Q&A for How to Grow Nasturtiums

Yes, the seeds need to be soaked for about 8-12 hours in warm water before planting. Do not oversoak them or use extremely hot water. Plant them quickly after soaking.

Nasturtium flower 30-55 days after seed germination. This means you'll have beautiful flowers in 1-2 months.

You can eat the majority of the plant, however, the seeds are extremely toxic.

Nasturtiums are most often grown as annuals, but they grow as perennials in warm climates.

No, nasturtium is non-toxic to animals! Don't worry if your dog or other pet accidentally consumes nasturtium.

Nasturtium generally flowers from spring to early summer in climates like Florida, so you would want to plant in early spring for flowers to bloom.

Yes; in particular, aphids. They are known as the sacrificial plant, as people use them to keep the bugs off other plants. Soapy water can get rid of the bugs, or for a greener way, ladybirds will also get rid of them.

Trailing nasturtiums are also known as garden nasturtiums and Indian cress. The scientific name of the common nasturtium is Tropaeolum.

They like a low-nutrient soil. Too much nitrogen will cause them to grow lots of leaves at the expense of the flowers. Leave them alone and they will start flowering in time.

Yes.

It looks like a very wizzened pea and is a brownish color.

We have just germinated 2-year-old seed we had in the shed and forgot about last year. The germination rate was very good.

The best way to do it is to let the seeds drop out themselves and pick them up after they have completely dried out.

Yes, try prune off the dead flowers and leaves as this will keep them healthier. You will get more flowers and leaves. Try pruning just beneath where the flower starts to widen out or the flower might get sick.

Unless you get very unlucky, yes, they should reseed on their own. Most likely if you leave them to form seed heads, you'll have even more plants next year.

Nasturtiums will be cut down by any frost, whether at the start or the end of the growing season. They will put up with a week or two of chilly wet conditions, but won't put out so many flowers. They are what is known as half-hearty plants.

It could be due to excess moisture, so be sure that you are watering them the proper amount.

If you have other nasturtiums that are growing well, this suggests that the last frost has passed, so you should be absolutely fine to plant them now.

Nasturtiums don’t mind hot weather, in fact, they flower more profusely in sunny versus the shade, but they would probably need to be put in a shaded area or given some shade cover during the hottest part of the day.

You can, and most people recommend it to help soften the seed coating and make germination easier. However, I plant nasturtiums every year and I use a pair of nail clippers to ‘knick’ the seeds (you can see some of the undercoating of the seeds when you do it ) and I get a good germination rate (7 out of 10 or thereabouts).

Plant one seedling. They spread about 12-14 inches wide, so you really would only need the one seed. If you wanted to, then plant two, a few inches apart, in case one doesn’t germinate. They do not like being transplanted after sprouting though, so if you got two to germinate in the pot, you could potentially move one of them to another pot. You would just have to be sure to get a couple inches around and a couple inches below the seedling so as not to disturb the tender roots when moving.