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Petunias are becoming more and more popular every year. And even despite all the difficulties of growing seedlings on their own, more and more gardeners, including beginners, are trying to grow the varieties of petunias that fascinate them on their own. After all, adult petunias are quite unpretentious, especially modern varieties; they can withstand rain, hurricane winds and 30-degree heat. They quickly come to their senses if their appearance turns out to be a little shabby after the invasion of the raging elements.
But the most interesting thing is that such an unpretentious flower as petunia is quite capricious in the very first weeks of its life, apparently due to its very small size and relatively slow growth and development at the beginning. But in order for petunias to begin to develop well and quickly in the future, they need picking.
Many beginners, just hearing this, as if a scary and unfamiliar word, are already scared and in advance refuse to grow on their own. petunia seedlings. Although in fact, picking petunias is not so difficult if the plants are strong and healthy. In addition, you can often get by with little or no need for it.
All possible options for picking petunias will be discussed in this article.
What is picking and why is it needed?
Based on a strictly scientific definition, picking or picking is the removal of the extreme part of the tap root of a young plant in order to stimulate the branching of its root system. But it has traditionally developed that more often, picking means simply planting seedlings from a common container where they were originally sown into separate containers, or transplanting them into a common larger container, but maintaining a greater distance between plants - usually 3-5 cm.
At the same time, for some crops it is necessary to pinch the roots; for others, on the contrary, the less you touch the roots, the better. It is only necessary to take into account that when pinching parts of the root, the plant, although it may branch its root system, will lag in growth from several days to several weeks.
Therefore, for some crops, they use the so-called transshipment - this is replanting plants with minimal exposure and affecting the roots, or even better, directly with an earthen lump on the roots.
Petunia is comfortable with root pinching, but at the stage when the first picking is usually done, the petunia plants are too tiny to take into account their roots, so picking is more like a transshipment.
Timing for picking petunia
The answer to the question “when should you pick petunia?” is no less important than the procedure itself, since opinions on this matter may differ significantly.Some advise picking as early as possible, arguing this opinion by the fact that at an earlier age, petunia seedlings take root better after picking. Others advise waiting until the sprouts get stronger, because petunia plants in the first weeks after germination are so tiny that it’s scary to even breathe over them, let alone replant them. Of course, in this case it is necessary to choose a middle ground.
The first sprouts of petunia are two small leaves on a thin stalk and are called cotyledon leaves. These are not real leaves yet. You need to wait until a couple more oval leaves unfold higher - these are already real. This usually happens 12-16 days after germination. After the first true leaves unfurl, the best time to pick petunia comes.
In principle, this procedure can be carried out later, from the moment the second leaves unfold and even further. But the later the picking is carried out, the more likely it is that the roots will be damaged in the process. It also depends on how dense your seedlings are. If you sowed ordinary undiluted seeds, and you ended up with some kind of dense forest of seedlings, then you cannot put off picking petunia.
If the seedlings are quite rare and are spaced 0.5 -1 cm apart from each other, then you can wait, although, as mentioned above, this period is optimal.
Traditional petunia picking
A similar picking is used in traditional sowing with ordinary undiluted seeds, when the seedlings are either simply very dense, or uneven, sometimes dense, sometimes empty.So, how to properly plant petunia so that it takes root well in a new place and does not lag in development. Below are step-by-step instructions for the picking process itself.
You will need the following supplies:
- A set of cups or any other containers where you will transplant petunia seedlings. It is better to take sizes ranging from yogurt cups and larger;
- Toothpick or match;
- A stick or unsharpened pencil, about 1 cm in diameter;
- Loose fertile soil. You can take any purchased one with a neutral reaction and add a handful of vermiculite to 5 liters of soil.
It is better to immediately stick labels on the cups using tape with the inscription of the petunia variety and the date of picking.
- Holes are made in the cups with an awl from the bottom, then drainage is poured from expanded clay or small pebbles in a layer of 1-3 cm and they are filled with soil, not reaching the edge 1-2 cm.
