Petunia is considered a beautiful, but capricious plant. In today's article we will tell you about the features of growing petunias.
Petunia loves open sunny places. If you plant it in the shade, it will stretch and lose its decorative purpose, since to the detriment of the flowering process, the petunia will give all its strength to the formation of new leaves.
If your loggia or balcony is located on the south side, then the petunia should become their indispensable decoration. When planting a petunia in a summer cottage, you need to choose a sunny place for it.
Petunia- this is a heat-loving and drought-resistant plant, but the flower beds themselves are hard to endure the heat. In hot weather, the plant often strikes.
For a long time, petunia can live without water, but for full development it needs regular moderate watering. On the balcony, flowers need to be watered twice a day.
Feels good in moist soil, but water stagnation should not be allowed. On hot days to prevent the appearance spider mite, the plant must be sprayed with water.
Petunia takes root well on any soil, but still it prefers sandy and loamy soil.
Timely feeding of petunias with complex fertilizers lengthens the flowering period. Fertilizers should be enriched with potassium. Top dressing is carried out throughout the entire flowering period, preferably every two weeks.
The duration of flowering determines the timely removal of old fading flowers and the elimination of emerging ovaries. The ovaries with seeds during their maturation take away the strength of the plant, it ceases to bloom profusely.
To get an attractive bush, you need to pinch the petunia shoots. Thanks to this, new branches of the flower begin to develop, it becomes larger and more magnificent, and blooms more intensively.
Reproduction of petunia
Today, you can buy ready-made petunia seedlings at any garden center. In addition, you can grow it yourself. You will need quality seeds and a little patience.
Petunia seeds should be sown in seedling containers in February-March. To grow good seedlings it will take about three months.
The soil for sowing seeds is prepared in advance, it must be sifted and moistened. Petunia seeds are evenly distributed over the surface of the soil, and sprayed with water using a spray gun. Then the crops should be covered with a film, and the containers themselves should be placed in a warm place.
The optimum temperature for seed germination is 20-23 degrees Celsius. At higher temperatures, the seedlings will begin to stretch, and then lie down and get sick with a fungal infection. The film from the crops must be removed regularly to ventilate the plants.
At normal conditions the first shoots of petunia can be found within a week after sowing the seeds. At this point, the film is removed, and the seedlings themselves are carefully watered. In this case, the air temperature should drop to 18 degrees.
A month later, the grown seedlings need to be thinned out or dive plants into separate peat pots. In order for the petunia to initially grow lush and compact, its shoots are pinched.
In April, the seedlings need to be hardened, and when the threat of frost has passed, plant the plant in the main place of residence - country cottage area or balcony.
Between flowers, the distance should be 30 centimeters or more. On balconies, petunias are recommended to be planted in 10 liter containers in an amount of no more than 3 pieces. With a more compact planting, the plants will not be able to develop normally, they will stretch out, losing their main purpose - decoration.
Many petunias reproduce by seed. But you can multiply them and. To do this, in the fall you need to dig up the mother flowers, planting them in pots.
On the plant, it is necessary to remove all shoots and place it in a bright, but cool, well-ventilated area. The air temperature should not be below 10 degrees, moderate watering is recommended.
With the beginning of spring, young cuttings are cut off from the plant, no more than 10 cm long. The cutting should have a couple of leaves, everything else is removed.
For the development of the root system, the cuttings should be placed in a solution with phytohormones. Then the cuttings are planted in loose soil at a shallow depth.
The soil needs to be moistened, slightly compacted and covered with a film. For the development of roots, the plant needs a temperature of 20 degrees and good lighting for at least 10 hours a day.
The soil must be constantly moistened. Somewhere in a week, the cuttings release roots, and with the appearance of leaves, they can be planted in separate larger containers. Further, the care of seedlings corresponds to the care of seedlings.
Petunia diseases
Petunia is considered a hardy plant, but there are still adverse factors that can affect its growth and development.
More often, difficulties in growing petunias are associated with the mistakes of the gardeners themselves. For example, excessive watering, low temperatures, improper soil and dense sowing of the plant lead to rotting of the petunia's root system, otherwise it is called "black leg" disease.
When the first signs of the disease appear, it is necessary to take urgent measures: remove diseased plants, treat healthy ones with fungicides, and establish regular watering at the request of petunias without stagnant water in the soil.
