How to choose petunia seeds. How to grow petunias from seeds. What kind of petunia is better to choose

Although the petunia is not a classic houseplant, it will grow beautifully on the balcony and add life to it. Growing petunias from seeds is a laborious process, but nevertheless pleasant, because the appearance of a rapidly growing flower from a tiny seed is fraught with some kind of magic. Today we will focus on how to grow petunias from seeds.

How to choose petunia seeds

Before choosing seeds, you need to decide on the desired flower variety, in addition to the appearance, the choice will be influenced by the local climate and the place where you want to grow them. For hanging trays on the balcony, bush varieties are perfect: terry varieties, grandiflora, frillitunia and milliflora. And for hanging planters, ampelous and cascading varieties are better suited.

Seeds can be clean and in the shell. Clean seeds germinate much faster and more often, but coated seeds are easier to plant and are protected from disease and damage, germinate 2-3 days later than uncoated seeds and do not tolerate drying out.

Among seed producers, it is better to give preference to imported ones, because when choosing seeds from domestic producers, it happens that the seeds may not be of the variety that is stated on the package. But it is also fair to note that domestic seeds are much cheaper than imported ones.

Petunia seedling containers

There are no special requirements for a container for seedlings. It can be made of any material and must be at least 5 cm in height so that the filled soil does not reach the edges by 2 cm, the main thing is that there are drainage holes at the bottom. If the boxes have been previously used, then do not forget to disinfect them.

Planting petunias in the ground

The mixture needs to be nutritious, well retaining moisture, loose, but should not soak. For sowing petunias with seeds, peat with the addition of sand and garden soil (2: 1: 1), ready-made soil or peat tablets bought in a store is suitable.

When preparing the soil yourself, make sure that the peat is sufficiently rotted, otherwise the soil will turn out to be acidic, and petunias do not tolerate this. If you do not want to continue picking plants, we recommend that you opt for peat tablets. Before sowing the seeds, the soil should be well moistened, and the peat tablets should be immersed 1-2 cm in water so that the soil swells and drains the remaining water.

Planting time for seedlings

Based on the petunia variety, it will take 50-95 days to bloom. From this you need to calculate when to sow the seeds. As a rule, sowing is carried out in late February - early March. Long-growing varieties are sown even at the end of January.

To sow petunias with seeds in January-February, you will need illumination with special lamps, otherwise the seeds will not germinate or the seedlings will turn out to be fragile.

Sowing petunia seeds for seedlings

If sowing is carried out in the soil with ordinary seeds, then it is better to mix them with river sand. For 1 part of seeds, 10 parts of calcined sand are needed. This will keep the seeds from getting too close together. The resulting mixture is evenly poured onto the soil and moistened with a spray bottle.

The coated seeds are simply placed on the ground at a distance of 1-1.5 cm from each other and pressed lightly, after which they are thoroughly moistened with a spray gun so that the shell begins to collapse.

When sowing in peat tablets, simply place the pelleted seed in the center of the tablet, press lightly and soak the seed coat well with a spray bottle or pipette. In order for the seeds to germinate, they need light, so they are not sprinkled with soil when sowing.

There is also a method of sowing with the help of snow. In this case, a layer of snow of about 2 cm is laid on the ground, and petunia seeds are laid out on top with a wet stick. When the snow layer melts, the seeds themselves will press down as they need it, in addition, the top layer of soil will be moistened.

After sowing, the seedling container is covered with a transparent film or glass and placed in a warm, bright place or under special lamps. In order for petunia seeds to germinate, it is necessary to maintain a temperature of about 25 ° C for the first 5-7 days with sufficient light. At home, this place will be the window sill above the battery, but only on the condition that it is really warm there, and not siphon from all the cracks.

The soil must be kept moist by spraying the soil 1-2 times a day with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or adding water to the pan, but moisture stagnation should be avoided.

When sprouts appear, watering can be done less frequently, but more abundantly, and containers with seedlings should be placed in the brightest place. Lighting should last at least 12 hours a day. After unfolding the cotyledons, the film or glass needs to be slightly lifted or moved, and removed after 3-4 days. The optimum temperature for further growth will be 18-22°C.

petunia pick

It is recommended to loosen the upper part of the soil so that a crust does not form, which will interfere with the access of air and moisture. Now you need to wait until 2 true leaves appear and pick. If you used peat tablets, then they are simply completely transplanted into a large container and sprinkled with soil, while the mesh is removed from them.

You can dive into special containers for seedlings or into plastic cups, but you can skip this phase and dive directly into balcony boxes or planters. In this case, the substrate used is the same as for seedlings, only be sure to fill the bottom with drainage.

After diving, the temperature can be gradually lowered to 14-16 ° C, this will harden the seedlings a little and make them stronger.

The bait of seedlings is carried out 7 days after picking and then they are fed 1 time per week. As a rule, bait with a high nitrogen content is used.

Petunia transplant

Over the next 2 months, the development of sprouts will noticeably slow down due to the fact that their root system will develop at this time. When they become crowded in your containers, immediately transplant them into balcony boxes or planters. Petunias have a very developed root system, so expect that for one bush petunia 3 liters of substrate are required, and for ampelous 5.

Growing from seeds is not an easy task for a beginner, but it will help you gain the necessary experience and save money, in addition, an overgrown petunia will delight you until late autumn.

With the advent of spring, vases with a wide variety of petunias for every taste and color are full of flowers in flower shops and on the shelves of markets. If there is no opportunity (or desire) to breed petunias, you can immediately purchase a ready-made flower. And you can buy seeds and grow seedlings of petunias on your own.

The second option is more profitable, since the cost of buying one adult plant with a head will cover the purchase of several packs of seeds. More than one flower bed will be filled with seedlings grown from them. Petunia seeds have a fairly good germination rate. However, recovering from them, it is worth listening to the recommendations of experienced flower growers about which petunia seeds are best to buy for seedlings.

So, when choosing petunia seeds, you need to pay attention to the following points:

quality;
quantity;
freshness;
belonging to a variety.

Petunia seed quality

Probably everyone saw grandmothers selling seeds "by weight" in the markets. No one says that the seeds purchased from them will be of poor quality. But still, in order not to make a mistake with the choice, it is better to buy petunia seeds in special professional packages. At the same time, the company that produces them must be fairly well-known. The packages always indicate what it is, when to sow the seeds, the approximate time of planting in the flower bed and the flowering period, as well as the care features and description of the plant.

You also need to pay attention to which seeds in the package are regular or coated. The latter type is more convenient to sow, but if the conditions and terms of storage are not observed, they lose their germination.

The number of seeds in the package

Petunia seeds are very small and are sold in packs of 5 and 10. A package with a large number of seeds only at first glance seems more expensive, and if you recalculate the price for one piece, it is immediately clear that it is more profitable to purchase a larger package. Seedlings grown from it can be planted in one large or several small flower beds.

Of course, if you want to plant several varieties with a variety of colors and shapes of inflorescences, it is better to buy one small bag of different varieties.

Seed freshness

When choosing petunia seeds, you should pay attention to the year in which they were collected. Some flower growers insist that last year's seeds have better germination. If possible, it is better to buy fresh petunia seeds, or treat them with Epit-Extra stimulant before sowing.

If the expiration date is printed on a bag of petunia seeds in a printing house, it may be a fake, because real seeds have stamps with dates.

Belonging to the variety

Different varieties of petunias have their own planting characteristics. For example, some varieties can be sown immediately in open soil, and some are first grown in seedling form. Therefore, for growing petunia seedlings, it is recommended to buy bags with seeds of the same variety. Bags with a mixture of varieties may not justify the expected result.

Video about growing seedlings of petunias from seeds

Petunia is an annual or perennial herbaceous or semi-shrub plant. Translated from Portuguese, it means "tobacco" for its resemblance to tobacco leaves. The Frenchman Jean Baptiste Lamarck first discovered and described this flower in 1793 during an expedition to South America.

Petunia roots lie shallow, have a tap type and adventitious roots. The stems are rounded and green in color. As a rule, the stems are densely twisted. The plant can be both short, about 20-30 cm, and high, from 60 to 70 cm. The stems and leaves are strewn with short hairs.

Petunia flowers have a wide color palette, from pale white to light pink and purple, from lavender to almost black. Petunia flowers are shaped like a cone, can be both large and small, simple and terry. Most often, flower growers use this plant as an annual., and it is never grown as an indoor plant.

