Cultivation Instruction For Marigold Seeds

Nursery Practice:

Bring the soil of nursery beds to a fine texture and mix well rotten compost along with the small proportion of fine sand. Make grooves 7-8cm apart to a depth of 0.50cm on the plain beds. Sow the seeds in these grooves and cover them with a thin layer of compost. Water the beds with 'Captan' solution [3g/litre] and cover with
newspaper sheets. Seeds start germination in 4-6 days. At this stage, the newspaper sheets have to be removed preferably during evening hours. Seeds can be sown plug trays with coir peat too to get seedlings with the root ball. After germination, the plants would be ready for transplanting to flower beds or big pots in three weeks' time.

Growing Instruction:
After transplanting the seedlings to beds or pots, fertilizer application in solution form [1g of 17:17:17 N:P:K/liter] has to be followed for better growth plants. The first dose can be started from the 10th day after transplanting. Drenching with 'Bavistin' or 'Ridomil' at 1.50 g/liter, once in 15 days is advised during the rainy season to protect the plants from fungal diseases. To keep the sucking insects at bay alternate spraying of 'Dimethoate' and 'Monocrotohos' at 1ml/litre at 15 days intervals would be sufficient.

Sowing Season:
In mild climates, Marigolds can be grown around the year with slightly better care during the summer months. In the plains of south India Marigolds can be grown around the year. In central and north India marigolds can be sown in June-August and January-February and grown successfully.