Sometimes a white coating is found on the leaves and flowers of petunias. We are talking about a fungal infection - powdery mildew. It affects the plant at high humidity and temperature changes. Leaves affected powdery mildew, must be removed immediately, and the plant itself should be treated with sulfur.
For the prevention of fungal diseases, the following recommendations should be followed:
- the soil for sowing should be light, loose;
- before sowing, it is desirable to steam it for the purpose of disinfection;
- plants should not grow in close quarters, at a close distance from each other;
- it is important to observe the optimum temperature during the growing process;
- regular but moderate watering is important;
- do not overfeed the plant with nitrogen fertilizers.
There is one wish, if it does not complicate you, write your comment, I'm waiting.
How to grow petunias. detailed instructions
Seedlings of petunias and lobelias have sprouted. Oh, and I do not like fussing with small seeds! Petunias are best propagated from cuttings. But what can you do if this time you didn’t leave at least a couple of bushes for grafting for the winter.
I propose to exchange experience in growing these slow-growing plants. For beginners, it will be useful to know who grows them and how.
Seedlings of lobelia and petunia are very small. They grow slowly - and it is difficult for such hurry-ups like me to wait until they get stronger. And there is also a risk of ruining seedlings at the very beginning. So I adapted to keep it this way.
Since these little ones need very little land at the beginning, I sow them in separate cells - in an egg box.
Sowing is superficial, i.e. I do not sprinkle the seeds with earth, but simply cover them with a transparent film. And I put it on a warm windowsill - on a sheet of foam. Seeds germinate in warmth and in the light: both in lobelia and in petunia.
And if I sow thick lobelia, then petunias are now sold in granules - I lay them out 4-5 pieces per cell. Not all of them got up. But they will be more spacious to grow.
There is a hole in each cell at the bottom. The whole box is in a pallet, which is made from the lid of the same egg packaging. I pour water for irrigation into the pan. This way, you do not have to water from above, which can lead to lodging of these small shoots. Although, you can spray from a very small spray bottle.
In the initial period, they all stand under a lamp - up to which no more than 15 cm.
When the first real leaves appear and grow, and the seedlings get stronger, I start diving. With a teaspoon or fork I pick up the whole lump of earth in the cell and transplant it into separate glasses. At the same time, I divide the lump with lobelia into two, or even three parts: after all, it is densely sown, but unevenly. It turns out several seedlings in each glass.
I divide by eye, so the number of plants in one glass is different. After transplanting, I water with Zircon.
In a separate "apartment" the leaves will begin to grow faster. Moreover, by this time in the afternoon I’m already taking out glazed balcony and there is a lot of light.
In some glasses, 7-10 plants are obtained.
And somewhere - a large group. Pots await them later different sizes: some wider, others narrower.
Seedlings in glasses, after 10 days I begin to fertilize.
For some varieties of lobelia, over time, I pinch to bush.
Well, then I plant them in pots. Here are three glasses with bush lobelia
Petunias dive one piece in each glass. They need a lot more land. I do this at the moment when they have two true leaves (except for the first two cotyledons)
I plant glasses in 100 g, which I put in a common container.
Before planting in the ground or in a pot, you have to transplant seedlings into larger glasses several times.
After transplants, I spray and water with a root formation stimulator - Radifarm or Zircon.
During this period, there is a lot of sun on the balcony.
You can feed with any complex fertilizer - after two weeks. Complex fertilizer with a predominance of nitrogen - NPK 30-10-10. For example, Plantofol. You can - Kemira Suite.
Petunias love it when they alternate feeding under the root and on the leaf (by spraying). And they start growing fast.
If there are a lot of petunias, it is very convenient to dive into cassettes - 4 by 4 cm.
On the 6th week, you can transplant from cassettes into 200 g glasses. But since I have them planted immediately in 100 g, my seedlings stayed longer in them.
And then immediately moved to 400 ml pots.
I do the first pinching (removal of the growth point) after the appearance of several pairs of true leaves, but only when they are properly strengthened - 1.5 - 2 months after sowing.
Usually, by this time, bush petunias have 4-5 pairs of true leaves. It all depends on the type and variety. I pinch off the 9-10th sheet. This is necessary in order to form side shoots and subsequently have many flowers on each bush.
In ampelous petunias, lateral shoots grow well even without pinching. In addition, in modern bush varieties, side shoots also appear on their own - without any effort on your part. So look at the variety.
