Digitalis is a plant interesting from a decorative point of view. Stems with blossoming flowers can reach 1.5 meters in height, becoming a worthy frame of the garden. However, the digitalis has its own peculiarities. It is not recommended to grow in families where there are children and pets, since the plant is poisonous. To those who have firmly decided to acquire such beauty, we will tell you how to grow digitalis from seeds and how to take care of the plant in the future.
How to plant a digitalis?
Digitalis replicates with seeds, you can collect them yourself from an adult plant or purchase them in a flower shop. The seeds of the foxglove are very small, so they do not land deep into the soil, and after planting they are watered carefully so that they are not washed away.
Usually they plant a digitalis in early May in the ground. You can do this before, but the soil must be protected. So, some gardeners foxfish planted in pallets under the film.
Before planting digitalis you need to choose a place and prepare the soil. The plant is unpretentious, but does not like the location under the deciduous trees. In autumn, the foliage that falls from them adversely affects the development of digitalis, the flower may die.
The basic requirements for the soil before planting digitalis are good drainage. If water stagnates in the soil, the digitalis will disappear. The soil before sowing seeds should be well loosened. For the subsequent development of the plant, fertilizers containing phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen can be introduced into the soil.
Seeds should be sown based on the requirement of 1 g per square meter of the plot. Seedlings will be thick, so they will need to be weeded out.
As the shoots grow, they are dived again, and they are transplanted to a permanent place in August. The distance between the bushes should be 35-40 cm. It is not recommended to plant closer, otherwise the bushes will not be large, not high and the flowers will not be so abundant.
In the first year of sowing, there will be no flowers, during this time the digitalis forms a leafy rosette. It is on its size and will determine the abundance of flowering digitalis next year.
Growing digitalis is possible not only from seeds. Some types of adult plants start root shoots, which can also be dived and grown until the appearance of the peduncle.
How to grow digitalis: the rules of care
Growing digitalis is a fairly simple process. The plant should be watered moderately so that there is no stagnation of water. The earth next to the flower should be periodically weeded from the weeds .
Digitalis can be fed. Complex nitrogen fertilizers are suitable for this purpose. Make them into the soil twice a season. In the spring of the second year of life, foxgloves are fertilized with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Do this once and repeat the same procedure during the flowering of digitalis.
The period of flowering of digitalis can be extended. To do this, you need to remove the faded flower bud and soon the plant will give a new one. We only note that the repeated flower stalk will be smaller and with fewer flowers.
Collection of seeds from digitalis
In order not to purchase seeds, you can collect them yourself with the flowers that are already growing in you.
Seeds are ready for collection tentatively in a month after flowering. Exact readiness should be determined by boxes with seeds. After maturing, they become yellow or brown, depending on the type of foxglove.
Ripe fruits are separated from the stalk of foxglove and dried. The best are the seeds, located in the capsules at the very bottom of the peduncle.
If the moment from the ripening of the seeds to the self-opening of the capsules is missed, the digitalis is sown by itself. Reproduction of digitalis in such a natural way is considered one of the best. Plants that have risen after independent sowing of the flower are considered to be the most stable and strong.