How to grow double Turkish carnations at home or in the garden? Delicate Turkish carnation: planting with seeds and care Turkish batik carnation growing from seeds.

Turkish cloves, or bearded carnation (lat. Dianthus barbatus)- a plant of the genus Carnation of the Carnation family. The generic name of the plant is translated from Greek as “flower of Zeus” or “divine flower”, and this carnation is called bearded for the presence of bracts with ciliated edges. Turkish clove is originally from Southern Europe. It grows on river sands, in groves, deciduous forests, meadows and rocks. The plant has been in cultivation since 1573, and today Turkish cloves can be found in almost every garden. It is used to create alpine slides, flower beds, borders and even as a ground cover plant.

Planting and caring for Turkish carnation (in brief)

• Bloom: from the end of June to the end of July.
• Landing: sowing seeds for seedlings - at the end of March or early April, planting seedlings in the ground - in the second half of May. Sowing seeds directly into the ground - at the end of May or early June, as well as in October, but before winter only dry seeds are sown.
• Lighting: bright sunlight.
• Soil: fertile, sandy loam or loamy.
• Watering: 2 times a week, with a consumption of 12-15 liters of water per 1 m² of area. In hot and dry summers you will have to water more often.
• Feeding: three times per season: when the seedlings grow to 10-12 cm, at the stage of formation of the first buds and during flowering. Both mineral and organic solutions can be used.
• Reproduction: seed - seedlings and non-seedlings.
• Pests: mole crickets and earwigs.
• Diseases: fusarium, rust and viral mottling.

Read more about growing Turkish cloves below.

Turkish cloves - description

Turkish clove is a herbaceous perennial grown in a biennial crop. It has straight, strong, gnarled stems 30-75 cm high, glabrous, sessile, lanceolate opposite leaves, green or blue-green with a reddish tint, and numerous fragrant, double, semi-double or simple flowers with a diameter of 1.5 to 3 cm in different shades of white, red, pink, cream - one-color, two-color, variegated, velvety, with a border or an eye. The flowers are collected in a corymbose inflorescence up to 12 cm in diameter, which opens in the second year of life and blooms for a month from the end of June. In the first year Turkish cloves forms only a rosette of leaves. The fruit of the plant is a capsule with black flat seeds that ripen by August and remain viable for 3 to 5 years. Turkish carnations are grown not only for landscaping, but also for cutting: its inflorescences stand in water for up to two weeks.

Sowing Turkish cloves

If you decide to grow Turkish cloves in seedlings, then sowing is carried out in March or early April in a substrate previously disinfected with a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate. The substrate is prepared from sand and leaf humus in equal parts. Instead of sand, you can use vermiculite. Boxes or containers that must be washed before use can be used as containers. hot water with soda. A drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the container, and a wet substrate is placed on top.

Turkish clove seeds are sown to a depth of 1 cm, placing them at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other. The crops are covered with loose white paper and kept at a temperature of 16-18 ºC, from time to time moistening the substrate from a spray bottle with water at room temperature.

Caring for Turkish clove seedlings

As soon as the seedlings appear, the crops are moved as close to the light as possible, and the temperature is lowered by 2-3 degrees so that the seedlings do not stretch out. It is likely that you will have to arrange for seedlings additional lighting, because plants need a lot of light. At the stage of formation of the second pair of true leaves, the seedlings dive into peat pots with a soil mixture of the same composition in which you sowed the seeds. Caring for Turkish carnation seedlings consists of regular watering and careful loosening of the substrate around the seedlings.

IN open ground seedlings are planted in the second half of May, when the warm weather, but before planting, Turkish carnation seedlings must undergo hardening procedures: the crops are taken out to open air, gradually increasing the duration of the session. At first half an hour is enough, but in two weeks the Turkish carnation from seeds should get used to the new environment so much that you can safely plant it in a flowerbed.

Sowing Turkish cloves in the ground

When to sow Turkish cloves in open ground

Turkish carnation flowers can be sown directly in the garden, bypassing the stage of growing seedlings. When to plant Turkish cloves in the ground? At the end of May or at the beginning of June, when the soil has warmed up and the threat of return frosts has passed. You can sow Turkish clove seeds in October, but do not forget that any autumn sowing should be carried out with dry seeds, and the soil should also be dry. In the fall, crops are mulched with peat or sawdust, and in the spring the mulch is removed.

How to plant Turkish cloves in the garden

Choose a sunny area for the plant with fertile soil, preferably sandy loam or loamy soil. One to two weeks before sowing, the soil on the site should be dug up to a depth of 20-25 cm with the simultaneous application of compost or humus and wood ash at the rate of 6-8 kg of organic matter and 200-300 g of ash per 1 m² of site. You can also enter mineral fertilizers: a tablespoon of Nitrophoska and a teaspoon of Agricola for flowering plants for the same unit of area. After digging, the area is covered with plastic film.

When the time comes to sow cloves, the film is removed, grooves 1-1.5 cm deep are made in the soil at a distance of 15 cm from each other, they are well shed with water, and then the seeds are laid out in them in increments of 2-3 cm. After planting the seeds, the surface lightly compact and cover with non-woven material until emergence.

Caring for Turkish Carnation

How to care for Turkish cloves

Garden Turkish carnation needs regular watering: 2 times a week at a rate of 12-15 liters per m² of land. If the summer is dry and hot, then you will have to water more often. Try to pour water on the ground so that the stream does not fall on the plant itself, otherwise it may get sunburn. However, if the carnation grows in lowlands, be careful with watering, otherwise the plant may develop root rot from waterlogging: as soon as you find that the Turkish carnation is shedding its root rosettes, treat it with a solution of 40 g of HOM in 10 liters of water.

Growing Turkish cloves involves adding fertilizer to the soil. The first fertilizing is carried out when the seedlings reach a height of 10-12 cm. As a fertilizer, use a solution of one tablespoon of Nitrophoska and one tablespoon of Agricola Forward in 10 liters of water. The next time the plant is fed at the stage of formation of the first buds: a tablespoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate is diluted in 10 liters of water. During flowering, add a solution of 1 tablespoon of Agricola for flowering plants to the soil in 10 liters of water.

After watering, rain and fertilizing, the soil around the plants must be loosened to prevent rapid evaporation of moisture. Don't forget to delete it in a timely manner weeds and cut off the faded stems at a height of 10-15 cm from the ground: in a month, the carnation will grow new shoots, and by autumn it can bloom again.

Although the perennial Turkish carnation is a frost-resistant plant, it will withstand winter better under a layer of peat or humus 8-10 cm thick. In general, under favorable conditions and good care The lifespan of a perennial carnation is 5-6 years, and in less fortunate circumstances - at most 2-3 years.

Pests and diseases of Turkish cloves

Under normal conditions, the Turkish carnation usually does not get sick, and insects rarely damage it, but sometimes troubles do happen, and you need to be prepared for them. What can cause Turkish carnation diseases in the garden? In addition to being sensitive to heavy metals and urban smoke, it can be affected by:

• fusarium – fungal disease, destroying the plant’s vascular system. The leaves of the carnation evenly turn yellow, wither, but do not fall off, the stem turns red or brown, the flowers do not open completely or do not open at all, the basal part of the stem and root system plants rot. Sick specimens must be destroyed immediately, while still healthy plants and the soil around them are treated with a fungicidal preparation in two stages with an interval of 10-15 days;
• rust is also a fungal disease that affects the leaves, petioles and stems of cloves: brown swellings with yellowish spots appear on them, the plants are depressed, the stems dry out and break. The disease progresses against the background high humidity soil, excess nitrogen and lack of potassium. When signs of disease appear, plants are treated with one percent Bordeaux mixture, a solution of the drug XOM or any other fungicide with a similar effect;
• mottling may appear in spring in the form of spots on leaves without clear contours, deformation of flowers and variegation. There is no cure for this viral disease, so affected plants are destroyed.

