Cultivation and Management of Alpine Rhododendron

Alpine rhododendron is very adaptable and can grow at normal temperature. it is mostly produced outdoors in Europe and can be produced in greenhouses under certain conditions. The growth of alpine rhododendron varies greatly with different temperature.

The optimum temperature of alpine rhododendron is 15-20 ℃. The highest temperature is 35-39 ℃, when the growth is inhibited, some measures of shading, cooling and ventilation should be taken in time. It is best to control the temperature within 30 ℃. When the temperature exceeds 35 ℃, the alpine rhododendron will be damaged to varying degrees, which is disadvantageous to flower bud differentiation. Although alpine rhododendron can generally withstand the low temperature of-20 ℃, it should be controlled above 10 ℃ as far as possible, especially the seedling anti-freezing.

Alpine rhododendrons prefer semi-shading, although it is okay to be exposed to direct sunlight in summer, but varieties with larger leaves need more shade. Practice has proved that it is best to cover the sunshade net in summer.

There are many theories about fertilization and watering alpine rhododendron. From our practice in recent years, we should change our traditional centralized fertilization method and replace it with "thin fertilizer application frequently", that is, balanced fertilization for each watering, paying special attention to the ratio of different growth stages, because of its great influence. we should try our best to detect and analyze every watering in order to prepare the most ideal PH value and EC value. We have done a large number of experiments in different growth stages, such as a gradient test from PH 3.8 to 7.1, although it is proved that it has strong adaptability, but proper acidity is the guarantee of robust growth. We have also done a large number of experiments from EC value between 1.0and 3.8. practice has proved that different growth and development stages have different requirements. Attention should be paid to the frequent application of thin fertilizer, the combination of promotion and control, and careful detection of the chemical composition of water quality. High salt and high calcium is disadvantageous to the growth of alpine rhododendron. We should try our best to choose the water treated by Rain Water, chemical or semi-permeable membrane technology.

The breeding of tissue culture seedlings in recent years, the price of finished flowers of alpine rhododendron is very high, and there are few thick leaves and buds, which is disadvantageous to cutting and grafting seedlings, with low survival rate and high cost. For this reason, we invited Belgian tissue culture experts to teach the technology, but it was still difficult to succeed because of the particularity of alpine rhododendron tissue culture. after 3 years of efforts, alpine rhododendron tissue culture seedlings were cultivated at the beginning of 2003.