Rules for feeding petunia seedlings for growth and abundant flowering

Rules for applying fertilizers

Petunias are very responsive to fertilization, but the gardener needs to follow the golden rule of fertilizing this crop - it is better to underfeed the seedlings than to overfeed them. Excess nutrients and improperly applied fertilizers can destroy seedlings. When applying this or that fertilizer, you should observe the reaction of the flowers - if the petunia liked the feeding, it will respond with vigorous growth.

Petunia seedlings can be fed by watering the soil under the root of the seedlings with nutrient solutions. Do this only on damp soil immediately after watering. The flower should be well watered at least an hour before applying fertilizer.

The peculiarity of petunias is that they better absorb nutrients in liquid form. Therefore, it is advisable to prepare liquid fertilizers in the form of solutions. Scattering granules will not give the same effect as watering a flower with a solution.

This flower crop must be fed throughout the growing season. But long-term fertilizers are applied only once. Petunias are fertilized with liquid fertilizers every week.

It is recommended to alternate foliar feeding and root feeding. In this case, the plant is sprayed over the leaf with a weaker solution.

Useful tips on how to feed petunia seedlings

• Fertilizers come in liquid, granular, and stick form that are dipped into the soil. It is most convenient to use liquid fertilizer. Since at any time you can change the concentration and amount of fertilizer used. In addition, it is distributed more evenly in the soil.
• Petunia responds very well to leaf fertilizer, that is, to irrigating the bush. Through the leaves it absorbs nutrients much better.
• For seedlings, the fertilizer solution is made weaker than for an adult plant.
• Do not forget that for seedlings it is important not only to apply fertilizers and fertilizing, but also to correct watering and temperature conditions.

Mandatory feeding for petunia

If you learn how to properly fertilize petunia and know exactly what to feed these flowers with, you can achieve long and colorful flowering. So, petunia is fertilized with potassium monophosphate so that the buds have a brighter color.

The first thing a grower needs to consider is what important minerals and trace elements the crop needs.

The first feeding for petunia is applied by spraying the leaves two weeks after the sprouts emerge. To do this, seedlings are shed with a weak solution of manganese or fungicides. It is necessary to spray the plants so that the solution gets on the stems and leaves, as well as on the ground.

The soil in the box with seedlings should be kept moist at all times. But petunia should not be over-watered, as excessive dampness can cause root rot.

Petunia seedlings will grow very well if you regularly fertilize them with mineral mixtures. Typically, fertilizing with mineral supplements is carried out between watering the plants. It is enough to add minerals once every two weeks.

Feeding stages for good growth

Petunias are very voracious in terms of fertilizers. If you want to have blooming clouds of petunias all summer, you need to be prepared to constantly apply fertilizer.

First feeding

The first feeding of petunia should begin before planting the seeds in the ground. To do this, the soil is treated with a fungicide. After this treatment, petunias are not afraid of black leg.

Before the pick

Once the first shoots appear, it is important for them to maintain good lighting, temperature and humidity. If all conditions are met, then the seedlings need nothing more. But if one of the listed phases is disrupted, the plant must be sprayed with immunostimulants:

• Epin;
• Zircon;
• NV-101.

This feeding will help petunia seedlings withstand unfavorable conditions.

Important! Petunias, both seedlings and adult plants, need to be fed with macro- and microelements and vitamins at least twice a month.

After the pick

At the seedling stage, fertilizers also need to be applied. After the first two pairs of strong leaves appear, the seedlings should be transplanted into larger containers or individual cups. It is at this time that the first fertilizing is applied. A little universal fertilizer or fertilizer containing phosphorus is poured under the root.

In order for the seedlings to take root and take root faster, the plantings need to be slightly shaded for a couple of days.

A week later, if no troubles occurred with the seedlings, the relocation was successful, you need to feed them with nitrogen-containing fertilizer leaf by leaf. That is, spray fertilizer on young leaves from a spray bottle with small holes.

After 10 days, you can do another fertilizing with nitrogen. Then you should switch to potassium fertilizers for petunias. Alternating potassium and nitrogen-containing preparations will give a good result. At this time, and at any other time, the main thing is to prevent excess moisture. Before planting in a permanent place, they give very little phosphorus.

