Cyclamen is a flowering and very pleasant plant, the popularity of which has been growing significantly recently. Two types of it are most common as indoor cultures: cyclamen European and Persian. Both species simply conquer with their original and lovely flowers.

Cyclamen: how to sow seeds

When growing cyclamen from seeds, it will first be necessary to be patient for the first six months. For lovers of this magnificent plant, this period is the most difficult because during the first six months seedlings emerge and grow quite slowly. To grow cyclamen at home, you should adhere to specific instructions:

• in February - March, it is best to sow the seeds of this plant in the soil. When at this time it was not possible for some reason to sow the seed, then you should wait until August;
• before sowing, the seeds must be soaked for 18 hours in the prepared solution (4 drops of Epina Extra are diluted in half a glass of water);
• then you should prepare the soil mixture. This will require mix peat with leafy soil   in equal quantities, then moisten, put in a container and cover it with an opaque lid;
• in the container it is necessary to sow the treated seeds to a depth of about 1 centimeter and at a distance from each other of 2-3 centimeters. Then cover the container with seeds with a lid and leave it in a place in which the air temperature is kept within 18-20 ° C. For about 1-2 months, the seeds sown will germinate;
• when seedlings appear, the container must be moved to a well-lit place so that direct sunlight does not fall on the Sents. You can even slightly shade the plants, if necessary;
• seedlings dive into potswhen the plants will have at least two leaves. The mixture for pots is as follows: in equal parts, humus, sand, turf and leafy earth are mixed. In one pot at the same time 2-3 plants can be planted;
• six months later, plants should be transplanted into pots whose diameter does not exceed 7 centimeters. The mixture for plant transplantation is used in the same composition as when diving plants. A third of the tuber should protrude above the surface of the soil;
• watering should be done carefully so that water does not get on the leaves and tuber, and the room temperature does not exceed 20 ° C;
• the first flowers when growing cyclamen from seeds should bloom in the second year   after sowing them.

Beautiful cyclamen compositions

Features of growing cyclamen

Every person who wants to grow cyclamen from seeds should remember plant care features. The future growth of cyclamen directly depends on this.

The Persian or European cyclamen purchased at the store does not always become a permanent resident of the windowsill. Plants of industrial cultivation, plentifully fed with stimulants, often die after flowering, which takes all the vitality of the tuber. Under what conditions can one succeed in propagating flowers from seeds?

Home cyclamens are already well adapted to the conditions of the apartment, they are not overfed and are guaranteed to be clean from diseases and pests. Young seedlings bloom by the end of the first year of life. Therefore, it makes sense to try to plant and grow a plant from seeds.

How to get seeds to plant

The easiest way to plant a flower is to buy seed in a flower shop. However, if you have a cyclamen at home, you can do without it by getting seeds from your own plant.

When purchasing seeds in a store, you don’t know how healthy the flower was and whether it is Cyclamen.

It is easy to make a flower bear fruit, for this you only need to pollinate the flowers. For the health of seedlings, it is better if pollination will be cross. From two cyclamens of different colors can be obtained very attractive and unlike parents hybrids.

Pollination is carried out in December-February, in the middle of the natural flowering period of cyclamen. It’s best to do this sunny morning. Tapping on a blossoming flower, shake out pollen from it, which settles on the pistils of neighboring flowers.

For cross-pollination, it is necessary to carefully collect pollen with the tip of a match and dip the pestle of the fertilized flower into it. To be sure to achieve pollination, you should repeat the procedure 5-7 times.

A pollinated flower quickly fades, leaving behind a rounded box filled with light brown, rounded seeds. Depending on the conditions for full ripening of seeds, it takes from 90 to 140 days, the optimum temperature at this time is about +20 degrees during the day and about +12 at night.

Peduncles with boxes wilt over time, leaning toward the ground. Ripe capsules crack, so it is better to pick them shortly before ripening.

To check the quality of the seed, you need to prepare a 5% sugar solution and pour seeds on it. Those that pop up won't sprout, sank to the bottom - suitable for germination.

Seeds do not lose their germination for a long time, they can be stored for up to three years. Moreover, plants grown from seeds collected one and a half to two years ago bloom faster and more abundantly than seedlings that have hatched from fresh seed.