By the way, the rapid formation of lateral shoots is facilitated by a decrease in night temperatures. I do it in a simple way. By night I turn off the battery, which is under the windowsill in my bedroom. And in the morning I turn it on again. Rassad likes this. And me too - sleep cooler
And if the temperature outside allows, then I leave it for the night on a closed balcony.
To speed up flowering, you can spray it once with a solution of boron (boric acid - 1g per 1 liter)
Growing petunias from cuttings
I have been asked several times to repeat this topic.
Since autumn, I leave a couple of young bushes for the winter. That is, in the middle of summer I cut a cutting from a flowering petunia bush - I grow a young bush until autumn. I pinch a few times. They hibernate next to the lamp. Grow foliage.
In early February, and some even earlier, they begin to bloom. If the sun, of course, is enough. In a dark winter they are unlikely to bloom. God forbid until spring, then hold on, when it's dark. Petunias are very light dependent plants.
And in early March, I cut cuttings from them.
Usually, I leave the top two leaves on the handle. Sometimes four. If I cut a long branch, I divide it into several parts. I halve leaves that are too large to avoid excess evaporation of moisture. But more often than not, this is not required.
I deepen the cutting by 1.5 - 2 cm into the soil for seedlings - I spill it with Zircon. And I cover with a large transparent glass with a hole in the bottom - for ventilation. I also pinch every fifth leaf on the side branches so that the bush becomes lush.
In summer, petunias bloom luxuriantly both on the balcony and in the flower garden near the house. On the balcony, I love cascading, ampelous.
And in flower beds - bush terry.
From two small autumn bushes left for the winter in the house, a meter-long flower bed is obtained in summer.
And most importantly, it saves a lot of time. They bloom much earlier than from seeds. And no picks and fuss with small crops.
But there is also a downside, of course. A place on the windowsill in winter for mother bushes will have to be allocated. Although they are small, but still. Well, additional light will have to be provided. Without it, they will either get sick or die altogether.
True, in the last year I have adapted to hang them in a planter on the side surface of a window opening in order to save space.
And now I didn’t leave it for the winter at all. The winters have become very dark. So I grow from seed.
Comments
Petunia enjoys well-deserved popularity among both amateurs and professionals. This annual plant differs from many others in that its multi-colored bright flowers delight us all summer and autumn.
Despite the fact that the petunia is considered quite unpretentious plant, many gardeners are concerned about the question: why did petunia seedlings stretch out, and how to avoid this problem.
Sowing petunia seeds for seedlings
Petunia seeds are very small, making it difficult to evenly distribute them over the surface of the soil. For convenience, many manufacturers produce petunia seeds in a shell (coated seeds) containing nutrients and stimulants. The disadvantage of such seeds is their high cost. Advantages: big size allows you to easily distribute the seeds on the soil surface, such seeds have one hundred percent germination.
Ordinary, not coated, petunia seeds are much cheaper, while the flowers from them are no less bright and beautiful. You can get seeds for free by collecting them yourself. This is done as follows:
Advice! Petunia should bloom three months after sowing, which means that they should be sown for seedlings in February or March.
At home, it is most convenient to sow petunia seeds in plastic containers with transparent lids. Drainage holes are made in the bottom of the container.
The stores have ready-made soil for petunias, but you can cook it yourself by mixing earth, peat and river sand in equal parts. For the prevention of diseases and the destruction of pests, the mixture must be treated with high temperature in an oven or in a water bath.
The soil in the container must be leveled, lightly tamped and watered. Then scatter the seeds, trying to maintain uniformity, and pour again from the spray bottle. The use of snow can help distribute the petunia seeds evenly. They cover the soil with it, scatter the seeds, which are clearly visible against the background of white snow, distribute them with a toothpick. The snow melts, slightly pulls the seeds into the surface and waters the soil.
Petunia seeds in shells need to be soaked before laying out on the ground.
The main feature of sowing is that petunia seeds are distributed over the surface and do not require deepening into the soil at all.
The top of the container is covered with a transparent lid, glass or film.
That's it, sowing is over.
Now you need to put the containers in a warm, well-lit place and wait for the shoots. The lids should be opened once a day for ventilation, the rest of the time keep the containers closed, because petunias need high humidity. If the soil is dry, it should be watered with extreme caution, thin shoots from the water can lie down.
Advice! Use a pipette or medical syringe for watering.
Some petunia seedlings cannot shed their seed coat. This is either due to a lack of air humidity, or the seeds themselves were of poor quality. You can try to help the sprout free itself by wetting the seed coat with a pipette or syringe and gently remove it with tweezers or a needle. If this does not work out, the sprout will die.
