How to grow a petunia?

Ampel, terry , large-flowered, small-flowered, which you will not find on our balconies and country plots. A dense carpet of bright greenery with colorful flowers is one of childhood memories for many. If in your plans to grow petunia for your balcony or home, the information below will be useful when choosing a method and the timing of cultivation.

How to grow a petunia?

The answer to this question will largely depend on your preferences and the chosen variety. There are several options for how to grow a petunia, and on each of them we will dwell in more detail:

  1. The easiest way to work with peat pills. First, pills should be filled with water and allow them to swell. Next, drain the water and a toothpick, make a hole for one seed. You can not penetrate seeds, they can germinate only in conditions of constant light penetration. Ideally, the tablets are built something like a greenhouse and there already on the windowsill grow seedlings. Each time, we remove the drops or steam from the walls, and water only with soft water. For this method, it is better to use seeds in granules.
  2. Next, touch on the question of how to grow petunia properly from the handle. Almost always, only this type of cultivation gives a guarantee of preserving varietal qualities. If you saw a very nice variety from a neighbor, ask her to "treat" you to a small stalk about the middle of summer. Rooted petunia is relatively simple. We select the stalk at the flowering bush, necessarily with two internodes. Further from the cut we detach all the buds and flowers, we study the "Kornevin" place of the cut and send it to the shade in a glass with water. As a rule, after a couple of weeks, the growth of rootlets begins.
  3. Another method familiar to everyone, how to grow petunia, is to use containers with soil and seeds mixed with sand. We take a nutritious and rather loose mixture: one part of peat and turf, add one more part of the humus and half of the sand. At the bottom of the container lay drainage, and then pour the soil so that it remains about five centimeters to the brim. From the top we pour seeds with sand and splash all with water.

In either variant, it is important to provide seed conditions for germination. It is very important how you will water the petunia, because this directly affects the germination capacity. It is advisable not to water in the literal sense, but spray the seeds from the spray with water, slightly "flavored" with potassium permanganate. At the same time, the temperature for germination is about 24 ° C, all sorts of hybrid varieties are particularly demanding. After the emergence of shoots, the shelter is gradually removed, and after these sheets are completely removed.

No less important, what and when to fertilize petunia. You can start feeding after diving seedlings around the second week. At first, we also only spray liquid fertilizers: alternate daily complex preparations with nitrogen with growth stimulants. After a couple of weeks, the usual root feeding is allowed.

Petunia planting in the open ground

So, you decided to grow seedlings with the chosen method and now it's time to move it to a permanent place. First, let us again touch on the issue of choosing petunia varieties for open ground, because not all fit for the suburban area. For example, melkotsvetkovaya petunia in the soil color last longer. From the F1 line choose "Pikobella" or "Bonanza mix", a very beautiful blossom in the "Fantasy" variety. From large-flowered varieties of petunias for open ground, it is worth trying "Sunshine", "Picotee".

Grow petunia at the cottage can be both containers, and flower beds. If they are containers, then their volume should be at least 10 liters per two plants. Plant only blooming bushes, then they will delight with bright colors until the middle of autumn. There is also a seedless method of cultivation, when the seeds are planted just in the soil around the end of May, and at the end of June you can get flowering bushes.