Content
Petunia is one of the most popular garden flowers. Shrub or ampelous flowers decorate classic flower beds, stone compositions, flowerpots, boxes and pots, they are used to decorate gazebos, window sills and balconies. The undoubted plus of petunias is the duration of its flowering, which begins in May and ends in late autumn.
How to grow petunia will be described in stages in this article.
Preparatory work
First of all, you need to decide on the variety of flowers. As you know, there are bush and ampel type petunias. The first ones grow in neat bushes, they are often planted in flower beds and discounts... Ampel flowers are distinguished by long shoots flowing from suspended flowerpots. Sometimes these varieties are used as creepers, then shoots with bright colors become the basis of the flower arrangement.
There are many varieties of petunias, which are quite simple to grow - in May you need sow seeds in open ground and water regularly. These flowers do not require any complicated maintenance, they are able to grow by themselves.
But those who want to grow a real multi-colored miracle in their garden will have to go a long way, and it begins with the purchase and selection of petunia seeds.
When buying seeds, you need to remember that packaging in 100 or 1000 pieces is a sign of poor-quality seed. Good varieties differ in packs of 5-10 seeds. Usually, the seed material of such a petunia is placed in colored granules.
How to plant petunia seedlings
For petunia to bloom as early as possible, it is better to sow the seeds not in open ground, but beforehand grow seedlings in pots or boxes.
This should be done in early March, some varieties of ampel flowers are sown in February, as they have a longer growing season. Seedling boxes should be shallow, with low sides so that the plants have enough sunlight.
Petunia loves light and loose soils, saturated with oxygen. You can buy soil for flower seedlings in a specialty store, but it is easy to prepare it at home. For this you will need:
- two parts of sod land;
- the same amount of deciduous soil;
- one part of peat;
- one part of river sand.
All components need to be mixed, and the soil for petunia seedlings is ready.
There is another option: to combine three parts of garden land, three parts of peat and some baking powder (wood ash, sawdust, sand, humus) in a container for petunias.
It is advisable to sift the soil for flower seedlings, since the seeds of this flower are very small, they may "hang" or not grow through clods of earth. Sifted earth is poured into containers and poured abundantly with settled water with the addition of manganese. You can sow seeds the next day.
It is better to mix small seeds with dry river sand - this way it is easier to distribute them evenly over the seedling container. If the seeds are granular, they are already clearly visible and very convenient to lay out.
Having distributed the seeds in the container, they are lightly sprinkled with dry sifted soil, and then sprayed with warm water from a spray bottle. Now the container needs to be covered with a plastic lid, film or glass and placed in a warm place, the temperature is kept around 23-25 degrees.
Planting petunias for seedlings is over, now you just have to wait!
Picking up seedlings of flowers
When the first shoots appear under the film (about five days after sowing the seeds), it is necessary to remove the shelter and transfer the seedlings to a cooler place. Now the optimal mode for flowers is 18 degrees at night and about 20-22 in the daytime.
Growing petunias at home requires additional supplementary lighting of seedlings, because in February-March there is still very little sunlight - plants can die from a lack of it. To do this, you can use any fluorescent lamps, only you do not need to install bulbs that heat up, excessive heat will destroy fragile flowers.
It is necessary to dive seedlings of flowers when a couple of leaves are formed on each plant. Before transferring to separate containers, the seedlings must be watered abundantly with warm water and left for several hours.
You need to transfer petunia very carefully - the miniature stems and leaves are very fragile. Plants are taken by the petal, making sure that a clod of earth is held between the roots, and transferred to an individual cup or pot.
After transplanting, the plants are sprayed with warm, settled water from a spray bottle.
The flowers have been planted, now you have to wait for the spring heat to move the petunia to a permanent place. In the meantime, plants need regular care and proper watering.
How to care for a petunia while it is in the house
Petunia seedlings cannot grow on their own - they need proper care. To grow healthy and strong flowers by May, you must follow a number of rules:
- Water seedlings of flowers only from a spray bottle, using settled water at room temperature. This should be done with a spray bottle, since the roots of the petunia at this stage are superficial, they can be easily washed.
- For rapid growth and abundant flowering, flower seedlings begin to fertilize two weeks after picking. To do this, you can use any mineral or organic fertilizers dissolved in water for irrigation. Growth stimulants and special additives designed specifically for petunias are also often used. Do not fertilize flowers with a mullein - it can contain spores of fungi, which is very dangerous for petunias.
- In order for the bush to be beautiful and uniform, the seedlings of flowers must be pinched, forming stems and side shoots. Only ampelous varieties do not need to be formed - their creeping stems will still tend to grow in length.
- Plants often bloom before they can be transferred outdoors. There is nothing wrong with this, on the contrary, you can personally see the shade of the inflorescences, on the basis of which you can draw up a plan for the design of a flower bed or flowerpot.