Petunia shoots stretched out
Petunia sprouts may begin to stretch as soon as they have sprouted. The reason is poor lighting and high temperature. Light usually falls on thin sprouts from one side, so they are all tilted in one direction, practically spreading along the surface of the soil.
To save future seedlings, you need to highlight seedlings for at least 14 hours a day. The light should fall from above, and if this is not possible, then a mirror or other reflective surface is placed opposite the backlight. The ambient temperature should be lowered without causing drafts. The ground should be constantly wet, the cover should be removed only for the time of ventilation.
Another reason for stretching petunia seedlings can be too dense sowing.
To make the seeds less likely to fall to the surface during sowing, some flower growers mix them with fine sand and then scatter them. It is impossible to bury petunia seeds in the ground, but you can make grooves in advance and sow along them. When the thin sprouts of the petunia stretch about two centimeters, you can easily compress the grooves, giving the sprouts stability.
If there are too many sprouts, then you can simply cut off the extra petunia shoots with nail scissors.
petunia seedlings fall
The extra seedlings have been removed, the rest have already begun to produce real leaves, but a new problem may arise here: the seedlings begin to fall. If you look closely, you can see that the stalk near the ground has thinned and turned black, which means that the petunia seedlings were struck by a fungal disease - a black leg. The fungus developed due to the increased humidity of the air inside the container, if it was not sufficiently ventilated.
Plants affected by the black leg will have to be thrown away, the soil in the container should be changed and treated with a 40% solution of potassium permanganate or formalin.
There will be no problems if you follow simple conditions for the growth of petunias:
Unfortunately, at home it is not always possible to create the necessary temperature, light and humidity.
Measures to be taken if petunia seedlings are stretched out
Most likely, the petunia stretched out due to heat or low light. You should not sow the petunia for seedlings too early, when there is still little sunlight, and there is no good illumination.
But if everything has already happened, and the petunia has stretched out, what should I do?
Proper watering plays an important role in preventing petunia seedlings from stretching. Water regularly, but not too much. You can use a teaspoon, from which each plant is watered under the root. It is not necessary to allow a soil crust to form, so after watering the soil should be carefully loosened with a toothpick.
Attention! The ground under the lid does not dry out much, so petunia seedlings are watered only after drying. No need to re-moisten the soil.
With overdried land, petunia seedlings will begin to wither, and when overflowing, a black leg is formed. It is sometimes useful to add potassium permanganate to the water for irrigation.
Due to the high humidity, mold often forms on the surface of the soil. Here, loosening, temporary restriction of watering can serve as good prevention measures, you can sprinkle the soil with crushed activated carbon, it is also recommended to use hydrogen peroxide (one tablespoon per half liter of water). If the mold has already appeared, then you should use the "Maxim" tool.
If it is impossible to maintain the necessary lighting during the cultivation of petunia seedlings, it is recommended to use growth stimulants. This is done two or three times over the entire period. And you need to feed the seedlings of petunias with fertilizers under any growing conditions. Foliar top dressings have proven themselves well, for example, irrigation of petunia seedling leaves with calcium nitrate. It will serve to prevent stretching and strengthen the stems. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potash fertilizers are also needed, but carefully monitor the dosage, seedlings overfed with fertilizers do not grow well.
There is another way to solve the problem if the petunia seedlings are stretched out - this is the use of peat tablets. They can be used both immediately when sowing seeds, and for transplanting elongated seedlings. Before use, the tablets are soaked to swell, the seeds are scattered on white paper and laid out on the tablets with a wet toothpick. The tablets have special recesses where the seed is placed. After the emergence of seedlings, a little peat is added to the roots. With this method, petunia sprouts do not stretch.
When the tablets are used for transplanting elongated seedlings, they are also soaked, the depressions are enlarged, and the petunia seedlings are planted up to the very cotyledon leaves, adding earth if necessary. With further cultivation, one should not forget about lighting, watering, maintaining optimal temperature and humidity.
Why do gardeners sow pepper seeds early in boxes? Everywhere it is written that it takes a long time to sprout, therefore it would be necessary to sow early in case the seeds turn out to be of poor quality. To be able to re-sow.
This applies to eggplants and petunias as well. Her seeds are very small, sometimes you can not understand at all that these future plants are in a bag. Dust, real dust instead of seeds.
Sowing petunia you can also start in January, but then you will have to long time create special conditions for its growth. After all, there is no sun yet.
Sowing petunias. First secret.
Put peat tablets or soil in prepared containers. It needs to be pressed down well with a spoon. First, pour water into the containers so that both the tablets and the soil open up. After all, even absolutely fresh soil tends to dry out instantly, as soon as it turns out to be in the air.
And sowing petunias in dry soil is pointless, especially when buying granular seeds. As soon as the granule is on the soil, it should dissolve in wet soil or, and this was what I had, just fall apart into small particles. If this does not happen, then there will not be enough strength in the seed so that the smallest thin leaves can throw off the shell themselves. We can help, and even then not always successfully, tomatoes and peppers. And the petunia will die. She will rise, stand a sprout and wither.
Sowing petunias. Second secret.
Petunias need warmth to sprout quickly. If the house has an aquarium with lighting, then it is very good. After sowing, you need to put the containers on the top cover of the aquarium, and do not turn off the light. But be sure to lay a cloth in 2-3 layers under the container, this will save you from overheating. And the sprouts will appear much faster.
I have a tank in the stoker, in which there is always hot water. It just goes through the heating pipe. And since the heating is gas, the water temperature is constant. After sowing, I put the containers on the tank. But first I put a shelf on it, which was left from the old cabinet, I put a thick rag on it, and then containers. I grow a lot of petunias, because they stand on the tank like firewood in a woodpile. I change them every day.
Sowing petunias. Third secret.
Help the petunia seeds wake up. To do this, take half a liter of tap water, but not cold. If the water is chlorinated, then here you need to observe General requirements stand the water for several days so that the chlorine evaporates. We will breed Epin-Extra in it. There is only one milliliter of solution in the ampoule, pour it all into water and shake well.
Water must be poured into a spray bottle and wet soil well with the resulting composition.
Then in each container or cell you need to put right amount seeds. I now have petunia seeds bought in China, and the Chinese are not greedy people, they put about 100 seeds in each bag. So I definitely won’t save, I’ll put more than one seed at a time.
The seeds were carefully placed. It is not necessary to press them into the ground, it is not necessary to fill up even with the thinnest layer of sand. It is necessary to spray again with an epin composition from a spray bottle. But now you need to do everything carefully so that the seeds from the jet do not fly out of the cells. Under the influence of the smallest drops of water, the petunia seeds themselves will go deep into the ground, but remain on the surface.
Further watering can be done with a spray bottle, but do it carefully. Then not a single sprout will even hang its head. Watering from a teaspoon is less convenient.
Everything seems to have worked out. It's time to close the containers.
Sowing petunias. Fourth secret.
Maybe a bit of deception, but it seems that where petunia grows in nature, there is always rotten vegetation during germination. It releases carbon dioxide. Its concentration in the air is slightly higher than the standard for these places. Petunia passion, how loves him.
So we will let her breathe air with an excess of CO 2. Where will we take it?
And let's breathe. For this, plastic bags of different sizes are needed. Each container must now be pushed into the desired bag and try to inflate it, as we inflate a rubber balloon. Only the ball should increase in size, and the plastic bag will tear from such efforts.
Therefore, we simply make the mouth of the bag with a bell and apply it tightly to the lips. And we begin to breathe, driving air from the lungs into the bag with the container, and back. Ten breaths are enough. Enough carbon dioxide was breathed into the bag. Now, carefully, so that the air from the bag is not released, you need to close it tightly.
Twist, fasten with an elastic band, pinch with a clothespin. Everyone will find their own way.
That's it, the petunia has been sown, treated kindly, the conditions have been created. Now in heat, warm up, wake up.
Sowing petunias. Fifth secret.
Needs ventilation. Therefore, every day we remove the containers in bags from a warm place, take them out of the bag. We do a revision. Is everything alright?
Usually there are no problems, the soil does not dry out. Then we close the containers again, push them into the bags, breathe. We maintain the level of carbon dioxide in the bags.
If all conditions are met, and the seeds are of high quality, then almost all of them will sprout on the fifth day.
But, as soon as half of the sprouts appeared, you need to slightly open the containers, ventilate, but keep warm. And provide good lighting. Can be fluorescent lamps. You can buy special bulbs in pet stores, but they are a little expensive there. For some reason, we sell similar ones in Tekkurila stores. These light bulbs look like normal ones. They are screwed into a regular cartridge. It seems that you can even use a regular table lamp, but set the cap so that the light illuminates the seedlings evenly.
