A wonderful annual that can be grown at home as a perennial.
The flowers of this annual plant resemble half-open rosebuds, with satiny, spirally arranged petals.
Stems up to 115 cm high are covered with large, up to 10 cm in diameter, deep pink flowers. It will take its rightful place among your indoor plants; it is also widely used for decorating flower beds, edgings, borders and for obtaining first-class cuttings.
Prefers sunny places, requires weekly fertilizing with fertilizers, abundant watering and frequent spraying. Sowing seedlings from January to March in boxes with light sandy soil. The seeds are not sprinkled with soil, but lightly pressed into the ground. Daytime temperature does not exceed +25°C, night temperature +20°C. They pick in a month and a half; after picking, the sprouts need to be shaded. At the stage of 4-5 true leaves, they are transplanted into permanent pots. Planting seedlings in open ground under cover in late May - early June. After 2-3 weeks, the cover is removed.
To obtain flowering plants in July-August, sowing is done at the end of February-March.
They are grown in industrial greenhouses, in flowerbeds, and on balconies. A bouquet of eustoma is perfect for any celebration and will retain its freshness for a long time. For the winter, the plants can be moved to the winter garden and grown as a houseplant.
Eng.: Tulip Gentian, Lisianthus, Texas Bluebell, Prairie Gentian. Bot. syn.: Eustoma grandiflora, Lisianthus russellianus, Bilamista grandiflora.
* The seeds are small, they are not sprinkled, leaving them on the surface of the substrate, moistened with a spray bottle and covered with glass.
Sowing of seeds is carried out in early spring. If you have growing lamps, you can plant much earlier (even at the end of January). It usually takes 3 months from sowing to flowering.
At a temperature of +20°+22°C, seedlings appear within 1-2 weeks, and the first leaves - after a month. It is advisable to plant the seeds in coconut tablets so as not to injure the root system during replanting.
Further care is no different from growing most plants. The plant loves fertilizing, so you can do it once every 10-14 days with any mineral complex fertilizer.
If you want to grow a more compact and low bush, plant the eustoma in a container where it will grow 20-50 cm.