- Sow in spring or midsummer
- Bring the seeds into the ground
- Plant out the early young plants in the right location
- Seeds from own harvest or bought
Sowing is THE propagation method par excellence for St. John's wort. While propagation from cuttings and division doesn't work for all species, sowing always works!
In order for St. John's wort to flower in the same year, it must not be sown too late
Sow in spring or midsummer
As with most other herbs, St. John's wort should be sown in spring. The period between March and April is ideal for a pre-culture. Direct sowing should ideally not be done until May.
If you have completely forgotten to sow in spring, you can sow the seeds in the bed in midsummer (a preculture at home then no longer makes sense). But watch out: Then the St. John's wort will not bloom until next year.
Bring the seeds into the ground
If the timing is right, let's get started! The seeds are tiny and are sown as follows:
- Fill bowls or pots with seed compost or prepare the bed
- sowing seeds
- either cover with a thin layer of soil or just press down (light germinators)
- moisten and keep moderately moist
- Germination temperature: 18 to 22 °C
- Germination time: 14 to 24 days
Plant out the early young plants in the right location
As soon as the seeds have germinated and the plants have grown to a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 cm, they can be planted out. A good time to do this is mid-April. Enrich the soil at the site with some compost.
You should pay attention to the following when planting:
- 30 cm distance
- Soil: deep, well drained, well aerated, calcareous
- do not plant in highly acidic substrate (St. John's wort absorbs toxic cadmium)
- sunny to partially shaded location
Seeds from own harvest or bought
You can harvest the seeds for sowing St. John's wort yourself from existing plants. Seeds usually mature in late summer to fall. Just harvest the berry-like fruits and extract the seeds! However, nowadays you can also get the seeds in the garden center or hardware store.
tips
If the soil at the site is too acidic, you can simply mix it with ground eggshells. The egg shells give the St. John's wort a lot of lime and alkalinize the substrate a little.