The secrets of growing petunias from "A" to "Z"

You do not know how to decorate your balcony, loggia, garden or just simply the windowsill of your apartment? Then this article is for you. We will talk about the beautiful petunia, which is perfect for decoration.

Petunia is a perennial herbaceous perennial shrub plant of tropical origin. It attracts attention with its large and bright colors. Harmoniously combined with other garden plants. Therefore, it is often used to decorate a garden or terrace. Quite often, flower growers choose it to decorate balconies, loggias and even window sills of apartments.

It is believed that adult petunia is very whimsical, and young sprouts are still fussy. But, despite this, if you correctly approach the process of growing and caring for petunia, everything will turn out and you will admire its beautiful flowers for a long time, so in this article we will consider how to grow a plant without errors from "A" to "Z" .

How to cultivate?

The best petunia growing technology is:

1. Large capacity.
2. Regular top dressing.
3. Adequate watering.
4. Removing faded flowers.

it the plant loves loamy soil, but also takes root well in ordinary garden soil, and some varieties even in plain soil. But it is best to grow a beautiful woman in a fertile one, which consists of peat, turf, river sand, and sheet land. Another great growing option is to add nitrophoska to the earthen substrate.

In the garden land, the greenery of the plant becomes juicier and its growth accelerates, because they are very fond of slightly acidic environment.

Growing petunias requires special lighting conditions. She prefers well-lit areas for growing, however, in the scorching sun, blooms can fade. Small dimming is also needed.

Lighting is one of the main conditions for growing petunias. Therefore, well-lit areas with blackouts are an ideal place.

The soil in which petunia grows must be moist, but not flooded. Excess moisture will stop its growth. It is also important to ventilate the soil in which the plant grows. Growing these flowers is not difficult if you just follow the conditions of lighting, irrigation and soil composition.

Is it possible to grow a plant at home?

Is it possible to grow this plant indoors? Yes, but it’s more difficult than in open ground.

Therefore, great attention must be paid to the soil. To do this, it will be enough to mix plain garden soil with purchased soil on a peat base. You can also plant in purchased soil, but after adding hydrogel to it. Hydrogel must be prepared in advance. It should also be borne in mind that such a substrate retains moisture for a long time and you need to be extremely careful with watering the plant. Water only as it dries, especially a recently planted plant.

Growing petunias in a pot or container also implies the correct selection of the tank itself for growing. Shrub and terry petunias need 3 liters of land per plant. So in a ten-liter capacity, you can plant 3 plants. In large containers, moisture lasts longer, so it’s better to plant several plants in one large container. But ampelous, cascading petunias and sufinias need 5 liters per plant.

There must be holes in the container for excess moisture to flow out. If you choose the wrong container, then you can achieve beauty, but not for long. Petunias first flourish, and then will survive in such conditions. And they will not delight you with long and magnificent lashes and plentiful flowering. What other reasons can lead to a lack of colors and how to eliminate them we discussed here.

It is important to pick off faded flowers from the plant. The secrets of growing petunias:

1. Seat selection - It should be a well-lit place with slight dimming.
2. The soil - both ordinary garden, and specially prepared using purchased soil on a peat basis, with the addition of hydrogel, turf, coarse sand.
3. Watering and feeding - water every day, especially if you saw that the top lump is dry. It is best watered in the morning and evening. Petunia does not like stagnant moisture, so take good drainage. Feed regularly with mineral fertilizers. The main thing is that it contains potassium and phosphorus - they are responsible for the development of flower buds.

Breeding methods

There are two ways to propagate: grow seedlings from seeds and cuttings.

Seeds

This is the most common way to plant a plant, including at home. Buy seeds in the shell - they are easier to plant and they are much larger. First, prepare the soil and maintain the desired temperature at 22-25^aboutC. We plant in a container in which there is a drainage. Before planting, disinfect the drain with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Carry out the same procedure with the soil, use special preparations to disinfect it.

