This plant (Solanum jasminoides) is a climbing plant also called Morelle false jasmine. Its graceful clusters of flowers are adapted to seaside gardens, and its foliage is semi-persistent to evergreen, developing on long, supple, almost voluble branches that are easy to trellis on a support.
Contents
When to plant solanum?
Plant it preferably in spring, especially if you live in a region with a marked winter, so that it has time to root before the cold period. At the seaside, you can also plant it in autumn.
Which soil for the cultivation of potted solanums?
They are not difficult on the quality of the soil. The soil mixture must be light and draining.
Composition :
- 1/3 good soil from the garden
- 2/3 of good soil
- The whole is amended with a bit of ripe compost and coarse river sand.
Which pot to choose for solanum
Prefer terracotta pots or small orangery tubs.
Choose from the start a pot of good size (diameter 15 inches).
How to plant potted solanum?
In pot, of 20 inches minimum of diameter, well drained and filled with a substrate made up of 3/4 compost and 1/4 sand, install the plant, without forgetting to envisage a support. Water, straw.
Cultivation and maintenance of solanum
For pot culture, surface each year in March with compost, at the same time as pruning, if necessary, to promote vegetation at the bottom of the plant.
Monitor watering for the weeks following planting and guide the stems onto the support, attaching them if necessary.
In areas with cold winters, protect the stump in November. In late winter, if the stems are toasted by frost, cut them back 12 inches from the ground to encourage new, vigorous shoots.
Throughout the year, remove untidy branches.
In the summer, it needs regular watering to ensure a generous flowering. But be careful not to over-water, and let the soil in the pot dry out between waterings.
Each year, make a generous surfacing with ripe compost.
Multiplication of solanum jasminoides
Cutting
Solanum jasminoides simply multiplies, in herbaceous cuttings, when they are young and tender, between April and June. Take healthy cuttings of 2 to 3 inches.
Cut cleanly with scissors or an alcohol-disinfected pruning shears. Remove the basal leaves.
Fill a pot with a substrate composed of equal parts soil, peat and sand. Cup. Leave a 0.5 inch bowl between the substrate and the top of the pot. Make holes with your finger at 1 inch intervals, push in the cuttings, and press around them. Water, without wetting the foliage.
Place this pot in a semi-shade, away from drafts, and water as soon as the mixture dries. Put this pot under a frame in winter.
In the following spring, repot each cutting individually with the substrate that was used for the cuttings. Wait a few months before planting them in their final place.
Layering
To multiply solanum jasminoides by layering, opt for serial layering, which is called serpentine layering. Choose a long, flexible and healthy branch, let it run on the ground. Make holes 6 inches deep, every 12 inches, a few centimeters from the branch, in parallel.
Bury 6 inches diameter clay pots, fill them with garden soil. Make a slight notch in the parts of the branches to be buried, at a knot. Place the branches in the pots, at the tail of the branches. Hold the branches at the wounds with hooks pressed into the soil. Cover with soil. Pack. Water.
Watch the watering afterwards, watering when the soil is dry. Once the stem is in contact with the soil, roots will form at the wounds.
One year later, in principle, the marcottes are rooted. Check, and if the roots have filled the pot, wean the pomace by cutting off the mother stem. Put the plants in their final place, with their root ball.
You can make these marcottes without a pot, by running the stem in a long trench, rather than placing it in the succession of pots. But the principle of the pots avoids repotting at the time of weaning, and saves time for the final planting.
Diseases, pests and parasites
The red spiders can sometimes attack the plant if the air is hot and dry, and if it grows in a confined area. Carry out then some regular basins to move them away.
Summary
Solanums are climbers that grow with exceptional speed. It is possible to grow jasminoid solanum in pots, to enjoy it even in cold regions.
