Viola odorata, Sweet Violet For Hydroponic Culture
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Susan Christen
Posted on: November 25, 2006

How can I make a hydroponic culture of Viola odorata (for edible flowers)? Can I have flowers all year?

As long as you use a fairly dense hydroponic medium for your trays, The plant can be started in a peat-based soil-less medium and then perhaps moved to a more open medium, when the plants have a good enough root system. You could keep them in the previous medium if you grow them semi-hydroponically.

The plants flower only in the spring after a winter chill of a temperature close to 0 degrees Celsius. In the fall they produce seed capsules without producing flowers. Perhaps you could try to chill them more frequently than once a year and thus fool them into blooming more than once a year.

The seeds need to be stratified for 2 to 3 days at 10 to 15 degrees Celsius and then at 0 to 5 degrees Celsius until germination. The seeds also need light to germinate.

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