Tips for Nasturtium (Tropaeolum) Care and Propagation

Nasturtium (Tropaeolum) is a kind of herb. Nasturtium's leaf stalks are mostly alternate and grow twisted upward. Climbing nasturtium is shield shaped. Its leaves grow very large and are mostly round in shape. Climbing nasturtium flowers are mostly single growing, growing in the axils of flower branches, and there are many colors of flowers. Climbing nasturtium has yellow and purple flowers.

Nasturtium Quick Info

Botanical/Scientific Name	Tropaeolum
Common Name	Tropaeolum Majus
When to Grow/Bloom/Harvest	Plant in the spring/Bloom from summer until the first severe frosts of autumn
Uses	Make medicine
Origin	Mexico, Central America, and northern South America
Light Care	Full sun (6–8 hours of sunlight)
Soil Care	Well-draining
Temperature Care	Between 55° and 65°F
Humidity Care	Average humidity levels,
Watering	Water given once or twice weekly
Pruning Care	Pinch back old leaves to the nearest cluster of stems
Fertilizer Care	Do not typically need extra fertilizer
Propagation	Be propagated from cuttings
Toxic	Seeds are considered the most toxic parts of the plant
Flower Color	Warm colors from creamy yellow to bright red

Nasturtium Care in Detail

Nasturtium Watering

Nasturtium should be watered once every 3 or 4 days in spring and autumn, but once every 1-2 days in summer. Although Drynaria likes to be wet, it is afraid of waterlogging. If it is watered too much, the basin soil will be wet for a long time, the gap between the soil will be filled with water, and the air cannot enter, resulting in hypoxia and decay of the root system until the plant dies. Therefore, we should decide how to water the nasturtium in combination with the season, weather and the dry and wet degree of the soil. Generally speaking, there is a large demand for water during the vigorous growth period. You can water every 2-3 days. When watering, gently shake the flowerpot to allow the water to fully penetrate into the soil and avoid pouring half cut-off water or empty water. In summer, the weather is hot and the water evaporates quickly. In addition to watering the nasturtium, water vapor should be sprayed around the plant, which can not only reduce the temperature, but also increase the air humidity. In autumn and winter, the temperature drops gradually, so watering can be reduced appropriately. At any time, we should not water the nasturtium too much, otherwise it will affect the plant growth and even death.

Nasturtium Soil

Suitable soil is the basic condition for propagating nasturtium. Nasturtium has high requirements for soil permeability and drainage. Loose, breathable, well drained and fertile sandy loam is more conducive to the growth and flowering of nasturtium. We can select rotten leaf soil, garden soil, sandy soil and compost soil for potted dryland, and mix them according to the proportion of 4:4:1:1, or select rotten leaf soil, garden soil and pine needle, and prepare them according to the proportion of 7:2:1. In this way, the prepared soil not only has good permeability, but also is rich in humus, which is conducive to the growth and development of climbing nasturtium plants. In addition, before using the prepared soil, we'd better expose it to the sun for 1-2 days to kill molds and insect eggs in the soil, which can reduce the probability of plant infection with diseases and pests. (Find more Climbing Plants with Flowers here.)

Nasturtium Light

Nasturtium is a sunny flower, which has a high demand for light. Only when the light is sufficient can the plant grow vigorously and the flowers are colorful. If the light is insufficient, it is easy to cause the plant to grow in vain and not before flowering, and you can grow Nasturtium with Celery for better growth. Although climbing nasturtium likes Yang, it is not resistant to strong light. If the light is too strong, the plant will grow slowly, and even the leaves will be burned by strong light, which is not conducive to growth. In spring and autumn, the sun is relatively soft, which can fully bathe the climbing nasturtium in the sun, and the lighting time can be 6 hours a day. In summer, the weather becomes hot and the light intensity is relatively high. At this time, it is necessary to shade the climbing nasturtium properly to avoid sunburn. It can be moved to the shade for maintenance. In winter, because the temperature is relatively low, you can move the climbing nasturtium to a place with sufficient indoor light, such as the balcony or bedroom window. Sufficient light can also increase the room temperature.