Of the pests, the Turkish carnation can be annoyed by mole crickets and earwigs that damage the roots, from which the seedlings, young shoots and flowers of the plant suffer. The fight against mole crickets and earwigs is carried out by such means as digging up the soil in the fall and setting up traps: dig a hole, fill it with manure and cover it with something from the rain. The mole crickets will gather in a hole to spend the winter in the warmth, and in the spring they can be destroyed. IN summer time Mole crickets can be limed by pouring a concentrated soap solution into the passages leading to their nests, and for earwigs, bait is laid out around the area in the form of piles of wet grass or half-rotted hay covered with planks, into which the pests crawl to hide from the heat.

Unlike other types of carnations, which are long-day plants, domestic Turkish carnations can grow in partial shade without compromising health and decorativeness. Optimal temperature for the plant 15-18 ºC.

Turkish cloves need fertile, neutral soil, for example, a mixture of leaf soil, sand, peat and turf soil in a ratio of 1:1:1:2. Before planting, the mixture is disinfected. When transplanting, the root collar should remain level with the surface of the site. To form a more lush bush, young carnations are pinched as soon as it has 5-7 pairs of leaves.

You need to water the cloves abundantly - the earthen lump in the pot should not dry out. Water for irrigation is used soft, at room temperature. In the evening, during the hot summer, Turkish cloves are sprayed.

Starting from the age of one month, carnations are fed every ten days with complex mineral fertilizer for flowering plants. Dilute fertilizers in water with the addition of milk and spray the soil in the pot with a spray bottle with this solution. Feeding is applied from spring to October, in winter time the plant is not fed.

Turkish cloves can be affected at home spider mites, aphids and mealybugs. Wash off the pests with a soap solution, then spray the plant with an infusion of tansy, celandine or yarrow, but if these measures do not give results, treat the Turkish carnation with Actellik, Aktara or another insectoacaricide.

Varieties of Turkish cloves

The most common varieties of Turkish cloves are:

• Diadem– bushes up to 45 cm high with shoots and leaves of dark green color with a red tint and dark red nodes. Dark carmine flowers with a large white eye and serrated edge petals are collected in an inflorescence up to 10 cm in diameter;
• Scarlet Beauty– bushes 45-50 cm high with dark green leaves and shoots and bright red flowers up to 23 mm in diameter with petals serrated along the edge;
• Heimatland– bushes up to 50 cm high with shoots and leaves of dark green color with a dark red tint. The flowers are dark red, up to 2 cm in diameter, with an eye and petals deeply serrated along the edge. The inflorescences of this variety are up to 12 cm in diameter;
• Lakhskenigin– a variety about 45 cm high with large inflorescences of salmon-pink flowers;
• Schneebal– white Turkish carnation up to 40 cm high with green leaves and shoots. Terry flowers with jagged edges of the petals are collected in inflorescences up to 11 cm in diameter;
• Weiss Risen– bushes up to half a meter high with green leaves and shoots and white flowers with a diameter of up to 25 mm, collected in inflorescences up to 12 cm in diameter;
• Kupferrot– bushes up to half a meter high with dark green leaves and shoots and copper-red flowers up to 22 mm in diameter with jagged edges. Inflorescences reach a diameter of 9-10 cm;
• Egyptian– a variety up to 60 cm high with narrow burgundy leaves and catchy dark burgundy flowers with a white border;
• Undine– this variety has purple flowers with a white center and a white border.

The Holland variety has also gained popularity - a group of varieties about 60 cm high with branched stems and multi-flowered inflorescences up to 12 cm in diameter. Cut flowers from this series last up to two weeks.

Turkish Carnation is perennial with straight and strong stems that are topped with umbels of flowers different colors: white, red, pink, cream. The shape of flowers can also be different: simple, double, semi-double.

The height of the plant depends on the variety and can vary from 20 cm to 60 cm. By purchasing new variety, pay attention to the height of the bush to find its rightful place in the garden.

Growing from seeds does not present any difficulty. The main thing is to adhere to certain rules for growing and subsequently caring for seedlings.

Preparing for landing

The soil can be purchased ready-made in a specialized store for seedlings it will already have all the necessary elements.