Also, immediately after picking, the plant requires preventive treatment against pathogenic microorganisms and fungi.

The following are well suited for these purposes:

• Potassium manganese solution;
• Phytosporin solution;
• Energen solution.

It is best to spray fertilizers over the surface of the soil and the lower parts of the plant from a spray bottle. This way the roots of the petunias will not be harmed.

Vitamins for petunias

Lush, abundant flowering can be achieved by adding vitamin complexes to the plants. Feeding petunia with vitamins is usually done after picking. When real leaves appear on the seedlings, they are planted in separate pots.

An excellent remedy that can be used to feed petunia after transplantation is a solution of yellow crystallon. 1 tbsp. l. The substances are diluted in 10 liters of water and the seedlings are shed. Crystallon promotes the formation of a powerful root system and rapid growth of seedlings.

You can also use a solution of green crystallon if the seedlings grow very poorly and look pale. This substance is used for foliar feeding. The solution is sprayed onto the leaves and stems. After this treatment, the seedlings will begin to grow much better.

Instead of crystallon, you can use the following nutritional compositions:

• "Uniflor Micro";
• B vitamins, especially B12;
• thiamine

If you need to grow a lot of seedlings, it is better to purchase complex fertilizer in a large package.

The use of B vitamins to fertilize seedlings and already mature petunia bushes gives excellent results. This plant is very “voracious” during the budding period, so the seedlings should be sprayed every 10 days with B vitamins, which can be bought at the pharmacy. It is recommended to dilute the contents of 1 ampoule with water in a ratio of 1:10 and spray the stems and foliage.

Types of fertilizers and methods of their use

The application of combined fertilizers is one of the agrotechnical techniques that makes it possible to achieve abundant flowering of the crop. Ready-made complex mineral and organic preparations, as well as folk remedies, are widely used to help enrich the soil throughout the season.

Based on the method of application, fertilizing is divided into two types: root and foliar.

Root (by adding to the soil) and foliar (by spraying on leaves and stems) nutrition must be alternated with each other in order to deliver minerals, vitamins, amino acids and other elements to all parts of the plant. When foliar feeding, most fertilizers for spraying are diluted weaker than for root watering, and the concentration is reduced with more frequent use.

The correct feeding regime is especially necessary for flowers growing in a limited small volume of soil.

During the period of initial growth and formation of green mass, the main emphasis is on fertilizers with a high nitrogen content. At the next stages - when flowers appear, fertilizing is carried out with phosphorus-potassium based compounds. Potassium promotes intensive budding, and phosphorus affects the development and strength of the root system. In this case, nitrogen is either excluded altogether or added in very small quantities, so as not to provoke the vigorous development of greenery to the detriment of abundant and long-lasting flowering.

According to experts and gardeners, feeding petunias should be carried out according to the following scheme :

• It is recommended to enrich the soil intended for growing crops with nutrients using organic matter, for example, bird droppings. It is added as an infusion (100 g per 3 liters of water). Before fertilizing, the soil in the container or flowerbed should be moistened so as not to “burn” the root;
• before sowing, it is recommended to keep uncoated – and especially questionable from the point of view of germination – seeds in a 0.004% solution of succinic acid, which is a strong adaptogen and growth stimulator, for 12-24 hours;
• Coated seeds are not soaked, but their crops must be watered regularly, keeping the soil moist. If this is not done, the seed coat will not dissolve and they will not be able to germinate;
• two weeks after planting the seedlings, make the first fertilizing with fertilizers with a predominance of nitrogen, which promotes the development and growth of the green mass of the plant;
• then, until the very end of flowering, complex mineral preparations with a predominance of phosphorus and potassium are added every 5-10 days;
• in case of iron deficiency, manifested by yellowing of the leaves, the plants are fed three times at weekly intervals with iron-containing products in chelated form, for example “Ferovit”.

Modern chelate preparations are complex organic, biologically active complexes, similar in structure to natural compounds, for example, chlorophyll or vitamin B12. The chemical elements in them are associated with special chelating (capturing) agents. This ensures good solubility and easy absorption of necessary substances by plants without third-party reactions in the soil.