The cultivated Persian cyclamen does not depend so much on the length of daylight as its wild ancestor, so even if the seeds were not purchased on time, you can plant them in the ground, without waiting for spring. It is only necessary to provide them with a suitable temperature.

Sow cyclamen

Flower seeds have a high germination capacity, which drops slightly over time. Even two or three years old seeds sprout with a probability of 70-80 percent. Therefore, by checking them with a sugar solution, you can be sure that young plants will appear from them.

Before planting the seeds in the soil, they should be soaked for a day in a solution of Epin, potassium permanganate, or simply in warm water. The soil for planting should be light, sandy, at the bottom of the tank a sufficiently large layer of drainage is needed - the root system of cyclamens is superficial.

Earth is necessary calcine or spill boiling water for disinfection. Seeds are buried about a centimeter into moist soil, the optimal interval between them is 2-3 centimeters.

Peat tablets can also be used as a substrate. But, since the size of the tablets is small, it is necessary to carefully monitor that they do not dry out.

Seeds have one important feature when germinating: at high temperature, seedlings develop more slowly than at relatively low. Providing them with a temperature of about +15 degrees, they should wait for the sprouts in a month, if it exceeds +20 degrees, young plants will appear after two to three months.

In addition, the timing of seed germination depends on the variety - some of them can "sleep" up to 4-5 months.

The rules for germinating seeds of the Persian and European cyclamen are almost identical, the only significant difference is the flowering season of young plants. The first will bloom in winter, the second will show peduncles in summer.

Many believe that cyclamen seeds should be kept in the dark until germination, but this is not so. It is better to expose containers with soil in the sun, so that the sprouts that appear immediately fall into favorable conditions for development.

Seedling care at home

Young plants need to provide a stable temperature, bright enough, but diffused lighting and timely, however, not allowing stagnation of water irrigation. With excess moisture, they are very vulnerable to fungal diseases.

The cyclamen seedling first picks up a small nodule, after which it throws out the first leaf. First, a purple loop of petiole appears, then the leaf itself, covered with the skin of a sunflower seed.

Often this sheet cannot be independently peeled off, especially when there is insufficient humidity in the room, so sometimes they need to be removed with tweezers, having previously been slightly moistened.

Even if the sheet is damaged, the seedling will not die, this will only slow down its development.

The first three months, the seedling grows a tuber, not throwing new leaves, and only after that young leaves begin to appear in it. This time is the most difficult for young plants, it is important not to dry and pour them.

Freshly sown cyclamen, unlike adult specimens, do not rest in the summer, at this time they are actively growing. At the age of six months, they can be fed for the first time with a weak solution of complex fertilizers with a low nitrogen content.

To form a beautiful dense rosette of leaves, it is better to keep the plants in a fairly cool room. Seedlings are not afraid of drafts, so they are good at airing the room where they live.

Young Persian cyclamens usually first produce flower stalks at the age of 13-14 months, European - in the second or third year. The first flowering is not always plentiful: the plant is gaining strength for a lush bouquet of flowers only to the second or third flowering.

Often it is weak, slowly growing from small seeds that produce the most beautiful, double, unusually colored flowers. Therefore, you should not reject young plants, focusing on the strength of growth and the size of the seedling.

How else to propagate the Persian cyclamen

Vegetative propagation will not give a large amount of planting material, however, firstly, it will ensure the full preservation of varietal characters, and secondly, it will allow you to get a strong and viable young plant with minimal effort.

Cyclamen can reproduce in the following ways:

Rooting a leaf at home: how to grow a flower

A leaf blade with a petiole, like that of Saintpaulia or gloxinia, does not take root in cyclamen: after standing for some time in water, she will just start to rot. To root a leaf, you need to pick it by picking a small piece of tuber from the surface, or select a leaf with “fingers” - small root-shaped growths on the petiole.

It is important to remember that in this way only European cyclamen can be propagated, in Persian leaves, even with a piece of tuber, do not take root, and he does not have “fingers”. It should be borne in mind that a tuber injury with high humidity is fraught with rotting.

Care for young plants from the leaf similar to caring for a grown seedling   - copious, but not excessive watering, bright light, beneficially affecting the formation of a cool outlet. Not only this homemade flower can be propagated by leaf - for example, we have already told,.