Photo

In the photo below you can see beautiful petunias.

Reproduction methods

One way to propagate most varieties of petunias is seeds.
The second method of reproduction is vegetative, namely. As a rule, varieties with double flowers and ampelous petunias are propagated in this way. And this is the most popular way. It is economical, simple and accessible even to the most inexperienced grower.
The third way to grow petunias - seedling. This is the easiest way to grow, but it is also the most expensive. Since the cost of one bush in our country is quite high, and not every gardener can afford to purchase it in sufficient quantities, this method has not gained popularity with us.

You will find all the details about the reproduction of petunias in.

What does the plant seed look like?

After flowering is completed, a fruit appears on the plant - a box with two wings and a size of 10 * 8 mm, filled with seeds. Petunia seeds are very small. Their size does not exceed 0.6 mm. Usually they are brown, less often sandy. With proper storage, seed germination lasts 2-3 years.

When growing seeds yourself, you need to remember that the lion's share of the seeds presented in stores are hybrids, and guessing what flowers will be in the next generation is almost impossible. Secondly, petunia is a cross-pollinated plant, that is, it is pollinated with the pollen of other plants. And, thirdly, not all flowers (mainly terry ones) set seeds.

And those seeds that appear practically do not carry the terry gene. And, therefore, the probability of keeping the kind of plant that you love is extremely low and tends to zero.

Petunia, although an unpretentious plant, requires certain conditions to be met.. Namely:

Petunia seeds fully ripen 60-90 days after the start of flowering. A box appears in place of a flower. The number of seeds in a box can reach 10,000 pieces (extremely rare), as a rule, it ranges from 100 to 300, but most often the number does not exceed 100 pieces. Since full ripening prevents further flowering of the plant, after the pre-planned bud has faded, it must be plucked.

How to take the seeds, you also need to know. It is necessary to collect them only manually and from the boxes located below everything. There, the seeds are tied earlier, which means they are more mature. When breeding seeds, it is important to collect on time. It is necessary to make sure that the box itself is ripe. It should be slightly dried out and have a brown tint. Next, we open each collected box over a light surface so that black peas - seeds are clearly visible.

Important! After opening the box, the seedlings need to be dried for a few more days in a warm place.

We propose to learn how to properly collect petunia seeds in.

It is worth starting to plant seeds for seedlings already in the second half of March, in a greenhouse - in April, and in open ground it is worth planting in May. But to get an early flowering plant, you should start planting seeds in February. Petunia is a warm and photophilous plant. Therefore, pots should be placed in a bright, warm place.

Petunia is sensitive to fluctuations in soil moisture and prefers well-drained, non-acidic soil. An excellent soil will be a mixture of hardwood, granular sand and peat. Humus or compost will be a good top dressing for a flower during soil preparation.

The cache-pot, pot or box in which you decide to grow a plant is populated quite densely, about 65-70 plants per 1 square meter. For good growth and abundant flowering, petunia must not only be watered often, but also sprayed. Fertilizers should be applied to the soil no more than once a week, and alternate root and foliar feeding.

An example of a mixture for planting petunia seeds:

2 parts well-rotted humus;
2 parts of sod or leaf land;
2 parts lowland, well decomposed peat;
1 part sand.

Seeding process:

If the pH of the mixture is below 5.5, then lime must be added to it.
All components are thoroughly mixed, sifted through a sieve (mesh size 3-5 cm) and disinfected by fumigation, steaming, etc.
Then again sieved through smaller sieves (mesh size 0.5 cm).
The largest fraction (screenings) is poured into the lower part of the box and slightly compacted, the fine fraction is filled with the upper third of the soil layer, it is carefully leveled and slightly compacted again.

A plant grown from seeds will flower in about 70 days. In more detail, we wrote about how to grow seedlings of these beautiful flowers in, and read about the features of growing petunias from seeds.

Where and for how much can you buy?

When choosing seeds in a store, you should rely only on the honesty of the manufacturer, and proceed from what is indicated on the bag of seeds. Foreign manufacturers, American and Dutch, guarantee 100% seed germination. But only the price of such professional seeds will significantly hit your pocket. Domestic seeds are cheaper, but the result is unpredictable. And here the question is not only in germination, but also in color, plant variety. Expectations are not always justified.

