How to grow indoor petunia flowers
Petunia loves watering; seedlings should be watered only with warm water, slightly above room temperature. To release healthy, beautiful seedlings of not only petunias, but whatever, you need to follow the rule: "Keep your feet warm and your head cold." Isolate the seedling cups from the cold window sill with foam, a wooden backing or thick cardboard, ventilate the crops more often, make sure that the plants get enough light - and your business is guaranteed success! We figured out in sufficient detail how to grow petunia flowers for planting in the ground. It remains to study some subtleties. And let's get down to the question of how to grow indoor petunia flowers to get year-round flowering.
Top dressing begins to be applied two weeks after the picking of the plants. The seedlings are fed with a complete mineral fertilizer with microelements, which is dissolved in warm water and applied after watering. If the seedlings look elongated and the leaves appear pale, give the petunias more nitrogen and spill the seedlings with urea solution. Summer petunia feeding should consist of complex fertilizers with a high content of phosphorus and potassium, which are responsible for root growth and flowering. Petunias are also very responsive to organics and foliar feeding.
Before planting in the ground, the seedlings must be hardened. In summer, blooming petunias are fed every week, and every 2-3 days, withered flowers and set seed pods are cut off - this simple technique greatly prolongs the flowering time, while the plant looks well-groomed. If petunias are planted not in the ground, but in balcony boxes or hanging baskets, be sure to add a hydrogel to the root zone - it will allow the plants to stay dry longer, which is especially valuable in the summer heat.
Advice. Consider the following factors when choosing petunia seeds in the store:
- ampelous petunias branch weakly even with regular pinching, therefore, if you plan to plant petunias not in hanging baskets or boxes, but in the ground, choose bush varieties;
- pelleted seeds are more convenient to sow than ordinary seeds;
- mixtures of varieties, as practice shows, rarely meet expectations; if possible, give preference to specific varieties, having thought in advance what color scheme is suitable for your garden;
- buy only fresh seeds from reliable producers in trusted stores: poor germination is one of the most common problems when trying to grow petunias from seeds.
Petunia care
Depending on where the petunia grows - in a bowl on a loggia or in the open field. If petunia pleases you on the windowsill, most likely it will lack moisture, from time to time it needs to be moistened from the pulverizer, loosened the earth.
Petunia growing in a flower bed should also receive the necessary moisture, only in smaller quantities. It is not necessary to spray it, especially on a sunny day. Flowers should be watered when the sun has gone behind a cloud or in the late afternoon. Carefully pour water under the root so as not to wash the soil.
In order for the petunia to grow well, to bloom, it needs to be fertilized, it is better to do this when the plant begins to grow, this will allow you to achieve a thick green cap, and also during the flowering period, this is the middle of summer.
Regardless of the variety, petunia loves light, warmth, receiving all this, it will delight you all summer with its beautiful flowers.
Growing features
Before you start planting, you need to find the right place to grow.Petunia is a light-loving plant. At the slightest darkening, the flower begins to build up a green mass, while new peduncles rarely appear and have a reduced appearance.
Reproduction methods
You can propagate petunia: by seeds and cuttings.
Cutting petunias.
Before the grafting process, you need to prepare the mother plant. Since the procedure for rooting cuttings itself occurs in the spring, it is necessary to harvest them in the fall. To do this, in August, select a healthy plant and carefully prune all the elongated shoots. We place the bush in a room with an air temperature not higher than 12 degrees. During the winter period, the plant may lose its decorative effect, but do not be discouraged, since during this period the petunia is in a dormant period. With timely care, the plant will rise and begin to grow intensively.
Cutting should be started only after careful examination of the mother plant. A robust plant can only grow when healthy cuttings are planted. Cut the cuttings to a length of 10 cm. The lower foliage is removed and the upper leaves are cut by ½. Prepared cuttings are buried 5 cm into loose nutrient soil at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other.
For fast rooting, cuttings need to create a favorable microclimate. To do this, you need to make a micro greenhouse. Seedlings take root only with 12 hour daylight hours, therefore, if there is a lack of light, it is necessary to install additional lighting. Seedling care consists in timely spraying and watering. Watering is best done through the pallet.
Seed reproduction.
Propagating petunia by seed is long and difficult. In order to grow petunia from seeds, it is necessary to purchase high-quality seed and provide it with an air temperature of at least 25 degrees.
Before sowing, the soil is spilled with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Petunia has very small seeds and therefore they are sown superficially in the prepared soil. The container with seeds is covered with glass or polyethylene and removed to a warm, bright place. It is not recommended to open it for two weeks. During this period, care consists only in collecting condensate from the covering material.
During this period, care consists in spraying and feeding the seedlings. Every day, airing is carried out for a longer period. When 2-3 leaves appear, the shelter is completely removed.
Where can you find petunias?