Outlet propagation: where to plant

A large adult tuber often gives not one rosette of leaves, but several. Such a rosette is neatly cut or broken off with a small part of the tuber, after which it is planted in moist soil to grow a new plant.

For better rooting, it is placed in a greenhouse, and after a few weeks it begins to grow its own tuber. You can’t break off all sockets from the mother tuberLeft without growth points, he will die.

European cyclamen gives more outlets than Persian, so it is often propagated in this way. In addition to rosettes, he also gives small daughter nodules, which are planted from the mother plant during the dormant period. Persian does not give them.

Tuber division: dangers when growing

For division, a sufficiently large and strong tuber with a large rosette of leaves is needed. With a disinfected knife, the tuber is cut in half, the halves are dried, sprinkled with colloidal sulfur or crushed coal, and then planted in disinfected soil.

Planted halves of the tuber should not be watered in the first few days to prevent decay. Like regular healthy tubers, you need them not fully digleaving about a third above the surface of the soil.

The first watering of plants obtained by dividing the tuber or rooting rosettes is best done with boiled water - this reduces the risk of infection.

Despite the fact that seedlings obtained using vegetative propagation are stronger than cyclamen from seeds, bloom earlier and grow faster powerful tubers, rosettes and leaves are not always rooted, and when dividing a tuber, both halves of it can die, falling victim bacterial rot or late blight.

Therefore, seed propagation is more reliable and safe, and it makes sense to dwell on it, especially when it comes to Persian cyclamen.

European cyclamen, whose seedlings bloom only after two or three years, is best propagated by daughter nodules - this does not threaten the health of the mother plant, in contrast to the division of the tuber and the separation of rosettes.

Cyclamen is a beautiful plant that can be grown very easily at home. This plant has large, very attractive and vibrant flowers that can become an adornment of any house or apartment at a time when the street is winter and frost. Cyclamen blooms precisely in the winter, when all other plants have already bloomed, so many housewives grow it at home.

Now there are a lot of different varieties of cyclamen, which differ from each other in colors and shapes. In our country, you can often find two varieties of this flower: European and Persian, these varieties can be easily grown at home. Many people wonder: how to grow cyclamen from seeds? This article provides an exhaustive answer to this question.

Cyclamen at a Glance

This perennial flower is a tuberous plant; its flowers can be white, lilac, burgundy and pink. Cyclamen does not need a lot of light, he is not afraid of cold, in natural conditions it grows in a rather harsh climate. The main thing that this plant needs is regular watering and low temperature. Perfect cyclamen feels on a cool windowsill.

Of course, you can go to a flower shop and easily buy this plant, but this option is not acceptable for everyone. Many people want to grow cyclamen from seeds. This method, of course, requires more effort than buying an adult flower, however, growing cyclamen on your own increases the chance that it will quickly and painlessly take root and will delight all households for several years. A purchased flower will not always be able to adapt at home, it also requires a lot of effort.

Anyone who is interested in how to grow cyclamen from seeds should clearly understand that it takes a lot of patience and about six months to: germinate the seeds, see the first seedlings, transplant the sprouts and form separate plants.

Preparation for growing a flower from seeds

The very first and most important step in growing cyclamen is the selection of quality seeds. Many just go to the store and buy seeds there, the germination rate of which is about 80 percent. However, it is better to give preference to home planting material, in which the percentage of germination is much higher. If you or your neighbors, acquaintances have this adult flower, then it is advisable to take seeds from a plant grown at home. In cyclamen, seeds ripen in a special box. It is necessary to open it, remove the seeds from there, dry them well, after which these seeds can be planted and grow plants in the ground.

Important! In order for the seeds to germinate, cyclamen must be pollinated a couple of times during its flowering period. This can be done with an ordinary brush, only after pollination can you expect that in the box will be fruitful planting material.

