Petunia is a flower of magnificent beauty, attracting gardeners with the variety of its varieties. It can be planted not only in the summer cottage, but also on your balcony. In order to achieve such an impressive effect, you need to know how to sow petunia. Then bright shades will not only decorate, but also create an excellent mood.
General: when is it best to sow petunia
There are many varieties of petunia. They need to be sown no earlier than mid-March. This particular time period is considered the most optimal: the day is longer and the weather is good. It is very important to know when to sow petunia so that your seedlings are healthy.
Helpful hints:
- get a special lamp for illumination, so seedlings will germinate better;
- if you want to diversify varieties in order to achieve a more vivid result, first of all you need to plant ampel forms, they need a little more time to take root;
- the temperature should be at least 20 degrees, then the hybrids will germinate as they should.
The modern selection of hybrid seeds is huge. You can even find those that are sold in a special shell. They are quite rare, and even more expensive. Be sure to specify how to sow petunia in tablets - there are some features that you may not know about.
Own varieties
Petunia is grown much easier than any other flower. If there are seeds from several varieties, time and desire, you can try to create your own look, which will take pride of place in the landscape. Do not forget to use a special lamp to enhance the effect.
Preparing the ground
As mentioned above, petunia is very popular among summer residents due to its bright appearance and ease of cultivation. You just need to consider several rules when landing, then everything will work out.
To understand how to properly sow petunias, special attention needs to be paid to the soil. It must be moisture-resistant and loose. In order to achieve the desired consistency, mix sand, humus, earth from the garden in equal proportions.
Even if you suddenly decided to buy ready-made land in a specialized store, it is still advisable to improve it a little. For a flower, a poor foundation is very bad.
Recipe for 5 liters of soil:
- perlite, about 250 grams;
- 0.5 liter ash can;
- potassium sulfate - a tablespoon.
After combining all the ingredients, mix them well in a separate container. When you are preparing the container, it is necessary to put expanded clay at the bottom, and then add the soil itself. Petunia seeds are very small in size, so the ground should be prepared in this way. Due to the fact that there will be lumps, the flower will be able to shoot and breathe. When you look at how to sow petunia, be sure to pay attention to the fact that the acid-base soil pattern should be medium.
What to grow seedlings
It is recommended to grow seedlings in containers made of plastic with a height of at least 10 cm. This is the best option for beneficial seed growth. When you fill in the boxes, leave a space of about 2 cm at the edge. This way you can protect the petunia from drafts. And do not forget that there must be drainage holes at the bottom, otherwise the flower will simply begin to rot.
If you take the seeds in a special shell, everything will be much easier. They are less susceptible to damage and germinate better.
It is very important to know how to sow petunia correctly so that the flowers turn out bright and healthy. Seedlings can get sick with a "black leg", but this can be avoided even at the initial stage. Just treat the soil with a medium potassium permanganate solution.
The subtleties of landing
You have learned how to sow petunia and are ready to start work. The first thing you need to start with containers. Be sure to treat it with an antiseptic. It can be a normal potassium permanganate solution, just do not make it too strong.
Very often, snow is used during sowing, if you do not have such an opportunity, then the seeds will first need to be mixed with sand. This will allow you to distribute them evenly.
If you have pelleted seeds, then the best type of planting for them will be peat tablets. They have their advantages:
- quickly soaked in water;
- do not grow moldy;
- Do not injure the roots of seedlings.
The most convenient thing in tablets is that by their color you can easily understand whether you need to water the petunia now or not. An ideal condition for seed germination is a temperature of 20-25 degrees. Make sure that the room does not overheat and does not cool down, otherwise the seedlings will become susceptible to disease.
Watering petunias
It is very important not to water the flower immediately after you plant it. Petunia directs all her efforts to strengthen her root system, and with abundant watering she will not be able to do this. It’s best to spray it lightly for several days.
Helpful hints:
- you can not water the leaves of petunias, water should fall precisely under the root;
- loosen the soil slightly so that no crust forms on top;
- if suddenly a crust appears, then you need to get rid of it carefully as soon as possible, otherwise the flower will not receive the proper amount of oxygen.
sunlight
For seed germination, exposure to sunlight is very important. When planting seeds, do not allow them to penetrate deep into the ground. Press them lightly on top, this will be enough. So the plant will pick up the right amount of light for itself, strengthen the root system faster, and the seeds will begin to germinate.
Dive seedlings
When the seedlings grow up, it is very important to start a gentle pick. The soil must be loosened very carefully so as not to harm the flowers, for this you can use an ordinary toothpick.
Pinch the stem in the upper part, above the leaves. However, this should be done only with those varieties in which the shoots grow rapidly. For example, if your escape is now 6-7 cm, then a pinch is needed. Try to do this carefully so that your bush grows wider during growth.
After the transplant, see that the petunias have enough land. Pour gently, make sure that the soil does not settle.
It is very important that the plant diverges in width, not in height. After pinching and transplanting, this process should always be monitored. The best option at this stage is to move the container to a cooler place.
After about a month, your petunia will be ready to move into a greenhouse, flower bed or decorate your balcony.
Finally
To understand when and how best to sow petunia, you must definitely try to do it once with your own hands. The process is simple, it is simply important to adhere to the main rules. If you do everything clearly according to the established plan, you can enjoy the beauty of this amazing flower by the summer.
Short plan:
- we get seeds;
- preparing the ground (it is advisable to follow the recipe);
- we process potassium permanganate soil to avoid flower diseases;
- prepare the seeds and plant them;
- spray the flower (do not water, but spray);
- dive and loosen the soil;
- we clean in a cool place;
- transplanted to a flower bed.
And do not forget that you can always allow yourself to experiment a little and create your own variety. It is interesting and inspiring. There is nothing nicer than looking at a petunia flower grown by yourself.