The flower was originally grown in Brazil, Argentina, throughout South America, only a few remained in North America. Petunia loves warmth, where she is provided with such conditions, she pleases with her beauty for more than one year.
For its unusual beauty, bright flowering, unpretentiousness, petunia, without exception, is loved by all flower growers.
Currently, the flower is grown all over the world, new varieties are grown, and an unusual color range is obtained artificially. In countries with a cool climate, petunia grows for only one warm season.
They love to grow petunia in Holland, Italy, France, the flower adorns the windowsills of houses, loggias. The plant looks great in hanging pots.
Every year Russian summer residents replenish their flower garden with new varieties of petunias, from early spring you can see how flower growers take out pots with young petunias to their summer cottages.
Outdoor cultivation
The cultivation of surfinia (a photo of the plant is presented below) can be carried out in the open field or in a flowerpot. If you plan to plant a flower in a flower bed, you need to pick up a site with fertile soil. However, on soils such as loam or sandy loam, surfiniya also grows well if the soil is mixed with compost beforehand.
Acidic soils are not suitable for the growth of this plant. Before planting, you need to mix the soil with lime (add 300 g per square meter of the bed). In addition, the soil should be lightweight. Loose and moisture-absorbing soils are ideal for growing surfinia.
The plant requires the creation of drainage.This is necessary in order to prevent root decay. This layer must be at least 5 cm.
Young plants are obtained mainly from seeds. In this case, the cultivation of surfinia is carried out by the greenhouse method. The process starts in February. The first shoots will appear in 2 weeks. Next, they will need to dive into different pots. Plants are planted in open ground at the stage when the plant has 5-7 true leaves. This usually occurs in mid-April, when the chance of frost will be ruled out.
Types and varieties
Depending on the variety, petunias differ in the growing method: in stationary containers, hanging pots or in open areas. Hybrid petunia was obtained during the selection of various natural crops. The bush is profusely flowering, branched, of medium height, lush due to the growth of a large number of stepchildren. The buds are solitary, the average flower size is 12 cm. The flowering plant has a pleasant light aroma. The flowering period begins in May and ends with the first frost.
Multiflora, or multiflorous, is a type of hybrid petunia. The most unpretentious of the species of this plant. Shades of flowers - pink, white, purple, red, lilac. There are also bicolor specimens. Multiflora can be grown in any soil, it tolerates the rainy season and direct sunlight.
Review of popular varieties of the species.
"Snowball". A small bush (40 cm) with white monochromatic simple flowers.
Large-flowered, or Grandiflora, is a group that consists of crops that are capricious to care for, but are distinguished by increased decorativeness. Blooming flowers are up to 15 cm in diameter. On the mother bush, a small number of flower ovaries bloom at the same time, compensating for the shape and color of the petals. Plants are not resistant to rain and wind, the buds are easily injured, and therefore quickly lose their attractiveness.
Large-flowered petunia is divided into types:
- standard large-flowered - half-meter-high culture, smooth petals, about 10 cm in diameter;
- low - low bush, plant characteristics are similar to the standard subgroup;
- fringed low and standard fringed - crops from 25 to 70 cm in height, a distinctive feature is the unusual shape of the petals;
- the most excellent and the most excellent low - the petals of the flower are smooth with a wide pharynx, the surface is speckled with dark stripes;
- terry - a half-meter plant with double buds, the edge of the petals is smooth.
Varieties.
"Purple Pirouette". A hybrid of a rich purple tone, the flower petals are corrugated with a fringed edge and a white edge. The bush is low - only 25 cm.
Floribunda is an intermediate form, resistant to precipitation. The buds of this petunia do not lose their attractiveness throughout the entire flowering period and under any weather conditions. Floribunda is easy to care for.
Varieties.
Celebrity. The culture is tolerant to drought, heat and heavy rainfall. Flowers can be one of 13 color options. The buds are monochromatic, two- or three-colored.
Ampelous petunia forms elongated shoots hanging down. The culture is demanding on lighting, nutrient medium, moisture, temperature. It is used to decorate walls, balconies, and is placed in suspended containers.
Varieties.
Opera Supreme is a lush plant with small flowers. The color of the petals is blue, crimson, white, pink.
Cascading petunia is a climbing culture that is confused with ampelous petunia. The difference between the cascade form is the development of shoots. The plant grows stems upwards, but due to their heaviness, they fall down. The stems of the cascading petunia are thick, short.
Varieties.
"Pirouette" is a terry culture of various colors. Unpretentious care.
Garden petunia is called balcony or ampelous crops. Consists of varieties with flexible shoots, prone to growth mainly downward. Garden petunias are fast growing and weather resistant.
Varieties.
Conchita.The flowers of the culture are similar in shape and size to the calibrachoa buds. Buds of various shades, 5 cm in diameter.
