Growing And Using Petunias In Design

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Features of petunia

Petunia is a well-known honey-scented flowers. Recently, they are very widely used in the design of not only summer cottages, but also urban landscapes.

There are a huge number of varieties and varieties of this beautiful plant. Few people know that petunia is the closest relative of the potato, which was once also a purely ornamental crop.

The genus Solanaceae itself, to which the petunia belongs, is quite ancient, its plants have been cultivated for more than 300 years, and there are many species in the genus - more than 45, among which there are perennial grasses and shrubs that live mainly in South America.

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Petunia, cultivated for a long time as a wild plant with no special decorative effect, attracted the attention of breeders only at the beginning of the 19th century. The first hybrid plant was obtained relatively recently - in 1834, but this marked the beginning of the creation of more and more eye-catching varieties. All of them, without exception, both supermodern and old, but still beloved, are cultivated exclusively as annuals, and this is perhaps the only disadvantage of this plant.

Cuttings and seedlings of ampelous petunias

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At the peak of popularity are now ampelous varieties of petunias. They have rather long, often exceeding a meter, shoots that sink to the ground and bear flowers, reaching a diameter of 3-7 cm. The vast majority of petunias are plants with simple funnel-shaped flowers, but recently they have appeared on the market. double varieties, in which the edges of the petals are corrugated or have a wavy shape, and the flowers are more like stars. Of course, the color scheme is replete with variety: it is easy to get petunias with pure white flowers, cream, red, blue, purple and even coral.

Sowing petunias for seedlings

Petunia is grown by sowing seeds to obtain seedlings. Typically, the time from sowing seeds to seedlings ready for transplanting outdoors is approximately ten weeks.

Seeds are sown, focusing on the required dates for planting seedlings in open ground. Typically, the standard technique is to sow seeds around mid-March. Thus, you will receive flowering plants at the end of May, that is, at the optimal time for planting them in open ground. Sometimes petunias intended for sale in bloom are sown at the end of January or at the beginning of February, then the seedlings will be ready for planting at the end of April. In this case, it is better to plant it not in open ground, but in pots and flowerpots, which, when cold weather sets in, can be brought into a warmer room.

Production of petunia seedlings is a troublesome business in itself. Take at least the seeds - they are as small as dust, 1 gram contains up to ten or even twelve thousand seeds, therefore, to make the crops more uniform, it is recommended to mix them with river sand. It is best to sow them in wide and shallow boxes, so it is more convenient to care for the seedlings. The boxes are filled with nutritious, loose and moisture-retaining soil and placed in a heated greenhouse. When sowing, seeds are not embedded in the soil, they are scattered over its surface, previously moistened, after which they are covered with glass or transparent film.

For friendly germination, seeds need a temperature in the range of 22 … 25 ° С degrees and air humidity close to 100%. The first shoots appear quickly, usually after 5-7 days.

In order for the seedlings to develop normally, it is necessary to install additional lighting (at least 12 hours) and maintain the temperature in the greenhouse at 20 … 22 ° C. Seedlings need watering, but you need to be careful with it - the first week of the seedlings' life they are watered only from a sprayer a couple of times a day, with age, the number of waterings is sharply reduced, and the volume of water is doubled.

As soon as two true leaves are formed on the seedlings, which will happen in about 30-35 days, it is necessary to start picking. Plants are transplanted from boxes into pots, or into cassettes one at a time, the diameter of the container should be 6-9 cm, in such an individual house on nutrient soil they are left for growing.

During this period, for the full development of already grown plants, a temperature of 17 … 19 ° C in the daytime and 12 … 13 ° C at night is needed, artificial light should be on for at least 14 hours. Matured seedlings require different care, for example, watering should be at least 2-3 times a week, and after the start of flowering, watering is reduced to a minimum.

Approximately 7-10 days after the pick, the seedlings can be fed. Any complex water-soluble fertilizers are quite suitable for this. As for the concentration, it directly depends on the type of fertilizer and on the fertility of the soil mixture, while the average figures are 20-35 g per bucket of water. An interesting fact is ampelous, that is, branching petunias can be stimulated, which will contribute to even longer growths.

To do this, it is enough to pinch them in the phase of two pairs of true leaves. It is advisable to repeat the pinching after about 3-4 weeks. Before planting seedlings in the ground in a permanent place, it must be hardened, for which the temperature is reduced to 13 … 15 ° C for about a week.

Reproduction of petunia by cuttings

The seedlings sold on the market, however, like petunia seeds, are, unfortunately, mostly F1 hybrids. Why Unfortunately?

Yes, because such seeds are obtained by crossing perfectly matched parental lines, and if you collect seeds (if they are formed at all) from such petunias and want to propagate them, you will get a mixture of weakly decorative forms. But there is one secret: such petunias, however, like all the others, can be propagated by green cuttings.

