Most gardeners are interested in how to grow petunia from seeds, because the cost of planting material is high and arrangement of a large bright flower bed will require significant financial costs. It is better to learn how to grow seedlings on your own, the efforts are worth it - the flower garden will shine with buds with elegant "skirts" of different colors.
How to get petunia seeds at home?
For the first time seeds can be bought in a store and grown seedlings. But then when you grow flowers, you still have a question - how to collect the seeds of petunia at home. There are several tips:
- grains for future flowers are taken from standing and wilted plants, which must be noticed at the time of their flowering;
- the cycle of seeds ripening is 2-3 months, it is important not to rush when collecting them;
- keep the seeds in a dry place with room temperature, wrapped in paper or foil, they last for several years;
- many varieties are hybrids and do not give secondary offspring. You can get seeds yourself from simple varieties of petunia.
Planting petunia with seeds
In order for the germination process to pass as quickly as possible, before planting the petunia with seeds, they must undergo treatment. For this, it is necessary to carry out the procedure of scarification - the seeds are placed in a pot with moistened sand, wrapped with a film. Then the seeds are kept for 2 months in the refrigerator. Periodically, the pot must be extracted and watered with sand.
Seeding of petunia seeds - terms
To properly plant the seeds of petunia, it is important to choose the right time for sowing:
- Petunia can be rooted very early - in February. But lack of light leads to the fact that the sprouts become elongated, weak, unable to cope with diseases. Such planting should be additionally highlighted with lamps to increase the light day (it should be about 16 hours).
- In ordinary sowing, the seeds are planted from the middle to the end of March. At this time, a sunny day is already long, to provide sprouts with the necessary amount of light. In this case, it is better to place the container with seeds on the south, east or west window.
- From planting in the ground to flowering culture, it usually takes 3-3.5 months.
How to properly grow petunia from seeds?
Before growing petunia from seeds at home, they prepare wide, not very deep containers - cassettes, boxes, cups. In any tank, you need to do more holes so that water does not stagnate, otherwise the seedling will die from a fungus disease called "black leg" . Alternatively, it is possible to plant petunia seeds in a pot, but it is more convenient to take a plastic rectangular transparent box from under the cake with a lid. There are some features of how to grow petunia from seeds:
- Its grains are small, so they spread them on the surface of the moistened substrate with a toothpick, without falling asleep with earth. Seeds of a flower for germination need light. Therefore, the crop is superficial, the seeds can not be sprinkled with earth, otherwise they will not be able to break through. For better contact with the soil, the seeds can be slightly pressed with a toothpick.
- Then the container is covered with a lid, a film or glass, placed in a warm place.
- Cultivation of petunia seedlings is carried out at + 20-25 ° С.
- To prevent condensation from dripping onto the sprouts, you need to systematically ventilate the container and wipe off excess moisture from its surfaces.
- When the seedlings show the first leaf, plantings begin to aerate.
How to grow petunia from seeds - soil
For ornamental petunia, when growing from seeds, a loose, fertile and moisture-absorbing soil is needed. Purchased soil for flowering crops based on peat plants like. You can prepare your own mixture. To do this, mix the same parts of humus, turf, peat and sand. The substrate before planting is best sifted and disinfected in a steamer or colander for an hour. This will save the growth of petunias from diseases and weeds.
Petunia from seeds at home - watering
For garden petunia when grown from seeds at home, it is important to properly water the shoots. Sprouts should be checked to ensure that the soil is not very wet, but not dry. To do this, seedlings are sprayed daily at least a couple times a day. Water it better in a tray or neatly right under the roots. Periodically sprouts are recommended to irrigate with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, so that they do not fall ill with a black leg.
The quality of watering is also important, because to successfully grow a petun from seeds, you need a soft liquid that does not contain chlorine. To do this, tap water is recommended to stand for a minimum of 24 hours, before sprinkling, a little lemon juice is added to it. The temperature of the liquid and soil should be the same. Watering is carried out in the evening, since at night the intensity of shoot growth is higher.
How to grow petunia from seeds - top dressing?
To grow petunia from seeds at home, it will take 2-3 months until the weather gets warmer. To get a strong and healthy seedlings, when the shoots a little grow up, they begin to feed. The flower is very responsive to the application of fertilizers. Knowing how to plant petunia with seeds, and giving the plant plenty of nutrients, culture can please bright buds until the cold. First, feeding is done from 5 to 14 days - when the first shoots appeared. It should be based on calcium (prevents drawing) and nitrogen (stimulates the development of lateral shoots).
The next feeding is made after a couple of weeks after the picking every two weeks. First, for seedling, only foliar spraying is used, alternating growth biostimulators and mineral complex fertilizers containing nitrogen, for example, Agricola. In the future, for budding should be carried out and root feeding with compounds based on phosphorus and potassium. It is better to use liquid forms that are diluted with water.
Through how many seeds of petunias rise?
On the question, through how many the seeds of petunia will come, experienced gardeners give a definite answer - after a week or two. At the same time, immediately the lid or glass is not removed, the plant is initially taught to fresh air - open for a couple of hours a day. After two days, the lid can be removed completely. The temperature of the content of seedlings is reduced - in the daytime it should not exceed + 20 ° C, at night - + 16 ° C (this is an important time of growing).
When 4-6 leaves appear on the seedlings, they are dived - each transplant is transplanted into a separate transparent pot. In this case, the seedling is deepened to the first leaves to reduce the likelihood of rot disease. Accommodation in larger containers will allow plants to grow roots the first month. When the soil in the glass is tightly bound by underground processes, shoots are transplanted into pots of up to 2 liters, where they grow before planting in the garden.
From the end of April to the beginning of May (after spring frosts) grown and strengthened saplings are transferred to the open ground. Disembarkation is carried out in the evening or on a cloudy day, soaking in advance the roots of the seedlings with water. The distance in the flowerbed plantation is 20-25 cm, after the migration the flowers are watered, the soil around the seedling is mulched with peat, humus to protect it from cold and keep humidity.
Why do not petunias bloom from seeds?
Before growing petunia from seeds, it is important to study the features of plant cultivation. If the plant does not bloom for a long time, it is necessary to pay attention to the following main points:
- To grow petunia from the seeds of the house, plant the seedlings in a well-lit place - the plant likes light and warmth.
- Beauty needs nutritional top dressing. It is recommended to alternate irrigation with fertilizers: nitrogen stimulates growth, is used at the beginning of growth of the bush; Potassium and phosphorus are needed for budding. The optimal scheme of fertilizing: watering, applying organic or mineral fertilizers, again moisturizing, sprinkling with top dressing on the leaves.
- Moisture of the soil. Adult plants need though not frequent, but abundant watering. And young seedlings can not be moistened a lot - they can die.
- The dead petals must be removed along with pedicels, this will provoke a new wave of budding. Do it better every day, otherwise the seed boxes will start to tie, and the flower will give all the strength to the formation of seeds.
- Young bushes need pinches, they remove the top, leaving 3-4 leaves. This stimulates the growth of new shoots and buds.
- In the lower part of the plant, it is also necessary to systematically remove faded leaves. In the decaying tops, some pest may be planted.