Can't be placed on window sills. It's cold from the windows. But the stand must be mobile so that the plants receive at least a little, but sunlight.
Everything. Petunia is up. If you grew seedlings in tablets, then you should buy fertilizer. There is a special one for petunias, very expensive, but from it they grow by leaps and bounds. We do not sell this. Therefore, I buy liquid, which is in stores.
It is possible, after the petunia takes up strength and gives a few large true leaves, to feed the nutrient soil prepared in the fall or leaf humus.
Today I wrote and told everything. I'll post pictures as soon as I plant. I will try to show how to breathe into the bag and close it.
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Foreword
Does the petunia seedling have a long, brittle stem and lean towards the ground? This problem is not uncommon, but it is quite simple to solve it if you follow right conditions growing from start to finish.
You can grow a healthy seedling and get high-quality seedlings of petunias if you follow the rules for care and the optimal microclimate.
- At the stage of seed germination, we create a high level of humidity, while keeping the temperature within 22-24 ° C. When sowing seeds, we slightly deepen them into the ground, without sprinkling them with earth.
- When the first roots and cotyledons (embryonic leaves) appear, we lower the humidity level and temperature to 20 ° C, create a constant illumination within 25,000 lux (illuminance unit).
- When the first true leaves appear, let the soil dry well between waterings, continue to lower the temperature to 18-21 ° C. But the illumination level is doubled to 50,000 lux. For a more active growth of leaves, we begin to gradually add complex mineral fertilizers.
- An important stage is the picking of seedlings. After transplanting young sprouts into separate containers, we maintain an average level of humidity, and keep the temperature within 16–18 ° C, slightly increase the illumination to 55,000 lux.
- When the seedlings grow and become crowded, we make a second transplant. For ordinary petunias, flower pots with a diameter of 10–13 cm are suitable. After transplantation, it is important to maintain a balance of temperatures, during the day within 16–20 ° C and at night – 13-18°C.
Petunia seedlings
If you stick to these important rules at the initial stages of petunia growth, you will be able to get a high percentage of seed germination, prevent the development of a black leg and elongation of seedlings, form a plant with a developed root system and voluminous leaves.
One of the reasons why a petunia can stretch out is the non-observance of optimal temperature and light conditions. Exactly fever often causes elongation of petunia seedlings. At the stage of seed germination, high temperatures and the creation of mini-greenhouse conditions are ideal for the plant. However, after the appearance of the first shoots, temperature conditions that are comfortable for humans over 22 ° C will not work. If no measures are taken to reduce temperature indicators, the seedlings will turn into a thin stem, bending towards the ground, with several embryonic leaves.
Therefore, as soon as possible after the appearance of the first shoots, we reduce the temperature to 18 ° C and provide young seedlings with round-the-clock coverage. Choose the coolest spot in your home. At the stage of formation, avoid window sills and places near the battery. Here can be created as too high temperatures with overdried air, and quite low about 10 °C.
Young petunia sprout
In the second week of growth of a young petunia, begin to gradually harden it by opening the window for micro-ventilation for 10 minutes a day. This will not only provide the necessary air flow, but will also reduce the temperature in the room by several degrees. When airing, do not forget about drafts and direct currents of cold air, from which seedlings must be protected. A month after picking, seedlings can be taken out to a glazed balcony or to a greenhouse.
I would like to note the problem of sudden changes in humidity. Here, gardeners often make mistakes that lead to lengthening of the petunia stem. It is necessary to remove the film or other protective material of your mini-greenhouse gradually. When using a film, make small holes in it, gradually increasing their diameter, and at the end remove the covering material completely.
Illumination is another important condition for the proper growth of petunias. If at the stage of seed germination this moment can be skipped, then after the appearance of the first green loop above the ground, the intensity of light, especially solar, should be high. Considering that petunia requires almost round-the-clock lighting, you will have to purchase additional lighting devices - fluorescent or specialized lamps. When growing a small number of petunias, you can use conventional lamps with energy-saving light bulbs.
However, whatever lighting device you choose, remember that it should not overdry and heat the air. If there is a lack of natural light during the day, turn on the lamp at high power, and leave the light dimmed at night . Optimal distance from the lamp to the container with seedlings - 10-15 cm. Use a transparent film or plastic as a protective material for your mini-greenhouse. It is not recommended to use glass in this case, since it does not transmit light radiation well. With a lack of light, the petunia will quickly stretch out, become weak and susceptible to disease.
