Terry Petunia: Propagation By Cuttings

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Terry petunia belongs to that classic category of indoor plants that begin their flowering in early spring with the arrival of the first warm sunny days and delight with new blossoming buds until mid-summer. The windows look very elegant and the balconies, decorated with hanging baskets with pots of flowering plants, delight the eye of passers-by. In order for the petunia to continue to develop and delight with all the new flowering shoots, the mother plant will be transplanted into a fresh nutrient substrate in September

The graceful beauty of a guest from South America

Terry petunia belongs to the nightshade family. Her homeland is South America. Unlike a simple petunia with five petals soldered on a corolla, its terry sister has a graceful fluffy fringe and a more pleasant aroma.

The petal color of petunia is striking in a wide range of shades. The varieties come with white, barely noticeable pink, carmine, rich crimson, lilac, blue, blue, violet, almost black flowers. Varieties with colored petals, edged with white lace fringes, as if burnt out in the sun, are very popular.

Some of the petals remain white on the back, while on the inside they are speckled with bright veins extending into a colored base.

Cutting terry petunia at home

At home, terry petunia is propagated by cuttings. To do this, in August-September, a plant bush is transplanted into pots with a fresh substrate. It is prepared from the following ingredients:

• humus of the earth - two parts;

• turf land - one part.

The tops of the shoots are cut off. In the second decade of December, you can see the growth of axillary buds. Closer to January, new shoots are formed on the bushes. The optimal timing for cuttings is early spring. So that the mother plants do not start to stretch, they are kept in fairly bright rooms at a temperature of about + 10 … + 12 ° C. If the room is hotter, the rooting process is rarely successful.

More than two dozen cuttings can be obtained from one uterine flower. The March harvesting of planting material is also beneficial in that pruning into cuttings can be performed from 5-centimeter tops with a couple of internodes. New shoots for cuttings will appear after three weeks. In May, cuttings are no longer harvested from mother plants.

Cutting shoots for cuttings is carried out with a very sharp tool. A budding knife or a new razor will do this to make a sharp angle on the stem. The lower leaves of the cuttings are cut, the upper ones are shortened by half.

The rooting substrate is prepared from humus and sod land in equal shares. For 1 kg of soil mixture, it is useful to add 1 g of urea and 4 g of superphosphate. Plastic cups are suitable as a rooting container. Holes are made in the bottom for water drainage. At the bottom, a drainage layer of broken brick is arranged and the glass is filled with a nutrient substrate. The stalk is immersed in the ground and the plant is sprayed along with the soil. Then they build a simple little house, covering the glass with a handle with a glass jar. In the morning and in the evening, the jar is briefly removed for airing.

After three to four weeks, the rooted cuttings can be transplanted into pots for permanent residence. It is very simple to check how the plant is ready for transplantation. To do this, remove its transparent glass cover and observe the reaction of the cutting. If the plant begins to wilt, it is too early to replant it. When the leaves remain tight, the petunia is strong enough. As a rule, cuttings of the first cut take root more quickly and become stronger plants.