The beauty of petunia has long become one of the most popular and beloved flowers used to decorate flower gardens in the garden, balconies and loggias, city parks and flower beds. It is distinguished by a variety of species, lush flowering, various colors, brightness of petals, large flowers and a pleasant aroma. Growing and caring for an adult plant is not difficult. But in order to get seedlings, you should know the rules for growing it from seeds.
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Growing petunia seedlings - preparatory work
To by the beginning of June get good seedlings and all summer until late autumn to admire the flowering of beautiful flowers, you need to know the timing of sowing seeds. To do this, you need to understand the species, since each plant group has its own planting date.
Varieties of petunias
All petunias differ in varieties, hybrids, subspecies... But first of all, they are divided into three main groups.
Bushy are low, medium or tall bushes and have several types:
Miniature petunia are bushes up to 25 cm in height, on which a large number of flowers are formed, no more than 4 cm in diameter.- The large-flowered species is distinguished by tall bushes (up to 60 cm) and large simple or double flowers with a diameter of up to 12-13 cm.
- Multi-flowered bushes grow up to 35 cm in height. They form classic or double flowers with a diameter of 5-8 cm, which bloom until the very frost.
- Fringed petunia is a shrub with a height of 25 to 75 cm. Its main difference is flowers with fringed edges and a diameter of 10-12 cm.
Another group includes ampelous, having the following types:
- Classic ampelous plants are a dense "wall" bush with strong and long shoots.
- Miniature petunias are bushes with long shoots and buds of various colors with a diameter of 3 cm. This species is particularly sensitive.
- The semi-ampelous species of the plant is a lush blooming spherical bush.
The cascade has two main types:
- The classical form is a plant with long downward stems and buds of various colors 6–8 cm in diameter.
- The giant cascading petunia is a bush with long, raised shoots that grow up to 150 cm in length. Numerous beautiful flowers are 5 cm in diameter.
When to plant?
Sowing dates depend on which plant group was selected, and when the flower will be planted in open ground. The main seedlings are planted in March.
To get big ampelous vegetative mass, its seeds are sown in January. The plant must have time to grow long shoots, on which numerous buds will form. Small-flowered varieties are sown last, since they are the very first to bloom. Seeds of dwarf petunias are sown in February-March.
Tips for choosing seeds
Low-quality seeds may simply not sprout, so their choice must be approached responsibly. Following the recommendations of experienced gardeners, you can choose quality seeds:
- Cheap seeds are most likely fake. High-quality planting material should cost no less than 20 rubles per bag.
- High-quality ones are packaged in 5-10 pieces in one bag. You should not purchase bags with planting material, in which 100 or more pieces of granules.
- It is not recommended to purchase future flowers at the supermarket. The pellets must be of good quality, so it is best to buy them from specialized stores.
- Seeds packed in a flask have one hundred percent similarity and excellent quality.
To get a good result, you should pay attention to each of the above points.
Tank and soil preparation
Growing seedlings requires a certain capacity. Large boxes are not needed for it. It is best to use special cassettes of various heights, plastic cups or peat tablets. The height of the selected seedling container should be at least 10 cm. The seeds of ampelous petunias can be sown directly into special hanging pots.
It is best to prepare the soil for sowing seedlings in the fall.... The quality of seedlings depends on the composition and quality of the soil. A sufficiently loose and moisture-consuming soil is required, which can be of the following composition:
- garden land;
- sand;
- peat;
- humus.
Everything is mixed in equal parts and distributed in seedling pots... You can buy a special potting pot at your flower shop. It is desirable to feed it with fertilizer with potassium, ash (0.5 l per 5 kg of soil), and add perlite to it. Before filling the seedling container with earth, the bottom must be laid out with a shallow drainage.
How to plant a flower for seedlings?
Here are some rules:
Sowing is carried out only in the soil treated with a solution of potassium permanganate.- Small seeds are mixed with sand or soil and spread over the ground. You do not need to sprinkle them on top.
