How to get a lush petunia bush? How to pinch a petunia for abundant blooms How to grow a large petunia bush
Volumetric multi-colored bushes of terry, ampelous, two-color and plain petunias won hearts experienced gardeners and newcomers. From mid-spring to the first frosts, flowers, amazing in their diversity and decorativeness, adorn not only summer cottages but also balconies multi-storey buildings, verandas of cottages, city flower beds, cafe and restaurant areas. Flowers are unpretentious, do not require professional maintenance and special conditions, but gratefully respond to the care of flower growers.
Necessary conditions for pinching petunias
Proper cultivation and shaping is important condition to get a beautiful and healthy bush. In addition to timely sowing and diving, it is necessary to correct pinching petunias. This means that at a certain stage of growth, she needs to remove upper shoots. Such a procedure will ensure the branching of the stems and the formation of many buds on bushy crowns.
To carry out this manipulation, you will need the following:
- convenient scissors or secateurs;
- strengthened seedlings with 4 - 5 large leaves at the top;
- container for collecting removed cuttings.
How should you pinch a petunia?
Before pinching a petunia, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the basic requirements for this procedure:
- Observing the growth of seedlings, it is necessary to choose a period when it got a little stronger and began to grow up soon. It can have up to 5 - 6 leaves, but no more. If you miss this moment, the seedlings will stretch. Actually pinching petunias does not take much time. It is necessary to cut the stem over 5-6 leaves with your fingers or a pruner.
This forms a new point of growth, from which several shoots will begin to grow in different directions at the same time. During this period, seedlings can slow down development, but at the same time get a little stronger. When will they go side shoots, the bush will take on a more rounded appearance. - If you plan to plant seedlings in open ground, then pinching is best done after rooting. The sprout will take a few days to adapt. During this period, you need to try to create favorable conditions for the plants to take root:
- it is necessary to plant seedlings loosely, observing the conditions of agricultural technology;
- monitor the frequency of watering and spraying;
- apply a specialized strengthening fertilizer under the root.
If development occurs in a greenhouse, you can pinch the petunia after diving.
- If the pruned shoots are not very small size, they can be used as cuttings. In order for the cutting to take root, it is placed in a container of water. First you need to remove the extra leaves, leaving a few at the top. When the roots appear, they are transplanted into the soil. So you can get additional young seedlings.
- during pinching, try to injure the sprout as little as possible, use clean tools;
- a month after the event and the appearance of strong side branches, pinching the tops of petunias can be repeated;
- for laying large buds on new stepchildren, use suitable fertilizers, they will make the flowers brighter and larger.
In order for the formed decorative bush to please with its beautiful view for as long as possible, it will need constant care. From the moment of sowing, not a single transplant, pinching, spraying of sprouts will be required. Do not forget to water and feed well, remove dried flowers and shoots. In place of the cut off old flowers, new branches with buds will appear. Well-groomed colorful petunias will undoubtedly please you with abundant and long flowering in gratitude.
Let's figure it out! But before starting your short review, I want to warn you that I am not a "guru" in this area. I just want to tell you how I deal with petunias. What agricultural techniques do I use to make the petunia lush.
So! Usually, beginner flower growers (or those who still have their own difficulties with growing petunias from seeds) buy young seedlings - about this age.
It is at this age of the plant that I begin to make the first pinch. As you can see in the photo of the stems, the plant has very few 5-6 pieces.
In order to develop side shoots - you need to cut, and it is best to pinch the top of the shoot. The separated piece of the shoot should be at least 3-4 cm. Why exactly so much, and not less? If you remove only the tip of the shoot - (and this will be the thinnest place on the stem), then growing side shoots in this place will often break off in strong winds and bad weather.
Making a pinch in right place- you will provide strength to new shoots and then they will be resistant to mechanical damage. This is what a pinch should look like (see photo).
Next ... How many times per season should this procedure be carried out? Pinching is carried out as the lateral stems grow. So, as soon as the new side stems reach a length of about 10-15 (maybe a little more), the pinching can be repeated.
And so do until the bush acquires splendor. But, take into account the fact that with the constant shortening of the stems and the intensive growth of the plant, additional feeding is required. If this is not done, then there will be a lot of new stems, they will be thin. You will not see abundant flowering. Only when good care, timely watering can achieve full returns from the plant.
There is a special Belarusian fertilizer - "For petunias and surfinias", which I use. Composition: nitrogen -17%, phosphorus -32%, potassium - 22%. The composition of the yellow Crystal - NPK - 13-40-13 + trace elements.
Still very important point!
Remove all wilted flowers in time, they take a lot of strength from the plant - forming testes.
Petunia is very popular in all city flower beds, because it has many advantages: it is resistant to any changes. weather conditions, she has an abundance of various large inflorescences, and she also blooms from summer to autumn. Petunia has a bushy shape, the stems can be creeping or erect. Stems and leaves are pubescent.
Preferences
In order for petunia to please you with its large "gramophones", you do not need to make supernatural efforts, but still it has its own preferences. Although the plant is drought-resistant, on hot days it still needs to be watered abundantly, and for varieties with large flowers- in double volume. Water is directed only under the root, as the flowers are very delicate and easily lose their beauty from moisture. The next day, loosening the soil is carried out to prevent the formation of a soil crust, stop the growth of weeds and simply enrich the soil with oxygen.
