How to plant, grow and care for mallow, whether it is necessary to prune for the winter

Mallow is an ornamental plant with bright large flowers. Due to their beautiful appearance, they can be used to decorate personal plots, plant near houses, and in vegetable gardens. In addition, mallow has a special mucilage, which allows the plant to be used for medicinal purposes, to relieve inflammatory processes. Growing a flower is not difficult. In order to know how to properly grow mallow, it is enough to follow some rules.

General description of the plant

The plant belongs to the Malvaceae family. It can be annual, biennial or perennial. On a long stem, the height of which in some cases can reach up to 2 meters, large flowers grow, with a diameter of no more than 12 centimeters. The appearance and shape of the mallow is like a bell, and the leaves are like hearts.

Mallow comes in a variety of varieties, ranging in color from pale pink to deep purple. Flowers bloom in July and August. Mallow is resistant to cold and is not susceptible to the harmful effects of frost. In addition, the flower rarely gets sick and can withstand drought. In most cases, it is not atmospheric conditions that cause harm, but pests (ticks, slugs and others).

Specifics of growing mallow

Seeds can be planted in the ground as early as May and June. Before autumn and winter colds arrive, only a rosette of leaves will have time to form, and flowering will occur only the next summer.

If you want to see flowering this year, sowing needs to be organized in January or February.

How to choose the sowing time

The features of growing annual and perennial flowers are the same. The only difference is the sowing time. Annual mallow prepared and sown in winter, and the soil should be planted in May. In such cases, flowering will occur in the summer. Biennial and perennial plants are sown in May and planted in August or September.

Site preparation

Before sowing seeds or planting seedlings, the required area must be dug deeply. If the soil is not rich in nutrients, it is recommended to prepare it, namely, fertilize it with compost or rotted manure.To improve the drainage properties of the soil, it is enriched with coarse river sand.

Preparation of planting material

Flower growers recommend leaving the seeds to sit for some time until they finish ripening. However, there is controversy on this issue, and some gardeners believe that sowing should be done immediately after discarding the seeds from the box.

Before planting the material, it is recommended to soak it for 36 hours in warm water.

Planting scheme and process

You should not plant annuals, biennials and perennials next to each other. The distance between seeds should be at least 50 centimeters, but if low species are planted, it can be reduced. The hole should be approximately 3 centimeters deep. After placing the seed in the hole, it is covered with a layer of soil and compacted. During stem germination, constant moisture of the soil is required.

To speed up pecking and retain moisture in the required area, lutrasil is placed on top of it - a covering material for protection. The period between planting and emergence of mallow shoots reaches 3 weeks.

Further care of the plant

In order for the mallow to grow healthy, it is necessary to follow some gardeners’ recommendations for watering, fertilizing and other actions.

Watering and fertilizing

Although in the process of caring for a planted flower, constant moistening of the soil is required, it is still not recommended to water the soil daily and in large quantities. If there are normal sunny weather conditions outside, 1-2 waterings every 7 days will be enough.

In case of drought, the frequency of soil moistening is increased to 2 days. In this case, the volume of water entering the ground may be greater.At high atmospheric temperatures, the plant will not disappear, which can be explained by the presence of a long root that penetrates into the deep layers of the soil. Abundant watering is needed during mass flowering. This will give the plants lushness.

Mallow feeding is carried out using phosphorus-potassium fertilizer at the beginning of the summer period. It is necessary to observe a time interval of 20 days between manipulations. Other materials have a beneficial effect on the flowering of mallow - organic matter (humus or compost).

As soon as the buds appear, the mallow is fed with complex mineral fertilizers.

Pinching

Pinching is the careful pruning of shoots and buds located at the end of a branch. It must be carried out before winter to prevent breakage under a large mass of snow. Pinching is also required, which is carried out when growing seedlings, to give density to the future plant.

Transfer

It is recommended to replant the plant as it grows. If there is not enough space in the growth area, it is necessary to divide the mallow, for example, into 2-3 parts, and replant each one separately.

Loosening

Although the plant is quite large and spreading, with powerful roots that require normal air exchange, periodic loosening of the soil is necessary to maintain this process.

The soil must be loosened carefully to prevent damage to the lower leaves and rhizomes. If you accidentally damage the roots, the plant may die.

Do I need to prune mallow?

Gardeners recommend pruning the mallow after it has flowered and dry boxes with seeds inside have formed. After this, the mallow grows quickly and can still bloom a second time.

Shelter for the winter

Preparing mallow for cold weather and winter is not difficult. In the absence of severe frost, the plant will easily survive the winter period. When exposed to critically low temperatures, it is damaged (especially for young flowers or plants of a sensitive variety).

To minimize harm, dry leaves, cellophane, and fiberglass are used to cover the flower for the winter.

Possible diseases and pests

As with any plant, mallow is dangerous from pests that can harm the plant. One of these is slugs, which can live on leaves and flowers. Pests can be removed from the mallow manually or you can use the following simple method: pour beer into several small containers and place them around the stem. The very next day you can observe that the pests have crawled towards the liquid. The damage to the plant is caused by rust, which is located on the iron fence. As a rule, this forms on the leaves if the mallow grows near a fence. The affected leaves are torn off and destroyed, and the plant is treated with a fungicide.

In the hot season, the risk of mallow being affected by spider mites increases. Among the characteristic signs of the disease is the presence of white dots on the leaves, which increase in size. As a result, the leaves dry out. If pests are detected on the plant, it is treated with a soap solution or mineral oil. If they are ineffective, use Vertimek drugs or Fitoverm.

Another pest is aphids, which cause yellowing of flowers, leaves, and buds. In this case, a soap solution that is sprayed on the affected areas will also help.

Breeding methods

Mallow propagation can be done by seeds or cuttings.After flowering ends, seed pods are formed, in which the seed fruits are localized. The latter fully ripen in 3-4 weeks. When the seeds have turned yellow, they are collected and placed indoors to dry. The terry variety is propagated by cuttings. To grow mallow, cuttings taken from the root of an adult plant are collected. To plant mallow in the summer, you need to collect cuttings cut from the stems.

Mallow is a plant that grows beautiful flowers that decorate house lands, garden lands and other areas. However, in order to get a rich harvest, you need to know how to plant and grow the plant correctly. To do this, you need to study the above recommendations from gardeners. You especially need to pay attention to pests and diseases of mallow, which, in most cases, lead to its death.