2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Petunias are perhaps the most popular garden flowers, because they are so versatile that they will be equally appropriate both in mixed flower beds or on luxurious alpine slides, as well as on balconies, verandas, loggias, as well as in hanging baskets or in rabat boxes. It is enough just to choose the most suitable variety or hybrid for these purposes! Petunias are incredibly attractive, completely unpretentious and delight the eyes with their wonderful flowering for a very long time! Difficulties in growing these beautiful flowers can arise only at the initial stage of their development, and especially often amateur gardeners have difficulties with picking. How to properly carry out this procedure for petunias?
Seedlings in peat tablets
Such tablets have recently gained truly unprecedented popularity and are nothing more than densely compressed dried peat, the volumes of which, in contact with moisture, begin to gradually increase. It is especially convenient to sow in them the granular or coated seeds most suitable for spot sowing.
For seedlings of petunias grown in miracle tablets, a full-fledged pick in the direct sense of this word is usually not required, but as soon as the seedlings reach the phase of two pairs of true leaves (that is, three to four weeks after sowing), they still need to be carefully transplanted. For this, it does not hurt to stock up on pots or cups in advance. These containers are filled with nutrient soil capable of boasting the proper physical and mechanical properties - ideally, rather light and loose, with good throughput. In this case, both the root system and all aerial parts of plants without exception will develop much better!
When the containers intended for transplanting are filled with soil, it is necessary to make small depressions in their very center - thoroughly moistened tablets with seedlings will be placed in these depressions. Then they are sprinkled with soil, making sure that they are completely hidden under it, and, having thoroughly spilled water, place all containers with seedlings in well-lit places.
Seedlings in boxes
If petunia seeds were sown in seedling boxes, then picking wonderful flowers will be a prerequisite, and it is important to try to have time to carry it out when the second pair of real leaves is formed on the seedlings. For this purpose, the required number of individual planting cups is prepared in advance. All cups are filled with a light and fairly loose nutrient mixture, and small depressions are made in the center of the upper soil layer.
Having thoroughly moistened the soil in the seedling box, they immediately begin to pick. And the most suitable tool for these purposes in this case will be tweezers - this will be especially important in the case of excessive thickening of crops or when sowing the most ordinary seeds. Tweezers help to significantly reduce the trauma of this manipulation for extremely fragile seedlings, which in turn will avoid damage to the root system that did not have time to get stronger.
Slightly "lifting" the moist soil with a small spatula and stepping back from the very beginning of tiny shoots about eight to ten millimeters, immediately pick up the first seedling with tweezers and carefully move it into a glass - there it is placed in a depression, generously sprinkled with soil and thoroughly spilled with water. Exactly the same manipulations are repeated with all the other seedlings, after which all the cups are transferred to the windowsills or to the shelves equipped with lighting. All that needs to be done next is to adjust the lighting, choose the most optimal feeding regime and moisturize the soil in a timely manner (that is, as it dries up).
In general, the process of picking beautiful petunias is not so difficult, however, of course, it requires remarkable diligence, boundless patience and maximum accuracy. And of course there should be no rush!
How to avoid picking?
Some experienced flower growers argue that it is quite possible to do without picking seedlings of beauties of petunias - and they are also right! Only for this it is important to observe a number of conditions, in particular, in this case it is recommended to resort exclusively to point sowing, immediately setting the required distance between future seedlings (the so-called "sowing step"). And for these purposes, it is better to take seeds for these purposes granulated or coated - as a rule, such seeds can boast of much larger sizes than the seeds of this beautiful plant that have a natural appearance. If these conditions are met, it is really quite possible to do without picking and get healthy and viable seedlings!
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