Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Growing Gerbera by Divisions

 I just remembered that I have not give any update the result of our adopted gerbera that we made divisions and transplanted 2 years ago. It was a success and the plants still live on till today and now we know the colour of the adopted gerbera plant bloom as well. Gerbera or also known as African daisy is a perennial plant in our garden which bloom twice a year in spring and autumn preferring the milder weather. Gerbera is a very drought-tolerant plant. Prefers well-drained soil and does not like its feet to be wet in a long period of time. Likes the sun very much, although still produce flower in partial shade not as profusely as the one receiving more sun. Needs a good air flow and dry condition in partial shade or the leaves tends to be sickly or caught some disease.
 Two years ago, my boys gave me 2 pots of gerbera plant for Mother's day. Since we will be moving by the end of this year, I wanted the plants to be in a place that I can always take some with me whenever we have to move to a new place. So the safest place will be transferring the whole plant to my parents house all the way to Malaysia. I am one crazy girl I know, probably not an expensive plant but reminds me of the difficult days of trying our best to make sure Rayyan be strong until he goes for his complete corrective surgery. Rayyan rarely goes out to public places to avoid infectious diseases. So the garden is where he spent most of his time outdoors playing when he was a baby and toddler. You can divide gerbera plants which has grown more than 2 years old especially if the pots look really crowded during dormant season. For my climate will be winter through early-spring to propagate new gerbera plants by divisions.
This is how I basically did when my sister help me transported our gerbera plants back in Malaysia last May. Carefully lift up the plant with all its root intact, washed out gently all the soil away from the root, wrap the plant gently with newspaper. Plant as soon as you reach your destination. The gerbera plant was bare-rooted for 2 days wrap in newspaper before it got planted. As you can see on the photo above, the plant on the right can be easily divided to several plants with a sharp tool (roughly about 4 plants, probably more since that is just the front). Those gerbera plants were divided before it was planted in my parents garden.
Here is one of the new gerbera plants growing a few weeks after making a new home in my parents garden. Liking the warm weather after leaving the cold winter growing really fast. Some of the new plants has already producing bloom in my parent garden. Growing gerberas by division saves a lot of money and you can also swap with other gardeners too.
Does gerbera have seeds?
Yes they do have seeds.
But gerbera is not a plant that grow easy by seeds.
Not impossible just difficult.
Need to find the right season and requirement to have successful germination perhaps.
I tried several time in my first year in gardening from the seeds I bought.
Not one germinate.
Used fresh seeds from our garden in different season still did not germinate.
I forgot to continue the gerbera seed sowing experiment for more than a year now.
Maybe someday I will continue with the experiment again.

10 comments:

rainfield61 said...

To be a good gardener is actually an art.

Sunray Gardens said...

How wonderful that these come back for you. They are beautiful and colorful little flowers.

Cher Sunray Gardens

Anonymous said...

very nice, KA sukalah !

wani sc said...

ahhh. cantik sangat!

mat jon said...

mana-mana benih bunga yang ada sedikit roma(berbulu) kebanyakan susah untuk cambah. tanah tak boleh terlalu basah dan juga tidak boleh terlalu kering

Nitesky said...

Kenangan yang terindah

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

This is great!!! I didn't realize how easy it was to divide these. You did good.

lena said...

you know that i know very little about gardening and am amazed reading the the plant can still survive after off the soil for 2 days

Malar said...

I should try this method! Thanks!
You're shifting? where?

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Rainfield61~ Many factor contribute to the art ; mother nature, critters, ect...hehehe...

Cher~ I like the bright colours.

Kesuma Sangat~Saya pun suka sangat bunga ini, dulu cuci mata je dekat kedai.

Wani~ Terima kasih , seronok tengok daisy kembang dalam kebun sendiri.

Mat Jon~ Betul benih bunga bentuk macam ni memang leceh sikit nak menjadi. Tapi seronok terima challengenya kalau menjadi.

Nitesky~Betul-betul kenangan terindah.

Gardener in Sherlock Street~ Yes surprisingly it was easy to divide compared to gazania plant that I was trying to divide 2 weeks ago,

Lena~Some drought-hardy plants which are native to Africa can be left bare-rooted for several days before planting.

Malar~Planning to return to tanah air.