What mistress does not dream of a well-groomed, admirable, and even envious flower garden next to the house? In the conditions of our climate, petunia is one of the best options for decorating the local area, because the number of its varieties and colors is very high, and in special care it does not need. Petunia comes from Montevideo, belongs to the family of Solanaceae. Although petunia is a perennial plant, but in our winters in the open ground it dies, so it is grown as an annual. The plant is very thermophilic, well tolerating heat, but requiring constant irrigation. In cold weather, petunia ceases to bloom. The species of petunia are huge (several hundred varieties), but they are all divided into four groups: ampel, large-flowered, multicolor and floribunda. The most spectacular are the large-flowered varieties of petunias, but they are the most capricious, suffering the most from temperature, wind and rain. Multicolor varieties and floribunda are used for planting in flower beds and flower beds . And the ampelian petunia will please the hosts with a whole cascade of bright colors. Petunias come in almost all colors of the rainbow: white and purple, yellow, blue, red and pink, bicolour and striped.
In order to petunia bushes have become a real decoration and pleased the owners with long flowering, it is very important to pinch them in time. About how to properly pinch petunia and when you need to do this and will be discussed in our article.
Do I need to pinch petunia seedlings?
Petunia, like any other plant, tends, above all, to grow up. If you do not remove the upper shoots in time, the petunia will stretch upward, forming a long ugly stalk that will fall under its own weight - and it will not be about a beautiful flower garden. Pinching Petunia allows to form a beautiful lush bush, which will actively release new side shoots, each of which will also have new buds. And as a result, the petunia bush will be more lush and more active blossom. Pinching will have a beneficial effect on the duration of petunia blooming, and the sprouted shoots will again grow, forming new bushes. Therefore, the answer to the question "Is it possible to pinch petunia?" Is the answer - it is possible and even necessary. Especially this applies to petunia seedlings , which is grown independently from purchased seeds. The fact that pinching plants is a very laborious process and breeders are working hard to create varieties that would normally grow and develop without it. Naturally, varietal seeds of petunias are expensive and sold in special nurseries. Cheap types of petunias, available in free sale, you need to pinch.
When to pinch petunia seedlings?
To achieve maximum effect, the pinching of petunia seedlings is performed twice: the first time in the phase of four leaves, and