When using purchased drugs, you must carefully study the instructions for use and follow the indicated dosages and feeding schedule

Specialized stores offer a wide range of formulations in the form of granules, liquid concentrates, dry mixtures and powders, which are diluted with water according to the instructions on the label.

The most popular complex fertilizers for petunias are listed in the table:

Folk remedies

As a folk remedy, a good alternative to commercial fertilizers is feeding petunias with yeast , which stimulates growth well and also increases the activity of microorganisms in the soil.

Nutrient yeast solution accelerates the formation and development of the petunia root system, supports abundant and long-lasting flowering

To prepare the nutrient solution you will need: 10 g of pressed yeast, 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1 liter of warm water. It is better to first grind the yeast with sugar, add warm water, mix well and let it brew for 2 hours. Then the solution is added to a container with settled warm water (diluted in a ratio of 1:5) and the plant is watered at the root or used for foliar spraying.

When using dry yeast, the process for preparing the solution is the same, except for the proportion of ingredients. Their ratio: 10 g of yeast, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 10 liters of water. It is also used in diluted form - 1 liter of concentrated (mother) solution per bucket (10 liters) of water.

nettle infusion one of the most effective means of stimulating the growth and spectacular flowering of petunias . How to prepare it, read the article on our website.

An excellent source of potassium, phosphorus and calcium for plants is wood ash . It is simply poured under the roots or a solution is made: pour 300 g of ash into 10 liters of boiling water and leave. The resulting infusion is used for watering or spraying (after filtering).

Experienced gardeners select fertilizers for petunias individually, based on how each variety responds to fertilization. It is known that for these plants, sufficient lighting and compliance with the watering regime are much more important than the high content of all nutrients in the soil . Considering that in this case, “overfeeding” threatens the development of root rot and other dangerous diseases, it makes sense to treat planting fertilization without fanaticism.

How and what kind of fertilizing to apply

The peculiarity of applying fertilizers to petunia is that over time, as the seedlings grow, fertilizing is applied more and more often, bringing the frequency of applications to three times a week. As soon as real leaves appear on the sprouts, you need to spray them with a nutrient solution.

For these purposes you can use:

• urea;
• crystallon;
• "Floral aquarium".

An excellent fertilizer for petunias is “Veriohumus”. During the growth of seedlings, vitamin solutions are added to them at the root.

When the sprouts become stronger and begin to grow, they begin to be fertilized with calcium nitrate, urea or potassium. These fertilizers are dissolved in water at the rate of 10 g per 10 liters. After applying these fertilizers, the stems of the seedlings immediately become plump.

When petunia seedlings begin to bloom, they begin to apply foliar fertilizers along with root fertilizers. Petunia is carefully sprayed with nutritional compounds, trying to soak the back side of the leaves.

Many gardeners do it easier - they buy complex fertilizers for garden flowers in gardening stores. But you cannot apply purchased fertilizers to flowers without a schedule. Each type of fertilizer is applied at a certain point in the growing season of the plant.

Deadlines

Feeding petunias for growth and flowering begins after picking seedlings (after 1-2 weeks) and continues throughout the growing season. The choice of product and its composition directly depend on the task at hand (growth, accumulation of green mass, formation of buds, flowering).

Fertilizing seedlings

After planting in the soil, young shoots need nitrogen. In order for the seedlings to produce more greenery, the stems to be strong and elastic, a week or two after picking, you can begin to fertilize the seedlings already in boxes or containers.

If the seeds are sown immediately in open ground, without prior germination in pots, then 10-14 days after the sprouts appear (with the appearance of two true leaves), nitrogen fertilizers can be applied.

It is important not to overdo it with nitrogen fertilizers, no matter how great the temptation. Petunia seedlings will gain green mass, but flowering will be late and weak.

Nitrogen fertilizers are applied before budding begins. Among the most popular and actively used fertilizers are urea (carbamide), nitrophoska, and ammonium nitrate.

If seedlings grow poorly after planting in the ground, despite abundant watering and the conditions created for them, they need to be fed with a solution of B vitamins (B1, B6, B12). To prepare it, an ampoule of the vitamin must be diluted in a liter of warm water and sprayed on young plants. This procedure is recommended to be carried out once a week.

In addition, you can use growth stimulants - “Zircon”, “Epin”.