But if necessary you can compose it yourself, taking sand and leaf soil in equal proportions.

The soil is sifted to remove everything unnecessary and superfluous (pebbles, twigs), and calcined in the oven at 200 degrees for 15 minutes.

Sowing of seeds is carried out in early March on the waxing moon. and you need the following tools:

• priming;
• container for planting;
• ruler;
• seeds;
• expanded clay;
• manganese.

The container can be any - plastic or glass - it doesn’t matter. Availability is important drainage holes , through which it will flow excess water after watering.

We sow Turkish clove seeds for seedlings:

How to plant in open ground

Seeds are sown in open ground in early May.. For this purpose, a warm, sunny area is selected and dug up onto the bayonet of a shovel. Mineral and organic fertilizers are applied.

Then they make holes in the soil and sow Carnation seeds. The soil is well moistened with a watering can so as not to wash out the seeds and covered with film to create greenhouse conditions so that the seeds germinate together without loss.

It is important to remove the cover when warm weather sets in, otherwise the seedlings under it will be able to dry out.

How to sow seeds in containers

Expanded clay is poured onto the bottom of the container, then nutrient soil, and moisten it using bottom watering warm water. Manganese should be diluted in water to pink color, since with the help of potassium manganese the soil is disinfected.

Using a ruler, we make shallow depressions in the damp soil and seeds are sown in such rows. In the row, the distance between seeds should be 2 cm.

To ensure that the seeds germinate smoothly, the moist soil with the sown seeds is covered with glass and kept at a temperature of 17 degrees Celsius.

When most of the seeds have sprouted, the glass or other covering is removed, And further care caring for seedlings consists of timely watering and turning in relation to the sun.

Turning seedlings towards the sun different sides, the seedlings grow more even and stocky.

Care and requirements for watering, temperature, light, fertilizing

When friendly shoots appear, the container with Turkish Carnation seedlings should be move to a bright place, but without direct sunlight. Direct sun can burn young shoots.

The temperature in the room should be at 13 degrees Celsius. Such conditions will allow the seedlings to grow low and viable.

If early spring There is too little sun, then the seedlings should be provided with additional lighting so that they do not stretch out.

Watering is done as the soil mixture dries using a tablespoon so as not to wash the immature seedlings out of the soil.

When the majority of seedlings have two leaf plates each, they are dived in separate 200 gr. cups.

There is no need to add fertilizer to the purchased land., but if you made the mixture yourself, then the seedlings are fed twice at half the dose with nitrogen fertilizer.

Seedlings are planted in a flowerbed after hardening, and when the threat of return frosts has passed. In the southern regions of Russia this is the beginning of May, in the Moscow region the beginning of June.

Vegetative propagation

This Carnation has a remarkable reproductive ability vegetative way. The procedure is carried out in early August.

We bend a healthy shoot of the desired color to the ground and secure it with a wire bent in the form of a hairpin (you can also use it if the shoot is not very tall).

At the beginning of September it will no longer be a cutting, and separate from mother plant. At this moment they are seated on permanent place where they will grow next year.

When transplanting young bushes, it is good to water the soil with warm water.

Diseases and pests

In open ground, Turkish Carnation gets sick very rarely. But if it is planted within the boundaries of an industrial city, then some complications may arise.

Fusarium– destroys the plant from the inside. Diseased bushes are urgently removed from the flowerbed and destroyed outside the site. The place where it grew is treated with any fungicide twice with an interval of 15 days.

Rust– rusty convex spots on the back of the sheet plate. This disease manifests itself in high humidity and at the same time overfeeding with nitrogen fertilizers.

The plants are treated with the drug XOM, and diseased leaves are removed mechanically.

Mole crickets are pests for this plant., which, living in the soil, damage the root mass of the plant. But the only way to fight these insects is to collect them manually when digging.

Varieties and their features

Turkish Carnation has many varieties that differ in flower shape and color. The most popular varieties are those with double flowers.

Turkish terry clove

This type has many famous varieties, among which:

Macarena F1

A popular mixture with double flowers of various colors: Fuchsia, White, Burgundy. The flowers are bicolor with a contrasting border. Bush height at optimal care is 70 cm.

