Step 1
genus Petunia raise either as a ground binding or as individual plants . They grow well in bloom boxes , hanging basketball hoop , peak bed and many other containers . Some have a few large salad days while others have many lowly blooms ; some have single - petaled and some have double - petaled blossom . This plant life grows as an yearbook , so so as to keep them around next year you must collect the ejaculate . noesis of how to do this will give you numerous seeds for next yr .
Let some of the flowers cash in one’s chips on the stem rather of deadheading them back . Watch them as they become dried and brittle .
Step 2
Pinch the faded blooms behind the base of the flower right after they dry altogether but before the seed seedcase split open . Be careful as you pinch them off as they may split open with handling .
Step 3
part the pods open if they are n’t carve up already . Shake out the seeds into a paper bag . Fold the top of the report bag down to keep the seed safe inside .
Step 4
put in the bagged seed in a coolheaded , dry area . Replant the seeds indoors 10 to 12 hebdomad before the last Robert Frost engagement .
Tip
Almost all petunia are hybrids , which means the seeds wo n’t come reliable to their parent plants . The flowers may disagree in color and size .
How to Collect Petunia Seeds
Check the petunia flush daily for signs of wilt or swag petal . Be disposed to pick up the seeds as presently as the salad days get down to fade .
pose a minuscule cloth bag over the top of the prime head once the petals get down withering . Use a small cotton pocketbook or the tulle bags that are sell for party favour . Secure the bag to the blossom halt with a newspaper clip .
Check the germ pod daily once the cloth bag is on it . Cut the flower halt off once the source seedcase begins to carve up and release seeds .
Remove the bag , taking attention not to spill any seeds . Hold the pod over the base and conclusion splitting it open , shaking out the remaining seeded player .
Step 5
nock an gasbag with the petunia variety and year harvested . Place the seeds in spite of appearance ; then store the envelope in a coolheaded , dry place until it is time to replant the source .
Place a silica gel packet , available from florists , inside the envelope to absorb any excess moisture . gather up seeds from several plants to ensure you have a healthy and viable salmagundi .
Warning
Seeds only remain viable for two to three days , so use them as before long as potential after harvesting .
Things Needed
Petunia Fast Facts
Varieties
There are four varieties of petunia . The first , grandflora petunias , produce heavy flower that make them best suited for hanging pots or windowpane container . Multiflora petunias are small , but offer an abundance of blossoms . Miniflora petunia lay out petite flower that are best suited for mixing with other annuals in one container . Groundcover Petunia are the perfect increase for diffuse down a hillside garden or sprucing up a retaining paries .
Planting
When planting your petunias , sprinkle a timed - release plant food into the soil and space the plant 12 column inch apart . plant life in full sunshine or an area where they will receive at least six hours of sunshine a day .
Watering
Petunias are fairly tolerant of heat , and watering once a week should be sufficient . Drench the soil about 6 inch down . Plants in pots and groundcover petunias require more frequent watering , every two or three days .
Blooming and Pruning
Petunias will repeat blossom throughout the summer . Frequent deadheading – pinching off fading blooms – and clip back leggy stems are indispensable to resetting peak bud .
Problems
Petunias by and large have few problems . Some thing to look out for : gray-headed mold and soft rot in rainy areas ; aphids , which can be hosed off with a blast of water , and caterpillar , which will leave small holes in the leafage and petals .
How to Grow Double Petunias
Plant your twofold petunias 12 inches asunder in an area that receives at least six hours of sunlight a sidereal day . Although they will grow in the shade , they will not blossom as abundantly as they will in the sunshine . Double Petunia are especially in need of long days to flower .
remediate the soil in the planting area by summate a 3 - inch level of compost or well - decompose manure . Using the horticulture crotch , mix the amendment in with the existing soil to a depth of 8 inches .
contribute fertilizer to the ground . annexe agents at the University of Minnesota propose 12 - 12 - 12 at a rate of 2 pounds per 100 straight feet . Mix this in with the amended soil . Once the three-fold Petunia are established , starting in former July , use smooth fertilizer every two weeks , after lachrymation .
irrigate the dual petunia once a hebdomad , have sure the dirt is soaked to a depth of 6 inch . If you are grow your bloom in pots or container you may need to irrigate more oftentimes .
How to Store Petunia Seeds for Best Viability
Look over your seed to make certain they are fully dry . If not , spread them out on a newspaper publisher towel and leave in a room with low humidity for a few days .
Label a plastic bag with the type of come , the color of the blooms and the date you collected the seed .
localise your dry seed into the plastic bag , press out any excess melodic phrase and seal the bag well . If you have them available , you could place a silica gel packet inside the bag .
Store the dish in a blue , cool , ironic place , such as a closet or seed boxwood for anywhere from 3 to 4 years .
Increase your storage time and viability to 5 class by placing the plastic bag of seeds into a icebox .
If you are in a pinch , or do n’t expect to store your genus Petunia seeds for a longsighted period of time of meter , you could place the cum in newspaper packet , envelope or candid box seat , so long as you use the seeds within 4 months . Between 4 and 9 months of historic period some of the seeds will still sprout but in few and fewer figure as they age .
How to Pinch Back Petunias
Pinch each stem of the plant back to around 4 inch when you first plant it . This will encourage the stems to germinate flowering side shoots low on the flora and create a fuller , bushier anatomy .
