Because they require little care and have a long blooming season, petunias are favorites for color and beauty in beds, borders, porch baskets or boxes, and bouquets.
Seed catalogs list many single and double varieties — fringed, ruffled, starred, and eyed blossoms on tall, dwarf, miniature, compact, spreading, or trailing plants.
When petunias are allowed to come up year after year, the colors tend to run into muddy whites and purples, making the gardener forget that new plants started each year may come in bright, transparent shades of pink, rose, red, purple, lavender, white or yellow.
Petunia Seeds For Garden Use
For garden use, seeds may be sown 6 to 8 weeks before it is safe to set plants outside. The container may be a clean flower pot, flat, or small pan.
My favorite container is an empty, new-pound coffee can. Holes are punched in the bottom for drainage. The can may be wrapped with plain or decorative paper or foil to make it “acceptable to society.”
Place an inch of sphagnum moss in the bottom of the can and fill to within ½” an inch of the top with a planting medium.
Garden soil may be used, but it is not desirable. A peat moss and sand mixture in equal proportions are good.
Vermiculite is excellent, especially when it is time to reset the little plants, for there is a little shock to the young plantlets.
Moisten the vermiculite with Hyponex solution (1/8 teaspoon dissolved in one pint of water.) If one wants to take all precautions against damping off, boiled, cooled water may be used in making the solution.
Damping-Off Petunia Seeds
Damping-off is a sudden wilting of the tiny plants just before or after they emerge from the planting medium.
When damp-off occurs, the plants suddenly collapse, fall over and die. The seedman can treat the seeds with specific chemicals to prevent such trouble. Vermiculite is sterile; as a rule, no problem will be encountered if used.
It pays to play safe, especially with the expensive seeds of double petunias, which are very tiny, and the baby plants are often frail. They grow well as soon as they reach some size.
Sprinkle the petunia seeds as evenly as possible over the planting medium. Cover the bases just enough to hide them from sight. Then with a small hand spray or sprinkler, sprinkle them gently with the Hyponex solution or with plain water to settle the seeds snuggly in their bed.
Cover the top of the container with a bowl cover or with plastic or cellophane held in place with a rubber band. Set the container in a warm, light place. A kitchen counter is usually an ideal location.
The plants may come up in six to ten days or take longer. The cover should be removed for a short time each day when the seeds start germinating, or mold and damping-off troubles may commence.
If damping does start, leave the cover off and let the surface of the planting medium dry. Remove the dead plants, and with a toothpick, stir the consistency between the plants.
If the plants are not too slow in coming up, it is usually only necessary to water them once they are well up. If it is needed, do this as gently as possible.
If there has been damping off trouble, add a teaspoon of vinegar to the water used.
As soon as the plantlets get their true leaves and are large enough to handle, they can be reset into a community flat, or flower pot spaced an inch apart.
44659 by Olga Rolf Tiemann