- Two weeks before transplanting petunias to a permanent place, they begin to temper. The process resembles the hardening of tomato or pepper seedlings - the boxes are simply taken out to the balconies or outside, gradually increasing their time in the fresh air.
When the bushes of the seedlings become lush and strong enough, 15-20 buds or inflorescences will form on each of them, the leaves will be bright green, petunias can be taken out into the open ground.
How to properly plant a petunia in a permanent place
It is possible to plant flowers in open ground only when the threat of spring frosts has passed. In most of the territory of Russia, it is customary to do this in mid to late May.
Before planting petunia in the ground, it is necessary to carefully loosen the soil in the area and prepare the holes for transferring flower seedlings.The bushes are carefully transferred to the flower bed and sprinkled with earth until the first leaves. Now you need to water the plants with settled water, trying not to wet the leaves and buds.
It is recommended to plant flowers in cloudy warm weather or in the evening. It is important that there are no scorching sun rays that can burn the delicate leaves - the petunia will become lethargic and take root badly.
The distance between the bushes should be enough for the normal development of flowers. For varieties with large flowers, 25-30 cm between the bushes is enough, and for petunias with small inflorescences, 15 cm is enough.
If flowers are supposed to be grown in flowerpots or boxes, it must be borne in mind that one adult plant needs at least five liters of soil.... So, in a ten-liter flowerpot, for example, you can plant no more than two bushes. If it is supposed to grow petunia in boxes, then the calculation is as follows: in each meter there should be a maximum of three bushes.
How to care for petunias in flower beds and flowerpots
The difference lies in the amount of soil in which the flowers grow. If in large flower beds or in flower beds you will have to water the flowers as needed and depending on the weather conditions, then in cramped pots and boxes the moisture will evaporate too quickly - you will have to water the petunia often.
Sometimes it is necessary to water the flowers at least twice a day. It is better to do this in the early morning and evening, when the sun is no longer baking.
Petunia care is not only about watering, flowers need other "procedures":
- It is necessary to continue pinching stems and shoots on bush varieties throughout the flowering period. Only in this way the bushes will be neat and well-groomed.
- Withered flowers should be picked weekly. Leave a few inflorescences if you need to collect seeds for the next season.
- If you fertilize the flowers at least once every two weeks, the inflorescences will be larger and brighter, the flowering time of petunias will last.
- Petunia belongs to the plants of the nightshade family, which means that the same diseases that affect potatoes and tomatoes are dangerous for it. You can protect flowers from the "black leg" with drugs "Oxadixil", "Metalaxil" or "Mancoceb". This disease appears due to excessive moisture. The same problem leads to the infection of petunias with late blight. For this ailment, flowers must be treated with preparations containing copper. Otherwise, the roots of the plants will begin to rot, and the bushes will disappear. Small grayish spots on the leaves and flowers may turn out to be gray rot - another fungal disease of ornamental plants. It must be fought with the help of such means as "Spor", "Maxim" or "Integral".
- To prevent infestation of flowers, it is enough to maintain a normal level of humidity - the ground between the bushes should not be too dry or too wet.
- In the middle of summer, as a rule, petunia begins to degenerate - there are fewer inflorescences and leaves on the bushes. To renew the plants, their stems are pruned. On bush plants, you need to leave 10-15 cm, and ampelous are shortened exactly by half.
To preserve the "breed" and prolong the life of the valuable petunia variety, you can try propagation by cuttings. Cuttings are cut from the bushes of parent plants and placed in a cool place for the winter. In the spring, the cuttings are placed in water until the roots appear, then they are grown as ordinary seedlings - in pots or boxes.
That's all the recommendations on how to properly grow petunia in your garden.
Conclusion
Growing and caring for petunias can be both very simple and quite complex processes - a lot depends on the variety of flowers, their type, as well as the requirements of the gardener himself.
For example, simple varieties with small inflorescences, intended for open ground, flower beds and flower beds, do not need complex maintenance. If the land on the site is fertile enough, and the summer is not dry, you can simply sow flowers directly into the ground and forget about them. Petunia may well grow on its own, especially when conditions are favorable for its growth.
But more decorative varieties, such as ampelous, large-flowered or giant petunias, reaching a height of 150 cm, look especially impressive, but, accordingly, require much more attention from the gardener. They need to be grown in seedlings, constantly fertilized, treated with stimulants and fungicidal preparations, watered regularly and pinch a petunia... But such efforts are fully justified - petunia of various varieties may well fill the entire flower garden or decorate a spacious terrace, loggia, gazebo.
Videos and photos about planting and caring for petunias can help a novice gardener. So, we grow petunia without mistakes and enjoy the result!
