Growing and caring for petunias at home

It is difficult to find ready-made seedlings of your favorite species, so in this article we will tell you about how to grow Petunia of the desired type at home. Let us consider with you in detail what the cultivation of petunias includes: the timing of planting seeds, how to choose seeds, how to plant and care for seedlings, what are the dangers for seedlings, and much more.

Petunia is a beautiful flower that surprises with its variety of varieties. Petunia is a herbaceous and semi-shrub perennial plant of the Solanaceae family. This flower is found in Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, and this flower came from South America.

Growing petunias from seeds at home

Growing petunias at home: photo

Some people mistakenly believe that Petunia needs to be grown early, in February or even January. That is why the seedlings of Petunia die at the initial stage, it does not withstand adverse conditions, it simply does not have enough sunlight and heat.

Timing of planting petunia seeds at home

It is recommended to sow Petunia seeds from mid-March.

Subject to all the requirements for growing Petunia seeds at home, the timing may depend on the following conditions:

• When providing lighting (windows are facing the sunny side). You can sow seeds in early March.
• If the windows face the sunny side and there is additional lighting, then sowing can begin at the end of February.
• With a lack of sunlight, Petunia can be planted only from mid-March or early April.

Growing petunia seedlings at home

After the period for planting seeds has been selected, you need to choose the type of seeds for growing seedlings of Petunia and prepare all conditions for the successful growth of seedlings of petunia.

How to choose seeds

In order to grow beautiful Petunia flowers, you need to carefully approach the choice of seeds.

Petunia seeds for cultivation are divided into two types:

• Regular Seeds - These are harvested from plants and are similar in size to poppy seeds.
• Pelleted seeds - seeds covered with a water-soluble nutritive shell.

Normal seeds are difficult to work with due to their small size. It is difficult enough to evenly distribute them throughout the soil, and after they sprout, they will have to be thinned several times.

It is more convenient to work with seeds of the second type, the only drawback is that such seeds need to be watered much more often in order to dissolve the shell.

Conditions for the growth of petunia seedlings

There are specialized shops where you can buy soil for sowing seeds and growing seedlings.

You can also prepare the soil yourself using: turf soil, sand, peat. It is necessary to use grayish or white river sand, but not orange street sand. Combine all three components in a 2: 1: 2 ratio.

Ignite the soil in the oven to disinfect the soil and leave to lie down for 2 days to saturate the soil with natural microflora. After that, you can plant the seeds.

Growing petunias at home: photo

There are three ways to grow petunia seedlings at home:

• Peat tablets
• Container
• Cassette

Planting petunias in tablets

Growing petunias at home: photo

It is very convenient to plant pelleted seeds in peat tablets.To begin with, a peat tablet is soaked in water, after that, excess liquid is drained, and then placed in trays.

A seed is placed in each tablet. Carefully from a pipette, you can also use a syringe, water the seedlings. Then cover the tablet with any material that transmits light (film, glass, etc.)

In such tablets, the following types of seedlings take root safely: buttercup, obriety, ramp, clarkia. This method does not require further picking of seedlings. The color of the pills will help tell when to water the seedlings.

Planting petunias in containers

Growing petunias at home: photo

For growing petunia seedlings in containers, plastic pots are usually used. A drainage layer is laid at the bottom of the pot and covered with prepared soil. Before sowing seeds, you need to spill the ground with boiling water to destroy possible pests in it. After that, the seeds are scattered over the surface of the soil, but DO NOT SPRAY with earth! After the seedlings have germinated, they are transplanted to another more spacious place.

Landing in cassettes

On sale there are a great variety of cassettes with different numbers and sizes of cells. Cassettes are very convenient because they are compact and take up little space. For planting Petunias, cells with a height of 10 cm are chosen. Seeds can be sown in peat tablets that are in the cells, they are also sown in ordinary special soil.

Seedling care

The quantity and quality of seedlings depends on proper care of the sowing of seeds. Next, we will consider the main principles of caring for planted seeds.

How to water and feed

Water the seedlings very carefully using a syringe or pipette. This method is called drip. Water should not get on the seedling itself. Do not allow the soil to dry out, otherwise you can ruin the seedlings, but you should not overly moisturize the soil either, otherwise it can lead to decay and the development of a fungus.

Bottom watering can be used, it is a more convenient method of watering because water must be poured into a pallet, and put the container with seedlings into the pallet.

When irrigating, settled water is used with a temperature 1-2 ºС higher. from the ambient temperature.

As soon as the first shoots have appeared, during the first two weeks they are sprayed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, you can also use the "Previkura" solution. After the first leaves appear, the seedlings are fed with "Kristalon" with a yellow emblem. For feeding the leaves use "Uniflor micro" and green "Kristalon".

Dive

If several seedlings are planted in one box, then a dive is carried out. When at least 2 leaves appear on the seedlings, using a wooden stick, the seedling with a lump of earth is transplanted into a separate container. And top them up with soil. For several days after the dive, the room temperature is reduced by 3 ºС, so that the seedling does not stretch out.

How to harden and pinch

After the petunia seedlings are transplanted, they begin to harden so that they get used to outdoor conditions. For the first time, the seedlings are taken out on the balcony for 10 minutes, each time increasing the time. Or they just open the window next to the seedling. The temperature in the room during hardening should be within the range of 10-15 ºС.

Pinch the seedlings of Petunia over 5-6 leaves with pruners or fingers. The procedure is repeated after 2 weeks.

Danger to seedlings when growing petunias

Growing petunias at home: photo

The following pests are especially dangerous for petunia seedlings during cultivation:

• Spider mite - appears in dry soil. To combat it, the following drugs are used: ("Neoron", "Fitoverm", "Actellik»)
• Blackleg - a fungus that appears in excessively moist soil. At first, the stem begins to darken, and later this place begins to rot. The seedlings have to be removed, and the soil is treated with a solution of potassium permanganate or "Formalin".

Follow our aforementioned rules and tips when planting Petunia seeds and amazingly beautiful flowers will delight you in the summer.