Bright petunia has long won national love and it is grown by many domestic gardeners. Caring for this flower requires some skills and awareness. In order to achieve long and lush flowering, it is important to feed plants in time, starting from the youngest age.
The peculiarity of caring for petunia is that it needs top dressing throughout the entire growing season. Fertilize planting in the following periods:
- Immediately after planting seeds in the soil.
- Young seedlings.
- Plants are in bloom.
Content
Fertilizers at the stage of sowing seeds
Seeds for seedlings can be planted at the end of winter or spring. The quality of future colors depends on many factors, these are:
- Suitable soil composition.
- Qualitative seed material.
- Optimum watering mode.
- Fertilizers introduced throughout the growing season.
The soil in which the seeds are planted is best purchased in a specialized store. It should contain a sufficient amount of peat and be loose. It is possible to provide the soil with all the necessary substances for the full development of petunia with fertilizers.
Dates of feeding petunia seedlings
The first fertilizer is recommended to be applied when seedlings appear. Organic substances stimulate the development of both the root system and the green part of the plant.
How to determine what top dressing is needed
Before you make this or that fertilizer, you should carefully look at the plants. Points to focus on:
- The seedling began to languish. A possible cause is improper soil acidity. To remedy the situation make lime or ash.
- The plants stopped developing and began to turn yellow. A possible reason is not loose and poor soil. It is necessary to loosen the soil more often and apply nitrogen fertilizers.
Fertilizers before and after picking
Some gardeners are of the opinion that the first top dressing should be done no earlier than 3-4 leaflets will form at the seedlings. At this point, the seedlings are watered with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or a combination of mineral fertilizers with phytosporin and energy.
The next fertilizer application is timed to the pick. Transplanting petunias to a new place is a convenient time for complete feeding. Before picking, the earth is sprayed with a solution of zircon (4 drops of the drug per 1 liter of water). Seedlings dive at the age of 14-30 days.
The third top dressing is done 7-9 days after transplantation. It is best to use calcium nitrate.
After another week, the plants are fertilized with any complex nitrogen preparation.
What top dressing to use
To seedlings develop normally, use a variety of means. Gardeners use ready-made chemical fertilizers, use folk remedies and even pharmacy preparations.
Top dressing that positively affects petunia:
- Complex fertilizers with nitrogen in the composition - for the growth of the green part.
- "Fundazole" - for disinfection.
- "Zircon", "Epin" - for branching plants and the formation of a beautiful bush.
- Organic and mineral preparations (Uniflor Rost, Effekton, etc.).
- “Kristallon”, “Kemira” - for supplying seedlings with vitamins.
Folk remedies
Many gardeners use exclusively natural products as fertilizer:
- Vitamins B1, B12 - a pharmacy drug is diluted with water in a proportion of 1:10.
- Yeast - applied to the soil, and also used to spray leaves.
- Cow dung - diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10, watered under the root.
What to feed for growth
In order for petunia to grow well and develop, alternate nitrogen and potassium fertilizers. It is permissible to apply fertilizers 2-3 times a week, provided that one of the procedures concerns the green part of the plant.
Ready-made preparations can be supplemented with folk recipes using yeast, which well stimulate the growth of petunia.
Conclusion
Petunia is a very demanding plant. One of the main points that you need to pay attention to is the timely application of fertilizers. In order to admire beautiful and bright flowers as long as possible, you should carefully monitor the plants so as not to miss the right time for feeding.
How to pinch a petunia to be magnificent
Fertilizing petunia seedlings for growth at home
Sowing petunia seeds for seedlings - tricks and secrets
When to plant petunia for seedlings in 2018: planting calendar