In addition to quality seeds, you must also prepare:

1. First you need to soak the seeds. It is necessary to take warm, settled water, in which it is necessary to soak the seed for two to three days. To additionally provide cyclamen with nourishment and protection against various diseases, you can add a solution of Zircon, Epin or potassium permanganate to the water. Very often, flower growers do not soak the seeds in water, but pour them onto moistened gauze or cotton pads. In this case, it is very important to periodically moisten, water the material so that it does not dry out.
2. It is necessary to prepare a special container in which seeds will be planted. You can use a wooden box or some kind of plastic, clay container, in which there are drainage holes. Holes are necessary so that there is no stagnant water in the soil, due to which cyclamen seeds could rot. At the bottom of the tank you need to pour drainage material, the thickness of the layer should be about 2 centimeters. After this, you need to pour in the container a previously prepared substrate. Typically, gardeners pour about 7-8 centimeters of land before planting seeds.
3. Then you need to make small recesses in the soil, the depth and width of which is about 1 centimeter. In each dimple you need to put one seed, the distance between the planted seeds of cyclamen should be about 3 centimeters. Top you need to cover the seeds with a substrate. Do not bury the seeds in the ground deeper than two centimeters.
4. A container with planted seeds should be placed in a dark, not hot place. The best temperature for growing cyclamen at home is about 13-18 degrees. If the room temperature is more than 20 degrees, then the cultivation will take significantly more time. If the temperature does not exceed 18 degrees, cyclamen seeds will begin to germinate within 30 days. However, if after a month the sprouts did not appear from the ground, then you should not panic, because different varieties of cyclamen grow in different ways, some of them hatch only after two to three months. Some species of this flower sprout even longer.
5. It is imperative to provide planted cyclamen with proper ventilation and adequate watering. It is necessary to water the grown seeds regularly, but you can not fill the soil. The substrate should be moist, but not excessively wet.
6. Usually in the first month of growing cyclamen greenish or purple loops appear above the ground, after which very small tubers appear in the soil, which gradually take root. From these small bulbs new shoots begin to sprout, on which small leaves appear over time. Most often on the first leaf there is a peel from a seed. This peel should itself fall, but if this does not happen, then you can very carefully remove it with tweezers. You need to act very carefully, because if you damage this first sprout, the plant may die.
7. When the sprout begins to stretch up, the tuber should be about one third above the ground so that the growth point does not decay. If the whole tuber is underground, then the seed has been planted deep, and now you need to remove a little earth from the surface of the bulb.
8. After three or four leaves appeared on cyclamen, young plants must be transplanted into separate pots, where they will be subsequently grown. Usually, a transplant should be done after 3 months, because this flower grows quite slowly. Carefully pull out the sprout along with the ground, and put it in a small pot. The soil and drainage layer should be the same as when planting seeds.

Care for cyclamen grown from seeds

The most difficult work has already been done. Now you need to protect young flowers from sunlight, and they do not need to be placed next to heaters and other sources of heat. Watering young cyclamens is necessary along the edge of the pot so that water does not fall on the stem and tuber. Watering should be regular so that the soil is always moist. When cyclamen will be grown for about 9 months, the first buds will appear on it, which will open in a few months, and the plant will delight the young, first flowers. It must be remembered that in the summer cyclamen do not bloom, however, recently developed Persian varieties can bloom year-round.

Cyclamens should not be fertilized frequently. Usually the first top dressing is done 9 months after growing the plant from seeds. During this period, you can fertilize with a special solution, sold in a store for feeding flowering plants. It is necessary to feed the flower once every 15-20 days throughout the entire growing season (from autumn to spring). Almost all varieties of cyclamen go to rest in the summer.

When the cyclamen begins to fall off the leaves, this means that the plant is preparing to go into a dormant state. During this period, cyclamen should be watered less and put in a dark place. It is best suited for plants in winter - southern windows, and in summer flower pots are best placed on eastern or western windows. It is only necessary to water cyclamen when the top layer of soil has dried out a little. If during watering, water falls on leaves or on the base of the bulb, this can lead to the development of a dangerous fungal disease - gray rot, as a result of which cyclamen will begin to rot.

So, cyclamen can be grown without much effort at home from seeds. Guided by the above tips and properly caring for the plant, the flowers will grow quickly enough and without problems. Original and very beautiful cyclamens will decorate the room, and bring bright colors and good mood to the house.

Perhaps no one will deny that flowers are a real miracle of nature. But even greater miracle and charm are those plants that bloom in the cold season or even year-round. One such plant is cyclamen. This gentle graceful kid will revive the most dull window sill and will cheer you up even on the most gloomy and gray day. And how to grow cyclamen from seeds will be discussed below.