Nasturtium Temperature

Nasturtium likes a warm environment and is not resistant to severe cold and heat. The most suitable growth temperature is 18-24 degrees. Once the temperature is lower than 10 degrees, plants are prone to freezing injury. When the temperature is higher than 30 degrees, climbing nasturtium plants will be in a state of growth stagnation and even wilt. Therefore, the temperature control must be done well during the maintenance of Drynaria. In spring and autumn, the temperature is comfortable, which is more suitable for the growth of Drynaria. However, it should be noted that the temperature is relatively high in late spring and early autumn. We should pay attention to appropriate cooling of climbing nasturtium, such as moving it into indoor shade for maintenance. In summer, the weather is relatively hot, and the dryland lotus avoids high temperature. Therefore, to reduce the temperature properly, we can choose bamboo curtain or black net for shading, or move the plants into the indoor ventilation to avoid the damage caused by high temperature to the dryland lotus. The climate is cold in winter, especially in the north, and the golden lotus is not resistant to severe cold. At this time, it is necessary to do a good job of thermal insulation. When the outdoor temperature is low, the plants should be moved to a warm place indoors for maintenance, such as the place with sufficient light on the balcony. When the indoor temperature is lower than 10 ℃, we can cover the climbing nasturtium with film to increase the temperature to prevent freezing damage.

Nasturtium Humidity

No matter in any temperature range, we should not put climbing Nasturtium in the open air in the rain. Because the root system of this Climbing Plants with Flower is very thin, the root tubers are fat and the leaves are very small, once there is water, it is easy to cause root rot and sudden death. In addition, climbing nasturtium needs good ventilation. If it is in a closed and high humidity environment for a long time, it is easy to produce fungal infection and Fusarium wilt. If the relative humidity is high and the temperature rises very fast in spring, the requirements for soil drainage are relatively high. We can use pottery pots or earthenware pots with good air permeability to plant climbing nasturtium.

Nasturtium Fertilizer

Fertilizing climbing Nasturtium, rotten pancakes, fertilizer and water, or calcium superphosphate are good choices. During the growth period, we can apply rotten cake fertilizer and water with a concentration of 20% once a month. Before the flowering period, stop the application of nitrogen fertilizer and continuously apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizer for 1-2 times. Phosphorus can effectively promote flower bud differentiation and breed flower buds, so as to promote flowering. After flowering, apply a rotten cake fertilizer water to supplement the nutrients consumed by flowering. When the weather is hot in summer, we should stop applying fertilizer to climbing nasturtium to prevent fertilizer damage. At the end of autumn, we can apply a compound winter fertilizer to enhance the cold resistance of the plant.

Nasturtium Pruning

Nasturtium has fast growth speed and strong growth advantage at the top. If she wants her flowers to flourish, climbing nasturtium pruning is required to make her send lateral branches when she is young. The grown Nasturtium has many branches. If it is not pulled, it will look like the thorns of the primitive jungle. At this time, we can pick up scissors and trim those branches and vines to make your climbing nasturtium stylish and colored. The purpose of adult pruning is to make it more branched, so as to achieve the beautiful shape of flourishing flowers and leaves. After pruning, pay attention to timely water supply to keep the plant in good growth condition. Removing the top bud can also control the flowering period, ensure that the flowering is neat and consistent, and delay the flowering period. Generally, the top bud is removed once or three times. When it grows to 7.8 leaves, the top bud should be removed. It starts after colonization and stops one month before the formation of flower buds.

Nasturtium Repotting

Nasturtium repotting shall be carried out in spring and autumn. The temperature and humidity in spring and autumn are very suitable, and it is also the growth season of the plant. It is easy to keep up with the growth after climbing nasturtium repotting. The humidity of basin soil for climbing nasturtium basin change should be 50%. Fertile and loose sandy soil shall be selected. On the day of changing basin, 18-25 ℃ is the appropriate temperature range. Too cold is easy to frostbite, too hot is easy to dry. The Nasturtium after changing the basin is relatively fragile, and its growth is often not as good as that left in the original basin, so pay more attention to maintenance. Watering should be carried out 2-3 days after changing the basin. The amount of water should not be too much. Wet the basin soil and spray the blades. Fertilizer should be applied half a month after climbing nasturtium repotting, and phosphorus and potassium fertilizer is appropriate. We'd better not apply nitrogen fertilizer, otherwise it is easy to grow in vain and burn roots. The stems of this Climbing Plants with Flower in the climbing nasturtium basin are crisp and tender. They should move slowly, otherwise they are easy to break.

