Seeing a garden, balcony or front garden in front of you, which is decorated with bright beautiful flowers, such a picture will bring unforgettable pleasure to each person. But in order for flowers to bring joy from early spring to late autumn, it is best to use long-flowering plants. Among them, petunia is quite famous.
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Features of growing petunias
It is no coincidence that this flower is used to decorate areas, because it is different rich color palette, unpretentiousness, long and abundant flowering.
You can observe the first flowers in early spring, and until September they will decorate the site. Therefore, petunia provides every gardener with an excellent opportunity to make the backyard more attractive.
Not all budding gardeners are willing to pay big bucks for petunia seedlings. Therefore, they try to grow it on their own from seeds. However, such an undertaking does not always end with success, because growing seedlings at home is not so easy.
One of the mandatory operations that is carried out with respect to petunia seedlings is picking. Given that young plants need replant in early May, sowing seeds should be planned as early as late February or early March.
To grow strong adult plants from seeds with the first formed buds, you have to wait at least 2.5-3 months.
It is possible to successfully grow petunia seedlings only if a number of important rules are followed. The first thing to do before boarding is choose a suitable variety petunias.
For example, it can be ampelous petunia, in which the stem is formed in length, and she herself is a weakly bushy representative of the family. These types of petunias are recommended to be grown in hanging pots and boxes.
If you need to get plants of a certain color, then it is better to refuse to buy seeds of mixed varieties. Indeed, in this case, no one can give a guarantee that you will eventually grow.
When choosing seeds, you need to make sure they are fresh. Therefore, for the purchase of planting material, it is recommended to contact to reliable and trusted suppliers... This way, you can avoid the risk that the seeds you bought will show a low germination rate.
Soil preparation and sowing
Before sowing petunia seeds, it is necessary to prepare the soil of a suitable composition: it should not only be loose, but also have high-quality drainage.
Many growers do it very simply and buy ready-made potting mix in the store, however, if you have the time and desire, you can cook it yourself.
The following components must be present in the planting soil for petunia:
- peat (2 parts);
- sod land (2 parts);
- humus (2 parts);
- sand (1 part).
After connecting all their components, it is necessary to thoroughly mix and sift... First, expanded clay is laid on the bottom of the container, then a coarse-grained part of the soil is poured on top, and then a fine-grained part of the soil is poured onto it.
After watering, they begin to lay seeds... The process of germinating seeds can be accelerated only if there is good lighting. Therefore, it is not recommended to cover the seeds with earth.
It is allowed to pour a layer of soil on top of a thin layer so that the seeds better contact the soil. After that, glass is placed on the container with landings or stretch the filmto maintain the optimum temperature and humidity inside.
Petunia seedling care
When growing petunias, one must not forget that it is very dependent on lighting. To create favorable conditions for its growth, you need provide round the clock lighting, moreover, during the day it should be bright, and at night - muted.
Lack of light is harmful to plants as it causes the seedlings to stretch out, and this increases the likelihood that weak stems will form.
When growing petunias, special attention must be paid to maintaining optimal temperature conditions.
- The containers in which the petunia seeds were planted must be kept until shoots appear at a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. At the time of seed germination, the seedlings begin to gradually open, accustoming them to fresh air.
- Having finished picking petunia seedlings, it is necessary to change the temperature, lowering it to 18 degrees Celsius. This allows the seedlings to be hardened so that they can better adapt to natural conditions.
In the process of growing petunias, it is necessary to carry out neat, abundant watering... When determining their frequency, it must be borne in mind that the soil should not dry out.
At the same time, bays with water will not benefit the plants, since this can provoke rotting of the stems after a dive.
To every houseplant additional feeding requiredand petunia is no exception. For these purposes, you can use any fertilizer for indoor flowers. To stimulate the process of formation of new shoots and give the correct shape to the bush, they pinch the growing shoots.
Petunia pick
If favorable conditions are provided for the plantings, then the seeds begin to germinate after 1-2 weeks. It is important not to miss this moment, because already at this stage of seedling development, you can begin to remove the glass for 5-10 minutes, arranging ventilation in this way.
Moreover, each time its duration needs to be increased. When the first leaves of the seedlings are formed, the glass can be removed completely. Then start pick seedlings.
Petunia picking technology is not that complicated.
- For transplanting seedlings, separate containers are required, for example, yogurt jars or small pots.
- In order for petunia to bloom profusely in the open field, it is necessary to create favorable conditions for it, under which it can form a full-fledged root system. For this, it is just necessary to plant the seedlings in a small container.
- A month later, a second transplant is carried out, this time using more spacious containers. Usually two transfers are sufficient.
If everything is done correctly, then a well-developed root system is formed in the seedlings, thanks to which the plants are little injured after transplanting to a permanent place and take root faster.
When to dive petunia seedlings
The main clue that the time has come for diving petunias into pots is the formation of 2-4 first leaves in young shoots. Seedlings are transplanted into a separate container, in which fertile soil fertilized with microelements is preliminarily placed.
Before planting seedlings, it must be thoroughly watered, and then, using tweezers, carefully transfer plants to separate pots... After picking, you do not need to compact the soil around the seedlings.Otherwise, it can injure their delicate root system.
Watering plants that have undergone a pick is necessary warm water under the root, paying particular attention not to soak the top of the plants.
After the completion of the picking, petunia seedlings continue to light up in the same mode. After all, at this stage she is especially needs good lighting, on which it largely depends on how abundant its flowering will be.
Fertilizers can be applied within 10-12 days after the pick. All this time, it is necessary to keep the soil moist. Given the small volume of pots, the soil in them will dry out very quickly, so you need to water the seedlings as often as possible, otherwise the moisture deficit will accelerate the aging of the petunia.
Growing seedlings in peat tablets
In the most efficient way growing seedlings of petunias is sowing seeds in peat tablets. The advantage of this method is that it minimizes the number of seeds that do not hatch.
This is especially important if the grower will be using the seeds of expensive, rare hybrid plants. Usually such seedlings are grown from pelleted seeds.
It is best to plant petunia seeds in 3 × 4 cm tablets. First, they must be prepared: for this, the tablets must be placed in a container with hot boiled water until they are completely swollen. When the pills are cold seeds are sown in them petunias into the previously made grooves.
The easiest way to do this is with a toothpick or tweezers. After sowing, glass is placed on top of the containers, providing inside greenhouse effect... After this, the seedlings need to be given the same care as with the traditional planting method.
Feature growing petunias in peat tablets is that subsequently they are not dived... However, you need to regularly monitor the condition of the seedlings: noticing that the roots of the seedlings begin to protrude from the tablets, you need to start transplanting them into pots as soon as possible.
A delay here can be very dangerous, because, staying in the air for a long time, young roots begin to dry out, and this will slow down their growth and make them less resistant to diseases.
Growing petunias at home is quite painstaking process, since a prerequisite is getting seedlings. In the process of growing, it is often necessary to carry out a pick.
It is very important to know how to dive a petunia correctly, since it depends on how well developed the seedlings will turn out, and what the flowering of adult petunia plants will be.
Especially important correctly determine the moment for picking petunia seedlings, since delay increases the risk of injury to young plants, and this can seriously weaken them, and in some cases even lead to death.
