How we grow varietal petunia: sowing seeds, seedlings, flowering

Many complain that they are unable to grow high-quality varietal petunia seedlings at home. I want to share my experience of growing these beautiful flowers and tell you a few secrets of how to care for petunia. I have been growing flowers using this technique for five years now.

When growing petunia seedlings, watering, temperature, lighting, feeding and air humidity are very important. If you do not take these factors into account and do not provide the plant with the necessary microelements, you will hardly be able to achieve exuberant flowering.

Watering is done directly under the root, otherwise there is a risk of sunburn.

For irrigation, we use warm, settled water, if desired, you can add a handful of wood ash to it.

It is desirable that the water used for irrigation be at the same temperature as the air in the room where the petunia seedlings grow.

When feeding, it is advisable to use liquid fertilizers, and add them every fifth watering of the plant. For normal development, plants must be illuminated for at least fifteen hours a day. In winter, the sunny day is too short, so you will most likely need to provide additional lighting.

When transplanting seedlings, a significant part of the roots is cut off from plants. This happens because the root system is very branched and takes up a large volume of soil. The roots are then restored, but this is not a quick matter. If you grow each plant in a paper or plastic pot with a nutrient mixture, then there will be no such problems.

You can also use disposable cups, cut bottles, or small ceramic pots. The main thing is not to forget to make drainage holes in homemade pots. Seedlings can be grown in a greenhouse.

Lighting also deserves special attention. Petunia seedlings need 12-18 hours of sunshine! And in mid-latitudes there is little sun even on the sunny side, especially in winter and early spring - there can be up to 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Therefore, additional lighting is extremely important.

The first point of proper lighting is the staggered arrangement of the seedlings by the window (if the seedlings are grown in the house). The closest to the window are the low specimens, the farther are the higher ones. A mirror system is also needed, which will direct all the light to the seedlings. But even then you cannot do without lamps. They are located at different heights, but best of all - as close to the seedlings as possible.

Sometimes, with excessive watering of seedlings, you can encounter infection with nematodes - small, transparent, filamentous worms up to 1 mm long. The larvae settle in the leaf axils. Plants may stop flowering if affected by nematodes. It is necessary to carefully check the planting material, spray the bushes with Bordeaux liquid 3% in spring.

Protection from sucking pests, spider mites and whiteflies is carried out using biological products.