Most important secret beautiful flowering - regular top dressing, which should be started a week after planting seedlings in open ground. Food is given every 10 days, and in the diet, potassium should prevail over all other elements. Fertilizers are applied until August.
in containers
Petunias are often planted in containers. This is due to their drought tolerance. Even in a small basket with a diameter of 15 cm, these plants can be planted, they tolerate dense planting well. Caring for container petunias includes feeding, pinching, and regular watering. If the petunias have grown strongly, then root top dressing can be replaced by spraying on the leaves. In addition, it is necessary to remove dried shoots, withered flowers, or simply thin out the plants.
Sowing
Most varieties of petunias can be sown in April - March in open ground and, with good watering, get good flowering. However, to form luxurious fluffy hats of flowers, you need to try.
There are several ways to sow petunias:
- in peat tablets;
- in boxes;
- in cassettes for seedlings;
- over the snow.
Usually they start sowing seeds for seedlings at the end of March, but to get early flowering You can do this in January - February. At first, the seeds are regularly sprayed and make sure that the soil is not waterlogged. When a couple of real leaves appear on the sprouts, you can start picking, it is convenient to use disposable 200-gram cups as containers. Before planting a petunia in open ground, it is important to take care of hardening.
cuttings
If you want to save the petunia before the frost, then you need to dig it up in October, plant it in a pot and put it in a cool place to rest. In February, you just need to transfer the petunia to a warm windowsill, resume watering and, when new shoots with leaves begin to grow, cut them off, leaving a heel. Further, these shoots are planted in fertile soil, cover with a film and root. In this way, you can get seedlings from one plant for a whole flower bed. Or you can simply treat the petunia as an annual crop and propagate it by sowing seeds.
Possible problems
Like most other plants, petunia is susceptible to various diseases, especially often she suffers from chlorosis. The leaves begin to turn yellow, and soon the whole bush becomes yellow color. The reason is hardness. tap water. In order to prevent this from happening, fertilizers and additional substances that contain iron must be added to the water.
In order to please the eye with lush and beautiful bushes with abundant flowering, you need to know exactly how to pinch a petunia correctly. If petunias are allowed to grow on their own, then it will simply stretch out, and the flowers will be small. Proper pinching (pinching) of the main point of growth will certainly stimulate the growth of the lateral stems and after 12 days, the edge after two weeks, the ovaries of flowers will appear on them, which is what we are striving for.
How to properly pinch a petunia later dates development to give a certain shape? In the purchased seedlings, the first tweezing has already been done. Repeated - performed depending on the variety. Therefore, we will focus on how to properly pinch a petunia unpretentious varieties and breeding (here - the best varieties these beautiful flowers) hybrids.
The importance of tweezing for any plant
Pinching is cutting off either with scissors or breaking off the top of the stem with your fingers. After it is carried out, the remainder of the shoot thickens, the buds in the axils become larger, and the color of the leaves is more saturated. The process is carried out so that young strong stems with flowers grow and the plant acquires a delightful appearance.
It should be noted that the method only works if the pinching was done before the end of the growing season.
The first pinch - on petunia seedlings
We perform pinching in the following way:
- We form a seedling as soon as it began to gain strength and grow.
- The best time to pinch is when the petunias have developed a few (5 - 6) leaves. If this is not done on time, the seedlings will stretch out, the bush will not have a spherical appearance, the stems will not branch.
- When planting a flower in the ground, tweezing is performed after it has rooted and adapted (usually at the end of May). In order for it to take root well, it needs to organize suitable conditions for development: we plant seedlings not densely, then they will develop better, we fertilize (feed) them under the root, regularly moisten and sprinkle the leaves with water.
- When seedlings are kept in a greenhouse (we grow them together with others), we make tweezing only after diving. Plants quickly (in a few days) adapt. And then they can be cut.
- The formation is carried out with secateurs or fingers. Above the last (5 - 6) leaf of the petunia, we remove the apical bud. This will create a new point for the stems to grow and branch.
After all the actions, we make the last emphasis on the cut powder of the flowers or wood ash or powder activated carbon. In order for the seedling to recover faster, it would be nice to spray it or spill it with plant development stimulants: Zircon or Epin.
After the event, seedlings slow down growth, but gain strength. The appearance of the petunia becomes spherical when the lateral stems grow.
Escape length for separation
The separated part of the shoot should be 4 centimeters, but still it is better to be longer. If you cut off the thinnest place on the stem (tip of the shoot) of the flower, then other shoots, developing in this place, will break off in bad weather and wind.
We do not forget to fertilize the soil weekly, and regularly moisten the shoots of the plant, preferably every second (third) day.
Repeated pinching of petunias after landing in open ground
Pinching must be repeated 2-3 times, and not only on the central, but also on the lateral stems of flowers. We perform this action when they grow up to 13 - 15 cm. To improve the shape and rich flowering of petunias, it is advisable to shorten the shoots 28 - 30 days after the first procedure. At the same time, there should be at least 5 leaves on the main process.
