Gerbera Daisy Care

Tips for Gerbera Daisy Care

Gerbera daisy care is important if you want to keep these colorful flowers looking great. With the proper care these flowers are long lasting and will keep your yard looking beautiful.

One of the reasons that these daisies are so popular is not only do they stay in bloom for a long time, but they produce some large flowers, blooms that about 4 to 5 inches across. Gerbera daises grow best in warmer climates as their native region is South Africa, but they can grow in cooler climates as annuals, or even be cultivated as indoor plants.

Using these flowers as indoor plants does pose some problems, the main drawback being that they do not tend to flourish and bloom as long. With good gerbera daisy care you can expect your indoor plant to bloom for about six weeks. At this point the plant will begin to die, but if it is still summer you may be able to save it if you transplant it outdoors in a very sunny location.

For optimal gerbera daisy care there are a few things you will need to know such as watering and fertilizer requirements, as well as how much light they need, plus more.

If you are growing these flowers indoors you will have to find a spot that receives light through most of the day; if this isn’t possible you may have to use some artificial light to help subsidize what they are not getting in sunlight. For outdoors you will want to choose a very sunny location, preferably on the west side of your house, if there are no trees blocking the sun.

Although these flowers are native to South Africa they do not do well in extremely hot weather. If you grow the daisies indoors keep your house’s temperature about 70 degrees. Provide some shade outdoors if you live in a region that frequently gets temperatures in the 80s to 90s.

For best gerbera daisy care you will want to feed your flowers fertilizer about every other week. The best fertilizer to use is a water based plant food. These flowers do not need a lot of humidity but you may have to spray it down with water a couple of times a week if they are grown indoors. When using a spray bottle to mist the daisies you will want to avoid spraying water directly on the petals. There is little need to do any trimming of these flowers, aside from removing dead blossoms.

In some cases even with the best gerbera daisy care you may come across some problems. If your plant seems a little wilted there are a couple of different things that can cause this. In the case where the plant has not yet bloomed the problem may be that they are not getting enough light or water. If your flowers have already bloomed, there may not be a problem at all, aside from the plant being done blooming.

In some case these flowers may develop dark patchy areas on their leaves. This is an indication that the plant is not being kept warm, or you are watering with cold water. Always water this plant with lukewarm water.

You probably will not have a lot of problems with insects. With this type of daisy the most common insect problem will be whiteflies and aphids. There are not too many ways to combat whiteflies aside from treating the plant with an insecticide. Aphids can be manually removed.

With good gerbera daisy care these flowers can be a wonderful addition to your home and garden, providing color and beauty for weeks during the summer.