Reference! There are seeds-granules. Almost always these are hybrid plants. They are much more convenient to plant, but because of the cocoon-granule, they take longer to sprout.

You can buy petunia seeds at any specialized store for gardeners and gardeners.. Online stores also offer a wide range of seeds (semena-tut.ru, onsad.ru and others). In online stores, the range of prices for a bag of seeds is very large, starting from 16 rubles. and end at 160 rubles. So the online store for the garden Onsad.ru offers seeds not only from domestic producers, but also from foreign ones, such as the USA, the Czech Republic, and Japan. Prices for imported goods start from 50 rubles.

In Moscow, petunia seeds can be bought, for example, in the Russian Garden store. The minimum price of a bag of seeds is 16 rubles, the maximum is 100. But only domestic producers are represented here.

The most popular place to buy seeds in St. Petersburg is the House of Seeds store. This store offers a wide range of seeds from various manufacturers. Prices start from 6 rubles. for a sachet.

Or - this is a very important point on which the further growth and development of your plant depends. To grow a petunia that will delight you with its healthy and flowering appearance, we suggest studying all the important nuances of this procedure.

Conclusion

Petunia is a very beautiful, colorful plant, not particularly whimsical, but requiring attention. If the gardener chooses this flower to decorate his flower beds, shows a little attention and patience, he will be rewarded with delightful long-blooming buds that attract admiring glances from passers-by.

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Petunia is a favorite of gardeners, as it is distinguished by a wide variety of colors and shapes, unpretentiousness and undemanding care. It is not difficult to grow a flower on your own, but in order to collect petunia seeds at home, you need to know some rules and subtleties.

Collecting petunia seeds at home

Petunias are easiest to grow from seed. Flower growers note that their germination leaves much to be desired, so many collect the seeds of this beautiful flower on their own in order to save on purchases and have them in stock.

What are petunia seeds

Petunia seeds ripen in a capsule fruit. It is small, but contains about a hundred dark brown, sometimes yellowish seeds. Due to their tiny size (about 0.5 mm), the seeds have a small supply of nutrients, which is why their germination is incomplete.

Petunia fruits are a bivalve box that cracks when ripe with very small seeds of a dark brown, rarely yellowish color.

Without problems, you can collect seeds from one-color, simple varieties of petunias. They are stable in offspring, every year they will repeat the color and shape of the parent plant. But the hybrid forms of seeds are practically not tied up, so it is extremely rare to find a seed box on these varieties of summer. This is due to the fact that the pistils of the flowers are converted into additional petals. Even if an exception to the rule has occurred, and a box with seeds has formed on a terry petunia, do not flatter yourself - such seeds usually do not carry signs of a parental form.

In terry varieties of petunias, varietal characteristics are unstable, many of them do not produce seeds

Experienced flower growers successfully propagate hybrid forms of petunias with cuttings.

Seed collection time

One of the conditions for the lush flowering of petunias is the timely removal of wilted flowers. Since the seed box ripens only on dry, naturally dried flowers, the lower buds are noted at the beginning of flowering, left on the plant and waiting for maturation. Signs of seed readiness for harvest:

about two months have passed since the blooming of the flower;
the seed pod changed color from green to yellowish and began to dry out.

If the fruit-box of a petunia opens, then all the seed material can simply scatter in the wind

Florists consider August-September to be the most favorable time for collecting petunia seeds.

Collecting Petunia Seeds: A Step by Step Process

Only ripe seeds should be collected, as immature ones simply will not sprout. Collection of boxes is carried out in dry, clear weather:

Video: collecting petunia seeds

Storing Petunia Seeds

After collecting and drying, the seeds are poured into small bags of paper or natural fabric, each of which must indicate the name of the variety and color.

It is easy to glue paper bags for storing seeds from ordinary office paper according to the presented scheme.

Sachets must be stored at room temperature in a dry, dark place. High humidity, as well as direct sunlight, spoil the quality of the seed. Subject to storage conditions, petunia seeds retain their germination capacity for 3-4 years.

If the collection was carried out taking into account all the indicated nuances and the seeds were stored in appropriate conditions, then you will be able to provide high-quality seed material not only for yourself, but also for your friends.

