Petunia is a tropical plant that can be found in countries such as Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, some species have been seen in North America. Petunia is among the perennials and is a relative of tobacco. The plant got into the culture in the eighteenth century, and breeders began to breed hybrids about a hundred years ago. Now this flower is especially popular as a balcony plant. It is decorated with verandas, terraces and grown in flower beds. What is the secret of popularity? In surprisingly beautiful colors and ease of cultivation.
Description
Petunia refers to bush plants, the stems of which can spread along the ground, and can have an upright shape. The maximum height of this plant is seventy centimeters. The stems and twigs of petunias are covered with oval leaves of no more than twelve centimeters in diameter. They can have a dark green or just a green tint, as well as the stems are pubescent. As for the flowers, they have the shape of a funnel and are located individually on thin peduncles. Color can be very diverse, depending on the variety. There are not only plain flowers, but also with a combination of several shades.
Petunias also have a fruit where seeds are stored. If you plan to grow petunia on the balcony, then you need the seeds of a garden hybrid, which was bred by breeders from wild axillary or purple petunias. At this flower, the flowering period begins in July and does not end until the onset of the first frost. Although petunia is considered a perennial, in the culture it is grown as an annual.
Seed cultivation
Perhaps every gardener wants to learn all the secrets of growing petunias from seeds, and this is not as difficult as some may think. You can plant seeds for seedlings at the end of February, but only on condition that you have the opportunity to artificially extend the daylight hours. However, most gardeners begin to grow petunia seedlings no earlier than mid-March.
When planting, saving planting material is not worth it, since petunias need a long daylight hours, but at such a time of year such conditions are rather difficult to provide. In this regard, seed germination is not too high.
Pick up good soil before landing. it should be nutritious enough, loose and light, so that it is easier for shoots to break through. You can purchase the substrate in a special store, or you can cook it yourself. To do this, you will need:
- Leaf or turf land - two parts.
- Overripe humus - two parts.
- Peat - two parts.
- Sand is one part.
A layer of earth, which will be located on top, must be sieved, only this way the seeds can lie on it evenly. The soil in which you plan to plant petunia seeds, a day before planting, needs to be watered quite abundantly.
Germination conditions
The seeds for planting are mixed with dry sand and distributed evenly over the surface of the substrate. You do not need to deepen them, just gently level the soil surface. And also be sure to water the seedlings, it is better to use a sprayer so as not to “drown” the planting material. After watering, the container with seeds is covered with a dense oilcloth or glass to create a greenhouse effect. Seeds germinate indoors at a temperature not lower than twenty-three degrees.
In a week you will be able to observe the appearance of the first shoots. For such petunias, the growing conditions are that they must be opened twice a day for ventilation and at the same time sprayed with water. During this period, it is very important that the air humidity is high, but at the same time there is a risk that the plants may become ill with a “black leg”. To prevent this, make sure that no condensation appears on the film or glass, and as soon as you find it, immediately turn the glass over to the other side, and it is recommended to wipe the film.
Glass is removed only when one real, stronger leaf appears on the seedlings. And also at this moment, watering is reduced, and the top layer of soil is covered with dry sand.
Seedlings
Growing petunia at home provides for the mandatory picking of its seedlings. This procedure is carried out only when four true leaflets appear on the seedlings. It is strictly forbidden to start a pick without first moistening the soil, since delicate roots and stems can be damaged.
Prepare peat pots in advance, which will be filled with a substrate having the same composition as the previous one. The seedling is gently picked up with a stick and pulled out by a leaf. Try to do everything without unnecessary movements so that the earth on the roots of the earth does not crumble. Growing petunia in a peat tablet or pot begins with the fact that the pickled seedling is covered with paper for several days.
Seedling Care
Now for the gardener comes the most crucial moment. It is at this stage that growing petunias (photo attached) requires special attention. The main thing to watch out for is soil moisture. It should always be in a state of moderate humidity and should not be allowed to dry out. It is impossible to say exactly how many times seedlings will need to be watered, as several factors affect this. It is better if, as a result of your own observations, you determine the frequency yourself. After each watering, carefully loosen the soil around the petunias.
For top dressing you will need foliar and root fertilizers, which must be alternated. The first fertilizer is applied a week after the dive. There are many complex fertilizers that can be used to fertilize petunias. Twenty-five grams of any fertilizer you choose must be diluted in ten liters of water.
Before planting seedlings in open ground, it is necessary to prepare it for life on the street. To do this, you can take out pots with seedlings for some time on the street, or transfer flowers to a cooler room a few days before planting. Depending on the variety, the flowers will bloom in two or three months.
Disembarkation time
Usually growing petunias at home (photo in the article) ends up being planted in open ground. Choose fertile sandy loamy or loamy soil for this. The plant will be very grateful to the gardener who will add humus or compost to the soil before planting. But if there are no such components, then it is better not to add anything at all. Since some growers replace compost with manure, and it contributes to the development of various fungal diseases.
