Cotton is sometimes offered in garden centers or hardware stores. There, their use as a raw material for textile production is less praised than their purpose as an ornamental plant (beautiful yellow flowers, interesting infructescence and seeds). What should be considered when growing this plant?

Cotton does not grow so well in our latitudes

Can you grow cotton in Germany?

The planting of cotton - regardless of which of the four known species - is less intended for our latitudes. This plant originally comes from tropical regions and needs a lot of warmth and sunlight.

Nevertheless, it is possible to grow the plant in Germany - but rather on a small scale, such as as an ornamental plant on the balcony. Cotton can also be cultivated indoors. If you want to grow them for several years, you should hibernate them at 15 to 23 °C. Their minimum temperature is 3 °C.

Which location is suitable for cotton cultivation?

Plant the cotton from mid-May at the earliest in a sunny to partially shaded location that is sheltered from the wind and warm. The floor should be like this:

  • moderately nutritious
  • rich in humus
  • slightly sandy
  • airy and loose
  • humid environment

Sow the seeds

The easiest way to grow is to grow the seeds yourself, at home. To do this, you need the freshest possible cotton seeds, as these are the most germinable. The seeds are about 0.5 cm in size and black in colour.

How to proceed:

  • start from January/February
  • prefer in the warm living room or in the greenhouse
  • Fill pots or seed trays with potting soil
  • Sow seeds and cover thinly with soil
  • Keep substrate moist
  • Germination temperature: 20 to 35 °C
  • Germination time: 1 week
  • Transplant or repot from a size of 10 cm

When does cotton flower and bear fruit?

If you planted or seeded the cotton in time, you can expect flowering to begin between May and September. The capsule fruits are mature about 8 weeks after the flowering period.

tips

It takes around 200 days from seed to harvest, so you should only grow cotton outdoors in mild regions. The plant does not tolerate frost.

Category:

Herbs