Ampel varieties do not need re-pruning. But in many varieties, one of the branches continues to quickly stretch, taking food and strength from the rest. In some cases, an ovary also appears on it. Then it must be urgently pinched with scissors (secateurs). To do this, count 3-5 leaves from below and cut off the rest. The growing point of the petunia will change. It will not grow up, but will start side shoots.
I draw your attention to the fact that after tweezing, flowering is postponed for 12 - 14 days. But in the end, not 1 flower will bloom, but several, and the buds will be larger.
Before the next pinching, you need to wait until the bush grows. After that, we shorten the elongated stems, as a result - the flowers will be more dense. At the same time, I recommend making a cut closer to the base of the branch, and not pinching only the crown.
In order for the vegetation to please with abundant flowering, this operation must be performed without fail.
An adult flowering plant is cut with a view to better development bush and increase the time of its magnificence.
What to do after pinching
With regular shortening of shoots and increased growth of petunias, constant feeding with a growth stimulator and complete mineral fertilizer. Otherwise, many thin stems will develop. It is possible to achieve a return on the plant only with constant watering and proper care.
We remember that it is necessary to cut off wilted flowers in time (do not pull them out, but pinch off from a branch with a pedicel). Forming testes, they take strength from the plant.
In the lion's share of cases, petunias are tweezed 2-3 times: in the seedling phase, after planting in the ground and during the growing season. But if the third pinching can be neglected, then in the phase of seedlings and planting in open ground they are mandatory.
Remember that pruning is stressful for our flowers. For this reason, after it, the bushes freeze a little in development, but the development of lateral stems, which form large buds, intensifies.
- Try not to injure the sprout too much. We use clean tools for tweezing.
- We form a bush at a petunia in a timely manner. Delaying the process is bad for development.
- We do pinching monthly.
- So that the plant does not burn and does not die, we prune in the evening or in the morning, when the sun's rays are not very active.
- We do not throw out the plucked stems, but use them as cuttings (unless they have a stable stem and 5-6 leaves). For rooting, cutting off the lower leaves, place them in a jar of water. As soon as the roots grow, we plant the stems in fertile soil. So we will have additional seedlings with you.
It is important to remember if you are cuttings hybrid varieties petunias, then the grown specimen will retain appearance and signs of the original. When propagated by seeds, this cannot be achieved.
Petunias are blooming beauties with an obstinate but sympathetic character. If you constantly take care of them, properly care for them, then they will delight you with gratitude all summer.
Pinching petunias for the splendor of the bush-video
Many hostesses dream of beautiful and admirable flower beds or flowerpots on windows and balconies. Petunia is perfect for this. All over the world this beautiful flower ranks among the top ten most popular flyers. Interesting fact: Petunia is a distant relative of the tomato and potato, because it belongs to the genus Solanaceae. Petunia is a perennial, but in our harsh winters root system the plant dies, so it is grown as an annual.
Petunia tolerates heat well, but it requires constant watering. In cool weather, it continues to grow, but blooms reluctantly. There are several hundred types of petunias and only 4 groups: multi-flowered, large-flowered, ampelous and floribunda.
The conversation will be about because it is simply indispensable in decorating balconies, windows, flower beds, planters and hanging baskets. Many tried to grow a beautiful flower on their own, but not everyone managed to achieve lush flowering. The main secret- pinching ampelous petunias. Now we will figure out how and when to do this.
The easiest way, of course, is to buy seedlings, but since we are not looking for easy ways, we will grow them ourselves. Seeds should be sown from February to the end of March. Use containers 6-7 cm deep. Since they are very small, they need to be sown on the surface and lightly sprinkled fine sand. It is better to water with a sprayer so as not to move them. Shoots will appear in 5-9 days. Under favorable conditions, after about 3 weeks, petunias can already be dived and transplanted into separate containers. Many people use plastic cups for this.
When to prepare for pinching ampelous petunias?
In order to achieve maximum flowering, pinching the ampelous petunia must be done twice. The first time it is recommended to do this after the seedlings are planted in open ground, but not immediately. Give the plant time to mature. Now watch: the shoots will begin to actively grow and stretch - the moment has come (about the month of May). Count 3-5 full-fledged leaves from the bottom of the stem (this is the growth point of the plant), and everything on top needs to be pinched off or cut off. Do not be alarmed if the growth of the flower slows down a little, but it will start to sprout side shoots. The result of this will be abundant flowering and large buds.
Do not throw away the cut stems, they can be put in water and they will take root. Before planting, leave only a couple of leaves, and cut off everything else, as in the first case.
Do not forget to do the second ampelous one a month later.
How nice it would be to admire flowering plant like ampelous petunia. Pinching will form lush bushes strewn with bright, beautiful flowers.
However, plant care does not end there. As wilted flowers appear on the petunia, they must be removed immediately. Remember to water and fertilize your plants regularly. Then the whole summer and autumn will delight you with its colors ampelous petunia. The photos presented in the article give an idea of \u200b\u200bhow beautiful plants can grow and how they can decorate your life and cause admiring glances of passers-by.
Grow flowers - give joy!
