what are some best tips for growing petunias?
Answers
Answer:
1. Soak in sun
To bloom abundantly, petunias require a good soak in the sun for at least 6 hours. They need warmth and sunlight. Keep your potted plants in a spot that receives full sun.
2. Watering is essential
Petunias may recover from the underwatering shock, but overwatering is the main reason why container grown petunias die. This attractive flowering plant requires moderate watering and slightly moist soil during the day. Water regularly but let the soil to dry out between the watering spells to avoid root rot.
3. Provide right soil
For growing best petunias in pots, your growing medium must drain freely. A soil-less mix is right for this purpose. Either buy it or make your own, there are plenty of mix recipes available on the web.
4. Fertilize for prolific blooms
Petunias are greedy and needy plants when it comes to fertilizer. Either apply slow release fertilizer at the time of planting or feed them every other week using the diluted liquid fertilizer like 10-10-10. Additionally, application of compost on top of the surface can be made too. If your container grown petunias have lush foliage and less or no flowers, you may need to apply fertilizer that is low in nitrogen.
5. Pinching should be done
If you’ve bought petunia plants from a nursery or growing them from transplants, pinch off the top one inch from each stem and remove all flowers. If grown from seeds, baby petunias (multifloras and grandifloras), when they’re 6 inches tall, pinch them back a little to promote more vigorous side shoots. Milifloras (spreading petunias) don’t require this.
6. Deadheading is must
This is one of the essential petunia care tips you need to follow. Remove faded flowers so that the plant can concentrate its energy on producing more blooms. It’s also important to remove the seed developing portion below each flower.
7. Look at pest
Common garden pests, especially the aphids affect this beautiful flowering plant the most. So keep an eye on them, look on and under the leaves to identify the infestation.
Answer:
Petunia is genus of 20 species of flowering plants of South American origin. The popular flower of the same name derived its epithet from the French, which took the word petun, meaning "tobacco," from a Tupi–Guarani language. An annual, most of the varieties seen in gardens are hybrids. Wikipedia
Scientific name: Petunia
Family: Solanaceae
Higher classification: Petunioideae
Order: Solanales
Rank: Genus
Kingdom: Plantae