Feeding during bud formation

As soon as the buds begin to form, nitrogen can be set aside; it is not needed during this period. Now comes the turn of potassium and phosphorus preparations.

Experienced gardeners recommend watering petunia seedlings during the period of setting buds with a solution of the drug Uniflor Bud, containing potassium and phosphorus in the required quantity and bioavailable form, or separately phosphorus and potassium fertilizers.

To speed up budding, petunias can be fertilized using the root and foliar methods.

During the flowering period

Feeding petunias at the beginning and during flowering ensures the health and attractive appearance of the flower bed.

In addition to the already mentioned potassium and phosphorus, the abundant flowering of petunias is supported by iron preparations (ferronite, ammonium nitrate). They will also prevent plant diseases, yellowing and falling leaves.

Without greenery, flowering is also impossible. The flowerbed will bloom longer if you fertilize the petunias with Crystal.

It is important to remove dried flowers so that the flower bed looks neat.

Folk remedies

At significantly lower costs, you can fertilize petunia using folk remedies, which are as effective as expensive fertilizers. First you should look in the first aid kit. For example, hydrogen peroxide is an excellent remedy that improves the growth of seedlings and stimulates lush flowering of petunia. 40 ml of peroxide is dissolved in a bucket of water and added to the plants at the root.

Also, potassium permanganate and boric acid make petunias bloom magnificently and colorfully. At the same time, these cheap drugs repel pests.

Fertilizing gives good results:

• baker's yeast;
• eggshell;
• wood ash.

Experienced gardeners and vegetable gardeners use regular baker's yeast as a top dressing when growing flowers and vegetables. Even a depleted area can be turned into fertile if you treat the soil with a yeast solution.

Yeast fertilizer for petunia is prepared as follows:

1. 100 g of live yeast are dissolved in 10 liters of warm water.
2. Then add 1 tbsp to the solution. l. Sahara.
3. After two days, the infusion is diluted with clean water 1:5.
4. For each plant you need to use about 500 ml of fertilizer.
5. Feed petunia with yeast every two weeks.

At home, to ensure that the seedlings are strong and grow quickly, they can be fertilized with banana peels. An infusion of banana peels is prepared in water. The crusts should sit for about a day. Then the infusion is diluted in half with clean water and the seedlings are added once every two weeks.

You can also speed up the growth of petunia by fertilizing it with manure in the form of a solution. To feed the sprouts, you need to pour 1 part of manure with 10 parts of water and leave in a warm place for a week. Then the infusion is filtered, 1 tsp is added to it. potassium permanganate and vitriol. This solution is added to the bushes, having previously diluted it 1:10 with water.

When and how to feed seedlings with calcium nitrate

Calcium nitrate has a positive effect on the size and number of future inflorescences; the mixture contains nitrogen and calcium nitrate, necessary for the development of green mass. The fertilizer quickly penetrates the tissues, strengthens the immunity of petunias, makes them resistant to negative factors, protects them from pests, and prevents the development of rot. Calcium nitrate is a salvation for elongated, weak seedlings.

The product is used 7–12 days after the first pick and the same period of time after transshipment (2nd pick). The first time the fertilizer is applied at the root, and the second time - along the leaf. For 5 liters of water 2 g or 1 tsp are used. calcium nitrate. About 10 ml is poured for small seedlings, and 1–2 tbsp for large seedlings. l. It is impossible to exceed the recommended doses and concentration, otherwise the fertilizer will have the opposite effect.

Fertilizers for abundant flowering

In order for the bushes to be in bloom, before the formation of buds and during budding, it is necessary to fertilize the petunia. Spraying with a 1% boron solution, which stimulates flowering, is very useful.

Root fertilizers, which can be bought ready-made in stores, are also applied every 10 days.

So, they have proven themselves well:

• "Crystalline pink";
• "Planton";
• "Aquamarine".

The drugs are diluted according to the instructions. You can also spray the bushes with the same products, reducing the recommended dose of fertilizer by half.

At the same time, “Crystallon” makes flowering last longer, and “Aquamarine” makes the color of the petals brighter and more saturated.

Many experienced gardeners advise alternating the application of potassium monophosphate and potassium nitrate. You can also feed flowers with Fertika throughout the season to enhance and prolong flowering. Feeding is especially necessary if petunia is grown in boxes on a window or balcony.