Cyclamen: care and cultivation

Experienced growers unanimously argue that the process of growing cyclamen from seeds is not so complicated. You just need to be patient, because the seeds of this flower sprout quite slowly. The first shoots can be seen in the period from 3 weeks to 3 months. Yes, and they grow in the first six months of life per hour by a teaspoon, but then, having gained strength, they quickly gain strength.

To grow cyclamen from seeds successfully, you need to properly prepare for the process. Sowing material is better to take from a home plant, seeds that have matured at home have a high, almost 100%, germination and are more resistant to disease. But if there is no one to take home seeds from, the store ones will do. Before planting, they should be soaked in warm water for 24 hours, sprinkled in a rag bag or cotton pad.

As for the dishes, it is better to take a rectangular pot with drainage holes for sowing. The height of the wall should be about 15 cm. At the bottom of the tank, foam or expanded clay is laid with a layer of 1.5-2 cm for better drainage, because in nature cyclamen grows on stony loose soil. About 7 cm of earth, consisting of sand, humus and a leaf component, is poured on top of the drainage. If there is nothing to prepare the mixture on your own, then you can buy land for violets.

Before the seeds are planted, the soil is moistened. Then the seeds are laid one at a time at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other and sprinkled with a layer of earth at 1.5-2 cm and put the cache-pot in a cool place, not higher than 10-15 ° C. Everything, landing is completed, we are waiting for shoots.

Care for seedlings and young flowers

Now came the period of growing cyclamen, when you need to be patient. It may take a whole month before the first shoots, or even 2. Until the first shoots of the shoots appear, moderate humidity should be maintained in the pots, periodically spraying the ground from the spray gun. It is impossible to fill the soil, but also to allow its complete drying out too.

When the seedlings hatch, you must constantly ensure that the soil in the pots is slightly moist, but not wet at all, otherwise the nodule will rot and the growth point and the plant will die. By the way, if the seeds were planted too deep, free the nodule 1/3 of its height from the soil. The same rule applies to adult flowers, their nodule is released halfway.

When the sprouts produce 3 real leaves, the seedlings must be neatly diced into separate pots. At the bottom of the new homes of your pets, also put drainage, and already on top of it pour earth. Transplant young cyclamen to a permanent place residence is necessary with a radical lump of earth, so you will not damage anything to a fragile flower. By the way, after a dive, the plants quickly gain strength and are rapidly reaching up.

As for top dressing and further irrigation regimen, the first six months cyclamen do not feed, but only maintain the soil in a slightly wet state. After passing six months of age, flowers are fed once with a weak solution of some mineral fertilizer for flowering indoor plants. Feeding is repeated once every six months before flowering.

From the age of one year, cyclamens begin to water. This should be done carefully, along the edge of the pot so that water does not get on the tuber and the growth point. In summer, watering is done every 3-4 days, and in winter - not more than once a week. And remember, cyclamen does not like heat.

That's all the secrets of how to grow cyclamen from seeds. Good luck with this wonderful activity.

Cyclamen is one of the most beautiful ornamental plants, which is often grown at home. Among flower growers, this flower is appreciated for the fact that it blooms in the winter, pleasing the eye with its bright buds. Therefore, it will be useful to know how to grow cyclamen from seeds with your own hands. This article will help to understand this issue.

Growing any flowers at home, including cyclamen, always begins with the choice of planting material. What you made in the end depends on how correctly the choice was made.

Seeds of these flowers can be obtained in two ways:

• to collect planting material at home. It can be obtained from plants grown at home. To do this, you just need to conduct an independent pollination with a brush. When a box forms on the flower, seeds should be collected from it;
• buy at a specialty store. Here you can buy seeds of different varieties of these flowers and grow them at home.

The selection of planting material obtained at home is as follows:

• it needs to be assembled from the box;
• dry the seeds;
• select those that have no defects.

If you will buy material for planting for the purpose of growing at home, then you need to choose a bag. The following recommendations should be considered here:

• first, we determine the variety of flowers that you will plant at home;
• the purchased package with planting material should be hermetically packed and not wiped, with well-readable inscriptions. The pack should have information about when to sow the seeds of this particular plant variety.

