How To Plant Petunia Granules? How Many Days Do Seeds Sprout? How To Sow Them For Seedlings? What Are The Features Of Pellet Planting? What Is The Shelf Life Of Seeds For Sowing?

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 12:09

Petunia is an extremely beautiful annual flower. It can often be seen in flower beds, in front gardens and just in garden plots. This plant has a bright and lush flowering, and is also characterized by unpretentious care. But to grow a petunia at home, you will have to make a lot of effort. We will talk about how to do this using granular seeds below.

Features and varieties

Petunia "Grandiflora", and it is this plant that is most often grown at home, has one significant drawback - it does not germinate well. That is why it is increasingly possible to see her seed in granules. Pelleted seeds are those whose surface is reliably coated with a special solution. Such a shell usually consists of a complex multicomponent composition, which necessarily includes:

• disinfectants;
• growth stimulants;
• a whole range of diverse nutrients.

Thanks to this coating, growing petunia seeds becomes much easier - they are easier and faster to sow. And the germination capacity increases several times. Unlike ordinary seed, this one is realized in special flasks, each of which contains 10-12 seeds. Of these, about 7-10 pieces will rise. It is also important to remember that the shelf life of granular seed does not exceed 2 years.

Starting from the second year of storage, germination decreases every month by 3-5%. Therefore, you should choose only the freshest seeds possible.

When to sow and wait for shoots?

Sowing timing should be based on two important factors

• A place . This can be an open ground, a greenhouse, or a room.
• Climatic zone . If in central Russia sowing is carried out in mid-March, then in the northern corners this time can shift until the end of April - beginning of May. It all depends on the weather conditions.

Planting granulated petunia seeds should be 2-2.5 months before their potential planting in open ground . This rule applies to material that will be sown in a greenhouse or room. Seedlings in this case appear in about 10-20 days from the moment of planting. It is important to understand that when planting petunia seedlings on the street, you need to be sure that there will be no frosts or sharp drops in temperature - otherwise the plant will die.

Usually, a flower is transplanted to a permanent place in May. Therefore, it will be correct to sow seeds in February. In open ground, seeds are sown in such a way that by the time the shoots appear, the average temperature of the soil is 16 degrees, and the environment is not lower than +18 at night and +22 in the daytime. The first shoots appear after about 2-3 weeks, but only under the condition of optimal humidity, temperature and daylight hours.

Petunia takes longer to grow outdoors than indoors, and the first shoots appear unevenly. However, in the future, such plants are stronger and more hardy.

How to sow correctly?

Now let's take a step-by-step look at planting granular petunia seeds in two different ways.

Peat tablets

Their popularity is getting stronger every year. All that is needed is to place the container in warm water for 10 minutes, then take it out and set it tightly to each other in a container with a pallet . Place one granulated seed in the middle of each tablet. Sprinkle each seed with a strong jet from a spray bottle . This is necessary in order for its shell to crack. Sometimes it is so dense that the granule does not open on its own, then the plant does not germinate.

Then the container is covered with a lid or foil on top and placed in a warm and well-lit place. During the germination of the seed, the room temperature should not drop below 20 degrees, and the length of daylight hours should be at least 15 hours.

If the surface of the tablets dries up, it must be moistened - it is best to pour warm water into the pan.

Regular boxes

Here, choose a container with a depth of no more than 20 cm and holes in the bottom. It is desirable that the container has a lid in the kit. If it is not there, then in advance it is necessary to prepare a piece of strong transparent film or clean glass in such a way that the covering material completely and tightly covers the upper part of the container.

Drainage is poured at the bottom of the container - it is better to use ordinary small pebbles … Pour the substrate on top. Here you need to either purchase a ready-made mixture, or make it yourself from equal parts of earth, peat and humus. On the surface of the soil, shallow grooves are made with a depth of no more than 1.5 mm and watered with warm water. Then they spread the seeds of petunia in them. at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other, and between the rows 5 cm.

From above, the crops are sprayed with warm water from a spray bottle and covered with glass, film or a lid. They are removed to a warm and well-lit room with a temperature of 25 degrees. As with sowing in peat tablets, it is necessary to remove the shelter for 5-10 minutes once a day to ventilate the seeds, and if necessary, irrigate the crops with a small amount of warm water.

Observance of daylight hours is also mandatory. When sowing in open ground, exactly the same sequence of actions is followed. But the shelter of crops is maintained only until the first shoots appear, and the time of daily ventilation is increased by 3 minutes every day.

Care

After the emergence of mass shoots, the basic rules of care are slightly modified

• Temperature at night it should be 14 to 16 degrees above zero. During the daytime, it should be in the range of 21-25 degrees.
• Watering regular but moderate, no frills. It is best to water the petunia seedlings through a tray or with a syringe without a needle. So the risk of injury is minimal.
• If daylight hours less than 15 hours, additional use of special phytolamps is required.

It is not necessary to apply fertilizer when planting granular seeds before planting petunias in a permanent place. But the picking of plants in the case of their planting not in peat pots, but in ordinary containers is carried out if the flower has two real leaves.

Strict adherence to all stages and recommendations will allow you to grow a strong and healthy petunia at home without much effort.