Content
Petunia is an excellent representative of herbaceous perennials from the nightshade family. Its historical homeland was the hot tropics of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay. But thanks to the active cultivation that began in the 18th century petunias, the beauty of this flower has become accessible to us. This beautiful flower is actively planted not only in summer cottages, but also on the balconies of city apartments. All you need for this is seedlings, either purchased or grown yourself. In this article we will talk about how to grow petunia seedlings at home.
The benefits of self-grown petunia seedlings
Many gardeners, especially beginners, are constantly faced with a dilemma: buy ready-made seedlings or grow them yourself. Purchased seedlings can save the gardener a lot of hassle, but only if it is purchased from quality producers with a good reputation. Its cost, as a rule, will be several times higher than ordinary seedlings.But petunia seedlings, which are sold at every turn, not only will not save the gardener from troubles, but will also add new ones. Such seedlings may have a dying root system, suffer from chlorosis, or be affected by various pests. Therefore, if it is not possible to buy high-quality seedlings, then it is better to grow them yourself.
Growing petunia seedlings at home will have the following advantages over purchased seedlings:
- the opportunity to plant the desired variety, and not buy the one that will be available;
- self-grown seedlings will cost less than purchased high-quality seedlings;
- home seedlings will be protected from various pests that may be present in purchased seedlings.
Therefore, you should buy them only from trusted manufacturers, paying attention to the expiration date of the seeds.
When to plant petunia seeds
The beginning of petunia flowering directly depends on when its seeds were planted. For early flowering in early June, petunia should be planted as seedlings in late February - early March. In this case, the location of the apartment and the presence of additional lighting will play a decisive role in choosing the time to plant petunia seeds:
- if the windows are facing south, then planting can be done in early March;
- if the windows are directed to the north side, then the planting should take place in late March or early April;
- If the gardener has fluorescent lamps, then petunia can be planted at the end of February.
Gardeners who adhere to the lunar calendar should avoid the days of the full and new moon when planting petunia seeds.These days the seeds will germinate rather poorly. But the days when the Moon is in Pisces, Scorpio or Cancer are considered the best for planting this flower.
Rules for growing seedlings from seeds
At home, obtaining petunia seedlings is not as difficult as many gardeners think. In order to petunia seeds have sprouted well, and the young seedlings have developed normally, it will be enough to follow simple rules of care.
Priming
Petunia loves neutral or slightly acidic soil. It should be nutritious and loose enough to retain moisture without becoming soggy. The ideal option would be to cook it yourself. soil for seedlings. To do this, the gardener can use the following recipes:
- two parts of turf soil, humus, peat and one part of sand;
- one part of garden soil, sand and two parts of peat.
After mixing all the components, the finished soil must be sifted first through a coarse and then through a fine sieve and treated with a strong solution of potassium permanganate.
Petunia seedlings can also be grown at home in a ready-made mixture. But you will definitely need to add wood ash, perlite and potassium sulfate to it.
Sowing seeds
The lion's share of success in growing petunia seedlings at home lies in high-quality seeds. For this purpose, you should use only high-quality seeds. Also an important factor influencing the germination of seeds is their shelf life. The older the petunia seeds, the less likely they are to germinate.
Before planting, petunia seeds must be processed. This will help increase their germination and affect the future immunity of young seedlings. Pre-sowing preparation of petunia seeds consists of soaking them for 3-6 hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
These “pellets” represent a nutritious coating necessary for better seed germination. Such seeds should not be soaked in potassium permanganate, and they should only be planted in moist soil. Otherwise, the “dragée” will not dissolve and the seed will not germinate.
There are several ways to plant the seeds of this flower for seedlings:
- regular fit;
- planting in peat tablets;
- planting in separate plastic cassettes with cells.
Let's go through each of these methods in more detail.
Regular fit
When planting petunia seedlings normally, take a clean container made of wood or plastic with a height of more than 10 centimeters. To ensure that the water in the container does not stagnate, there must be drainage holes at its bottom, which should be filled with fine expanded clay or polystyrene foam. After the drainage layer comes disinfected soil. You need to pour it so that there is about 2 cm left to the edge of the container.
When the container with soil is ready, you can begin planting. To do this, lightly moisten the top layer of soil with a spray bottle and sprinkle small petunia seeds evenly on it. After this, the soil is sprayed again from a spray bottle and tightly covered with polyethylene or glass.
If there is still snow outside when planting seeds, then the seeds should be sown directly into it. For such planting, only clean snow, without traces of reagents, is suitable. It must be laid in an even layer on the ground and lightly compacted.After this, seeds are scattered on it and covered with polyethylene or glass. You should not bury the seeds, because when the snow melts, the seeds, along with the melt water, will be drawn into the soil.
To obtain quick and friendly shoots, the container with seeds must be placed in a very bright place at a temperature not lower than +25 degrees.
Planting in peat tablets
It is recommended to plant only seeds covered with a nutrient coating in peat tablets. With this planting method, one seed is planted in each tablet. Due to such a single planting, the gardener gets rid of the need for picking, which injures the root system of petunia seedlings. In addition, planting petunia in peat tablets has another undeniable advantage - by the color of the tablet it is easy to determine whether petunia seedlings need watering or not. The lighter the tablet, the less moisture it contains and vice versa.