- The soil in the cups is moistened and after the water has been absorbed a little, indentations up to 1-2 cm are made on top with a pencil or stick.
- At the next step, carefully dig out the first petunia sprout with a match or a toothpick and, picking it up at the base, (as in the photo above), together with a small lump of earth, transfer it and lower it into the depression prepared in the glass, deepening it to the very cotyledon leaves.
- Then, using the same match or toothpick, sprinkle the soil onto the thread-stalk and use it to lightly compact the soil around the sprout.If you can’t hold a petunia sprout with a match, you can help yourself by holding it with your fingers or tweezers, but only by the cotyledon leaves.
- After all the sprouts have been transplanted in this way, they will need to be very carefully, preferably using a syringe without a needle, watered at the root. There are literally a few drops for each plant.
If there are a lot of seedlings - more than 20-30 - then it would be more rational to transplant them according to the same scheme, but not in separate pots, but in one large container. The distances between the depressions should be at least 2-3 cm. In this case, however, you will most likely need another picking, or the petunia seedlings can be planted directly from this container into the ground. Everything depends on its development during this time.
Other picking methods
Recently, petunia is more often sown as seedlings using pelleted seeds. In this case, the seedlings are rarely thickened, since the seeds are not so small, there are not very many of them and it is quite easy to initially spread them on the surface when sowing, keeping a distance of 2-3 cm.
Method of filling up the soil
In this case, instead of transferring the sprouts to other containers, the method of adding soil to the roots of the plants is used.
To do this, you need to prepare a disposable plastic spoon and a toothpick (or match), as well as soil for adding. Scooping up a little soil with a spoon, carefully pour it to the base of the sprouts, starting with the outermost one, and supporting it at the same time on the other side with a toothpick.You can fill it with such a layer that it reaches the cotyledon leaves. Having filled one row, move on to the next until you reach the end of the container. Then the plants are carefully watered with a syringe. You can also use watering from a plastic bottle, in the lid of which 3-5-8 holes are made. By screwing the lid on and watering through it, you don't have to worry about strong jets of water that can damage the delicate sprouts.
Method of deepening sprouts
If you sow petunia seeds in a deep enough tray and the soil thickness is sufficient, from 5-6 cm, then there is another way to easily pick petunia seedlings.
You need to prepare a small stick with smooth edges so as not to damage the seedlings or an unsharpened pencil. Using this stick, a small indentation is made directly next to the sprout, then the petunia sprout is very carefully moved into this indentation, using light pressure on the base of the sprout. With the same stick, the soil is additionally raked so that the stem is compressed by it. After this procedure has been done with all the sprouts, the seedlings are moistened in the manner described above.
As a result of the last two described methods of picking, which, formally speaking, are not picking, but perform its functions. That is, the sprout turns from a long, unstable string with leaves into a stocky seedling, which, thanks to additional soil, grows many more active roots on the buried part of the stem.
Growing petunia seedlings without picking
Another innovation in recent years for growing seedlings is peat tablets. They should be used for growing petunia seedlings without picking.Because by the time the roots of the seedlings begin to appear outside the mesh of the tablet, the petunia seedlings will already have time to turn into quite powerful bushes. They can be easily placed in any larger container and added to the sides of the soil. In this form, petunia seedlings will easily survive until they are planted in the ground and, perhaps, will already begin to lay buds.
Another possible way to grow petunia seedlings without picking is to sow the seeds one at a time in one pot. This method is almost similar to growing petunia in tablets and requires only careful selection of soil, which must be both air- and moisture-permeable.
It is interesting that when petunia seedlings develop in peat tablets and in separate pots, at the stage of the appearance of the first true leaves, you can also try to carefully bury the sprouts using the second method described above. This will help the seedlings grow additional roots and develop faster.
Picking in itself is not something complicated; it only requires attention, patience and accuracy. With a little practice, you can easily put any of the picking methods described above into practice, and petunias will thank you with lush and long-lasting flowering.