Nasturtium Pest & Disease Control

1. Mosaic Disease

Symptoms: This Nasturtium pest will cause yellow green and dark green primary flower leaf type symptoms on the leaves of the plant, the leaves become smaller, and the whole plant looks a little atrophic.
Pathogen: the pathogen of mosaic disease may be a cucumber mosaic virus.
Control method: we should manually remove the diseased leaves of Nasturtium, and burn the diseased leaves in time to prevent re infection of bacteria.

2. Ring spot

Symptoms: This climbing Nasturtium pest will cause ring flowers and leaves or necrotic spots on the leaves of the plant.
Pathogen: Broad bean wilt virus, belonging to broad bean wilt virus, also known as Drynaria ringspot virus. RNA virus, virion sphere, diameter 26 nm. There is a kind of aphid, such as peach aphid, bean aphid and so on. However, the nature of aphid vector is not persistent.
Control method: We should prevent aphids in time. Commonly used insecticides include 1000 times of 50% malathion emulsion, 1000 ~ 1500 times of 40% dimethoate emulsion, 2000 ~ 3000 times of compound fruit emulsion (dichlorvos 40%, Omethoate 10%), or 3000 times of 20% methomyl emulsion.

Nasturtium Propagation

Nasturtium Propagation from Cutting

In addition to sowing with seeds, climbing nasturtium can also be propagated by cutting, and the propagation speed of cutting is faster than that of seeds. The following is a brief introduction to climbing nasturtium cutting propagation. The cutting flowerpot can be smaller, which is easier to control the humidity of the medium and is not prone to rotten roots. It is recommended to use a disposable plastic water cup. As for soil, it is relatively broad. Peat, vermiculite and perlite are basically universal configurations.
The selection of time is very important for the successful climbing nasturtium propagation by cuttings. According to the investigation on the cutting success of Huayou, it is found that the cutting success rate is very high in May, October, November and December, and has not been tried in other months. However, according to the feedback of Huayou, as long as the temperature is above 18 ℃, the success rate is very high.
We can cut about 5-7 cm of top bud branches for cutting. Generally speaking, the rooting time is about 1 week. After climbing nasturtium cutting propagation, place it in the astigmatism place to keep the soil moist, but do not accumulate water.
In the curing of climbing nasturtium cutting propagation, the most taboo is muggy and humid. We must pay attention to the ventilation effect of the environment and keep the environment cool and comfortable. In addition, we can properly smear some rooting powder on the branch incision to promote the rooting speed.

Nasturtium Propagation from Seed

Nasturtium propagation by seeds can be in spring or autumn. Due to the long growth cycle, the performance of climbing nasturtium sown in autumn is much better than that sown in spring. Compact plant type, large and concentrated flowers, suitable for hanging, many and full seeds. The climbing nasturtium sown in spring has thin branches and long internodes, which is suitable for climbing, with few and small seeds. We can soak the seeds of climbing nasturtium in clean water for one day, and then the wrinkled skin on the surface of climbing nasturtium seeds will stretch without wrinkle. Use a disposable plastic lunch box. Of course, other boxes are also OK. Spread 2 layers of paper towels on the bottom of the box and spray. We don't use scented paper towels. Put the seed on a paper towel, cover it with a layer of paper towel and spray it wet. Then close the lid and start sprouting. When the temperature is above 20 ℃, it can be exposed in about 3 days. After the seed is stretched out, the climbing nasturtium breeding propagation can be carried out. First, put peat, perlite and vermiculite into the seedling basin according to the ratio of 1:1:1.
We can make a hole in the middle of the soil. The hole should be large enough to put seeds. Gently put the exposed white seeds into the hole and be careful not to break the white buds. Then cover the soil gently. Keep the soil moist, and the seeds can break through the soil in 3-5 days.
After the climbing nasturtium seedlings break through the soil, they should be moved to the bright place as soon as possible, and gradually moved to the sun for maintenance to avoid overgrowth. When 5-6 leaves grow in climbing nasturtium, we have to pick the heart to promote the germination of lateral branches and more flowers in the future. Pick the heart for the first time and keep 4 leaves.

Nasturtium Benefits

Due to the variety of colors of climbing nasturtium, the basin beads are still small. Therefore, it can be used to decorate balcony, interior and other places in home life. After pruning, climbing nasturtium looks more and more beautiful. It is a potted plant with high ornamental value. We can boil the dried climbing nasturtium with boiling water and drink it as tea. This product is pungent and cool, and has the inherent effect of clearing away heat and detoxification. Nasturtium tastes refreshing. Cold climbing nasturtium is a very good dish.
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