How to grow petunia seedlings at home correctly?

Petunia petunia has long been one of the most favorite colors of numerous gardeners. It is distinguished by the brightness of the petals, different colors, large flowers and a rather strong pleasant aroma filling the whole space around the flowering bush.

Where is petunia planted?

Due to the combination of absolute unpretentiousness to the conditions of growth and numerous beautiful flowers, it is often used in landscape design for the greening of settlements: the decoration of streets, squares, boulevards, squares, lawns, parks.

These bright flowers look great both on the lawns of the dividing strip of the road, and in suspended flowerpots along the streets. Even a few plants planted near a restaurant, beauty salon or shop located on the ground floor of the house delight visitors and passers-by with the multicolored delicate petals and cheer up the sweet fragrance.

At the dacha, in the front gardens of country houses, on balconies of city flats throughout the summer, on each of these simple at first glance plants bloom more and more new flowers.

How to choose the right varieties for your flower garden?

At home, petunia can be used everywhere, just pick the right length and height of a flowering plant, and also know about the presence of hanging lobes, the number, quality and arrangement of flowers.

Thus, for low-hanging pots and flowerpots located near the house, pavilions set along the garden paths, low ampel and cascade plant varieties will suit. They can be conveniently combined with higher counterparts of the same or a contrasting color, creating a composition with a high middle and falling lashes. And to decorate the flowerbed and flower pot, short and medium-length stems are optimal, abundantly covered with fragrant flowers.

In urban conditions for the decoration of a blooming petunia balcony - just a treasure! Of these, even an inexperienced florist can create very beautiful compositions. It is not so important, whether there will be one-color varieties or multi-colored in each box - different options look spectacular. They not only please the eyes of passers-by, but also give their gentle smell to the owners of the apartment and people passing by.

In this article you will find information on how to grow petunia seedlings at home without unnecessary worries and worries.

Where to begin?

This question is asked by any person who is starting a new business for the first time. How to grow petunia seedlings at home and not make mistakes? This is reflected by the one who has already had a bad experience of breeding petunia. Unfortunately, with all the unpretentiousness of an adult plant, small seedlings are susceptible to various adversities. How to plant the seedlings of petunia is not known to all gardeners.

We begin with the planning of the flower garden. In late autumn and winter, gardens and kitchen gardens are resting from plants, and their owners from hard, but in most cases grateful work. This is the most suitable time to think about placing plants on your garden plot, including flower beds and flower beds. From the way we want to see every corner of the plot of land, the choice of seeds for seedlings will depend.

Someone arranges multi-flowered varieties with long stems and monochrome flowers, and someone is not enough like terry studs of expensive varieties.

Having decided on the color and varietal solution, boldly go to the store for seeds.

About the time of planting flowers

To make our petunia happy with its beautiful colors of the owners the maximum number of warm summer and autumn days, we should say a few words about when to plant petunia on the seedlings. Usually grown and strengthened plants are planted in a permanent place in the middle of June, when the threat of suddenly coming colds passes, and the cold nights are replaced by warm ones. Of course, in the Urals and in colder regions, snow falls in June, but this is quite rare. If you are not sure about the weather, do not rush to plant the plants in the ground, decide on the circumstances when planting petunia on the seedlings.

The recommended time for sowing seeds is mid-February, that is, about 13-15 weeks before the flower is planted in the soil. Anyone who wants to blossom began as early as possible, can plant petunia back in January. Timing does not really matter if you want it to grow and make you happy in a flower pot on a window sill or in a pot near the window. The same is true for growing petunia as a decoration for a warmed, glazed balcony.

On the choice of seeds

By the way, about them a little more. Whoever has ever seen the seeds of petunia imagines all the complexities of planting and nurturing them perfectly. Outwardly, they resemble small poppy seeds, or even generally look like small, dust-like specks. How to sow petunia on seedlings with such seeds? There is a solution. There are two categories of seeds on sale:

• In kind.
• In the form of small granules, which are a single seed, enclosed in a thick hard shell of nutrients and auxiliary substances, which ensure the acceleration of the awakening of the seed, its fertilizing, growth, more dynamic development and rooting in the soil, protection from diseases. As a rule, seeds of artificially derived varieties that do not possess sufficient resistance to unfavorable factors of the environment and diseases are packed in granules.

Granulated seeds, of course, are much more expensive than ordinary, cheap seeds, but it is much easier and more pleasant to work with them than with small seeds. It is more convenient to take them by hand and put them in one row, and they also allow you to use a special seeding machine for planting. Experienced gardeners say that the result of planting small and granulated seeds is approximately the same, but when working with natural seed material, labor costs are much higher.

On the choice of land

Whichever way you choose: buy or from the garden - be aware that it must be properly steamed and, if possible, rid of spores of mushrooms and pests that affect small, weak shoots. Petunia seedlings at home are not a myth, but a reality. It is important simply to observe the technology of growing fragile, thin, afraid drafts and drying out shoots.

