Bright petunia enjoys incredible popularity thanks to the beautiful, abundant and long flowering, and also unpretentiousness in the care. Growing petunia in a pot or in the open ground will not give you any trouble, even if you are an inexperienced gardener.
How to plant a petunia?
There are several options for how to properly plant petunia, and each of them has its own nuances. It's hard to say exactly which way is better, because in any case, according to the rules, you will grow bright and beautiful flowers. Therefore, before making a decision, it is worth to learn in detail about all the features of each of them and draw their conclusions. So, consider ways of planting.
How to plant the seeds of petunia?
Cultivation of petunia from seeds occurs as follows:
- At home, the seeds are planted.
- When the seedlings are strong, we dive them.
- Further, in the summer, we plant them in flowerpots and transfer them to the street.
Let's consider in detail how to plant petunia seeds. Do it no sooner than in mid-March, when the light day has already become long. If you have the opportunity to light the seedlings with a special lamp, you can land at the end of February. We operate according to the algorithm.
- We take a container, it can be a shallow food tray, we pour in it an earth mixture.
- Seal the ground with a tapping, level the surface.
- Next we take a handful of snow (in March of the month, as a rule, there is no problem with this), we level and compact.
- Then distribute the seeds on the snow surface. In places where they are filled too thickly, distribute a toothpick.
- When the snow melts, the seeds are on the ground. Sprinkle them with dirt from above is not necessary.
On this landing, petunias can be considered finished. Next, take our tray and place it in a warm and well-lit place, ideally if it's a window sill. If the place, in your opinion, is not warm enough, or there is a possibility of drafts, cover the container with glass or food film, thus creating a greenhouse comfortable conditions.
How to plant petunia in granules?
The main problem in the cultivation of petunia is the low germination of seeds. The solution of the problem, especially when it comes to expensive varieties, is the granulated seeds - a handful of seeds are collected in a small ball, covered with a shell. The shell can contain:
- nutrient fertilizers;
- growth promoters for the plant;
- disinfectants.
How to plant petunia in granules? It's very simple.
- We prepare containers - plastic or wooden with drainage holes, previously disinfected.
- Fill the tanks with soil by about 6-10 cm.
- Do grooves depth to a millimeter and evenly spread out the granules in them. Fibers do not need to fall asleep, just gently squeeze the seeds.
Care for seedlings in pellets is no different from the above for planted seeds - we provide seeds with a warm and well-lit place, if necessary, we light the seedlings with a lamp, protect from drafts. With this method of planting, the germination of petunia should be almost one hundred percent. Such seeds grow and grow faster, and after 2.5-3 months you will get a strong seedling, ready for planting in the pots on the street.
Sowing petunia without land
To grow a flower, a land for petunia, is not really necessary. There is a way to plant a plant without using soil, you will need toilet paper for this.
- A strip of toilet paper is unwound on the film layer, well sprayed with a spray gun.
- At a distance of about 3 cm from each other we spread on the paper seeds.
- Seeds covered with one more stripe of paper, well sprayed.
- Cover another layer of film.
- Fold the film with the paper into a roll and place it in a glass or sink, fill it with ¾ water.
It is important that the width of the film is the same as the width of the paper. Water in the tank periodically change. Immediately after germination, the shoots, together with the roll, are planted in the soil. When the seedlings are growing up, we must make a pick with all the rules. In the future, care for seedlings, planted in this way, does not differ from more habitual variants of cultivation.
Growing petunia at home
Cultivation of petunia from seeds is not a complicated process. If the seedlings are grown from pellets, the flowers grow faster and, most likely, they will be stronger, and the seeds planted directly in the ground or in the cochlea (the so-called way of growing petunia without earth) grow longer. But in any case, the cultivation of petunia should be done according to the rules, and it is important to create good conditions for it.
Soil for petunia
Cultivation of petunia seedlings will be successful if it is planted in good soil. What kind of soil mixture can be considered suitable for a flower? It must include:
- sod land;
- leaf earth;
- humus;
- peat.
When buying a substrate, carefully read the composition for the presence of these components. Many ready-made substrates for flowering are well suited for the proper growth and development of petunia. Even at purchase it is very important to pay attention to acidity of the chosen soil mix - strongly acidic and alkaline structures most likely will not approach for cultivation of a petunia, it is better not to experiment.
Petunia - care
Looking at lush plants with many bright colors, many people think that there are probably special secrets of growing petunias. But it is not so. Secrets consist only in observance of rules of care of colors, any special actions to do it is not necessary. Let's consider in detail how to provide petunia with ideal conditions for growth and flowering at different stages of plant development.
