French marigold "Safari Yellow"

* Marigolds are unpretentious, fast-growing, light- and heat-loving, drought-resistant plants. The optimum temperature for the growth of young plants is +18+20°C. At temperatures below +10°C, the leaves acquire an anthocyanin coating and growth stops. At -1...-2°C, the plants die.
Location: do not need intense sunlight, although they achieve maximum decorativeness in sunny places. They do not tolerate spring and autumn frosts well.
Soil: require nutritious, well-moistened soils in the first half of summer.
Care: are considered drought-resistant, but at the beginning of growth they need watering, otherwise the plants will be puny, and the inflorescences will be small. In rainy weather, their large inflorescences begin to rot. And if the soil is oversaturated with water, the plants begin to die from fungal diseases of the roots. Spring fertilization leads to strong growth and delayed flowering. 
Diseases and pests: inflorescences often rot during prolonged rains. In dry hot conditions, marigolds are affected by spider mites. To rid the plants of it, you must first increase the air humidity by spraying the seedlings several times a day with water. For complete destruction, use 2-3-fold spraying with infusions of onions, hot red pepper, yarrow.
Propagation: by seeds. Tagetes can be sown in open ground in late May - early June. Shoots appear 5-10 days after sowing. It is advisable to cover the soil with non-woven material (acrylic, lutrasil). In this case, you can sow a week or a week and a half earlier than usual, thereby accelerating flowering.  
Tagetes seedlings are easy to grow indoors on a bright window, and even better in film greenhouses, where the plants will be the strongest. To ensure healthy seedlings, you need loose, nutritious soil (1 part humus + 1 part peat + 1 part turf soil + 0.5 parts sand), an even temperature of +18+22°C and moderate watering. Tagetes are less demanding to soil and temperature.
Although tagetes seedlings are considered unpretentious, it is better to take fresh soil for sowing, especially for narrow-leaved marigolds, which are more susceptible to "black leg" than other species.
Seedlings can be grown in a box, bowl or pot. Drainage (crushed stone, expanded clay, coarse sand) should be poured onto the bottom in a 3 cm layer or holes should be made. Otherwise, the plants may die from fungal diseases. First, 2/3 of the soil is poured onto the drainage, and this layer is compacted by hand or with a rammer. The next layer should be loose so that the sprouting roots have enough air. The soil should not reach the edge of the container by 1-2 cm. The prepared soil is watered well and left for one or two days in a warm place so that it can "breathe".
Tagetes seeds are large, so they can be carefully laid out in furrows at a distance of 1-1.5 cm. The distance between the furrows themselves is 1.5-2 cm. Thickened seedlings suffer more from a lack of light and stretch out.
The easiest way to get optimal density is to sow sprouted seeds. To germinate, they need to be laid out on a damp cloth on a saucer and, putting them in a plastic bag, put in a warm place. After 2-3 days, the seeds will hatch. The laid out seeds are covered with a layer of soil 0.5-1 cm. Poorly covered seeds can die from drying out. If the seeds are planted too deeply in the soil, they may not sprout at all. After sowing, the top layer of soil is carefully watered, then covered with paper. The containers are placed in a warm place (+22+25°C) and the soil moisture is carefully monitored.
After 3-7 days, sprouts will appear and the containers should be moved to a bright place at a lower temperature (+18+20°C). If the seedlings are still dense, they need to be picked. The seedlings are carefully removed from well-watered soil and planted in a hole, deepening to the cotyledons. This will promote the formation of new roots.
Good seedlings have 2-3 pairs of leaves and a powerful root system by the time of planting.
Seedlings are planted in the ground in late May - early June. Plants are planted in the soil 1-2 cm deeper than they grew before.
The distance between plants depends on the species and variety. Tall hybrids and varieties of tagetes are planted according to the 40 x 40 cm scheme, medium varieties and F1 hybrids 30 x 30 cm and low varieties and hybrids of all types 20 x 20 cm.
Tagetes tolerate transplantation easily at any age, even in the flowering state.
Use: secretions from the roots of tagetes reduce the damage of other plants by fungal diseases and especially fusarium, protect against some types of nematodes.
Tagetes are used in all types of flower beds (they are not suitable only for decorating a pond and a shady garden).
Marigolds also tolerate the harsh conditions of a small volume of soil: this is why they grow well in pots and containers, decorating rooms, just like primroses or cineraria.
Marigolds can be planted in a pot or box in the fall before frost. There are cases when they survive the winter and form a large flowering bush in the spring.

Eng.: French marigold. Bot. syn.: Tagetes corymbosa Sweet, Tagetes remotiflora Kunze, Tagetes signata Bartling.