As a substrate for planting seeds, well-ground superficial layers of peat mixed with sand protect the soil from growth of moss, algae and radical decay ("black leg"), flavored with fertilizers and microelements, providing a small plant with everything necessary for growth, development and further Flowering.

The quality of the soil, its composition, depends on the preservation of the optimum amount of moisture. From its lack of shoots quickly dry up, and excess contributes to the development of fungi and damage to the stem or root system of the plant.

Another important point: the level of acidity and salinity of the soil must be as low as possible.

There are several opinions of experienced gardeners and how to determine the necessary amount of land and how to grow petunia seedlings at home. Some suggest using plastic containers with a lid for products sold in the department of disposable tableware stores, others hold the opinion about the advisability of using containers of natural materials (peat). How to grow petunia seedlings in peat tablets, we learn a little later.

If the container for seedlings does not have drainage holes, it is necessary to make them before starting the work.

The container for the sowing of petunia is filled with earth, not reaching to the top 2 cm, the minimum distance from the ground to the edge of the container is 6 mm. This distance is necessary for the development of small shoots in a space protected from all directions. If you plan to use a plastic container with a lid, be sure to make a few small holes in it, through which the space "hothouse" will be ventilated, and leave the distance from the ground to the top about two centimeters.

How to plant petunias on seedlings

So we came to the most important thing. Let's talk about how to sow petunias on seedlings. There are two ways to plant, choose any.

In the first case, the soil is moistened with water in advance and slightly compacted. From above on it put seeds in the granulated kind or natural seeds.

Should resort to a little trickery before sowing petunia on the seedlings: if you decide to use small petunia seeds, then sprinkle them first on a sheet of white paper, arm yourself with a jar of water and a toothpick. Aligning the seeds in one layer on the leaf, select the best ones by moistening the end of the toothpick with water, bring it to the selected seed. When it sticks to the wet toothpick, gently transfer it into the container with the ground. Using a wet toothpick, plant the right amount of seeds on the ground.

In the second variant, a layer of snow 3-4 mm thick is placed on the slightly compacted soil, and petunia seeds on top of it. This method does not require pre-irrigation and is preferable for people with poor eyesight, since it is more convenient to sow petunia on seedlings when a dark seed falls on a white background of snow.

In either case, it is desirable that the distance between the shoots is not less than 5 mm. Deepen small petunia seeds in no case it is impossible: sprouts do not have enough strength to get out of the ground. If you really want to fix them in a particular place, you can press down the sown surface of the earth with a flat plate.

How to help the seeds to ascend?

Some gardeners recommend to water the soil 0.1% solution of "Previcur" for acceleration of growth. Only do this very carefully, so as not to wash the seeds in one direction. You can use a spray gun or a very fine strainer.

After seeding, close the plastic container with a lid with holes, polyethylene film or non-woven material, put in a warm place. After 5-8 days, the first shoots will appear.

Seedlings of petunia in peat tablets

This is another way of planting petunias on seedlings. Tablets are a ready-made substrate that requires only regular moistening as it dries.

Above in the tablet make a groove, put the seeds there, moisturize and leave in the warmth. Tablets are placed on a pallet, a plate or in a container with the expectation of a further increase in their volume 4-5 times.

Petunia seedlings at home under fast light conditions are quickly stretched. Sometimes it takes enough days for this, so it's important to look at your shoots several times every day, controlling their growth. In the event that you see that the shoots began to stretch, it is worthwhile putting an energy-saving fluorescent light from the side of the room, compensating for its lack from the outside.

When to plant petunias on seedlings?

With growth, thin bilberry is released from the seminal rind. For this process they need a sufficient amount of moisture in the soil. Only after the first leaves were born, you can remove the film.

Further all attention is focused on maintaining the air temperature of about 20 degrees, airing the room and seedlings for 10-20 minutes daily and timely moistening the soil. Please note: it should not be always damp. Control of these parameters is mandatory, since planting petunia on seedlings is small, it is also necessary to grow it.

We wait until the first real two leaflets appear and proceed to the next stage.

Picks and seating

How to plant the petunia seedlings after the picks? The main rule should be to observe the distance between them of 5 cm or more. One way to achieve this result can be the sitting of the dive petunia in separate pots or plastic cups, having previously made drainage holes in them, since it is otherwise impossible to grow the petunia seedlings of the house before the flowering begins: the shoots grow rapidly and actively occupy space.

Conclusion

Having learned how to plant petunia on seedlings, you will get no bad results without problems. Your work will be rewarded with delightful caps of bright, fragrant flowers. And this is almost nothing will cost you, because growing petunia seedlings at home is very simple. Beautiful flower gardens!