You can cut ampelous petunias all season, of course, if this is done too late, then the cuttings will need to provide sufficient lighting. For cutting cuttings, the apical shoots are cut from petunia plants with two pairs of leaves on them. Then the lower leaves on the handle are carefully removed, and the upper (usually two) are slightly shortened. Cut cuttings, without soaking, are planted in a greenhouse in a nutritious soil, leaving a distance of 2.5 cm between them and burying them into the ground by a third of their length.

The soil for grafting is the same as that used for sowing, however, on top of this nutrient substrate, it is necessary to pour river sand with a layer of 2-3 cm. In the future, in order for the cuttings to root well, it is enough to follow three rules - to provide light, moisture and temperature. For normal rooting, lighting is necessary for at least eight hours a day, the temperature is not lower than 21 … 24 ° C and spraying 2-3 times a day to keep the soil constantly moist.

Usually, after a week, the first roots appear on the cuttings, and after another week their length will reach 1-2 cm, and they can be transplanted into pots of small diameter. To make ampelous petunia plants more bushy, pinch seedlings or rooted cuttings over 4-5 leaves. The best effect will be if this procedure is repeated after half a month. After 40-45 days, already sufficiently overgrown plants can be transplanted into larger pots.

Secrets of petunia

Petunia is especially loved by flower growers because it very easily adapts to a variety of cultivation conditions, grows in almost any climate and on any soil, its agricultural technology is primitive, and the duration of flowering and the brightness of flowers are unique.

Ampel varieties of petunias are ideal as a decoration for balconies, windows, if they are planted in vases, boxes or medium-height containers. Often ampelous petunias are planted in open ground. There they will be ideal ground cover plants, successfully filling the voids, decorating high alpine hills and the shores of artificial and natural reservoirs with powerful cascades of rich greenery and bright colors of their flowers.

Hanging ampelous petunias are often cultivated. They are placed in baskets made of plastic-coated wire and lined with coconut fiber, and to retain moisture with sphagnum moss. And there they look amazing!

The planting technique is simple: on the sides of the basket it is necessary to make cuts, usually they are made in several rows, and their diameter is about 4.5-5.5 cm. It is in these cuts that the petunia plants are planted, and as a result, a very beautiful flowering ball should be obtained. Such hanging flower beds are positive in almost everything: they are cheap and easy to fill with flowers, they are beautiful and durable, but the soil dries out very quickly in them, so you should not hang the flower beds in an open place, but rather place them under a small canopy.

Ampel petunias are very durable, the main condition for their successful cultivation is regular watering. In this case, watering should not be on the leaves, but under the root, as well as in a timely manner to remove all wilted inflorescences and feed them with full complex or organic fertilizers.

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Petunia varieties are beautiful tapeworm plants, but they can be well combined with various, seemingly completely different flowers.

Such adorable couples form petunias and begonias, coleus, lobularia and cineraria. Planted in a flower bed next to verbena, snapdragons, marigolds, rudbeckia and other plants with similar color and growth strength, they will also look very impressive. At the very beginning of summer, petunias enliven compositions with pansies, primroses, various bulbous cultures, and closer to the middle of summer they will come in handy under the barrel of late blooming irises or lilies.

Petunias planted by the reservoir diversify the landscape, usually formed by hosts, daylilies, tradescantia, or a variety of cereals. Planted in flowerpots, they will create a magnificent composition with pelargonium, fuchsia, lobularia, sweet peas and balsam. Hanging baskets and window boxes occupied by petunia can be supplemented with ivy, boudra or verbena.

Of the huge variety of varieties and hybrids of petunias, several of the most spectacular, and therefore popular, can be distinguished:

F1 Series Minitunia - stunning, miniature, cascading petunias, they have a cascading stem, sometimes growing up to a meter and forming a rather dense cloud of bright flowers, resistant to wind, drought and heavy rainfall. The series is represented by varieties of wonderful colors: Ivory, Rose, Rose Wayne, Parple, Parple Wayne, Pink, White, as well as their mixtures.

Series F1 Supertunia are already large-flowered cascading petunias, their habit is somewhat better, faster in growth, and has high field resistance. The long shoots of this series form a cascade covered with large flowers with a truly unique set of colors: Burgundy Star, Lavender White, Soft Pink, Pink Moorn, Plum Wayne, White, mix.

Series F1 Rapid - excellent branching ampelous petunia, resistant to most adverse weather conditions; the length of its shoots is up to 45 cm, the size of the flower reaches 6-7 cm in diameter. The colors range from bright pink to lavender and of course the mixture.

The F1 Ramblyn Series is ideal for selling flowering seedlings; the length of the shoots is from 45 to 60 cm, the flowers are 5-8.5 cm in diameter. Includes a variety of colors: cherry, lavender, lilac, hot pink, blue, peach, pink, red, salmon, phylet, light pink.

F1 Series Partitunia is the newest series of semi-ample hybrids, featuring a denser arrangement of flowers, which makes it more luxurious during almost the entire growing season. Has several fundamentally new colors; Salmon, Rose, Red, Kim, Oange, Deep Rose.