Breeder News

Deeply Rooted When you think Petunia what do you think of? For me I think of bursts of colour, great structure, and simply a classic. Now not everyone’s experience with petunias is this way. Many see petunias as scraggly, sticky, flowers that for the life of them will not look like what the plant magazines always show. So what are we missing? How is there such a vast difference between some experiences to others? The truth is, it’s the work. Petunias are often sold as easy care, but like all plants petunias do require specific attention. Dead heading, regular trimming, good fertilizer, and enough sunlight are all essential for the flower to fully flourish. Petunias can look absolutely incredible with the proper effort, and though yes they are a hardy plant, we cannot forget that even the faithful petunia needs good care. With our petunias at the greenhouse we fertilize them regularly, about 2-3 times a week with a water soluble. However even this could be increased providing you are using the proper fertilizer, such as a water soluble mix that won’t overwhelm or burn the plant. When the petunia is establishing itself and begins to grow its branches out into the typical scraggly look, you can give it a good haircut. With an established petunia I would cut back about 2-3 inches, and depending on how large the plant is you can always cut more. However as a good rule of thumb cut less and go from there, you can always take more off, but you can never add on. Regular deadheading is also great for a petunias beauty treatment. Petunias are not self-deadheading. This means that when the blooms die, rather than dropping the flowers they will stay on the plant until something knocks them off. This is easy and quick work if you can stay on top of it. Simply find the dead flower heads and pinch it off right under the flower bud, preventing the old flower bud from turning into a seed pod. Though requiring some work petunias still remain one of the best […]

Source: www.mysteinbach.ca