Care of petunia shoots
In order for the flower to grow well, develop properly and in the future please you with flowering, it is important to ensure proper care for petunia after emergence. The first thing to do when you saw the first shoots is to lower the air temperature to 20 ° C. Watering is moderate, not allowing the drying of the soil and not flooding the plant. It is better to keep a pot with shoots in a well-lit place, they are no longer afraid of drafts.
Care of petunia seedlings
Care of seedlings at home is as follows:
- Seedlings require a lot of light. To accelerate the development of plants, you should maximize the light day of the flower, using special lamps.
- When each flower has 2-3 leaves, they should be dived - placed in separate containers. If this is not done, the root system will not be able to develop. As pots, many prefer to use transparent disposable cups - this will help not miss the moment when flowers need a transplant.
- When the root system completely fills the tank, petunia should be transplanted into a permanent pot.
How to water petunia?
To grow a bright petunia was successful, you should know how to water the petunia's seedlings. At different stages of development of seedlings the irrigation regime will be different. When the petunia seedlings are just beginning to rise, they are under a polyethylene film, which creates a greenhouse effect. Due to this moisture in the soil does not evaporate, and watering the plants should be extremely rare, not more often 1 time in 2 weeks.
After you remove the film, the earth will dry up at times faster. Petunia seedlings are very poorly tolerated by drought, and if small seedlings begin to dry up, unfortunately, they can not be resuscitated. Sprinkle the seedlings every time you notice that the top layer of the soil has dried out. Do this carefully - best with a syringe or syringe under the root.
As for adult petunia growing on a balcony or in the open ground, water it often, depending on the weather, but in any case at least twice a week. If growing petunia occurs at home, such a watering regime can lead to decay of the roots, once in 10 days should suffice. Another flower, especially growing in the sun, very fond of spraying from a spray gun, doing it better in the morning or evening, when the weather is not hot.
Petunia feeding
Like most flowering plants, petunias need top dressing. Yes, theoretically the plant is able to grow, flower and even give seeds without the introduction of various kinds of fertilizers, but at a certain point the supply of nutrients in the soil ends, the development of the green mass and the root system can suffer, the flowering will not be so abundant and, as can be understood, the seeds the plants will also be substandard. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study in detail how to choose a fertilizer for petunia.
The first feeding of petunia
When the seedlings are still very small, they are especially vulnerable, and now it is more important than ever to observe all the rules of growing petunia. After germination from fresh soil, petunia seedlings get all the necessary nutrients, but not for long, not more than 2-3 weeks. After this, it is necessary to start feeding her. For normal development, it is necessary to add nitrogen fertilizers that stimulate the growth of "green mass". Too often this is not necessary - excess nitrogen is not less harmful than its lack. The optimal regime is the fertilizing of plants every 2 weeks.
Addition of petunia after picking
After picking up petunia seedlings, one should feed up with universal fertilizers for rooting, which will help the flowers to settle down in a new place. A few days after the plants took root (this is very noticeable in their condition), it is important to feed the petunia seedlings for growth. To do this, use a green crystal, vitamins B1, B12. If the volumes of seedlings are very large, more often complex fertilizers are used for flowering plants.
Topiary for petunia for flowering
Pet feeding for growth and flowering is necessary after transplanting plants to a permanent place. Potassium top dressing is used for growth, if it is necessary, and as for flowering, here the diet should be slightly different - with a lot of potassium and phosphorus in the composition. These fertilizers should be carried out in a timely manner - not earlier than when the flower will increase the green mass, and when visually the bush will please you.
Reproduction of petunia
Having grown beautiful petunia bush, you can easily multiply them. But you do not need to collect the seeds of flowers (which is very difficult to do), again plant them and germinate under the film and lamps. There is a simpler, and no less effective way - the reproduction of petunia cuttings .
- The first thing to do in a timely manner is to preserve the uterine plant. If it grows on the street, in autumn, transplant it for the winter in the pot.
- We provide the optimal temperature for petunia wintering 10-15 ° C.
- From the middle of winter it is useful to start feeding the flower with nitrogen fertilizers, we provide it with sufficient lighting.
- We choose the optimal time for cuttings, based on the fact that between planting and the beginning of flowering takes an average of 2 months.
- Let's get down to business. We inspect the bush, select the cuttings, which have at least 4-5 leaves, cut them.
- Remove the leaves from the cuttings, leaving the top two.
- We process the cuttings stimulator for rooting.
- Next, prepare the substrate. In composition, it should be the same as that used for growing petunia from seeds. We treat the soil with fungicides.
- Plant the cuttings in the ground, each in a separate glass. Strongly deepen out of not worth about 1.5 cm.
Another very important point - the cultivation of petunia from the cut will be successful if no more than an hour passes between the cut of the cuttings and their planting in the ground. With the mother bush cuttings can be cut several times, as they grow, but do not forget to regularly feed the plant. If all the rules for planting petunia described above are met, the rooting and plant survival will be 100%.