Germination temperature
15-18 °C (59-64 °F); RHS gives 13-18 °C (55-64 °F).
Visit deodar-seeds.in Flower growing guide
Florist's cineraria is a cool-season pot plant with dense domes of daisy flowers in blue, purple, pink, red and white. Sow it in trays at mild temperatures and grow it on cool, bright and evenly moist for flowers in late winter and spring.
15-18 °C (59-64 °F); RHS gives 13-18 °C (55-64 °F).
On the surface or under a dusting of compost, no deeper than 3 mm (1/8 in).
About 10-14 days.
Bright but not hot; shade from strong midday sun.
None needed.
Sow in trays, prick out into small pots, then pot on.
The seed is small. Sow it thinly straight from the packet onto a firmed, level tray of fine seed compost; mixing it with a little dry sand helps spread it evenly.
Not needed. The seed coat is thin and takes up water readily.
Not needed. Cineraria germinates without a cold period; warmth above about 21 °C (70 °F) is the more common reason for poor results.
Not needed. Soaked tiny seed clumps together and is hard to sow thinly.
Keep the tray at 15-18 °C (59-64 °F). Cineraria is a cool-season plant, so in a hot climate sow when nights have started to cool, or germinate the seed in the coolest room available.
Press the seed onto the surface and cover it with no more than a dusting of fine compost or vermiculite, at most 3 mm (1/8 in).
A fine, light, well-drained seed compost that is fresh or pasteurized. Clean trays and compost matter because Verticillium wilt and damping-off are soil-borne.
Water from below or with a fine mist and cover the tray with a clear lid or glass until seedlings appear. Keep the compost moist but never waterlogged, and remove the cover as soon as seedlings are up.
Give bright, indirect light from the day of sowing; strong direct sun overheats a covered tray.
About 10-14 days at the right temperature.
When the seedlings have their first true leaves, move them singly into 5-6 cm (2-2.5 in) pots or plugs and grow them at about 16 °C (60 °F).
Move the young plants into 13-15 cm (5-6 in) pots once roots fill the small pots. A pot that is slightly small hastens flowering; a larger pot gives a bigger plant.
Flower buds form below 16 °C (60 °F). After the plants have grown on, keep them at about 10 °C (50 °F) nights; NC State trials dropping from 16 to 10 °C in November gave flowers in late February. From sowing to flower takes about four to seven months, depending on sowing date and pot size.
Cause: damping-off in a tray kept too warm and wet. Fix: use clean compost and trays, keep to 15-18 °C, water from below and remove the cover once seedlings appear.
Cause: growing too warm. Fix: give a cool spell with nights near 10 °C (50 °F); buds do not form above about 16 °C (60 °F).
Cause: root death from overwatering, or Verticillium wilt from infected soil. Fix: let the surface dry slightly between waterings, use pasteurized compost and discard wilted plants.
Cause: aphids, whitefly or spider mites, which are common on cineraria. Fix: check leaf undersides weekly, wash off or treat early, and avoid hot, dry air.
Cause: Botrytis or powdery mildew in crowded, humid conditions. Fix: space pots, improve air movement and remove affected leaves.
In cool temperate climates sow from spring to midsummer under glass: July sowings flower about February, late-August sowings about March, and December sowings give small pot plants for April-May. In warm climates, including the Indian plains, time sowing so plants grow and flower through the coolest months.
Give a balanced liquid feed (for example 20-20-20) from the young plant stage until buds appear, and stop once the flowers open.
Once established, cineraria grows best at 7-13 °C (45-55 °F) in bright light without hot midday sun; it is a cool-weather crop.
Cineraria is frost-tender (RHS H1C) and is normally grown for one flowering season and then discarded. Outdoors it survives only where there is no frost.
Sow cineraria in a cool, bright spot for colourful pot plants in late winter and spring.
It is better not to. The seed is small and needs a steady 15-18 °C, so sow it in trays, prick out the seedlings and plant out or pot on later.
It has probably been kept too warm. Flower buds form only below about 16 °C (60 °F), so give the plants several weeks of cool nights near 10 °C (50 °F).
In frost-free gardens it can live longer, but it is usually grown as a one-season pot plant and replaced with new seedlings each year.