How to grow Milan flowers

temperature

Milan is native to southern provinces of my country and southeastern Asia. It requires a warm, humid, semi-shady and semi-sunny environment, and has a strong tolerance to shade, and is adapted to growing in the sun in the south with high humidity. It is very sensitive to low temperatures. A very short period of sub-zero temperatures can cause the death of the entire plant. When the temperature reaches around 16 C, the plant can sprout new branches, but the growth is very slow and no flower spikes can be formed. When the temperature reaches above 25 C, it grows vigorously, and flower spikes appear in the leaf axils at the top of new branches. Therefore, except for South China where it can be planted in the ground, it can only be planted in pots in other areas. After winter, it must be moved indoors to prevent freezing and keep warm, otherwise it will easily freeze to death.

Reproduction method

Milan is often propagated by cuttings and aerial layering.

There are two types of cuttings: old branch cuttings and young branch cuttings. The former uses old branches grown last year as cuttings, and is carried out between April and May. The latter uses semi-lignified branches grown in the current year, and is carried out from June to August. The standard for collecting young branches as cuttings is that the leaves at the branch ends are thick, green in color, and the axillary buds are full. The cuttings are about 10 cm long. Keep 2 to 3 leaves on the top and remove all other leaves to reduce water evaporation and nutrient consumption, and smooth the incision. The cutting medium can be river sand, expanded perlite, peat, vermiculite, etc.

When taking cuttings, you can first use bamboo chopsticks to make holes in the soil, about 5 cm apart, and then insert the cuttings into the holes, with a depth of about 1/3 of the cuttings. After insertion, press the soil with your fingers to make the soil and cuttings tightly combined, and water them sufficiently. Set up a shade shed to maintain a ventilated and humid environment.

The rooting speed of cuttings is closely related to the soil temperature. The higher the base temperature, the faster the rooting. When the base temperature is between 30°C and 32°C, the cuttings can take root 40 days after planting. When the base temperature is between 25°C and 28°C, it will take 50 to 60 days to take root. However, the bottom temperature is high, the leaves evaporate quickly, and the metabolism of the cuttings is in an active state. If the humidity is low at this time, it will easily cause the cuttings to fall leaves. Once the cuttings fall leaves, there is no hope of survival. Therefore, high temperature must also ensure high humidity, and the relative humidity must usually be maintained above 85%. Before cutting, the base of the cuttings should be soaked in 20PPm-25PPm of indolebutyric acid for 12-24 hours, or 50PPm of indoleacetic acid for 15 hours, which can promote rooting.

Soilless cultivation

For soilless potted Milan, you can use a purple clay pot or a porcelain pot, or a plastic pot with a special water supply and ventilation structure. The matrix can be a mixture of perlite, vermiculite, high-level peat pellets, etc. The nutrient solution can be formulated in the form of general-purpose, Hoaglamd-Armon, Hamburger and Post culture solutions. Regardless of the type of culture solution used, its pH value must be adjusted to slightly acidic, that is, to around pH 6.5.