How to Grow Lisianthus – Cut Flower Varieties
Lisianthus from Plugs
Lisianthus are slow to grow from seed and need very early sowing. By purchasing strong, professionally grown plugs you: Skip the delicate seedling stage
Save 10–12 weeks of growing time
Improve success rates
Get more uniform, reliable stems
What to do when you recieve your plugs…
When your lisianthus plugs arrive, unpack them straight away and give them a light watering if the compost feels dry.
You can choose to ‘pot on’ your lisianthus into bigger cell trays and grow into bigger plants or plant them into the ground under cover ie a polytunnel.
If planting outside we recommend potting on and waiting until mid April or until after all frosts. Lisianthus hate cold and wet soil, the stems will be shorter when grown outside.
Lisianthus originate from the deserts of the US continent – they can take a surprisingly amount of cold (not frosts) and are very resistant to pests here in the UK.
With a good hot summer you can sometimes get a second harvest of stems from LIsiathus grown under cover. First blooming in August and again in late September/October.
After experimenting with ‘pinching out’ the growing tip to encourage branching – we have concluded that they are best not pinched. This was after observations in Devon UK.
How to Grow Guide
Lisianthus
1 Soak new plugs in water before planting to ensure the roots are well hydrated.
2 You can plant Lisianthus incredibly close together – this makes them very cost effective to grow as you can fit more plants per sq metre.
3 You can grow Lisianthus outside but the stems may be shorter. We recommend not pinching your stems and providing some support as they grow.
4 Wait until nearly all flowers are open on a stem – don’t harvest too soon as otherwise not all the buds will open. Enjoy the incredible vase life on these, 3 weeks and counting…!
