Yellowing/white leaf discoloration (chlorosis) is caused by iron deficiency. The iron necessary for chlorophyll production is no longer available to the plants. Iron fertilizer is a highly effective liquid fertilizer and is very well tolerated by plants.

Conifer/Giant Redwood Fertilizer: A liquid, specialized fertilizer for mountain, coast, and dawn redwoods, as well as Araucarias, golden pines, etc. The nutrients counteract needle blight. Especially helpful during transplanting in spring and autumn. This liquid complete fertilizer is immediately effective through the needles and roots.

During overwintering, it is important that your plant receives no fertilizer and significantly less water than usual.

Some species lose their leaves and can overwinter in cold, dark conditions. Others, however, need light and some warmth. For all plants, though, it's important that they don't grow during the winter, otherwise they will produce weak shoots that will wither. Even plants that thrive year-round in their native habitat will naturally stop growing in other latitudes because winter temperatures are lower and the light is less intense.

Most pests, such as whiteflies, spider mites, red spider mites, aphids, and scale insects, thrive in overly dry indoor air. In this case, either ventilate more frequently or mist the plant leaves with water that is as low in lime as possible to increase humidity. This method is very effective.

There are other plants that are avoided by pests or repel them (such as the blue lantern plant / Nicandra physalodes). You can place these species among your other plants.

In fast-growing plants, the persistent pest can be removed by pruning the plant back. It will quickly grow back and does not require lengthy and costly treatment with pesticides.

Spray leaves and soil surface with a plant infusion, for example. To make it, place 100g of any fresh herbs in 1 liter of water and let it steep for 24 hours. Then boil it for half an hour, let it cool, and strain it through a sieve. Dilute this infusion with 2 liters of water and pour it into a spray bottle. This way, you can largely protect your beloved green and flowering plants.

Another common problem is waterlogging. Leaf tips turn brown, leaves wilt, or fall off. The best way to prevent waterlogged soil is good drainage and drainage holes in the planting container. You can spread a few centimeters of broken clay pots or clay granules at the bottom of the pot. This allows the water to drain through the roots.

In general, Mother Nature is extremely wasteful with the number of seeds produced annually, and if all these seeds were to germinate, there would very quickly be no room for anyone else on this planet.

The abundant seed production is naturally due to the fact that, due to various circumstances, only a small proportion ever germinates successfully and/or later grows into a strong plant.

Through 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% success is not guaranteed and sometimes no seeds germinate at all.

Gardening professionals know that the path to a green thumb involves many failures, but they are not discouraged by this and try to increase their success by constantly trying new variations in cultivation.

Below, we've compiled the most significant pitfalls that can hinder or delay success. The word "too" plays a crucial role here: How do you actually define too wet or too dry? You don't! It's precisely this that requires experience, which, like your seedlings, needs to grow.

• If the growing medium is too wet, the seeds can mold
• If the growing medium dries out even briefly, the germination process can be interrupted, and many seeds will not resume the process even with sufficient moisture afterwards
• The temperature ranges we specify for germination 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 value based on experience and should not be interpreted too strictly. Even in nature, there are sometimes considerable delays, so germination can still occur very, very late
• And of course, it can happen that the germination rate of the seeds does not match the rate promised to us by our collectors. We make every effort to rule this out by conducting our own germination tests.