How to Help Carnations Make a Comeback
Understand the difference between annuals and perennials., Protect your carnations from frost., Use the ‘stopping’ technique., ’Dead head’ your plant., Avoid using manure or nitrogen-rich products.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Understand the difference between annuals and perennials.
The flowers can also be referred to as border carnations (annuals) and perpetual flowering carnations (perennials).
Annuals are plants that only live for one year, while perennials live for several years.
Perpetual Flowering Carnations offer the largest flower size but are less frequently scented than other varieties.
This article will focus on Perpetual Flowering Carnations and how to maintain their flowering year after year. -
Step 2: Protect your carnations from frost.
Perpetual flowering carnations need to be protected from frost in order to remain alive and in flower.
Most gardeners use a greenhouse or polytunnel, which is also called a hoop greenhouse.
To learn how to build a hoop greenhouse, click here.
It’s important that the temperature does not fall below 45 °F (7 °C), so an unheated space may not work if you live in a cold climate.
In milder climates you may get by with a polytunnel strung with lights, which may offer enough heat to keep plants alive.
You can also bring Carnations inside as house plants. , Many gardeners like to use a practice called ‘stopping’ to encourage bushy plant growth.
To do this, remove the growing tip from the young plant and the bud at the tip of each side shoot.
This encourages side blooms to bloom as well, rather than one just tall flowerhead.
The height you snap the plant stem off at is the height at which it should start to bush from, meaning you can influence the height of your plant.
Stopping will delay the flowering but you will get more flowers from your plant.
You can assume good-quality nursery plants have been stopped already but if you grow from seed, do this when the plant stem has about a half dozen leaf pairs or is about 6 inches (15.2 cm) in height. , It’s a good idea to pinch off dead flower heads as the blooms wither.
This will prevent the plant from forming seed heads, which discourage new flower production.
Seed heads take a lot of your plant’s energy to form, which means it will have less energy to produce blooms. , Carnations won’t bloom as well if there is a high nitrogen presence in the soil so avoid incorporating manure or high nitrogen fertilizers.
When planting them outside, try to prepare the soil several weeks in advance.
To do this:
Add some lime to the soil to improve the alkalinity, and a fertilizer that isn’t too high in nitrogen.
Try to fertilize weekly during the growing season. -
Step 3: Use the ‘stopping’ technique.
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Step 4: ’Dead head’ your plant.
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Step 5: Avoid using manure or nitrogen-rich products.
Detailed Guide
The flowers can also be referred to as border carnations (annuals) and perpetual flowering carnations (perennials).
Annuals are plants that only live for one year, while perennials live for several years.
Perpetual Flowering Carnations offer the largest flower size but are less frequently scented than other varieties.
This article will focus on Perpetual Flowering Carnations and how to maintain their flowering year after year.
Perpetual flowering carnations need to be protected from frost in order to remain alive and in flower.
Most gardeners use a greenhouse or polytunnel, which is also called a hoop greenhouse.
To learn how to build a hoop greenhouse, click here.
It’s important that the temperature does not fall below 45 °F (7 °C), so an unheated space may not work if you live in a cold climate.
In milder climates you may get by with a polytunnel strung with lights, which may offer enough heat to keep plants alive.
You can also bring Carnations inside as house plants. , Many gardeners like to use a practice called ‘stopping’ to encourage bushy plant growth.
To do this, remove the growing tip from the young plant and the bud at the tip of each side shoot.
This encourages side blooms to bloom as well, rather than one just tall flowerhead.
The height you snap the plant stem off at is the height at which it should start to bush from, meaning you can influence the height of your plant.
Stopping will delay the flowering but you will get more flowers from your plant.
You can assume good-quality nursery plants have been stopped already but if you grow from seed, do this when the plant stem has about a half dozen leaf pairs or is about 6 inches (15.2 cm) in height. , It’s a good idea to pinch off dead flower heads as the blooms wither.
This will prevent the plant from forming seed heads, which discourage new flower production.
Seed heads take a lot of your plant’s energy to form, which means it will have less energy to produce blooms. , Carnations won’t bloom as well if there is a high nitrogen presence in the soil so avoid incorporating manure or high nitrogen fertilizers.
When planting them outside, try to prepare the soil several weeks in advance.
To do this:
Add some lime to the soil to improve the alkalinity, and a fertilizer that isn’t too high in nitrogen.
Try to fertilize weekly during the growing season.
About the Author
Kathryn Fisher
Dedicated to helping readers learn new skills in home improvement and beyond.
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