For growing, you should choose medium-sized tablets, with a diameter of 3.5 to 4.5 cm. Before planting seeds, peat tablets must first be soaked in water until they swell. After this, the excess water must be drained and the tablets placed in a container with edges of at least 10 cm. Now you can plant the seeds. To do this, you need to put one seed on each tablet.
After all the petunia seeds are planted, the container with peat tablets is covered with polyethylene or glass and placed in a bright place at a temperature above +25 degrees.
Planting in separate plastic cassettes with cells
This method combines the advantages of conventional planting and growing in peat tablets. Such plastic cassettes with cells can be used for more than one year. Their cost is low, they save space and allow you to skip the procedure of picking young seedlings. There are many different options for such cassettes on sale, but for petunias, cassettes with large cells with a height of at least 10 cm are more suitable.
Preparing such cassettes for petunia seedlings does not differ from the usual planting method: first comes fine drainage, then soil. If there is still snow outside, you can use that too. Once the containers are ready, you can begin planting. To do this, you need to put one seed in each cell, cover them with polyethylene or glass and place them in a bright place at a temperature above +25 degrees.
Seedling care
Temperature conditions are very important for petunia seedlings. At temperatures below +25 they do not germinate, and at higher temperatures the young shoots will quickly stretch out and become sick. Hybrid varieties of this flower are particularly picky about temperature conditions.
If the recommended temperature and good lighting are observed, seedlings will appear within the first week. After most of the seeds have hatched, the containers with them should begin to be ventilated. To do this, remove the polyethylene or glass first for 20 minutes, then for 40. If condensation forms on their surface, it must be removed during the ventilation process. You can completely remove the glass and polyethylene only after the seedlings begin to push against them.
Simultaneously with the beginning of ventilation of petunia seedlings, it is worth gradually lowering the temperature in the room.In the daytime, its value should be about +20 degrees, and at night - no higher than +16 degrees. This measure will allow the seedlings to grow stronger and quickly get used to non-greenhouse conditions.
After the seedlings emerge, the future of the seedlings will depend solely on what care the gardener will provide it. In addition to watering and fertilizing, this flower will need picking and Pinching.
Watering
When watering petunia seedlings, it is important to feel the middle ground: very dry soil will destroy the seedlings, and waterlogging the soil will lead to fungal diseases. It is necessary to water the seedlings as the top layer of soil dries.
Water for watering seedlings should be settled and slightly warm. Petunias love acidic water, so you can add a little lemon juice to it before watering. There are two ways to water petunia seedlings:
- Drip irrigation using a syringe with the needle removed. When watering this way, a syringe with water should be slightly buried in the ground near the seedlings and the water should be squeezed out. Instead of a syringe, you can also use a small enema.
- Watering into the pan.
Top dressing
It is impossible to grow good petunia seedlings without fertilizers. This flower is very demanding on feeding and in its absence begins to hurt. Treatment and application of fertilizers for petunia seedlings will depend on its age:
- In the first two weeks, young shoots should be sprayed with a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate or Previcur solution.
- When 3–4 leaves appear, the soil with petunia seedlings should be watered with a solution of yellow Crystal.
- After the appearance of the 5th leaf seedlings should be fertilized under the root and spray. Uniflora micro solution or green Crystal solution are suitable for spraying.For foliar feeding of petunia seedlings, you can use yellow Crystalon.
Picking
Pick up petunia seedlings at home it is necessary only if it was planted in one large container. When planting in cassettes with separate cells or in peat tablets, picking is not necessary.
Petunia seedlings are picked no earlier than 4–5 true leaves. For diving, you need to prepare containers with a volume of 200 - 250 ml. Simple plastic cups with homemade drainage holes are perfect for this. They need to be filled with drainage and soil. Depending on the size of the root system, one cup can contain from one to two seedlings. The seedlings are transferred to a new container along with a lump of earth.
For petunia seedlings, picking is an enormous stress. Therefore, after picking, many seedlings begin to stretch out and get sick. To avoid this, in the first week after picking, the seedlings should be placed in a temperature of +17 to +20 degrees and slightly shaded from the sun.
Pinching
Pinching is necessary so that the petunia grows in a bush and does not stretch into one stem. Vigorous varieties and hybrids should be pinched after 4–5 leaves; other varieties should be shortened after 6–7 leaves. In this case, you must, without any pity, break or cut off the upper part of the stem along with the growing point.
After this procedure, new shoots will begin to appear from the axils of the remaining leaves, which will form a beautiful bush. The seedlings may need 2 or 3 more pinchings to achieve a nice rounded shape.They should be carried out at intervals of 2 weeks.
Landing in the ground
Plant in the ground Adult petunia seedlings need to be grown from mid-May to mid-June. 2 weeks before this, petunias should be accustomed to the open air, gradually taking them out onto the balcony or into the garden. The initial time of their stay in the open air should not exceed 10 - 15 minutes. By the end of the two-week period, petunia seedlings should be outdoors all day.
The video will tell you about the rules for planting petunia seedlings in open ground:
Conclusion
By following these simple rules, you can get good, strong petunia seedlings that will decorate any home and garden.
