Growing primrose from seeds at home

It's worth noting that many people desire to have such a luxurious plant in their garden, dacha, vegetable garden, or front yard, and to adorn their home or balcony with these beautiful flowers. However, they are often deterred by the fear of not being able to grow such a divine beauty. Meanwhile, this perennial plant is quite undemanding; the only difficulty, and even that is surmountable, is growing its seedlings from seeds. Primrose propagation, growing from seeds Gardening at home, based on the knowledge and experience of gardeners, is not a risky endeavor or a waste of time. Your reward will be a true paradise in your world—an escape from life's problems and depression.

Getting to Know the Flower

Once you've become intrigued by this flower, your desire to learn everything about it will become overwhelming, and once you've learned, you'll want to own as many of its varieties as possible. There are a staggering number of primrose species, 550 different cultivars alone, not counting recent hybrids. Furthermore, seeds collected at home and planted the following year no longer retain the characteristics of the species, and an entirely new primrose variety, unfamiliar but always beautiful, may emerge.

To help navigate this sea of ​​beauty and color, breeders have adopted a system of sections consisting of 23 official primrose species names. Despite this wealth, no more than 200 species are generally cultivated in our latitudes, and their distribution is even more limited to the most popular and easiest to grow.

The rosette of leaves on the primrose flower itself is very aesthetically pleasing. Growing from seed at home (video), which we'll describe in detail. Even if the inflorescences aren't yet visible, the rosette of leaves can already become a beautiful addition to a flowerbed. And when these bright and varied lights appear, the delight knows no bounds, especially knowing you've grown such a magnificent specimen yourself.

The most popular among gardeners and homesteaders are tall primroses, which produce a round flower stalk with a cap of brightly colored flowers from a rosette of leaves. This species comes in a virtually limitless variety of colors, so for a flowerbed, it's best to choose primroses in as wide a variety of shades as possible. The contrast between the center and petals adds vibrancy to the blooms, always a burst of color created by that most talented artist—nature. It's important to know: when to plant primrose seeds for seedlings.

After you've grown your seedlings and created a stunningly beautiful flowerbed, you can try your hand at breeding and grow your own primrose variety next year. There's nothing complicated about this: simply transfer pollen from one flower to another with a brush, and then collect the seeds properly in the fall and store them carefully.

By combining primrose varieties, both stemmed and non-stalked, you can not only create a beautiful, vibrant carpet in your lawn but also add dimension. When imagining a primrose arrangement, be sure to include the polyanthus primrose, a hybrid derived from the primrose. Growing primroses from seed indoors (photo) is not particularly difficult, and they will more than reward your efforts with their regal appearance.

Preparing the seeds

If you purchased the seeds from a store, you don't need to disinfect them against fungal diseases, unlike if you purchased the seeds from someone who already grows primroses and shares the seeds with friends and acquaintances.

However, it's important to remember that primrose seeds spoil very quickly, and paying attention to the date on the envelope is essential to avoid wasting money and giving up hope of growing your own primrose.

So, seeds, whether collected at home or purchased from a private seller, should be soaked in a 1% potassium permanganate solution for 15-20 minutes. Since the seeds are very small, it's inconvenient to do this in a cloth bag. It's better to simply pour the seeds into a container with potassium permanganate, then pour the solution and seeds into a tea strainer lined with a cotton pad. Then rinse them in clean water and let them dry directly on the cotton pad.

We recommend:Alyssum: growing from seeds and when to plant

The difficulty of growing primroses from seeds indoors (how, when, and how to sow) isn't limited to their small size and tendency to spoil quickly even with minor deviations from storage conditions. Another challenge is the long germination period. To speed up this process, the seeds are stratified. However, there are primrose varieties that don't require this procedure and delight gardeners with uniform germination, provided the proper quality conditions are met.

Stratification, or keeping seeds at low temperatures, should be accomplished by either placing the container with the planted seeds in a cold place for up to two days, placing them on cotton pads in a bag in a freezer with a temperature of at least -10°C, or subjecting the seeds to a thermal shock several times throughout the day. This thermal shock can be achieved by abruptly changing the temperature from 1-3°C to room temperature, moving the seeds at regular intervals. Primrose, grown from seed indoors and stratified, when all conditions are met, produces a veritable forest of seedlings, surprising even experienced gardeners.

Soil preparation

It's best to purchase peat pellets for planting primrose seeds, but you can also save on this expensive expense by preparing the soil yourself. You should purchase containers for them in advance. seedlings, any plastic version will do.

Prepared soil, or a mixture of well-rotted compost and leaf mold, is mixed with perlite and vermulite. These two soil amendments, which loosen the soil and reduce its acidity, ensure oxygen access for the roots and ensure its even distribution throughout the soil, which has a positive effect on plant development.

There are other additive options, such as sphagnum moss, in amounts ranging from 20 to 50% of the soil, with the amount increasing as the seed size of the primrose variety decreases. There are also simplified soil preparation methods, and every gardener has their own secrets, but ensuring proper drainage is essential.

Furthermore, to prepare the soil properly, it should also be disinfected by steaming or pouring boiling water over it. Each gardener decides how to do this individually, sharing information about primroses and growing them from seeds at home on the forum.

Sowing seeds

As mentioned earlier, primrose is also known as the primrose, and it's one of the first flowers to grace us after winter. Seeds for seedlings are also sown very early, usually in February or March, but some gardeners sow the plant as early as January. However, such early sowing requires artificial lighting, as daylight hours during this month are insufficient for proper seedling development.

Before sowing, lightly moisten the soil using a drip irrigation method to ensure a moist top layer without over-watering the soil. A thin layer of vermulite can be applied on top. Primrose seeds, due to their very small size, should be sown with great care, ensuring an even distribution.

Again, every experienced gardener has their own secrets in this matter. Many sow seeds on a layer of snow previously placed in a container, or use special eyebrow tweezers, placing each seed in its designated spot in the container. Primroses grown from seeds indoors in properly prepared soil germinate in 3-4 weeks, but this period can be significantly longer, so don't be discouraged; just be patient.

After planting the seeds, the container is covered with film and placed in a warm place with a temperature of up to 16 - 18 C. After the seeds have sprouted, the film is removed and the top layer of soil in the container is regularly moistened.

Picking

A special feature of primrose seeds is that they need to be transplanted 2-3 times, starting even before true leaves appear. The first transplant is done during the cotyledon stage, carefully placing the seedlings on a prepared surface using available tools.

It is necessary to prepare holes in the soil so that the root system can fit freely in them. Tender plants are taken with tweezers, the cuttings are not planted too deep, a small amount of watering is immediately necessary, which can be done using a simple syringe, after removing the needle from it.

The auricula primrose, grown from seeds at home, is planted in the same way; this hybrid of the drooping primrose is especially beautiful with its contrast of a white or yellow center and multi-colored bright petals.

Primrose seedlings are sown in the ground in early June. Once they have taken root in their new location, they need to be fertilized with complex fertilizers every 7 days; after flowering, fertilizing is stopped.