Since petunias can usually be found relatively cheaply in gardening shops, the frost-sensitive plants are usually only cultivated once a year and are bought new every year. If the expense of overwintering, which is quite possible, is avoided, the young plants for the new season can also be grown by yourself.

Petunias are best grown from seeds or cuttings

Harvest the seeds of the petunias yourself

Unless petunias are grown in a covered balcony location, they are even more prone than usual to unattractive and disease-promoting clumping of dead flowers. Therefore, during the long flowering period of petunias, it is customary to regularly pluck wilted individual flowers. However, you should at least partially refrain from doing this if you want to harvest ripe and germinable seeds from the petunias yourself. In this case, just carefully detach the petals and wait until the green pistil has turned into a brown, mature and round seed pod.

Grow petunias yourself from seeds

Since petunias are extremely sensitive to sub-zero temperatures, the young plants from seed should be brought forward on the windowsill for a strong start to the gardening season. To do this, sow the small seeds from February or March in pots, bowls or ideally in a greenhouse. You should create the following conditions:

  • an evenly humid climate (easy to control with a cover or foil)
  • Temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius
  • a permeable, finely crumbly cultivation substrate
  • no direct sunlight

The plants can be pricked out and separated as soon as the second pair of leaves has finished developing. However, when planting out in the garden or on the balcony, you should first gradually harden off the sensitive plants with regard to temperature and direct sunlight.

Propagate the petunias by cuttings

To grow offshoots from cuttings, you first need a few strong mother plants in spring. From these, cut off sections about 15 centimeters long, from which you remove the leaves at the lower end. The cuttings root relatively easily in a glass of water or directly in loose potting soil. Whether the rooting was successful can be seen from the sprouting of new leaves at the tips of the shoots.

tips

The cultivation of petunias from seed is not possible without restrictions for all varieties. For example, in the case of hybrid hanging petunias from the specialist trade, the typical properties are not passed on intact. There are also self-sterile varieties that do not form any germinable seeds at all.

Category:

Indoor plants