When to sow petunia so that it blooms before planting on a flower bed or pots

Flaming fireworks, fellow flower growers!

Today on the agenda is the timing of sowing petunias for seedlings, which are already coming on our heels. It is worth spreading the seeds too early - by May the seedlings will not be able to grow in small containers (if the florist has taken care of artificial lighting) or, even worse, they will stretch out and be weak. Unable to bear many flowers (only growing under the winter sun). It is worth being late - you will have to wait until mid-July for flowering.

When to sow petunia seeds

The sowing date can be easily calculated by each fellow grower independently. In each case, for your region.

Remember the approximate date the weather sets in, allowing the seedlings to be finally transferred to the street. When the threat of frost has passed, and at night the temperature does not drop below 10 ° C, but better - 13 ° C. This is the minimum that petunia seedlings will withstand without loss. For example, in my region, the favorable weather probably comes on May 20.

Now, comrades, important information:

• The vegetative period (from the emergence of a sprout in a container with seeds to the dissolution of buds) in a bush petunia takes about 3 months - 90 days.
• The vegetative period for ampelous and cascading varieties of petunias is even longer - 100-110 days.

At this point, it would be possible to start counting. But! Feel free to add another 10-20 days to the growing season. Time will take away seed germination and possible hitch in development due to unfavorable conditions. None of us can boast that he creates the perfect seedlings maintenance and care.

By simple calculations

I subtract 100 days from the desired flowering start date (May 20) for bush petunias and 120 for ampel or cascade hybrids. I suggest, comrades: in order not to point your finger at the calendar, use the "calculator of days" on the Internet. So enter into the search engine: "calculator of days".

Here's what happened to me:

• Shrub must be sown no later than the first half of February;
• Ampel and cascade - in the second half of January.

But winter sowing is possible only with a supplementary lighting lamp. There is still very little sun. If you don't have a lamp, sow in March. But flowering will come later:

• Shrub, when sown on March 8, will bloom in mid-June;
• Ampelnaya and bush will gain strength in the first half of July.

Is it critical? Not really. In my opinion, even with the March sowing, the start of flowering is very acceptable. In the end, for early flowering, you can buy several bushes of already adult seedlings with buds.