- It is recommended to plant pelleted seeds in peat tablets. To do this, peat tablets are placed with a groove upward on a pallet and filled with warm water. After they all grow and straighten out, a seed is thrown into the depression. It is very convenient to grow seedlings in such tablets.
- Plastic containers or seedling containers with planted seeds are covered with glass or polyethylene on top. This is necessary so that the topsoil does not dry out, and a special microclimate was created for the plants.
- Sowing should be done in already moist soil. It is impossible to water from above, otherwise, under the pressure of water, they can go deep into the soil, and germinate very late or not at all.
Until the first seedlings emerge, care should consist in daily airing the soil and spraying it from a spray bottle. Seedling containers are placed in a warm place. The first shoots should appear within 5 days. Since the plantings are likely to be dense, they need to be thinned out, leaving the strongest specimens from the seedlings.
Features of seedling care
When the shoots sprout and the first real leaf will appear, you need to remove the glass from the container and transfer it to a well-lit place with an air temperature of 16 degrees.
Seedling care requires accuracy. Young plants need to be watered regularly, directing the stream of water strictly to the root. If drops get on the leaves, then they need to be shaken off. It is recommended to loosen the soil from time to time so that a crust does not form on it. It is impossible to water petunia unnecessarily, otherwise the plant may get sick with a "black leg".
When the third true leaf appears on the young plant, you can start picking seedlings. Dive and grow seedlings it is necessary in separate containers, where it will be convenient for her to develop. Plants already in separate containers or peat pots do not need to be dived.
Using a small spatula, each the sprout is carefully dug out of the ground and is placed in a separate container with soil. It is recommended to deepen the plant to the first true leaves. Such a planting will help to build up additional roots, thanks to which the bushes will develop better and bloom more luxuriantly. From above, the planted plant is watered with water.
Behind the young bushesspecial supervision required and thorough care. They cannot be poured and overdried; they must be fed and pinched. The first time the seedlings are fertilized 2.5 weeks after planting with special liquid fertilizers for flowering plants. In order for the bushes to branch, the grown plants are pinched.
Planting seedlings in open ground
In mid-May, petunias can be planted in open ground. Before within two weeks the seedlings must be hardened... Since the plant loves good lighting, sunny, wind-protected areas are chosen for it.
The soil should be non-clayey and loose. Pbefore boarding it is added potassium sulfate, ash, humus. If the bushes will be planted in pots, then the soil mixture must be carefully selected. It should consist of the following ingredients:
- leafy land;
- sand;
- peat;
- turf.
Adding perlite to the soil will help to make the soil loose.
Before planting in a flower bed, it is recommended to spray the plant with an epin solution. Such a procedure will allow him to undergo a transplant less painfully and strengthen his immunity to various diseases.
The soil around the seedlings planted in the ground should be mulched with humus. A week after planting, the plants are fed with mullein infusion (1:10). It is necessary to water the petunia at the root with such frequency as to prevent stagnation of water and drying out of the soil. You need to feed the bushes twice a month with Kemiroi-Lux or nitrofoskoy.
Some helpful tips
Growing requires not only adherence to all the rules, but also has its own certain tricks:
- To prevent the seedlings from stretching, they need good lighting. It can be provided by supplementary lighting with fluorescent lamps in the winter season, when there is not enough sunlight.
- The sprouts are very small at the beginning of growth, so they can dry out quickly. The seedlings should be monitored daily and watered on time.
- A crust should not be allowed on the ground, otherwise young plants may suffocate.
- If the seedlings are stretched out, they can be additionally sprinkled with soil mixture.
- Growing in pots, flower pots or other containers, petunias should be fed more often than those planted in open ground.
- To repeat the flowering wave, the faded bushes must be cut off.
- Do not leave flowers in the pouring rain. This can interfere with lush flowering.
Knowing all the rules and strictly following the recommendations of experienced gardeners, getting high-quality seedlings will not be difficult. Having planted a petunia just once on your plot or balcony, you will love this flower forever and will grow it every year, admiring the bloom until the very frost.