Sow seeds in slightly moist, but not moist soil. Seeds before this are best mixed with river sand. Then we close the container with seeds with glass or film. We grow seedlings at a temperature of 22^aboutC. So that the soil does not become moist, constantly remove condensation from the glass or change the film.

Watch a video about growing petunias. Sowing seeds for seedlings:

Cuttings

It allows you to grow a plant much faster. It assumes the presence of an adult plant. To do this, cut off the side shoots of the petunia. Then cuttings are disinfected and planted in small cups with light soil. We put in a shaded place. Do not forget about soil moisture and fertilizing with mineral fertilizers. Thus, the plant is prepared for wintering. In the spring, we plant in open ground.

Watch the video about the propagation of petunias by cuttings:

Landing kit

• Priming.
• Capacity for planting.
• Disinfectants.
• Seedling for planting.
• Drainage.
• Mineral fertilizers.

Cultivation

At home

1. Sowing seeds - we prepare the soil in advance, warm it up, pour it into the container. We place the seeds in a container with warmed soil (do not sprinkle from the ground, may not come out). Wet the ground from above. Cover the seeds with glass or film. We put the container in a warm place with a temperature of 22^aboutFROM.
2. Care in the first days after germination - appear already on the 5-10th day. If the earth is dry - water. Next, mix the containers on the window (to make it cooler). We periodically ventilate (raise the glass or remove the film so that the fungus does not appear).
3. Dive - carry out only when the sprout has up to 3 pairs of leaves. Water the earth abundantly and carefully transfer each plant into separate cups.
4. Hardening - gradually lower the temperature to about 10^aboutWe take out the seedlings for 10-15 minutes. We continue the procedure for several days, you can increase the stay time of the seedlings.
5. Pinch - we do with usual scissors, carefully pinch off the growth point of the leaf located after 4 sheets from the bottom. At this, the cultivation of petunia at home ends. The plant is strong enough, hardened and grown. Now send it to the pots, planters, soil.

In the greenhouses

• Sowing seeds - we get seeds in a special store. We purchase or prepare the substrate ourselves. Peat, sand, and earth come into its composition. Wipe everything well and pour with a solution of potassium permanganate. A wet mixture stands in drawers for several days. Before packing, sterilize the boxes with peroxide or potassium permanganate, and peat is shed with fugicides before sowing. Seeds are sown in peat, a peat layer in a box of 2-3 cm and consists of small particles, well sifted and even.

  Important! Seeds do not fall asleep so that light hits them. We also provide additional lighting.

  We germinate at a temperature of 22-25^aboutC. The necessary air humidity is 95-98%, to maintain it we cover the crops with glass or polyethylene. The substrate should not dry out, so often water from a sprayer. Water should be left a little warmer than the substrate. After germination, reduce the temperature to 18-20^aboutFROM.

• Pick - move the plants into glasses. They are in them until the roots take up the whole place. At first the cups stand nearby, but as the seedlings grow, they are placed apart.
• Watering and feeding - when the seedlings are dived, you need to make sure that the top layer of the substrate dries by the next watering. Therefore, water the glasses once a day or less. It is better to water in the morning and evening. We combine top dressing with watering.

Care Rules

Caring for a petunia will not require much effort from you. Simply control the watering and top dressing of the plant. Watering is necessary under the root of the plant, so as not to damage the delicate flowers. The next day after watering, you need to loosen the soil so that a crust does not form. Remove weeds. Feed a week after planting in the ground. We combine watering and top dressing. We feed with fertilizers with potassium.

Problems, Diseases and Pests

Sometimes you may encounter such a problem as yellowing or drying petunias. If you do not follow the rules of care, the plant may become ill:

• late blight;
• chlorosis;
• black leg;
• gray rot.

They need to fight with special drugs. But it’s easier not to allow them to appear properly. If these rules are not followed, then in addition to these diseases, petunia can be affected by viral diseases. There is no cure for them - your plant will die. Of the pests, spider mites, aphids, slugs and thrips are dangerous.

Follow the simple rules for caring for petunias, then you do not have to worry about the health and beauty of your plant. It will always delight you with beautiful flowering.