The checkered flower with its interestingly patterned flowers is one of the most striking plants in the wet bed. At the same time, the bulbous plant proves to be extremely robust and easy to care for. In the following article, we explain how you can increase the beauty of the garden yourself.
The checkerboard flower reproduces itself via seeds
scale proliferation
As with all lily plants, the bulb of the checkered flower has a scale-like composition. This typical structure enables easy, vegetative propagation. The ideal time for this is late summer, when the chess flower has completely drawn in its foliage. Follow these steps:
- Dig up the onion and peel off four to six of the outer scales, depending on the size.
- Sprinkle charcoal powder on wounds to seal them.
- Put the mother onion back in the same place.
- Fill small pots with propagating soil.
- Place the scales about halfway into the substrate.
- Put a transparent plastic bag over the pots (greenhouse climate).
- Place in a partially shaded spot on the windowsill.
- The ideal temperature for germination is around twenty degrees.
After the scales have rooted, cover them with soil until only a small tip is visible. Now put the pots in a cool place, five degrees Celsius is ideal. A frost-free but not too dark room is ideal, for example an unheated garage or the garden shed. (24.90€) When the temperatures rise in spring, place the pots on the balcony, where the small plants and their bulbs will grow vigorously until early autumn allowed to continue growing.
Propagation by seeds
In an optimal location, the chess flower often self-seeds and forms dense carpets of flowers over time. You can help this a little by sowing the seeds in the bed in the fall. Cover the ground with fine-mesh wire to keep hungry birds from feasting on the seeds during the barren winter months.
If you want to be sure that the checkered flower will germinate, you should choose a place with the most even temperature possible for cultivation. The refrigerator is ideal for this, in which you should give the sprouting trays a place that is as cool as possible with a temperature of around four degrees.
tips
The bulbs of the chess flower dry out very quickly and should therefore be planted in the ground as fresh as possible.