If we talk about the timing of sowing, then you should not rush here. It is possible to sow in January-February, however, due to the low intensity and amount of natural light, you will have to use artificial lighting more often, and these are additional energy and material costs. Therefore, it is better to start germinating seedlings in March-April. Planting density also plays an important role. Do not sow petunia close to each other, maintain a certain distance. To make the petunia bush voluminous, do not forget to pinch it.
grown seedlings
If you are not careful enough, you can miss the moment when the petunia seedlings need to dive. The overgrown seedlings become crowded in one container, and it begins to wriggle and stick out in different directions. This is more true for sprouts that are closer to the window. This can be avoided by rotating the box every day to ensure even sunlight reaches all the petunia seedlings. If the sprouts are very stretched out, they must be transplanted into separate containers or a greenhouse, press the long stem with a loop to the ground and sprinkle the rest up to the cotyledons with nutrient soil mixture.
Observance also helps to get healthy petunia seedlings with strong stems and leaves. proper watering. In this case, it should be regular, but small, literally from a teaspoon under the root. Drying out of the soil will lead to the withering of the plant, and excessive moisture to the development of a black leg and the death of seedlings. After each watering, do not forget to slightly loosen the ground so that an earthen crust does not form on it, which prevents the flow of air and nutrients to the root system.
Seedling after picking
In the first week of sowing, we spray under the root with a spray gun, and add a couple of grams of potassium permanganate to the water to enhance growth and prevent diseases, in particular, the black leg. After a week of growth, proceed to moderate watering.
We recommend using growth stimulants for petunias no more than 2-3 times during the entire growing period. If you provide the necessary flow of light, moisture, maintain the optimum temperature, then the seedlings grow rapidly, forming strong and healthy without additional stimulants. But you should not forget about top dressing and fertilizers. From the moment the embryonic leaves appear until the seedlings are transplanted into separate containers, spray the petunia leaves with calcium nitrate. It will help prevent stretching and form a strong frame of the plant. Top dressing with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is also important, but you should not be zealous with their quantity. Oversaturation of the soil with organic matter and nitrogenous fertilizers leads to the slow development of seedlings with a thin stem.
To grow petunia seedlings, we use home-made plastic containers with a depth of at least 5 cm or buy special mini-greenhouses in the store. Additionally, we purchase soil for seedlings, cling film and toothpicks. We fill each segment of the container with earth, spill it with water with the addition of potassium permanganate. If there are no drainage holes at the bottom of the cassettes, we pre-make them.
Germination of petunia seedlings
We lay out the seeds on a white sheet of paper and with a toothpick moistened on one side, we begin to deepen them one by one into the ground. We place the seeds at a comfortable distance from each other so that during growth the sprouts do not interfere with each other and stretch upwards as little as possible. We do not sprinkle the seeds with earth, giving them maximum access to sunlight. Without plastic cover cover the seeds with a transparent film to keep the air humidity after watering and heat. In a mini-greenhouse, sprouts can be up to picking. Do not forget to open them for a while, providing fresh air.
As a result of this cultivation, a large percentage of planted petunias grow strong and healthy. But still the risk of formation of sprouts with a thin stem remains. For such instances there is salvation - peat tablets.
If during the cultivation of petunia stretching could not be avoided, peat tablets will become the best way solutions to this problem. In addition, this option can be used initially for seed germination and subsequent seedling growth.
Growing seedlings in peat tablets
They cost pennies and are easy to work with. Put them in a pan and pour boiling water over them. When the washers swell and become more like a "keg", they must be slightly squeezed from excess moisture, put in a transparent container or in plastic cups. On the surface of each tablet, you can plant one seed at a time, or several at a time, having previously made small indentations 0.5–1 cm deep in them.
When watering, peat tablets are not washed off, as is the case with ordinary soil, and keep the sprouts in one position. As soon as we notice the appearance of the first shoots, gently pour the required amount of peat mixture or the right amount of earth on all sides with a toothpick. In the case of transplanting elongated seedlings of petunia, we also soak the tablets, make indentations in them, carefully place the sprouts in the hole and cover the sides with earth up to the cotyledons. Thus, we will be able to strengthen the weakened stem, as well as increase additional root system on the elongated part of the stem underground. As with growing seedlings in a mini-greenhouse, do not forget about observing daylight hours, watering, air humidity and ventilation.