Judging by the reviews of flower growers, the Kemira Lux fertilizer performed very well. During the flowering period, this product is simply irreplaceable for petunia.

“Kemira” has a well-balanced content:

• nitrogen;
• phosphorus;
• potassium

The drug "Agricola" has a similar composition.

To achieve large flowers, petunia must be sprayed leaf by leaf with Epin or Zircon. These drugs are diluted with water in a ratio of 1:15. Spray flowers only once a week.

Features and requests of petunia

Modern cultivated varieties of petunia are the result of hybridization. All of them are descendants of wild species living in South America. The decorative value of hybrid varieties is extremely high, but the quality and intensity of their flowering largely depend on climatic factors, soil composition and agrotechnical techniques used during cultivation.

When choosing a place to place petunias when growing in open ground or in small containers, first of all you need to take into account the plants' hardiness and their sensitivity to precipitation.

According to the classification according to basic characteristics, varieties are divided into two types:

• bushy (or bushy, upright growing) - with straight shoots from 15-20 cm long (short) to 80 cm, developing in the form of dense compact bushes-pillows. Among the most popular varietal series are the large-flowered Triumph F1, Aladdin F1, Daddy F1, Pirouette F1, Orchid Mist F1, Flambé F1, as well as the multi-flowered Debonair F1 and Pikoti F1;
• creeping (or hanging, hanging) - with long shoots covering a large area. When gardening horizontally, they do an excellent job as ground cover plants, and when gardening vertically (in hanging containers) they hang down in a cascade. Among the varietal groups loved by domestic flower growers, we note Velvet F1, Avalanche F1, Opera F1, Wave F1, Samba F1, Ekaterina F1 and Svetlana F1.

To decorate residential premises, balconies and terraces with flowering petunias in hanging flowerpots, ampelous (hanging) or semi-ampeloid (cascading) varieties are often used

In open ground conditions, petunia prefers sunny, flat areas with fertile, moist, well-drained soil that has neutral acidity. When planting in pots or other containers, the ideal soil for the plant is a soil consisting of humus, peat and river sand in a ratio of 2:2:1. Considering the powerful root system and the density of the bushes, petunias need to be provided with a large feeding area and adequate ventilation , therefore, for example, no more than three seedlings are usually placed in balcony boxes 1.2 m long (with a width and depth of 0.2 m).

Faded flowers and peduncles should be removed throughout the season so that the plant does not waste energy on ripening seeds.

Sufficient and timely watering with settled, warm water (preferably rain) in the morning and evening hours is very important for a moisture-loving plant. Drying out the soil is especially dangerous for specimens growing in small containers. On the other hand, waterlogging of the soil increases the activity of phytopathogenic microorganisms that cause the development of a group of diseases colloquially called “blackleg”. Therefore, experienced gardeners advise watering in a tray, and after a while draining excess water from it.

Due to the huge variety of colors and their combinations, options for shades, sizes and shapes of flowers from petunias, you can create magnificent compositions for landscape design and home interiors

In addition, for abundant and long-lasting flowering, it is necessary to regularly apply fertilizers throughout the entire growing season of the plant, especially when cultivated in small containers (pots, flowerpots, flower beds, balcony boxes, etc.).

Common problems

A very common problem is frail, stunted petunia seedlings and yellowing leaves. If the seedlings are very weak, they should be fed with nitrogen, which stimulates the plant to grow green mass.

Yellowing of foliage is often caused by a lack of iron in the soil. In this case, the plants need to be treated with the drug “Ferovit”.

Such treatments are carried out three times, with an interval of 8 days.

Petunias bloom very colorfully and luxuriantly if you feed them properly with fertilizers. Regular spraying and watering at the roots will help to grow beautiful flowers that will delight you with continuous flowering until autumn.

Advice from flower growers

Petunia is an unpretentious plant. It grows in lighted areas without direct sunlight, abundant watering and in fertile soil without fertilizing. During flowering, faded buds need to be cut or torn off, and the stems and leaves should be inspected for diseases and pests.

How to feed petunia if the leaves turn yellow

Most often, yellow leaves indicate a lack of iron: it is necessary to feed the plants so that they turn green again and are pleasing to the eye.