How to Plant a Gerbera Daisy in a Pot or Bed Without Burying the Crown

When and where to plant

Plant out once night temperatures stay above about 50F (10C) and all danger of frost has passed. Gerberas planted into cold soil sit and sulk, and a wet cold crown is the fastest route to rot. If you have a plant in flower earlier than that, keep it in its pot somewhere sheltered and bright and plant it when the weather has genuinely turned.

Choose the sunniest position available. Six hours or more of direct sun is what free flowering needs, with light afternoon shade only where summer temperatures regularly pass 90F (32C). Avoid a sheltered corner with still air, however bright it is, because still air around a dense rosette is what powdery mildew and crown rot both want.

Avoid any spot where water collects after rain. If the only bed available is heavy or slow draining, plant into a raised bed or a container instead. Gerberas will not compromise on drainage.

Pot and mix

Use a pot only a little larger than the root ball, with generous drainage holes. A six inch (15 cm) pot suits a typical bought plant, and a mature clump wants eight to ten inches (20 to 25 cm). Over-potting is a real risk here: a large volume of mix around a small root system stays wet for days and rots the roots long before the plant grows into it.

Mix matters more than the pot. Use a free draining potting mix with about a quarter to a third by volume of perlite, coarse grit or bark added. Standard bagged potting mix on its own holds too much water for a gerbera, particularly indoors or through a wet spell. Squeeze a handful of damp mix: it should crumble apart rather than hold together as a ball.

Terracotta suits gerberas better than plastic because it lets the mix dry from the sides as well as the top. If you use plastic, be stricter about letting the surface dry between waterings.

Planting so the crown stays proud

This is the step that decides everything else. Set the plant so the crown, the point where all the leaf stalks emerge, sits about half an inch (1 cm) above the finished soil surface, on a slight mound rather than in a dip. Firm the mix around the outside of the root ball but never over the top of it.

Allow for settling. Fresh mix sinks an inch or more over the first month of watering, and a crown that was flush at planting ends up buried without anyone changing anything. Plant deliberately high, then check the level again after three or four weeks and top up mix around the sides if the plant has dropped.

Tease the outer roots apart if the plant is pot bound, but do not wash or comb out the whole root ball. Gerbera roots are fine and resent heavy handling, and a plant whose roots have been shaken clean sulks for a month.

1. Water the plant in its pot an hour beforehand A damp root ball holds together and slides out cleanly. A dry one crumbles and tears roots on the way out.
2. Dig a hole slightly shallower than the root ball Deliberately shallow, so the plant sits high. Twice the width of the root ball, so loosened soil surrounds the roots.
3. Set the plant high and check by eye Lay a stick across the hole. The crown should sit above the line by roughly half an inch (1 cm), with the top of the root ball just proud of the soil.
4. Backfill around the sides only Firm the mix against the sides of the root ball with your fingers. Do not draw soil across the top or into the center of the plant.
5. Water at the edge Soak the soil in a ring around the plant, not over the crown. Then check that the crown has not been washed down or covered.
6. Mulch with grit, leaving a clear collar Keep a two inch (5 cm) circle of bare soil around the crown. Grit elsewhere keeps splash off the leaves without holding wet against the stem.

Spacing and the first few weeks

Space plants twelve to eighteen inches (30 to 45 cm) apart in a bed, so mature rosettes do not overlap. Crowded gerberas mildew, and once the leaves of neighboring plants are touching there is no fix short of moving one. In a container, one plant per six inch (15 cm) pot, or three in a twelve inch (30 cm) pot arranged so the leaves have room to spread outward.

Water every two or three days for the first fortnight, always at the soil around the plant rather than over it, keeping the original root ball damp rather than just the soil beside it. A newly planted gerbera dries out at the root ball while the surrounding soil still looks damp, which is why a plant can wilt a week after planting in apparently moist ground.

Do not feed for the first three to four weeks. Fresh mix carries enough nutrition, and feeding a plant whose roots have not yet moved out into the new soil risks burning them. Start a half strength balanced feed once you see new leaves emerging from the center, which is the signal that the plant has taken.

Recording the planting

Write down the planting date, the position, and how much sun that position actually gets through the day rather than what you assume it gets. Sun exposure is the single biggest factor in how a gerbera performs, and the honest answer for a given corner is often three hours rather than six.

Note the mix you used and whether you added grit or perlite. If a plant later fails at the roots, that record tells you whether the mix was the problem, which matters because the same bag will be used for the next plant otherwise.

Mark where each plant sits in a bed. Gerberas die back in cold weather and it is easy to dig through a dormant crown in early spring, or to conclude a plant is dead when it is simply late.