The neighbor's petunia blooms beautifully with a ball until frost. And my

Do you want to admire the lush petunia before the cold weather? Then a fiery salute, comrade diligent florist!

Today on the agenda - 3 actions that need to be done in the middle of summer to extend the decorativeness of a colorful annual flower until late autumn. Wipe your feet, come in, sit down!

What happened to me and my petunia in the middle of summer

Whatever varieties and types of petunias I buy - from common bushes from "Aelita" to newfangled vegetative surfinias - the same story was repeated every summer. A couple of weeks ago, an ornamental plant exactly after mid-summer turned into a wreck with rare flowers, like a carriage became a pumpkin at midnight.

Frustrated, I got up on tiptoes and peered over the fence into my neighbor's yard. Alas and ah: her petunias remained blooming balls until the fall. "No witch!" - I exclaimed in my hearts once. And, knocking over a glass of tea for courage, he went to the woman to demand an explanation.

Judging by Galina's narrowed eyes, the woman did not want to give out the secret. But, either knowing about my grumpy nature, or remembering how I planted maiden grapes near the common fence and Brunner in revenge for not giving me a strawberry mustache, soon split. Reporting!

"It is not a magic wand that brings back youth to Petunia. And the scissors "

The main reason for the deplorable appearance of petunias is natural aging. Its lashes are stretched, the young growth is almost invisible, so flowers naturally appear only at the edges and in deplorable quantities. The bush itself falls apart and becomes shapeless. Don't put up with it!

As soon as Galina senses something is wrong, she takes out sharp scissors. And cuts each shoot by about half. Petunia, oddly enough, grows very quickly. Pruning stimulates the growth of side shoots and the bush becomes even more luxuriant than it was.

A bag from the kitchen cabinet that will come in handy for petunias

Petunia is designed in such a mysterious way that it loves slightly acidic soil.. For nerds who love numbers, I will point out: the optimal pH is 5.5 to 6.0. Everything that is higher - both suppresses growth, and generally does not allow the flower to absorb nutrients from the soil: even soak in a basin with fertilizer - there will be no sense.

Now, comrade, we must remember that most often petunia is watered with tap water. Which, in turn, is often tough. This means that in 2 months the soil has already become alkaline, that is, the pH mark has increased to critical numbers.

Hope you guessed it. The soil in the pots must be acidified. And there is nothing better than a citric acid solution. At the direction of Galina, I take only 1 teaspoon for a 10 liter bucket - it is more than enough!

Friendly tip: First stir the lemon in a glass of warm water. Then pour it into a bucket or watering can.

How not to get confused in feeding and not harm

It is clear that petunia has already used up the entire supply of soil in a pots or a box, kindly provided to her in May. Leaving petunia without feeding is to doom in advance to drag out a meager-blooming existence until the end of the season.

But, comrade, each feeding should solve a specific problem:

• After the 1st point (anti-aging pruning), the foreground is to make the petunia grow new, fluffy greens. If there is no bush, you will not see flowers. We apply a solution of any nitrogen fertilizer along the sheet. We spray, and do not pour under the root - it works faster this way!). Galina uses calcium nitrate; at worst, you can take any fertilizer in a bottle for decorative foliage.
• Then, when the petunia grows in size, we stimulate flowering with a solution of potassium monophosphate (1 g per 1 liter of water). Also on the sheet, of course.
• Until the very last day of the season, we feed petunias once every 2 weeks with any complex mineral fertilizer for decorative flowering. With a solution - at the root. This will help our beauties to hold out with dignity to the end!

Do you love petunia and was this article helpful? Press comrade "Thumbs up"!
Sincerely yours, Fyodor Tyapkin-Sklyankin, who has a maiden grape for every greedy neighbor to pick up!