Let's start with the fact that petunia is a perennial plant, but we grow it as an annual, because. in our conditions does not hibernate. In connection with this wonderful fact, every year petunia lovers face the issue of growing or acquiring seedlings. Personally, I grow all the seedlings of petunias myself (about 200-250 pieces) every year, I can only buy cuttings of petunias, which do not propagate by seeds, but only vegetatively.

When choosing seeds, pay attention to the expiration date of the seeds. Of course, even a sufficient shelf life does not guarantee 100% seedlings, because. firstly, the germination of seeds is different, and secondly, you cannot be sure that the treasured bags of seeds were stored in proper conditions. Ideally, seeds should be stored at low positive temperatures before sowing. At home, this is a compartment for vegetables in the refrigerator.

Still, with regard to the choice of seeds, it is a question of which producer and which varieties to give preference to. Now, thanks to the achievements of world breeding, the hybrid petunia is completely different from the plant that our grandmothers grew. Now there is a huge number of hybrids that satisfy the most demanding taste. And, like all "pedigreed" plants, they are more demanding on the conditions of germination and growth, but they also give luxurious flowering, which you see in the photo. Whom to give preference to: "pedigreed" or "mongrels" - you decide. I made a choice for myself a long time ago in favor of professional seeds, which, under proper storage conditions and agricultural technology, give almost 100% germination.

Also, when choosing seeds, you should pay attention to which group of petunias this hybrid belongs to (ampelous, grandiflora, multiflora or milliflora).

And one more nuance (for the future): if, after successfully growing any petunia hybrid, you want to collect seeds from it in order to sow them next year, then keep in mind that in this case you are playing the lottery. The fact is that all worthy types of petunia are first-generation hybrids (F1) and, having collected seeds from them, you will already get second-generation hybrids (F2), in which splitting according to parental characteristics is possible. This means that a plant grown from such a seed may not be the same color or (even worse) not the same habit.

So, the seeds are bought, it's time to start sowing. And the question arises: when to start sowing? I will answer this: if you do not live in the south and if you do not have lighting, then you should not sow petunias early. Seedlings sown without illumination in mid-late March will catch up and may even surpass in growth and development seedlings grown without illumination since mid-February. And as you know, the quality of development in childhood in any living being determines the quality of adult life. Therefore, I repeat: do not rush with sowing if you cannot provide the proper conditions for the development of your baby. The general condition is this: to obtain a full-fledged flowering bush, 10-12 weeks are needed for ampels and 8-10 weeks for bush ones. Personally, I sow ampels in mid-February, and bush ones in the first decade of March.

The next question is: what to sow? I prefer peat tablets, but in general you can sow in any quality soil or coco substrate (or soil mixed with coco). The bottom line is that the starting soil must be poor in nutrients and breathable, in which case the root mass is well built up. For me, peat tablets are ideal in all respects, as they do not contain any harmful impurities, spores and weed seeds, they are light and breathable. But for some amateurs, landing in the ground gives the best results. Therefore, here you need to try, experiment and empirically select the appropriate option for yourself. By the way, I sowed my first petunias in ordinary purchased land (Terra Vita), these are the photos you see.

When sowing in the ground, I do not process it with anything, I do not pickle it. I just pour the soil into a small bowl, lay out the petunia seeds, moisten it with water from the spray bottle on top, put the bowl in a transparent plastic bag and on the windowsill under the lamps. If I sow in tablets, then I don’t moisten anything from above, since the tablets absorb a lot of water when they swell. Then I put the tablets in plastic packages from under the cake (with lids) and also put them on the windowsill. Petunia seeds are very small, so I transfer them to tablets with a toothpick, moistening its tip with water. For convenience, you can sow in the snow. That is, pour snow into a bowl with soil and lay seeds on it, which are clearly visible on a white background. At the same time, the snow, having melted, moistens the soil and at the same time pulls the seeds, pressing them well to the ground. If the seeds are pelleted, then the planting process is facilitated, although I also transfer the pellets with a toothpick, but the seed is clearly visible on the ground. At the same time, I lightly press on the granule so that it is crushed in order to facilitate the germination process. Seeds do not need to be sprinkled, petunias need light and heat to germinate. The temperature should be around 24-26°C. You can put the bowl on some tall cabinet in the kitchen or a refrigerator, I personally put it on the windowsill closer to the edge so that the warm air from the battery provides the necessary heat. Some put on the battery, placing between the battery and the bowl, for example, a thick book. But in this case, there is a risk of simply "cooking" the seeds.

