How to grow Datura trumpet flower in your yard, pot, and garden
Datura, also called “devil’s trumpet” for its magnificent inflorescence, is a very interesting and ornamental shrub for your yard and garden. It is best to plant your datura in spring in a blend of earth, soil mix and soil conditioner. Find a place in your garden that is protected from wind, but gets a lot of sun.
How to Grow Datura Plants
As a self-sowing plant, the datura trumpet flower produces enough seeds every year to cover a few gardens at a time. You can still grow it from a cutting if you like. When planting it for the first time from seeds, make sure you get the seeds from a reliable source. Here’s what you need to do to start datura plants from seeds in easy steps.
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- Give the seeds the water test and keep them soaked in a glass of warm water for 24 hours before you plant them.
- Choose a small container with plenty of drainage holes at the bottom. Both terracotta and plastic containers would do.
- Fill the container with a general-purpose potting mix.
- Press each soaked seed in the soil but don’t cover it. These seeds need light to germinate.
- Water the soil immediately to help the seeds settle. If seeds get loose, press them back in the wet soil.
- Make sure the soil is warm since this tropical plant requires heat. You can use a lamp to heat the soil about 10 to 20 degrees F above room temperature.
- Keep the soil moist. When it dries out, water the seeds without overwatering the soil.
- It will take the seeds between 3 to 4 weeks to germinate.
- Move the pot to a well-lit room or use grow lights. The seedlings need about 18 hours a day of light.
- At this stage, don’t expose the seedlings to direct sunlight since that makes them leggy.
- Before you move the plants out to their permanent place in the garden, you should harden them. Give them a few hours a day outdoors over a period of two weeks.
Datura Trumpet Flower Care
Datura plants need full sun, fertile soil and regular watering. They get droopy and cranky if they do not get adequate moisture. During winter they can sustain themselves in most climates with whatever moisture naturally occurs. Datura trumpet care specifies that potted plants need special care and annual repotting. The plants may lose leaves in winter if left outside in milder climates, but spring back in warmer temperatures. Datura plants growing in colder zones will require you to move the plant indoors or just let it reseed and start new plants. Fertilize in spring with a light flowering plant food high in nitrogen and then follow with a formula higher in phosphorus to promote flowering. Cut back errant stems, but otherwise you don’t need to prune this plant. Staking may be necessary when the plant grows too quickly and has slender stems.
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Toxicity
We mentioned a few times that the datura plants are exceptionally poisonous. That means you have to keep them out of reach both for children and pets. When you handle the plant even if you’re just going to water it, you should wear protective gloves and avoid coming in contact with it. Every part of the datura trumpet flower is toxic. From the leaves and stems to the roots and flowers. This is an ornamental plant that is best admired from a distance.
If you’re growing the plant in the garden, then keep it in a corner and erect a fence around it to prevent pets and children from getting there. The active ingredients in the plant are hyoscyamine, scopolamine, and tropane alkaloids atropine. These are very toxic compounds even if ingested in small doses. You should seek medical help immediately if someone consumes any part of the plant.
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