Dynasty F1

Double flowers are collected in inflorescences resembling a ball. Various colors in all shades of red. The height of the bushes is not very large, only 40 cm. At the same time, the variety has excellent winter hardiness in middle lane Russia.

Moulin Rouge

The Moulin Rouge variety of Turkish Carnation has an unforgettable aroma, reminiscent of the southern shores of the sea. Beautiful flowers of various colors seem to be spinning in a delightful dance.

Flowering lasts a very long time for a long time. The bush grows to a height of 20 cm.

How to collect seeds

This bright plant looks good planted near the border and on alpine roller coaster. But in order not to buy new bags of seeds from year to year, It’s worth taking care of collecting seeds from your own flowers.

To collect your seeds, select a healthy flowering sprout and mark it so as not to remove dried buds when cutting.

When the bud is almost dry, it is cut off in dry weather and lay it out to dry white sheet paper

The place for drying is selected so that there are no sun rays and there was good air circulation. In this form, the seeds are dried until completely dry for two weeks.

When placing seeds in a paper bag for storage, you must sign the year the seeds were collected.

How to grow seedlings in the garden

Seeds in the garden can also be sown in October, but this is done with dry seeds and in dry soil. In winter, such crops are covered with slate to prevent them from freezing.

When planting Carnation seedlings in the fall, the first shoots will appear only in the spring of next year.

Spring planting provides shelter from return frosts with any covering material that allows air to pass through. Grown strong seedlings are planted at a distance of 15 cm from each other.

Further care includes timely watering, loosening, and removal of weeds.

What is the difference between growing seedlings at home and in the garden?

There is no difference in the technology of planting Turkish Carnation seedlings at home and in the garden. The difference is that, growing seedlings in the garden significantly saves space on southern windowsills.

In open ground, seedlings turn out strong, stocky and do not suffer from “blackleg” and other diseases that arise when growing seedlings at home.

This one is wonderful delicate flower deserves your attention to plant it in a flowerbed, creating a unique southern flavor in your garden plot.

When planting it, you need to take into account that it can reproduce by self-seeding and therefore the site is selected for a long period of time.

Carnation is translated from Latin as “flower of God.” Historically, for the ancient Romans and Greeks, the carnation symbolized victory in bloody battles, and in America it became a symbol of maternal love and a gift for Mother's Day. After all, according to Christian legend, where the tears of the Virgin Mary fell during the execution of Jesus Christ, amazing flowers sprouted - carnations.

Turkish clove was named for the similarity of its aroma with the oriental spice - the buds of the clove tree. There are two types: short (up to 20 cm) and tall (about 80 cm). The petals amaze with their richness of colors - from soft pink to carmine red with many inclusions and dashes. The flowers are collected in large inflorescences 10–12 cm in size. They can be simple (up to 5 petals) or double in the form of huge caps. Unlike, this type of flower is very well known to all summer residents and residents of private houses.

Turkish cloves are a perennial crop, but most gardeners prefer to grow them for two years. In the first year a bush of leaves grows, in the second year flower stalks appear. Clove fruits are small capsules containing small black seeds.

Turkish cloves - growing from seeds

Growing from seeds is the most popular method of propagating this type of carnation. It is necessary to begin sowing in May, after the end of frost. This flower prefers loamy and sandy loamy fertile soil with low acidity. Before planting, the soil can be enriched with potassium fertilizers without chlorine.

Two weeks before planting the seeds, the soil must be dug to a depth of about 25 cm, loosened and covered with film. At the time of planting, even furrows are made at a distance of at least 15 cm and watered with cool water. It is better to plant the seeds shallowly, leaving an interval of up to 2 cm between them.

After planting, the soil is lightly pressed with a hand or a board and covered with non-woven material or glass. It is possible to observe the emergence of seedlings after 8–10 days. The covering material is removed, and after 20 days the plants are picked. It is best to carry it out in the evening or on cloudy days, protecting young crops from sunburn. In August, flowers are planted in their permanent habitat.

