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Lush petunia bushes with bright flowers delight the eye throughout the warm season. And although it is generally believed that this plant is unpretentious, it still needs timely and proper care. In particular, the abundance of their flowering will depend on how correctly fertilizers are selected for feeding petunias.
If you are a novice florist, then you have probably wondered more than once how to feed petunia for abundant flowering in order to achieve a long-lasting effect. There are several secrets that we will tell you about in this article.
Fertilizers
At home, amateur flower growers usually use liquid preparations for feeding. These can be solutions with a high concentration of nutrients. Before fertilizing the soil in which the petunia grows, they must be diluted with water. Depending on what result you want to achieve, you can purchase one of the most popular liquid preparations for petunia: Garden of Miracles, Ideal, Uniflor, Bona Forte, Agricola.
In addition, in specialized stores you can buy a variety of dry mixes in the form of powder or granular fertilizers. They, as a rule, are also diluted with water in the proportion that is indicated in the instructions for the use of fertilizers for flowering plants. Some of the most common types of dry mixes are Plantofol, Master and Kemira Lux.
Long-lasting fertilizers are also on sale. These include superphosphates, Agricola capsules, nitroammophoska, Etisso, etc. The soil with these compounds is filled with useful substances gradually under the action of water during watering of the plant. Long-lasting top dressing granules are added to the soil before planting the petunia. This is very convenient, since the fertilizer is applied once for the whole season. However, some growers have noticed that this kind of feeding is not enough for the development of a lush-flowering plant.
Suppose a petunia bush changes its leaf color from green to purple and the number of buds decreases. These are sure signs that the flower is lacking phosphorus. With the use of liquid preparations for feeding, this problem is quickly solved. To do this, one drug is changed to another, which contains more phosphorus and that's it. If the petunia recovers, then the disease has been identified correctly. And if not, then you need to keep looking for the reason.
But if you use only long-lasting formulations, then, most likely, the flower will die very quickly. If you overdo it and add more phosphorus to the substrate than you need, which can happen when applying long-lasting fertilizers, the flower will die. This is due to the fact that the nutrient will remain in the pot for a long time.
Experienced growers, as a rule, do not use long-lasting fertilizers. But even if they are used in their practice, then they are less than the standardized dose by 2 or 3 times.
Primary fertilization
The first feeding of petunias is carried out approximately 2 weeks after sowing the seeds. Thus, the plants will gain green mass faster, making it easier to form a bush. In this case, complex fertilizers saturated with phosphorus and nitrogen are well suited.
Instant mixes such as Ideal, Garden of Miracles and Bona Forte are perfect for primary processing. In addition, dry mixes such as Master and Plantofol can be used at this stage of petunias development.
Feeding petunia seedlings is performed in 3 stages:
- When the first shoots appear. The fertilizer concentration should be half as much as specified in the instructions.
- It is necessary to repeat the feeding after the seedlings are hardened and get stronger.
- The last treatment is before planting in the ground.
Secondary feeding
After the first buds appear, petunia should be sprayed with Planfotol, which contains potassium. When doing this, use a fine spray bottle.
Water-soluble fertilizer "Kristalon Green" is also suitable for the formation of a lush bush. Seedlings are processed by it. One teaspoon of greenish powder is dissolved in 5 liters of water. Petunia is sprayed with this solution every 3-4 days. It is not recommended to spray the plant during the flowering period.
Abundant flowering of petunia is also achieved through fertilizers, which contain a large amount of calcium.
Abundant flowering of petunias
To make the buds larger, petunia can be fertilized with Epin or Zircon. New shoots are formed due to fertilizers saturated with calcium. The flowering period can be extended by feeding the petunia with pink or brown Kristalon.
If the soil in the flowerbed is fertile, then petunia practically does not need feeding. All that is needed is to pick off the wilted buds in a timely manner. Do not overdo it with fertilizers, apply them strictly according to the instructions, or make a weaker solution than it is stated in it. This is the only way you can grow beautiful petunia bushes. Otherwise, the plant will die.
Feeding methods
There are several methods for feeding petunias. Let's consider each of them separately and in detail. It will be about fertilizing the soil, fertilizing seeds, fertilizing seedlings and adult plants, foliar feeding.
Top dressing of the soil
The quality of the soil is the key to the good appearance of the petunia. In view of this, it can be concluded that the soil needs feeding. The soil for petunias should not be rich in nutrients. Usually, for the successful cultivation of seedlings, it is enough to add peat to the soil, which provides high-quality drainage.
Before planting seeds, the soil can be watered with a fungicide, which protects the seedlings from the development of black leg. If you do not have a fungicide, then you can disinfect the soil with ordinary potassium permanganate.
Fertilizing seeds
The growth and development of petunias, the number of buds and even the duration of flowering depend on the quality and strength of the seeds. Pelleted seeds do not require any fertilization, but they are more expensive than ordinary seeds. In order to ultimately grow healthy petunias, fertilizer must be applied from the seed stage when it comes to cheap varieties.
So, the dried soil should be fed with succinic acid after sowing the seeds. Thus, a high germination rate of seedlings is achieved.
Fertilizing seedlings and adult petunias
2 weeks after the dive of the seedlings, you can carry out the following feeding. Nitrogen fertilizers, as mentioned in the article above, stimulate the growth of bushes, and phosphorus and potash fertilizers promote the development of buds.
Ferovit contains iron chelate, which prevents the manifestation of chlorosis or yellowness of petunia leaves. You need to use the drug 3-4 times with an interval of several days. It is worth noting that root feeding should be alternated with foliar feeding.
Foliar dressing
Spraying leaves is a kind of foliar dressing. It is worth noting that almost all fertilizers sold in liquid form can be used to spray the leaves.For this, more water is added to the drug than indicated in the instructions for use. So, you can dispose of petunia disease at the initial stage. This approach allows you to achieve a positive result very quickly.
Timely watering
This is not to say that the successful cultivation of beautiful petunias depends only on the timely application of fertilizers. Timely watering is also one of the keys to success in growing this beautifully flowering plant. It is obvious that all ingenious is simple!
Flowers need to be watered in the morning and evening. The best water for irrigation is snow or rainwater. The water temperature should be 3-4 ° C higher than the ground temperature. The water must be of good quality. This is due to the fact that, due to poor water, the structure of the soil is destroyed, toxic ions accumulate, pH changes, the digestibility of fertilizers deteriorates, the growth and development of petunias slows down, and diseases of the root system develop. Watering should be done carefully, pouring water under the root so as not to damage the flowers.
So, in order for flowering to be abundant and long-lasting, it is better to use complex fertilizers, and not formulations containing individual nutrients. In addition, it is important to water the flowers on time using high-quality water for this purpose.
We bring to your attention videos that will expand your knowledge of petunia fertilization:
