If you want to learn how to grow bigger flowers in gerbera then check out this guide with simple and effective tips.
Find out How to Grow Bigger Flowers in Gerbera and fill your garden with beautiful, fuller, and healthy blooms. This South African native is a part of the Aster family. You can find it in a range of varieties in different shades; Gerbera is categorized into four classes: Single, semi-double, Double, and Spider flowers. The plant can reach up to 10-18 inches tall and 9-12 inches wide. Read more details for large blossoms below.
How to Grow Bigger Flowers in Gerbera
1. Start with a Strong Plant
If you want to grow big flowers in gerbera, first buy healthy plant from garden center, choose the plant with deep green leaves, look closely at the undersides for insects; such as aphids or whiteflies. If possible, carefully check the roots, they have to be white and not overcrowded. You will know about the color of flowers by looking at an open blooms, look below in leaves for buds.
2. Vigorous Plants Means More Big Blooms
After bringing gerberas home, place them in an area with lots of sun and good drainage. Except plants are in partial shade, do not keep them near walls that bring back heat. Maintain the soil moisture, but do not make it soggy. Fertilize the plant every two weeks using water-soluble all-purpose fertilizer. Read more details here.
3. Deadheading
Remove fading flowers, pinch off the stem at the base of the bloom, or use any sharp tool to cut it off. The energy that was previously lost on the dying and wilted blossom will now be diverted towards new blooms and growth. It’ll also indicate plants do not produce seeds and keep producing flowers.
4. Thinning
After removing spent flowers, you will see crowded foliage; try a little thinning as it will promote more blooms by enabling light to reach the crown where buds are producing. Avoid removing many leaves as it impacts the plant’s capability to process sunlight.
5. High-Phosphorus Fertilizer
Feeding is also a crucial element for big blossoms, though soil health also matters. Fertilize your gerbera daisy bi-weekly with a combination high in phosphorus and low in nitrogen.
Use a slow-release rose or flower fertilizer every 8-12 weeks.
6. Pruning
Prune the flower stems from they intersect with the foliage when you notice the stem is dying. Cut back the dying bud before it’s going to seed. Trim your gerbera daisy back to around one inch above soil level, before the first expected frost.
7. Add Some Compost
Gerbera daisies flourish in full sun and well-draining soil. Add organic compost near the roots monthly to promote the best flower growth.
8. Choose the Big Varieties
Follow this simple trick and buy varieties that produce big blooms. You can grow Gerbera jamesonii ‘Mega Revolution Orange with Dark Eye,’ which forms 5-inch wide orange blossoms. Gerbera jamesonii ‘Karoo’ also shows off 5-inch wide blooms, and Gerbera jamesonii ‘Volcanoes’ offer 4.5-inch wide flowers.