Rules of care - how to please a Turkish beauty?

The Turkish flower loves light and warmth, but also grows well in partial shade. It will look most impressive among boulders and stones, which is why it is a frequent guest in rockeries. Both young and two-year-old flowers should be watered 1-2 times a week. The soil should be moist, but not waterlogged, to avoid root rot. Watering is carried out at the roots so that the sun's rays do not damage the leaves and flowers of the plant.

For the winter, the soil should be mulched with peat or pine bark humus. For proper development and bright colors, the presence of nitrogen and its compounds is dangerous. Then it is advisable to cover the carnation planting sites with spruce branches.

In the spring, when the snow melts, it is important to protect young shoots from the sun. It is better to cover the bed with sun protection material until the shoots become 10–12 cm in height.

It is then that the plants are first fertilized with nitrogen. When buds appear on the flowers, the soil is fertilized a second time with potassium sulfate and superphosphates. Turkish carnation flowers bloom in June-July and delight our eyes for a long time. Some remontant varieties may bloom again in the fall.

Why did Turkish cloves gain such enormous popularity? It turns out everything is simple - in its unpretentiousness, beautiful appearance and long flowering period .

Turkish carnation - planting

There are several ways planting Turkish cloves:

• seed - in open or closed ground;
• cuttings;
• layering.
  

Planting Turkish cloves with seeds in open ground

Turkish cloves are grown from seeds in the spring. Flowers can be planted directly in open ground or you can first grow seedlings and only then transplant them to the site. Carnations are not afraid of cold and can bloom for a month and a half. But if you still prefer indoor plants, plant physalis.

Planting of clove seeds begins in May or June. Before sowing the seeds, prepare the soil. It is dug up to 25 centimeters. The loosened soil is watered and covered with polyethylene. After two weeks, the film is removed and planting begins. The seeds are sown in rows, maintaining a width of 15 centimeters between them. The grooves are made 1.5 cm deep. The crops are sprinkled with earth and covered with polyethylene. When all the shoots appear, the cover will need to be removed. The emerging sprouts need timely watering, weeding and loosening. Somewhere in August, the carnation will need to be thinned out a little, by transplanting some specimens to another permanent location. If desired, you can replant all seedlings. In the first year, the carnation only forms a rosette, and it will bloom in the second year. Another beautiful perennial is the aster.

Planting Turkish clove seeds for seedlings

Cloves can also be grown as seedlings at home; for this, the prepared soil must be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate. Sowing takes place in March month or at the very beginning of April. The seeds are planted one centimeter deep and lightly pressed with soil. The soil is sprayed with water and covered with polyethylene. On the twentieth day, young shoots dive, leaving a distance between shoots of 7 centimeters and a width of 15 centimeters. They pick carnations on a cloudy day after six o'clock in the evening. Cover the seedlings again, allowing them to breathe fresh air from time to time. As soon as the seedlings become large enough, covering them is no longer necessary. At the end of summer, the carnation is transplanted to the site, choosing the most suitable permanent place for the flowers. If you grow Turkish cloves from seeds in this way, you can achieve flowering in the first year.

Propagation of Turkish cloves by cuttings

From two-year-old plants (in early summer), you can take cuttings that need to be planted in an inclined position in loose soil. The plant should be planted in its permanent location in August. However, flowering can only be expected next summer.

Reproduction and planting of Turkish cloves by layering

Reproduction by layering is a fairly simple method and, at the same time, very reliable. In mid-June, the stems are bent and covered with moist soil. The usual technology of propagation by cuttings in this case is modified by the fact that the tips of the shoots need to be pulled to the support so that they are in a vertical position.

Reproduction and planting of Turkish carnation by division

Dense bushes of Turkish carnation successfully reproduce by division. Carnations are best propagated by division in the fall.

Plant care

Basically, the rules for caring for carnations come down to timely watering, weed control, fertilization and loosening the soil.

Water the plant twice a week, and more often in hot weather. If possible, try to water a flowering plant without getting water on the flowers themselves. The first feeding is carried out when the clove reaches 12 centimeters. The second feeding is carried out during the formation of buds. And the third time the carnation is fed during the period when it blooms.