Please note that using planting material obtained at home, his similarity will be slightly worse than that of purchased ones. Although in the second case, the sprouts may appear somewhat later than expected. When they appear, it depends on how correctly their planting has been carried out and further seedling care has been carried out.

Preparation and sowing

The answer to the question "how to grow cyclamen from seeds" will always begin with the proper preparation of planting material and soil. First you need to prepare the soil in which you will sow. The soil can be either bought at a flower shop or prepared at home. To prepare the soil mixture at home should be if you are a grower with experience. For beginners, a better solution would be to use purchased land.

At home, land for growing cyclamen can have the following cooking options:

• a mixture of sheet land and peat (1: 1);
• a mixture of peat and vermiculite (1: 1).

After this stage, seed preparation follows. They can be prepared for landing in several ways. This will be described in detail in the next section. Some gardeners claim that for cyclamen, before sowing seeds, additional preparation is not required. But this remains for a personal examination of each grower. It should be remembered that additional preparation will significantly increase the speed of their emergence.

Sow should be as follows:

• choose a pot. It should not be too big, but smaller than in adult flowers. You can use other capacity options for growing at home. At the same time, holes must be present at the bottom of any container;
• at the bottom of the tank we put foam drainage or expanded clay;
• then pour the prepared soil mixture into the container. In this case, the soil should be 1 cm below the sides;
• then we put the seeds on the surface of the earth and sprinkle it on top with a layer of earth. The bulk layer should have a thickness of about 5mm;
• water the landing;
• cover the container with a black film. She should be on the pot for three weeks.

This completes the landing. If you will grow several varieties at home at once, then for each individual pot you need to stick a label with the name of the type of flower.

Video "All About Cyclamen Seeds"

Seeding options

There are several options for sowing cyclamen seeds. They depend on how the preparation of planting material was carried out before planting. Different processing methods determine the time when the first sprouts appear.

The preparation of planting material can be carried out in the following ways:

• sunflower seeds for three days are dipped in cold water with the addition of 2-3 drops of dishwashing detergent (dose for 1 glass). Water needs to be changed every day;
• seeds can be treated with a special solution of Zircon or Epina. You can also find potassium permanganate at home and treat it with a weak solution of selected seeds. In both cases, the planting material should be 16 hours in the prepared solution.

In addition to the different method of preparing planting stock, planting may vary in planting capacities. In this situation, you can use:

• small flower pots;
• plastic cups. Suitable containers for ice cream or butter;
• wooden drawers.

Whatever type of container you choose, there should be openings on its bottom to form a good drainage system, which is necessary for growing plants at home. Holes can be made using nails or knitting needles.

Sowing itself can be carried out in two ways:

• sunflower seeds are laid out in shallow grooves specially dug for this and from above it is covered with a small layer of earth;
• the seeds are simply laid out on pre-moistened soil with further sprinkling with soil. Here, the thickness of a layer of earth poured on top can reach 2 cm.

Whichever method of sowing is chosen, a certain distance between plantings must be maintained. This parameter should be at least 2-3 cm.

How to organize the best conditions

To provide better conditions for growing cyclamen, you need to be guided by the following recommendations:

• carry out pre-planting preparation of planting material;
• buy planting material in a store;
• it is also recommended to buy land for growing, as in this case it will fit the flower at 100%;
• place containers with crops on the same windowsill, where adult plants stand.

How to care for sowing

After planting material has been introduced into the soil, plantings need to be taken care of in a certain way to ensure their good germination. The container with crops should be covered with polyethylene and put at home in a cool place. The air temperature here should not exceed 20 degrees. Also, each container should be ventilated for 10-15 minutes.

Under these conditions, the first sprouts will appear in 1-1.5 months. When the first shoots appear, the pot can be placed on the windowsill to other colors. Caring for it will now be similar to adult plants. Following the above recommendations, you will be able to grow from seeds a healthy and beautiful cyclamen that will delight you with its flowering in winter.

Video “We grow cyclamen at home”

This plant, which has an unrivaled color and many of its shades, can be easily grown from seeds. How to do this in the simplest way, following all the recommendations and rules, you will learn from the video.