Petunia will feel good only in the area where sunlight will constantly fall. You can plant petunias on the street only when you are sure you are sure that there are no night frosts. This is usually mid-May. Try to calculate the time so that the moment of disembarkation falls on the evening time, or at least on a cloudy day.
Disembarkation technology
Some gardeners prefer to plant petunias that are already blooming. Such plants usually bloom until November. Due to the small size of the flower, its place in the flowerbed is a border.
As for planting seedlings, before extracting seedlings from pots, you need to moisten the soil well. This is necessary in order to make it easier to pull out the flower, not to damage the stem and keep the earthen lump on the roots, with which the petunia goes to the open ground. Bushes are placed at a distance of thirty centimeters from each other. After planting, the plants must be well watered, and the next day the surface of the soil should be mulched.
How to care
Growing and caring for a petunia does not require any supernatural skills from the gardener, however, some rules should still be learned. Adult petunia can quite tolerate extreme heat and drought, but this does not mean that you can forget about watering. Quite the contrary. Moreover, large-flowered varieties need a lot of water, small-flowered varieties require a little less moisture, but there is still a need for regular application.
Petunias have very delicate flowers, and therefore it needs to be watered only under the root, as trickles of water can damage the inflorescences. The day after watering is also very important, since it is necessary to loosen the soil so that no crust forms on its surface, and remove existing weeds. But all these points are not as important as top dressing.
Top dressing
From fertilizing directly depends on how beautiful your petunia will bloom. The first fertilizers can be applied already a week after the seedlings have been planted in open ground. It is recommended to use complex fertilizers with a high content of potassium. They are brought in every ten days until mid-August. Organic fertilizers are also allowed, but not often. The best choice would be mullein infusion. The use of fresh manure is strictly prohibited, since it contributes to the beginning of the rotting process.
Propagation by cuttings
Everyone is accustomed to the fact that petunia propagates by seed, but there is a second way - cuttings. It is not used for all varieties, but only for terry, ampelous and mini-petunias. The process of reproduction of the first can only begin with the onset of spring, but the two remaining species are suitable for year-round reproduction.
For cuttings, only uterine petunia is suitable for you, from which the top is cut off, where there must be at least four leaves. But before landing, their number is reduced to two, and even shortened by half. Planting cuttings can only be in a substrate that is used for planting seeds. But in this case, from above it is still necessary to pour a two-centimeter layer of sand soaked in a fungicide solution. Each stalk should be at a distance of two centimeters from the neighboring one; after planting, the container must be covered with glass. In this case, there is no need for growth stimulants, however, cut cuttings must be immediately placed on the substrate, since their rooting ability decreases per minute.
Pay particular attention to soil that must be constantly moist. It is advisable that you spray the cuttings from the sprayer twice a day, but keep the air humidity under control. Because, if you dilute the dampness there, then there is a risk of the appearance of mold or "black leg". After two weeks, cuttings are guaranteed to take root, unless, of course, you can provide them with proper care. When you are sure that the seedlings already have rather large roots (about one and a half centimeters), then they can be transplanted into separate pots with a diameter of five centimeters. When there are five true healthy leaves on the seedlings, they should be pinched so that the bushes become more magnificent. And cut off cuttings can also be used for reproduction. Pinching can be repeated again, but not earlier than two weeks after disembarkation.
After forty-five days, another transplant is performed. For this, choose pots with a diameter of thirteen centimeters. In the rest, the conditions for growing petunia seedlings from cuttings does not differ from the seed.
Diseases and Pests
If you follow all the recommendations regarding the care of plants, then pests and diseases will not bother your flowers, but no one is safe from this. It so happens that the leaves of the petunia begin to turn yellow or dry. These are clear signs of diseases such as late blight, black leg and others. You can fight them with the help of drugs that can be purchased in a special store.
Various pests can also appear: aphids, spider mites, slugs, thrips. Slugs are afraid of the smell of bleach, so it’s best to place a few jars of it between the beds. Bordeaux liquid or products purchased in stores can declare a fight against other insects.
The best prevention of all these problems is the correct course for plants.
How to collect seeds
Take a closer look at the flowers and mark on the bed those plants that you would like to see on the flower bed next year. The lower buds are more suitable for collecting seeds, since ripening on them is much faster. From the moment the bud is formed until the seeds fully ripen, approximately two months will pass.
Remember that the seeds of petunias are very small. You can simply cut them together with the box and store until disembarkation, but it would be better if you shake them out of the box and put them in separate bags. If you store the planting material in a dry and warm place, then it will not lose its viability in four years.
Conclusion
As you can see, growing petunias at home (a seedling photo is attached) is not so difficult. If you master a few mandatory rules, then you will certainly succeed. Petunia has always been and will be an adornment of any flowerbed. Moreover, it can be planted not only in the open ground, but also on the balcony, porch and even in the house. And the technology of growing anywhere is exactly the same.