Turkish clove is a plant with unusual flowers, which have bracts with ciliated edges. For this feature, this plant is also called bearded carnation. And her family name translated from Greek sounds like the flower of Zeus. The homeland of Turkish cloves is Southern Europe. It began to be cultivated around the middle of the 16th century and since then its popularity has not been lost. Today this flower can be found in almost every garden, where it is used to create flower beds, rock gardens and borders. Some people prefer to grow this species at home.

In order for the Turkish carnation to grow bright and beautiful, it needs proper care

Description of the plant

Turkish clove is a herbaceous plant belonging to the genus Carnation. The stem is straight, bare, strong, knotty, from 30 to 75 cm in height. The leaves are lanceolate, sit opposite on the stem, colored green or blue-green.

During the flowering period, the plant produces numerous double, semi-double or simple flowers, the diameter of which is 1.5-3 cm. But the most beautiful umbrellas are, of course, produced by the Turkish terry carnation. It is perfect for lawns, borders, and for decorating terraces, balconies and loggias.

As you can see in the photos presented in this article, the color of the Turkish carnation can be different: cream, red, white, pink. Flowers can be single or bicolor, with a border on the petals or with a dark spot in the center.

Many novice gardeners are interested in the question: is the Turkish carnation perennial or not? This plant is perennial, but is grown in cultivation as a biennial. In the first year of life, it produces only a rosette of leaves, and the corymbose inflorescences, composed of variegated flowers, open only in the second year after planting. Flowering lasts about a month. At the end of this period, fruits appear on the stems - boxes with dark, small, flat grains.

Growing by seedlings

When growing Turkish cloves from seeds, sowing is carried out in March or the first ten days of April. In order to obtain strong, healthy seedlings, the seed must be placed in a previously disinfected substrate. Disinfection is usually carried out using a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate. The substrate itself must be fertile; it is often made up of leaf humus and sand.

So, growing Turkish cloves using seedlings.

• We rinse the container for seedlings with hot water, put a drainage layer on the bottom, and a moistened substrate on top.
• We sow the seeds, planting them to a depth of about 1 cm. The distance between them should be 2-3 cm.
• Cover the container with loose paper and keep it at a temperature of +16..18°C. We periodically moisten the substrate.
• When seedlings appear, move the container to a well-lit place and lower the temperature by a couple of degrees.
  

  Take note! If the air temperature is high, the seedlings can become very stretched!

• As soon as a pair of true leaves appear on the seedlings, we drop them into separate peat cups. We use the same soil mixture.

A couple of weeks before transplanting cloves into open ground, it is necessary to begin the hardening procedure. Every day we take young plants out to fresh air, increasing the exposure time daily. After two weeks, the seedlings should completely get used to the new environment. It is advisable that by this time they spend the night with the window open.

Sowing in open ground

First, you should find out when to plant Turkish cloves in open ground. This is done in the third or fourth decade of May, when the threat of night frosts has passed and the soil and air have warmed up sufficiently.

Note! Sowing seeds in open ground can also be done in the fall - in October, but remember that the seed in this case, like the soil, must certainly be dry. After sowing, the area is insulated with sawdust or peat. In spring, the mulch layer is removed.

It is advisable to sow seeds in a sunny area. The most preferable are places with sandy or loamy soil. A couple of weeks before sowing, the bed is dug up to a depth of about 20 cm and a mixture of compost and wood ash is added to each square meter approximately 7 kg of organic matter and 250 g of ash. At the same time, you can fertilize the soil mineral supplements for flowering plants - about a tablespoon per square meter. Cover the prepared area with polyethylene and leave for 10-15 days.

Let's move on to planting Turkish carnations:

• We make shallow grooves in the soil, leaving a distance of 15 cm between them. We spill them thoroughly with water.
• Place seeds in each groove. Don't forget to leave 2-3 cm between them.
• Sprinkle the substrate on top and lightly compact the soil. We cover the crops on top with woven material.
• When the first shoots appear, remove the cover.

