Among the plants that “took root” in urban conditions, the most honorable place belongs to petunia. Her ability to bloom magnificently from May to October, living in a cramped pot or balcony drawer, earned well-deserved appreciation of urban florists.
This also explains the attention of breeders to this amazing flower. Over a relatively short period, a huge number of new varieties, hybrids and garden groups have been bred, emphasizing the diverse virtues of petunias.
How to grow petunia from seeds.
Petunia belongs to the nightshade family and is a perennial herbaceous plant or shrub. But in our climate it is bred as an annual, in other words, petunia is annually grown anew from seeds.
It should be noted that with this method of propagation, some properties of hybrids (especially complex flower shapes or unusual shades) are lost in subsequent generations. In order to preserve them, vegetative propagation is used.
But the question "how to grow petunia from seeds" remains relevant, since the lion's share of plants designed to decorate city houses and streets is born thanks to annual seed reproduction.
So, let’s take a closer look at what makes growing petunias at home and how to grow petunia from seeds.
Let's start by defining the deadlines. Petunia develops long enough (from 70 to 90 days from planting to flowering, depending on the variety). Therefore, in order to get flowering plants in May-June, it would be necessary to plant seeds for seedlings in February.
But for the normal development of seedlings requires good lighting. Short February days can not provide it, so the sprouts are sick, extended and do not have time to develop a full-fledged root system. Therefore, it is possible to plant petunia seeds in February if it is possible to extend daylight hours with the help of artificial light sources.
If the seedlings have to rely only on natural lighting, then seed planting can begin in the second half of March.
Petunia seeds are very small. This imposes restrictions on the preparation of the soil for sowing. It should be loose, light and nutritious.
The prepared soil is evenly moistened. The seeds mixed with sand are sown, sprayed and covered with glass. The temperature required for seed germination is 20-23 ° C.
Shoots appear on the 6-7th day. After this, daily two-time spraying is necessary. The glass is turned over and wiped with each spraying. Remove it after the sprouts begin to appear on the sprouts of their own leaves.
All this time, care should be taken and not to allow excessive waterlogging of the soil, it is detrimental to petunias. If the seedlings look bad and are clearly about to die, reduce watering and add a little dry sand.
The grown and matured sprouts dive into plastic cups, preserving for growth only well-developed strong plants.
Growing petunia flowers.
Those who want to know how to grow petunia from seeds need to constantly remember that it is a heat-loving and photophilous plant. And it is important to withstand these two conditions throughout the entire development of seedlings, if in the future they expect plentiful and magnificent flowering from petunias.
Breeders bred varieties of petunias resistant to lower temperatures. Some of them (varieties) can survive even short-term frosts, which allows them to be planted in open ground in cities in late April or early May.
The distance between plants planted on the flower bed is 15-20 cm for small-flowered varieties and 20-25 cm for large-flowered. When landing in boxes and containers, this distance is reduced by one and a half times. The distance between ampelous plants is 20-25 cm. Usually, the transplant is easily tolerated by the plant.
The abundant flowering of petunias, especially those living in tight volumes (boxes or pots), is supported by top dressing. It is carried out throughout the flowering period using universal means for flowering plants.
Rain and wind can give an untidy appearance to the plant, damaging delicate flowers. Therefore, in unprotected places it is better to plant varieties that are more resistant to the effects of these natural phenomena.
It is advisable to remove faded petunia flowers, giving the plant a more well-groomed appearance and directing its efforts to further flowering. It also makes sense to shorten too long lashes that “fall out” of the overall neat appearance of the plant.