Since overwintering plants in the house requires a certain amount of space and effort, many gardeners buy new busy lizards every year for the annual culture. But it is also relatively easy to propagate the perennially flowering Impatiens walleriana yourself.
How can you multiply Busy Lizzies?
The Busy Lieschen can be propagated by seeds or cuttings. Seeds can be obtained from ripe seed pods, dried and sown in spring. Cuttings are used to propagate color-fast varieties and are cut in autumn and rooted in substrate or water.
Collect the seeds of the Busy Lieschen yourself and store them properly
It's not for nothing that Busy Lieschen is also colloquially known as Balsam: the seeds, shaped like a candle flame, grow larger and larger after the individual flowers fade, until they literally explode at the slightest touch. In order to be able to harvest as many seeds as possible from these sensitive seed capsules, a special technique is necessary. To do this, close your hand as completely as possible around a seed capsule before triggering its “slinging effect” with gentle pressure. Then dry the seeds spread out flat before storing them in a screw-top jar in a dry and dark place until sowing in spring.
This is how you can grow your Busy Lieschen from seeds yourself
Growing Busy Lizzies from seeds is relatively easy and, due to the toxicological safety of these plants, can also be grown on the windowsill without any concerns. When growing young plants from seeds, the following factors should be taken into account:
- The seeds germinate in light and should only be lightly pressed against the substrate
- For the germination phase, a uniform temperature between 18 and 22 degrees Celsius is optimal
- A cover over the cultivation containers ensures even moisture in the substrate
The busy lizards grown on the windowsill from March can be trained to be a little more compact in growth before being planted out in the garden or on the balcony after the ice saints by shortening the top shoot tips once or twice.
Propagation of Busy Lizzies through cuttings
Since different varieties of Busy Lieschen can cross a lot with each other, propagation from seeds often leads to surprising color mixtures. “Color-fast” offshoots, on the other hand, can be obtained via cutting propagation, which can be carried out in parallel or as an alternative to overwintering the mother plants. To do this, cuttings about 5 to 10 centimeters long are placed in cultivation pots in autumn and rooted indoors at room temperature. As a rule, the first roots form after about 3 to 4 weeks.
Tip
You can also root the cuttings of your Busy Lieschen in a glass of water. When transplanting the rooted cuttings into the soil, be careful not to break the delicate roots.