Features of care

In open ground conditions

When planting Turkish carnation in open ground, caring for it should be regular.

• Water the plants twice a week at the rate of 13-15 liters of water per square meter. If the summer turns out to be too hot, then watering is carried out more often. In this case, it is advisable to pour water directly onto the soil in the root area of ​​each bush, avoiding water getting on the green part of the plant, otherwise a burn may form on the foliage. If you planted Turkish carnation in a lowland, then special care must be taken with watering. If the soil is over-moistened, root rot may affect the plantings.
• As for fertilizing, the first one is added to the substrate when the seedlings reach a height of 12 cm. A solution of Nitrophoska and Agricola is usually used (one tablespoon of each drug per bucket of water). The second time, fertilizers are applied during the first bud formation - 15 ml of superphosphate and 15 ml of potassium sulfate per bucket of water. The plants are fed the third time during the flowering period - 15 ml of Agricola solution per bucket of water.
• Do not forget to periodically loosen the soil, especially after rain and watering. Thus, moisture will not be retained. In addition, during weeding, all weeds should be removed and faded shoots should be removed.

Advice! It is recommended to cut the stems at a height of about 12 cm from the ground. Thanks to this event, in about a month the carnation will produce new shoots, which, under favorable conditions, will be able to bloom a second time - in the fall!

Turkish cloves are characterized by high frost resistance and survive the winter quite well under a 10-centimeter layer of peat.

In general, if weather conditions are favorable, the plant's lifespan can be about six years; in less favorable circumstances, no more than three years.

At home

If you decide to grow Turkish cloves at home, then it is advisable to use a substrate with a neutral pH level. In this case, a suitable option would be a mixture of one part leaf soil, one part sand, one part peat and two parts turf soil. Before planting the plants, the soil is disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate.

• The seedlings are planted in such a way that the neck remains above the surface of the substrate.
• During the formation of the sixth pair of true leaves, the plant is pinched - this will allow you to get a more lush bush.
• In apartment conditions, Turkish carnation can grow in partial shade and neither its decorativeness nor its health will be affected. The optimal temperature is +15..18°C.
• Watering should be plentiful. Make sure that the earth ball in the pot does not dry out, but there should not be stagnation of moisture. Best used for watering soft water room temperature.
• In hot weather, it is recommended to spray the plant; it is advisable to do this in the evening.
• A month after planting, care for Turkish cloves is supplemented by the application of fertilizers. In this case, complex mineral fertilizers for flowering plants should be used. They are applied every ten days, starting in spring and until October. In winter, flowers do not need fertilizing.

Disease and pest control

Turkish cloves are susceptible to some viral and fungal diseases. Among them:

• Fusarium. The main signs are: yellowing of the leaves, which wither but do not fall off, the stem turns reddish or brown, the buds open weakly or do not open at all, the basal part and the root itself rot. Sick plants are destroyed, healthy ones are sprayed twice with fungicide.
• Rust. It appears as brown spots on the leaves, petioles and stems of the plant. The spots swell and acquire a yellowish tint. The flower looks depressed, the stem dries out and breaks. The spread of the disease is facilitated by waterlogging of the substrate, potassium deficiency and excess nitrogen. To treat the disease, use a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture, the drug “HOM” or another fungicide with a similar effect.
• Mottling. Plants often become infected in the spring. The disease manifests itself in the form of blurry spots on the foliage, variegation and changes in the shape of flowers. Treatments for at the moment does not exist, so diseased specimens are destroyed.

It is necessary to inspect flowers regularly - this will help protect your blooming collection from destruction

Earwigs often appear on the site. They are destroyed using the following baits: place several piles of rotted hay in the garden and cover them with planks. After some time, the pests will crawl into these shelters to hide from the heat, where they can be easily destroyed.

At home, Turkish cloves can be attacked by spider mites, mealybug or aphids. To combat pests, a soap solution is often used to wash off adult pests from the body of the plant. Then the affected specimens are sprayed with infusion of yarrow, celandine or tansy. In case of severe infestation, it is recommended to use insectoacaricides.

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