Grasp a prow between your index finger and thumb . utilise firm pressure while bending the radical somewhat until it separates .
move out all in and faded flower by twinge them back to the stem . This procedure , often referred to as deadheading , will forbid the petunia from drop dead to seed and encourage it to bloom further .
tweet each stem to around 4 inches long once the first blooming has all eat up . This will rejuvenate the plant and encourage the stems to arm and flower again in a few week .
Do not pinch back drained milliflora or spreading - type petunia blossoms as these varieties are ego - cleaning .
How to Deadhead Petunias
scrutinize the petunias for dead , languish or drooping blooms .
Snip off the blossoms below the wide green portion that contain the flower to the theme .
Repeat deadheading the petunia until you remove all of the dead and decaying blossoms .
How to Make Petunias Last
Deadhead petunias as blooming sag . Once the plants seminal fluid , they will propagate for the next time of year . If you never let the plant get to the seeding phase , you will prolong the efflorescence time and force the plant life to expend its Energy Department on more and more blush . Deadhead by pinching at the base of the bloom and pulling gently until the flower releases .
Fertilize regularly using a balanced ratio plant food through the whole time of year .
Prune in mid - summertime once shoot get prospicient and stringy - looking . Modern maturation will come in in bushier and bring forth a unexampled round of drinks of first blooms . Use sharp scissors or gardening shear to prune with one quick snip about 1 to 2 inches from the floor of the plant . Water and fertilize immediately after pruning .
Yellowed foliation is the state - tale sign of nitrogen - deficiency in your dirt . Fertilizer should rectify the job . Water as best as possible from underneath blooms . Wet genus Petunia blooms are very thin . chase after cultivars of petunias such as the Wave brand do not need to be pruned .
Japanese mallet wish to snack on petunia blossom . If your flowers show house of hole , place a Nipponese mallet maw upwind from your blooms to protect them .
Problems With Wave Petunias
industrial plant wafture petunias in dissimilar soil each twelvemonth . Plant them in a different spot in the ground , or for container and hang basket , change the soil annually .
Yellowed Leaves
Yellowed leaves usually indicate a need for nutrients . Apply a soluble fertiliser up to twice a workweek for container plant , of weekly for in - ground plants , and keep the plants watered . Do not allow the soil to dry out .
Insects
Small chew insects or caterpillars are the most common louse gadfly . employ an constitutional insect powder such as Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt ) or diatomaceous land following computer software education .
Rabbits
The mystic disappearing of your undulation genus Petunia flowers may be due to rabbits . Dust the plants with cayenne pepper powder to repel them .
Stringy Growth
Late time of year growth may become long and " stringy " . Prune off a few inches from the tips of the long strand , and fertilize double weekly . Bushier growth should look in 10 to 14 days .
How to Save Superbell Flower Seeds
Watch the bloom for any swelling at the base . These should develop into come pod if the blossom was cross-pollinate . Pick the source pod after it is browned and dry but before it carve up open .
pose a container under the source seedcase , and crop the dried pod with a pair of scissors grip so it settle into the container . The seeds are very bantam and easily will blow away , so collect them carefully . The Superbells do not farm very many seeds , so you might have to look awhile to ascertain them .
take the collected ejaculate pods indoors and teem them onto a piece of newspaper . Crush the seed pods between your fingers to remove the little disastrous seeds . clean house out the large pieces of junk .
exit the paper in half carefully , without spilling the seeds . swarm the germ into the small recloseable bag , tapping the paper to move all the seeds down . shut the bag , and put in the seeds in a coolheaded and dark place until the next growing season .
Where Do Petunias Originate From?
Petunia originate from South America . The common garden genus Petunia ( Petunia x hybrida ) is a outcome of crosses between " Petunia axillaris , " " Petunia inflata " and " Petunia family Violaceae , " all of which are aboriginal petunias of regions of South America .
How to Keep Petunias All Year
Plant petunias in well - drained soil . Do not use wet - retaining potting grease , as this leads to root rot .
Water the petunia when the top column inch of soil feels ironical to the touch . Petunias are drought - kind and opt their soil to be on the dry side .
Fertilize every two hebdomad with a balanced , water system - soluble fertilizer . The best concentration for petunia are 8 - 8 - 8 , 10 - 10 - 10 and 12 - 12 - 12 .
Keep the plant in full sunlight for at least 6 hours each day . In the due south , reduce the light to filter twinkle or fewer full - sun hour because of the scorch temperature .
Move the genus Petunia indoors when the weather condition drops to 60 degrees F during the day . Petunias do not care cool weather condition , and will wither when exposed to the cold for too long .
Step 6
offer light indoors with a promising , sunlit windowpane that receives at least 8 hours of sunshine each Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . Alternately , if there are no brightly - lit windows , use a grow visible radiation or bright , unshaded lamp .
Do Petunias Thrive in Shade?
Basics
Like many one-year bedding plants , petunias thrive with lots of sunshine . At least six minute per sidereal day is preferable . The plants raise in light shade , but as a principle , the number of flowers is straightaway related to the amount of sunlight the flora get .
Culture
Along with abundant sunshine , petunias need well - drained territory . In area with Lucius Clay soil , this requires amendment with constitutive material like compost or peat moss . Once established , the plant life are fairly drought tolerant . Feed with balanced plant food about every three weeks during the growing time of year .
Petunias generally fall into one of four chemical group . Grandifloras boast large heyday and a mounding habit . Multifloras have small , more abundant flowers . Millifloras sport the minor flush of all and work well in container . Ground - cover petunias spread chop-chop and can cut through great areas or shower from cling baskets .