So the seeds have been sown. Now do not forget them periodicallycheck, because as soon as shoots appear, it is necessaryperiodically remove condensate from the cover, because. it is important not to floodbabies, so as not to provoke a "black leg" - a disease,which simply "mows" all your seedlings in one night. Usuallygood quality seeds germinate within 3-4 days, butthere are also "slow-thinkers" that can sprout within 2 weeks. If the seeds did not sprout within 5-7 days, then the well-known method of "swinging" can be applied. You need to put the bowl in a whole (without holes) transparent bag, breathe into it and tie it tightly. Everyone knows from the school course of botany that plants "breathe" carbon dioxide. It is with its help (more precisely, with its increased concentration) that we stimulate germination. On the 1st photo, the seedlings are 1 week old. You see how little they are, and now the main thing is not to flood them and not “love” them to death. As soon as the seeds have hatched and removed their caps, we lower the temperature to 20 ° C and begin to “walk” them a little. First, not for long, 1-2 times a day for 5-10 minutes, open the lid for fresh air, gradually increasing the time of "walks", and eventually leave them open all the time. I advise you not to delay hardening, because. greenhouse conditions, of course, are good at the germination stage, but then, when the plants grow in such conditions, it will be very difficult to accustom them to ordinary room air, where both temperature and humidity are much lower than in a mini-greenhouse. And here I want to note one more plus of using peat and coconut tablets. Firstly, it is more convenient to water the plants in them: just pour water into the pan and the tablet will absorb the right amount by itself. Secondly, the seeds do not germinate evenly and it turns out that plants that have already hatched need fresh air, and seeds that have not yet germinated need hothouse humid conditions. Since I sow the seeds in pills, I don't have this problem. I just transfer the plants to another tray and leave the rest under the lid. This is what the seedlings look like at 2 weeks.
In general, I would like to note that petunia seedlings develop slowly only in the first month, then they grow like horses and are practically not killed. All this time, the seedlings need to be illuminated. I turn on the backlight in the evening, as it starts to get dark and until 24 hours (until I go to bed) and turn it on in the morning until it becomes completely light. If the day is cloudy, then the backlight can be turned on all day.

When the first pair of true leaves appeared, it's time to pick, because. despite the backlight, the seedlings are still stretched. But lately I don’t dive at this stage, but just a little later, when the roots sprout from the pill, I plant them in cups. At the same time, I deepen the seedlings to the very outlet. And then they already grow under normal conditions on the windowsill (not in the greenhouse).

About two weeks after picking, you can start feeding seedlings with any fertilizer with a predominance of nitrogen. Personally, I really like the Uniflor-Growth fertilizer, but you can use any other fertilizer for seedlings, using it according to the instructions.
At the same time, you can pinch the plants if you see that they are growing in "one stick". In general, bushiness in good hybrids is genetically determined and with good care (lighting, low temperature) they bush themselves. But often we cannot provide our pets with the proper conditions for development, so we have to correct such “deficiencies” in development. But the general rule is this: you can only “pinch” bush petunias, the ampels grow well on their own, and if you pinch the central shoot, then an adult bush can get a “bald” middle and then it will be very difficult to fix it, if at all possible. From this moment on, the seedlings grow by leaps and bounds, and you will only have time to arrange the cups wider to provide your "pets" with enough light. The photo shows seedlings in cups with a difference of one week.
You can see how she has grown in just a week. We also continue to feed the seedlings with nitrogen fertilizer to build up a good vegetative mass. As I said, I sow petunia from mid-February to mid-March, so from mid-April it begins to bloom right on the windowsill. I decide on a permanent place of residence at the end of May (I look at the weather), when the threat of frost has passed. When planting in a pot, I add a "long-playing" fertilizer. Well, that's all the "tricks" of growing petunia seedlings. There is nothing difficult in this. The main thing is to love them and they will reciprocate and grateful flowering!