How to plant petunia seeds
If you want to understand how to plant petunia seeds and the cultivation techniques of petunia flowers, the specific content is as follows:
Petunia is a kind of perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Solanum family. It is known as the flowering machine and is one of the most flowering and beautiful potted flowers. However, petunia has an obvious shortcoming. After being raised for 1-2 years, it often shows symptoms such as leaf shedding, slow growth, and difficulty in continuing to bloom. Therefore, petunias are usually only raised for one year in families, and they need to be repurchased and resown in the second year. However, petunias will produce seeds when they bloom. As long as we master the sowing skills, we can plant them ourselves, and it only takes about 100 days from sowing to flowering.
The difficulty of sowing petunias is not high, but if we want to ensure the survival rate, we still need to master certain sowing skills. Whether it is seed collection and processing, or the selection of soil and containers, as well as careful care after sowing, certain methods and tips need to be mastered. We need to pay attention to six key points to make the seedlings strong and bloom more. Next, AYong will tell you some practical skills about petunia sowing, hoping to be helpful to everyone.
Sowing Time
Petunias do not have high requirements for sowing time. Theoretically, petunias can be sown normally in all seasons, and the germination rate is not much different. However, in order to ensure the germination rate of petunia seeds, the ambient temperature should be maintained between 20°C and 25°C. In the absence of professional temperature control equipment, temperature indirectly limits the sowing time.
From the temperature range of 20-25°C, April and May in spring and October and November in autumn are very suitable for sowing petunias. However, we also need to make appropriate adjustments based on the temperature conditions of our own homes and local environmental factors.
Seed Treatment
Petunia seeds are very small, and it is very difficult to sow them one by one. According to professional statistics, 1 gram of petunia seeds can contain about 10,000 to 12,000 seeds, which reflects the fineness of petunia seeds. Therefore, we need to adopt different treatment methods depending on the source of the seeds.
Picked seeds: If the petunia seeds are collected and picked by ourselves, they usually come with a seed pod. When we want to sow, we need to open the seed pod, pour out the seeds, and clean up the fragments and debris of the seed pod to avoid unnecessary infections and diseases during the sowing process.
Purchased seeds: The main difference between purchased petunia seeds and self-collected petunia seeds is that there is a coating on the outside of the purchased seeds. This coating can make the seeds last longer and is convenient for planting. However, the coating of purchased petunia seeds can vary in size. Larger ones can be picked up directly with hands or forceps, which is very convenient for sowing. However, if the coating is very small and there is not much difference in size from the seeds themselves, we can use wet toothpicks or wet bamboo sticks to pick up the seeds, taking care to pick up one or two or two to three seeds each time.
How to plant petunia seeds
Soil Preparation
Although petunia sowing does not have high requirements for soil, choosing loose and breathable soil can still improve the germination rate of seeds. Here, AYong suggests that you can use peat soil mixed with 1/3 coarse river sand to plant petunia seeds. However, it is necessary to disinfect the soil before sowing to provide more safety for petunia seeds.
Container Selection
Container selection is quite particular when sowing petunias. We can directly use professional seedling trays, or we can use disposable plastic cups or open plates. The principle is to leave enough growth space for the petunia seedlings and try to isolate the seedlings. The most recommended by AYong are disposable paper cups or plastic cups, as well as seedling trays with drainage holes at the bottom, which can make later maintenance simpler.
Moist soil in pot, water with spray bottle
After the preparations are done, we can start sowing petunias. To ensure the germination rate of petunia seeds, the following three points must be paid attention to during the potting process.
1. Moist soil in pot: Using moist soil for potting allows the seeds to absorb enough water without causing seed rot due to excessive soil moisture. The method of determination is that when we hold the soil in our hands, no water drips, but it feels moist. This humidity can be achieved by watering in advance and then controlling water evaporation through drying.
2. Do not cover any soil after sowing the seeds: This is an error that everyone is most likely to make when sowing petunias. Because petunia seeds are too small and their germination power is relatively weak, if we cover too much soil, it will be very difficult for petunia seeds to break through the soil, greatly reducing the germination rate. Therefore, we should not cover a layer of soil.
3. Water with a spray bottle, the first time combined with myclobutanil irrigation: Petunia seeds are very small, and we have not covered a layer of soil. Therefore, special attention should be paid to watering. Try to use a spray bottle to spray gently to prevent the seeds from being washed away by water. Moreover, spray bottle watering can keep the soil moisture uniform, which is very beneficial for seed growth. When we first spray water on the seeds, we can add some myclobutanil or carbendazim to the water to further disinfect and sterilize, ensuring the safety of the seeds.