Petunia becomes a beautiful bush only if it is formed correctly. I was convinced of this from my own experience.
My mistake
I decided to plant a petunia just because of its appearance in the picture. I bought a bag of seeds and did everything as it says there: I sunk the small grains of petunia into the ground for seedlings using a stick from a paint brush. When the seedlings appeared and grew about 5 cm in height, I transplanted them to a permanent place in a flowerpot cut from a car wheel. Three plants fit easily in it.
Soon the buds appeared, blossomed - it looked great. Three bushes filled the flowerpot and represented a lush ball-shaped hat with many flowers. Soon I had to leave the dacha for 10 days, and since, according to the forecast, these should have been regular rains, I calmly left the flowers.
After this time, I was eagerly getting to the cottage in order to quickly indulge in rest and enjoy the beauty of flowers. But I was disappointed: the petunia bush had changed not for the better, several shoots stuck out randomly and unevenly, the faded flowers made the picture even more depressing. Not a trace of aesthetics remained.
Work on bugs
The next year, after reading and looking at information on the Internet, I acted differently. When the seedlings of petunia rose, they pinched the central stem of the flowers. Side shoots began to develop quickly and when they grew up, they also removed them, leaving 2-3 leaves below. She freed the cut side branches from the lower leaves, so that only on top there was a rosette of 2-3 leaves and planted them in seedling containers with loose earth.
She planted the trimmed petunia at her permanent "place of residence." During the summer, I pinched the shoots that were knocked out of the general shape of the flower. In addition, she regularly cleaned dull flowers along with the seed bag. The plant, due to the removal of unnecessary elements, received enough strength and nutrition for lush flowering.
Those side shoots that I used to grow new seedlings have taken root. She also planted them on the site and corrected the bushes as necessary.
The benefits of knowledge
So, thanks to knowledge, from three petunia plants, I received another 10. Thanks to the correct formation, the plants looked rich, they were lush bushes covered with flowers. My petunias delighted me almost until the first frost.
