Geranium and Echinacea Plugs
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: André Laurion,
Posted on: July 12, 1999

Found your Austrian geraniums plug tray fantastic! Did not loose a single plant and they are all vigorous. Planted them in a mixture of peat moss and vermiculite. But our perfect success rate was not maintained with our Echinacea angustifolia plug tray. Planted in partial sun with some compost in a light soil with old manure, hardly 60% have survived! They were even covered by a black fabric mulch. Did I do anything wrong? I admit the plants looked vigorous when we received them. Other Echinacea plants grow healthily in local area.

With our high regards for the quality of your enterprise

Echinacea angustifolia can be somewhat tempermental to transplant, especially when transplanted from small plugs. It has a taproot that can rupture when tranplanted. Echinacea angustifolia plugs need extra care, especially when the weather is as hot and dry as it has been. You need to irrigate transplants daily in hot weather until they show new growth and become established.

Some growers prefer to sow Echinacea angustifolia in outdoor seed beds. Once the seedlings are well established, they are transplanted from the seed beds either to an intermediate bed (to allow further growth without overcrowding) or to the final bed if the seedlings are strong enough. The outdoor seed bed is typically deep enough to allow the tap root to develop unobstructed.

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