Succession planting is the flower farming secret to have a steady supply of blooms all season long. As soon as one flush is finished, another starts – how great is that? The only downside is how complicated the succession planting math can be. Some flower farmers have DIY spreadsheets (or purchase pricy templates!) to make the math a bit easier. As flower farmers ourselves, we decided to create this free succession planting calculator tool to make your planning as easy as possible.
Succession Planting Tool
How To Use The Succession Planting Tool
Our free succession planting tool is as easy as 1, 2, 3 – literally! There are three steps:
- Choose your initial planting date. This is the date for your first planting. If your packet of seeds says to plant 4-6 weeks before last frost, this planting should be seeded 6 weeks before last frost. Not sure when your frost dates are? We have a free tool for that too 🙂
- Choose the number of succession plantings. This is the number of plantings you will make. For many varieties, 2 or 3 succession plantings are sufficient. However, if your needs require more – the calculator supports it!
- Choose the number of days between plantings. This value will be the number of days between each of your succession plantings. The calculator works by adding this value to your initial planting date for the first succession planting, and then adding it to that date for the next and so on. As a rule of thumb, putting 10 to 14 days is common.
And that’s it! Simply click “Calculate Planting Dates” and a list of dates for each of your succession plantings will appear before your eyes. You can always go back and adjust each value and recalculate as needed.
What Is Succession Planting
If you’re using our succession planting calculator, you probably know what succession planting is. With that being said, we can all use a refresher sometimes!
Succession planting is a growing technique that helps you maximize your space and (most importantly) extends the harvest time of your varieties. By staggering seeding over a series of weeks or months, you can ensure a continuous supply of flowers or vegetables instead of having them all mature at once.
Succession planting can be done a few different ways, such as seeding a new planting as one is harvested, using varieties with different maturation times, or most commonly replanting the same crop at regular intervals (which is what our calculator helps you to do!). Succession planting optimizes garden or farm productivity and supports a steady stream of fresh flowers throughout the growing season.
What Flowers Should I Succession Plant?
- Zinnias: Zinnias come in a vast array of colours, have long stems and are easy to grow – are a well-deserved staple in cut flower farms and gardens. They’re the perfect pick to succession plant, as they have a quick turnaround from seed to bloom. When one flush is over, you can start harvesting from the next planting – and rinse, and repeat!
- Sunflowers: Offering various sizes and an increasing number of unique colours, non-branching sunflowers are only harvested once. That makes them ideal for succession planting to ensure a steady supply. Sunflowers mature quickly, allowing for quite a few plantings in a single season.
- Cosmos: Cosmos produce delicate, airy flowers on long stems, perfect for cutting. Their continuous blooming habit is enhanced by successive plantings.
- Snapdragons: With their tall spikes of colourful blooms, snapdragons are great for succession planting, providing blooms in cooler early and late parts of the growing season.
- Dahlias: While typically grown from tubers, dahlias can be planted in stages to extend the blooming period. Early and later plantings ensure flowers from mid-summer to fall.
Summary
We hope you find our free Succession Planting Calculator useful! With just a few clicks, you can calculate when to plant each successive planting for your season plan. If you want to take your flower farm planning to the next level, you should try out our main free tool, Bloom Manager. It lets you plan out your entire season including the layout of your farm or garden – and succession plantings of course!
It If you have any feedback or want to request other helpful tools, be sure to leave a comment below. Happy growing!