Petunia is a very beautiful and fragrant flower. Many mistakenly think that this is an annual plant. In fact, petunia is a perennial herbaceous plant. Buying petunia in the spring and planting it on the balcony, I really want to settle it in the apartment for a permanent time. You can do this by collecting the plant seeds for the next year.
What do the seeds of petunia look like?
Seeds of petunia are very small. In diameter they are no more than 0.5-0.6 mm. As a rule, it is dark brown in color, less often yellowish. Fruit with seeds is a box of approximately 10x8 mm. In one such box there are up to 100 seeds. In stores, seeds are sold in bags per piece.
How to get the seeds of petunia?
In order for the plant to constantly bloom, you need to remove the wilted flowers in time. Picking up petunia seeds can be just from these wilted flowers. To do this, at the beginning of flowering, you need to note for yourself a few lower buds. After you have chosen buds, be patient. In order for the seeds to mature, a lot of time must pass. The period of ripening of seeds (from the beginning of flowering petunias and up to the time of collection) lasts from two to three months. That is why the seeds of petunia should be collected from the buds chosen in advance.
How to collect the seeds of terry petunia?
For successful collection of seeds, it is important to choose the right kind of petunia. It is necessary to know that many varieties of petunias are very unstable in the offspring. Not surprisingly, many gardeners are wondering how to collect the seeds of terry petunia, because this is one of the most beautiful species of this flower. But often it is many terry varieties of petunia seeds that can not tie. This is due to the fact that the mahrovost petunia appears due to the transformation of the ovary into petals. The stamens are perfectly normal. Makhrovost is transmitted by pollination of non-marble varieties with terry and makes no more than 45%.
Before you begin to collect the seeds of petunia, consider the factor that you can get a completely unexpected result. Maybe it will turn out that it will not be possible to grow absolutely nothing from the collected seeds. Flowers can generally be of a different color and size than the flowers from which you collected the seeds.
How to grow petunia seeds?
Plant seeds in seedlings in the second half of March. In the greenhouse seeds are planted in April, and in May they can be safely sown in the ground.
Petunia is suitable for light and open spaces. She is very fond of warmth and light. Soil petunia prefers well drained and not sour. An ideal combination is a mixture of hardwood, coarse sand and peat.
Plant flowers in a container, pots or boxes. If you decide to grow petunia in a pot, you need to lay a good layer of drainage on the bottom. The soil must be nutritious and friable. Petunia grows well if humic or compost is added to the soil. Try not to allow stagnation of water, but the drying of the soil is disastrous for the plant.
Planting petunia should be pretty tight. On a square meter there are about 70 plants. For good growth and abundant flowering, you should water petunia frequently, do not forget to constantly sprinkle water from the spray gun. Petunia should not be fed more than once a week. It is desirable to alternate top dressing with a root with foliar top dressing.
If, for some reason, the growth of petunia slows down, you can use a growth stimulant. Do not place the petunia on a draft and remove the faded flowers in time.