How to Plant Cyclamen
Core introduction: This article provides an introduction to how to plant cyclamen and the precautions for planting cyclamen bulbs, please refer to the detailed introduction below.
As the weather warms up, are your cyclamen still blooming? Some cyclamen have approached the end of their blooming period or have completely finished blooming. After cyclamen finish blooming, don't rush to discard them; they are not disposable flowers. Pay attention to maintenance, and when the bulb grows larger, the number of flowers can double in the next blooming season. After cyclamen finish blooming, there are four things to do to grow the bulbs.
1. Trim the Withered Flowers, Seed Pods, and Yellow Leaves
After cyclamen finish blooming, they no longer produce new flower buds, so it's important to trim the withered flowers to allow the bulbs to grow well. If your cyclamen produce seeds and you don't want to spend two or three years raising seedlings, promptly remove the seed pods. Producing seed pods consumes a lot of nutrients, which is not conducive to bulb growth. Especially when there are many seeds, neglecting to fertilize can lead to excessive nutrient consumption in the bulbs, not only preventing them from flowering again but also possibly causing the bulbs to fail prematurely.
After cyclamen finish blooming, if there are yellow leaves at the bottom, trim them promptly as well. Trimming yellow leaves has two benefits: it saves nutrient consumption, allowing the bulbs to grow well, and it prevents bacterial and pest infestations that can affect bulb growth. Clearing away the yellow leaves makes the plant look neat and comfortable, even if it doesn't bloom.
2. Ensure Sufficient Light
After cyclamen finish blooming, it's best to keep them in a well-lit environment. Although they can no longer bloom, sufficient light promotes photosynthesis, which synthesizes many organic substances. These substances are then transported back to the bulbs, allowing them to grow quickly. If cyclamen are kept in a place with insufficient light, photosynthesis is weak, and the leaves not only fail to transport synthesized organic substances back to the bulbs but also consume nutrients from the bulbs, causing them to weaken.
How to Plant Cyclamen
3. Don't Rush to Repot
Some gardeners, upon seeing their cyclamen finish blooming, will repot them like other plants. It's best not to do this. In spring, repotting other plants is beneficial because the following period is their growing season. Cyclamen are different; by May and June, when the weather is hot, their leaves will turn yellow and wither, and the whole plant will enter dormancy. Therefore, March and April are the best times to grow cyclamen bulbs. If you repot during this time, the plant will spend a period of time adapting, and before it has fully recovered, the hot weather will cause it to enter dormancy. This makes it impossible to grow the bulbs larger, and the next year, it will be difficult to achieve normal blooming, let alone double the number of flowers.
4. Fertilize Properly
Cyclamen have a long blooming period and produce many flowers, consuming a lot of nutrients during the blooming period. After blooming, if we want to grow the bulbs larger, we need to apply fertilizer frequently to promote bulb growth. Generally, after cyclamen finish blooming, the weather is relatively warm, and you can apply a compound fertilizer every 10 days or so to ensure the leaves remain green and the bulbs grow quickly. Remember, after cyclamen finish blooming, do not apply nitrogen fertilizer alone. Their leaves are already quite lush, and applying nitrogen fertilizer will only promote leaf growth, which is not conducive to bulb growth.
What Causes Cyclamen Leaves to Turn Yellow
Currently, there are two factors to consider when cyclamen leaves turn yellow: one is that the environmental temperature is too high, and the cyclamen has started to enter dormancy. The other is improper care, causing the bulbs to rot. Let's talk about the first one: cyclamen prefer a cool growing environment, and when the temperature exceeds 25 degrees, the leaves will gradually turn yellow and enter dormancy. At this time, clear away the yellow leaves and place the cyclamen in a shaded, well-ventilated area, keeping the potting soil slightly moist. In autumn, they can be replanted and will grow and bloom again. Therefore, if the temperature in your home exceeds 25 degrees, yellow leaves are likely a sign of dormancy.