The article reveals the secrets of planting and caring for muscari. Learn about the cost of bulbs and how to get these ornamental plants to bloom in winter.
After winter, you want bright colors so much. Arriving at the dacha in early May, you will see a blooming muscari carpet. They are popularly called "lamb", "mouse hyacinth" and even "viper bow". Yes, their curls resemble a ram's fur coat, its flower is like a reduced copy of a hyacinth. As for the scent, it resembles musk.
The predominant color range of muscari is blue, but there are varieties with purple, pink, white and even yellow flowers. It clearly demonstrates what muscari look like, photo. The inflorescence is on a thin high stalk and consists of tiny bells.
Muscari varieties and prices
It is enough to purchase several bulbs of this plant and over time, each will grow so much that it will turn into a lush bouquet. Here is the cost for a set of 10 onions, muscari:
- "Razletayka" has flowers of a pink-lilac hue. The cost is 300 rubles (for 10 bulbs);
- "Flight of Fantasy" will delight you with blue flowers - 222 rubles.
- Inflorescences "Florida" soft blue. The price for 10 bulbs is 311 rubles.
- "Magic Ocean" will give you blooming panicle flowers, the top of which is white, the middle part is blue, and the bottom is blue. For such beauty you need to pay 234 rubles.
- "Valeria" costs a little less - the same number of bulbs - 222 rubles. The flowers of this muscari variety are blue and white.
- Peppermint Lollipop. The price for 10 bulbs is 190 rubles. This variety is one of the most inexpensive, although the blooming blue flowers look amazing.
Now about other varieties of muscari and their cost:
- A set of muscari looks beautiful: "Armenian", grape-shaped "Alba", "Broadleaf". If you plant 7 bulbs of each variety, you can admire the blue, blue and white flowers. This set of 21 bulbs costs 315 rubles.
- "Pink Dawn" lives up to its name. This is the color of the blossoming buds. Price for 2 pieces 286 rubles.
- "Paradox" for those who love deep blue color. You will have to pay 311 rubles for 2 onions.
- “Golden Fragrant” is a fairly new variety. Their three bulbs, which cost 256 rubles, bloom flowers of a yellow-golden hue.
Planting muscari
After the bulbs of the variety you like are purchased, you need to plant them correctly and on time. This is best done in autumn - from mid-September to late October, as the bulbs will start growing and bloom in early spring. Sometimes already sprouted bulbs are sold in the spring. If you plant each one with a clod of earth, then it will also take root well.
But the autumn planting is better because the muscari will have time before flowering to take root and get stronger, moreover, you can inspect each bulb, since it will not be covered with an earthen ball.
Pay attention to the healthy planting material. But it is better to play it safe and disinfect the bulbs. To do this, they need to be put in a solution of "Maxim" for 25 minutes, and then for 20 minutes in 1% potassium permanganate.
If the bulb is damaged, then it is better not to plant this. Choose a sunny place. But since muscari bloom in May, when the trees do not yet have lush foliage, so you can plant them near the trees. Muscari look good on alpine slides, as curb plants.
When planting, keep in mind that these are perennials, so place them where you do not plan to dig the soil for 5-6 years. That is how much time, without a transfer, in one place, they will be there. You can place them in an area where other perennials grow.
The soil for these plants should be a slightly acidic reaction, acidic is lime in advance or wood ash is added when planting. If the soil has not been fertilized for a long time, add a tablespoon of Kemira flower or nitrophoska per 1 square meter. m. plot. Also, 5 kg of compost or humus are added to the same area.
Make holes a day before planting, spill them and add coarse river sand as drainage. Submerge large bulbs 7 cm deep, maintaining a distance of 5-10 cm between them, and deepen small ones 3 cm, leaving 2-3 cm gaps between the bulbs.
Muscari care
It is very simple, so this plant is an educational plant for novice florists. Muscari is watered only at the beginning of the growing season, but this is the time of spring, usually then there is still a lot of moisture in the soil, which remains after the snow has melted. If the winter is with little snow, and the spring is dry, then the muscari should be watered periodically.
Since seeds begin to ripen in faded buds, such peduncles must be removed. After all, the seeds take some of the nutrients from the plant and, when ripe, they will fall into the soil, where they will then germinate. In addition, the aesthetic appearance is better when there are no wilted parts on the ornamental plant.
If you plan to propagate muscari with seeds, then you need to leave the strongest peduncle on one plant, let it ripen, then cut it off, dry it in the shade and collect the seeds.
When the plant fades, it is necessary to give it a liquid potassium-phosphorus fertilization. It will help it to winter well. Reduce watering gradually. When the leaves turn yellow and wither, watering is not carried out at all. Young plantings of muscari need to be mulched with peat for the winter, adult plants do not need this.
Breeding muscari
As mentioned above, in one place these flowers can grow up to 6 years, then babies, which can be up to 30 pieces, are separated from the mother's bulb and transplanted to a new, previously prepared place.
Seed propagation of muscari also presents no particular difficulties. But you need to know that muscari seeds germinate only during the year, so they must be sown in the fall of the same season when they are ripe. They are sown to a depth of 1–2 cm. Thin strings of seedlings will appear next spring, it is important not to pull them out accidentally during weeding. Therefore, immediately fence off the area where you sowed seeds in the fall. A plant that appears in this way blooms for 2-3 years.
Muscari diseases and pests
This ornamental plant is relatively disease resistant. Sometimes a green mosaic appears on the leaves, while they are narrowed, the flower arrow grows small, and the plant itself does not differ in normal size. These symptoms indicate a mosaic infection caused by the yellow dwarf onion virus.
The common cucumber mosaic is expressed in pale green spots and streaks on deformed leaves. These viruses are transmitted by aphids and enter the bulb. Diseased specimens must be dug up and burned, otherwise the infection may spread to other plants.
This can be prevented. If you see aphids on the ground part of the muscari, which is the main carrier of diseases, destroy it. To do this, dilute 2 tsp. liquid soap in 400 g of water and spray the plants with this solution. With a strong invasion of this insect, you can use special chemicals, as well as against the spider mite, which is also dangerous for muscari. To do this, use the means of the avermectin group (Aktofit, Vertimek, Fitoverm), diluting them according to the instructions. Plants are sprayed with these preparations when the air temperature is +18 degrees.
Forcing muscari
If you want to enjoy beautiful flowering not only for three weeks in May, but also at other times, for example, in winter, then dig out the muscari bulbs after the ground part dies off, rinse them, treat them with a fungicide (Fitosporin, a weak solution of potassium permanganate, etc.).). Dry at room temperature, store until September in a dry ventilated place, where the temperature is + 20 ° C. Purchased bulbs do not need to be processed, as they are already ready for planting.
Next, lower the storage temperature to + 17 ° C. Then the muscari bulbs are wrapped in paper or dry sawdust and put into a room with a temperature of +9 ° C for a month. Then it is lowered to + 5 ° C (just like in the vegetable section of the refrigerator). Here, the bulbs are kept in such a way as to get them 2 weeks before the end of the cold storage period (in total, it lasts 3-4 months) and are planted tightly in pots, in aerated nutritious moist soil, burying the bulbs by 2 cm, and their upper part is not should be sprinkled with soil.
It is necessary to put drainage (shards, expanded clay, pebbles) at the bottom of the pot, box, flowerpot.
2 weeks after planting, transfer the containers with bulbs to a bright, warm place, where the temperature is around + 10 ° C, after 2 days it is raised to + 15 ° C. Flowering will come in half a month and will delight you for 10 days.
Find out more useful information on how to grow muscari yourself in this video:
