How to Propagate Daisies

Daisies from Seed

• 1

  Moisten soilless potting medium if you are starting gerbera daisy seeds, or fine compost if you are starting shasta or ox-eye daisy seeds. Do this in early winter. Let the water soak in, and add more until the potting medium or compost is about the texture of crumbly chocolate cake.

• 2

  Fill a seed-starting tray with either the soilless medium for gerbera daisies, or fine compost for shasta or ox-eye daisies, to one-quarter inch from the top, without compressing the planting medium.

• 3

  Sprinkle the seeds lightly over the filled tray, and then cover the seeds with a dusting of fine compost. Spray the tray of seeds with water, using the spray bottle. Place the tray in a greenhouse or on a shelf under a florescent plant light. Keep the planting medium or compost moist by spraying with the spray bottle as often as necessary depending on the humidity in the air.

• 4

  Transplant the daisy seedlings to 4-inch pots once they have developed their first full set of true leaves. Fill each pot to within a quarter inch from the top with soilless potting medium for gerbera daisies, or fine compost for shasta or ox-eye daisies. Poke a small hole in the medium in the center of the pot. Gently lift the seedling from the tray using the plastic spoon as a trowel, and set it in the planting hole. Water with a spray bottle and keep the soil moist.

• 5

  Water once a week with a weak solution of fish emulsion fertilizer after transplanting the seedlings into 4-inch pots, Transplant the daisies to the garden when all danger of frost has passed.

Propagating Daisies by Division

• 6

  Mark the clumps of shasta or ox-eye daisies that you want to divide next season with a marking stake. Or, insert a tall stick into the clump to help you identify the right plant in the early spring.

• 7

  Cut sharply into the clump of shasta or ox-eye daisies in the early spring, using a pointed-blade, garden spade held at a vertical angle so as not to slice off the roots. Cut right through the center of the clump. For additional divisions, turn the shovel blade to a 90-degree angle from the first cut and cut through the clump again.

• 8

  Prepare a planting hole for the divisions by digging slightly larger than the division size, loosen the soil at the bottom of the hole, and add a handful of fine compost to it. Water the hole before transplanting the division.

• 9

  Lift the divided daisy clump with the shovel, and place it in the transplant hole, pulling in additional dirt to bring the surface level of the division plant up to the level of the surrounding ground. Fill in around the divided daisy plant, and then press down the dirt around the plant with your foot. Water in the depressed moat created by your footprints with a mixture of water and a solution of fish emulsion to get the new roots started off right.