Lisianthus flowers are gorgeous! I have only recently discovered these irresistible flowers and ever since I saw them I have been in love! Head over heels, in love. I need more of these flowers in my garden and I definitely need more of these flowers to use in flower bouquets.
But as much as I love these flowers they are a pain in the rear end to grow if you plan on growing them from seeds. Now you could buy seedlings already grown for you, these are known as plugs, from growers like Farmer Bailey but they can be expensive. Let’s do the math.
To purchase plugs from Farmer Bailey you must buy a minimum of 3 trays. The smallest tray size is 125 plugs. Now each tray costs $84 or $85, depending on which variety you choose. If you purchase the five varieties of lisianthus that I started it would cost you $422, not including taxes and shipping. Considering you will be getting 625 plugs for that amount, the price per plug would be $0.68. That is not bad. That is an excellent deal. However, I don’t have $422 to spend upfront, not with all the other flowers I want to grow this season. And I don’t need 625 lisianthus plugs. Maybe sometime in the future if I can get a successful cut flower business going I will be able to afford plugs from Farmer Bailey and have the ability to use that many plugs. But not this year, unfortunately.
Ok, so we talked numbers with plugs now let’s do the math with the seeds. I bought my seeds from Johnny’s, which were $8.55 a packet. In each packet, you get a minimum of 50 seeds. I say a minimum because I had extra in each packet when I planted my seeds.
So back to the math. I paid $8.55 for one packet of Lisianthus seeds; if the packet has 50 seeds, each seed is $0.17. Seeds are a little bit cheaper and I can afford the $42.75 total for 5 seed packets (not including taxes and shipping) easier than paying $422. Now I’m sure the hardcore gardeners out there will bring up the fact that to start seeds you need to buy soil, trays, and not to mention the electricity for using the grow lights. But as a seasoned gardener myself, I already have the trays I need and will buy the soil no matter what since I have so many other seeds to start soon. Alright, enough chit-chat. Let’s get on to planting the seeds.
First and foremost be aware that growing lisianthus from seeds takes A LONG TIME! The days to maturity are 140-150. Compared to the whimsical cosmos who have a days to maturity of about 60 that’s over double the time it takes lisianthus to bloom! Or how about compared to the majestic pro-cut sunflowers with a day to maturity of as little as 50 days! It is ridiculous how long these stunning flowers take to develop.
The back of the seed packet says you need to start your seeds 12-13 weeks before your last frost date. Here in northern Idaho, with a last frost date of May 15th, you start your seeds in mid-February. But I want nice big healthy plants ready to plant out in May. So I am starting them earlier hoping that if I have bigger plants to plant out and get established I will have blooms earlier. Therefore I started my seed on January 20th. Here are the varieties I chose to grow.
Fun fact! The seeds are SUPER tiny. In fact, I read on Farmer Bailey’s website that lisianthus seeds are the smallest of all commercial seeds! So most companies sell pelleted seeds. This means the teeny-weeny seeds are covered in a coating that makes the seeds bigger and easier to see.
To plant the seeds, start by filling up your seed trays with soil. In my pictures, you can see that the soil I use has a lot of sticks and large pieces of bark. I used a potting mix to plant my seeds. I don’t waste my money buying seed starting mix because potting mix works just fine and I can reuse any extra I have left over in the summer when I am planting other plants in my garden. However, when you use a potting mix to start seeds it is a good idea to sift your soil to get all the big sticks and other things out. By doing this the soil is finer and the seeds have an easier time rooting. I just forgot to do this step. It shouldn’t matter too much, I have planted seeds in unsifted soil before and everything was fine. But when I plant the next round of my lisianthus seeds I will sift my soil so my teeny-tiny seeds have an easier time rooting.
Lisianthus need light to germinate so make sure you put the seeds on top of the soil and do not cover them. Looking closely in the picture below you will see the yellow seeds sitting on top of my soil. Since the lisianthus will be in these trays for a long time green algae will grow on them. It will not hurt the seedlings as long as it doesn’t take over completely. That is where vermiculite comes in to help. Putting a thin layer over your soil will slow the algae growth and vermiculite doesn’t block out the light. It will help keep the algae under control.
Once you have planted the lisianthus seeds put them on a heat mat with a humidity dome and put a grow light over them. I turn on my grow lights first thing in the morning and turn them off right before I go to bed. This is enough light for them to germinate and grow.
Oh, and they will not germinate for 10 to 14 days! So don’t get discouraged when you don’t see a teeny tiny baby seedling popping up in a timely fashion. I planted my lisianthus and eucalyptus seeds on the same day and by the next weekend my eucalyptus had germinated and my lissies still were not. They needed about another week before I saw any action from them.
So that is it! Once they germinated I took the humidity dome off. I took them off the heat mat since they like it cooler to grow, and I am letting them do their thing. They will stay in the same seed trays for A WHILE. Then they will get potted up into bigger containers. I will continue to do that until the beginning of May at which time, I will transfer them outside. But don’t worry. I will be keeping you updated on these beauties the whole way. So make sure you check back regularly. Even though these flowers can be difficult to grow, they are worth it. The loads of beautiful flowers you will get in the summer will be worth all this time and effort, I promise! If you would like more information on how to grow these flowers please visit this page on Farmer Bailey’s website. I learned almost everything I know about growing lisianthus from him. Make sure you check back next week because I will be sharing all the other flowers I plan on growing this year in an upcoming blog.
Talk to you next time!
-Norajean
Pictures from: White lisianthus with pearls: https://unsplash.com/photos/white-rose-on-brown-wooden-table-4-9zi6XK_5c?utm_content=creditShareLink&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash Lisianthus in an amber vase: https://unsplash.com/photos/pink-and-white-roses-in-brown-vase-GROaoy9qbfo?utm_content=creditShareLink&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash Single pink Lisianthus: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-bunch-of-pink-and-white-flowers-in-a-vase-VSkQqFHOXQo?utm_content=creditShareLink&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplas Pink and light pink lisianthus: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-bunch-of-pink-and-white-flowers-in-a-vase-jpI-c0Vky_M?utm_content=creditShareLink&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash