You must know this Czech saying about neglected people: He’s so dirty he could grow potatoes in his hair. We haven’t heard of anyone actually growing potatoes. We do know, however, that you can grow roses in potatoes. In fact, the popular ornamental flowers can extract a whole host of nutrients from the potato that they themselves need, and then they grow better than from ordinary soil. Today we’ll show you how.
Growing roses the Hungarian way
The popular Hungarian YouTube channel Fenyutas has come up with a unique tutorial. The procedure is very simple:
- Make a narrow hole in the middle of a large potato that should not go through. The easiest way is to use an AKU drill or screwdriver, but a narrow knife will also do.
- Take a freshly cut rose stem. Use an oblique cut to remove the flower and the top 3 centimetres of the stem. If the flower has not yet bloomed, you can use it to decorate your dining table. However, since the potato will grow a new flower, it is better to use the stem with the flower on it.
- Remove all the leaves from the stem and insert the lower part of the stem into the hole in the potato.
- Place the potato in a pot with plenty of room and soil, it should be about 5 centimetres below the surface. There should also be at least 5 centimetres of good quality soil under the potato.
Plastic greenhouse and plenty of moisture
A stem planted like this is a good one to place in a greenhouse at our latitudes. This can easily be replaced by a plastic bottle from which you cut off the bottom. Stick the bottle into the soil so that the stem can grow through the neck. Milk or iced tea bottles that have wider necks and are tall enough are best suited to making a greenhouse.
A rose planted in this way needs to be watered. But not too intensively, a few quick sprays are better than one big shower. Water the rose around the plastic bottle, not through it. If you follow this procedure, in a week or two the potato will grow into a beautiful rose with a new flower. In addition to the flower, it will also sprout new leaves.
The potato makes the rose last longer
Growing a rose from a potato has one more advantage – if you take the rose out of the pot with the potato, the bloom will last longer. Once the potato has been cleaned of soil, you can also place the rose on your dining room or living room table and watch your visitors be surprised by this unusual growing method.