Gerbera care: 8 care tips from the experts

Gerberas are among the most popular cut and potted flowers. To help them live as long as possible, you should know about the ideal gerbera care.

Gerberas are one of the most popular types of flowers and decorate many homes: firstly as cut flowers in a vase, but also in a pot. For both variants, we have compiled the best tips for you on how to best care for your gerbera.

Gerbera care: potted plants

Tip 1: When buying gerbera, pay attention to the quality

Whether you choose cut flowers or a potted plant when buying gerbera, you should always pay attention to the quality. For flowers for the vase, only the outer ring of tubular leaves should be open, then they will last up to 14 days if cared for properly.

The leaves of the potted plant should have a strong, healthy green and show no evidence of pests. Common gerbera pests include:

• Aphids
• Greenhouse whitefly
• Spider mites

Tip 2: Choose the right location for gerbera

Gerbera as a pot plant always needs a bright location indoors. However, it should not be in the bright midday sun. In summer, the pots can be placed outside. Even outdoors, gerberas like the sun, but are sensitive to too much sunlight. At night it should not be colder than 14 °C.

Tip 3: Water gerbera properly

A gerbera planted in a pot should be watered regularly. It is ideal when the soil is uniformly wet, but not waterlogged. In addition, you can also moisten the leaves with the spray bottle. It is also good for the plant if you mix coco mix and sand into the planting soil. This increases the pore volume and makes the soil more permeable.

Tip 4: Fertilising gerbera properly

In order for the flower to develop properly, a small amount of liquid fertiliser should be added to the water every week from May to September. Withered parts of the plant are always removed immediately.

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Tip 5: Overwinter gerberas in optimal conditions

In the winter months, the gerbera in a pot is placed in a cool room. The room temperature should not be higher than 12°C, but also not lower than 8°C. The dry parts of the plant are removed, but it is not cut back. About every 14 days you should water with a little water. The pots that were in the garden are also brought in, even the plants that were in the bed for the summer come indoors for wintering.

Gerbera care: cut flowers

Tip 6: Pruning gerbera

Before placing the gerbera in the vase, cut the stems at an angle with a clean knife. Caution: the wire supporting the Gerbera stems can leave rust stains in the vase. This does not look very nice, especially on glass vases.

Tip 7: Proper water height in the vase

When caring for gerbera cut flowers, you need to make sure that they are adequately supplied with water. However, the height of the water in the vase should not exceed 2 cm, otherwise the stems will rot.

Tip 8: Change water for gerbera regularly

The water in the vase of gerbera should be refilled or replaced every two days, so that the flowers remain fresh for a long time.

More information about gerbera in pot, garden and as a cut flower can be found in our special article.