Serious tips on how to keep petunias in winter

Content

Proper preparation is the key to success
Provide light!
Details of rooting

Multicolored terry and large-flowered petunias, surfinia or calibrachoa require attention in winter to keep them for the next season. Many florists create the necessary conditions for South American beauties in the apartment. The best options are cool window sills or insulated loggias. Before wintering, it is necessary to carry out several mandatory procedures that contribute to the successful awakening of plants in spring.

Proper preparation is the key to success

Which petunias should be left for the winter - old powerful bushes or strong young ones grown from cuttings in the middle of summer? There are several approaches. If you want to extend the life of your favorite specimen growing in a flower bed, you need to transplant it no later than mid-August. Terry varieties - at the beginning of the month. Autumn transplants are less successful. If the mother plant is in the pot, it stays there. This is usually done with ampel petunias.

Is it undesirable to transplant? Then it is better to cuttings - in June or early July:

use side shoots for this;
7-9 cm branches should have two internodes, at least six sheets;
make a cut obliquely at the internode, remove the lower two leaves;
the rest of the leaves must be trimmed;
dip in "Kornevin";
put the cups with cuttings in the shade, keep the substrate moderately moist;
fertilize after transplanting into pots.

All procedures must be performed quickly, keeping hands and instruments clean. Young bushes feel more comfortable in the house and bloom profusely in spring.

Advice
In autumn, before being tested at home, spring bushes require strong low pruning (maximum height 20 cm). This excludes possible plant depletion. It would be nice to update the soil: the top layer of two centimeters is carefully replaced with fresh soil.

Plants need support when changing locations. Treatment with Epin or Zircon preparations helps them significantly - the flowers become more resistant to stress, easier to cope with pathogens and damage. They use "Actellik", "Glyocladin", fertilizer sticks containing insecticides. When using these tools, you must carefully study the instructions for them.

Provide light!

The one who takes care of sufficient - 11-12-hour - lighting for them will be able to save petunias at home in winter. It should be noted that at a temperature of 11-15 degrees, garden guests do not require an excess of light.

If the bushes are large, they must be placed under the phytolamp. Plants of summer propagation by cuttings win - they are small, they can be compactly placed on a light window sill. Plus, it's always cooler here than in the room. During the winter months they grow up and begin to bloom in February. Watering is minimal, if only the soil does not dry out.

Annual bushes, like young ones, must be fed once a month with fertilizers - potash and phosphorus, and from the second half of winter, add nitrogen. Late February, March and early April are the second important period for cuttings of petunias.

You can root in prepared soil or water:

the branches in the cups must also remove the top two leaves;
large leaves can be halved with scissors - moisture will evaporate less;
it is better to take thawed or filtered water for rooting, add activated carbon;
Baking soda is ideal for cleaning a container where the stems will stand in water.

Advice
Experienced gardeners claim that terry petunias take root better in the ground.

Details of rooting

Preserving the planted cuttings of petunias requires some effort, which will be rewarded with repeated fireworks of flowering of favorite plants.

A fungicide is added to the prepared soil.
Each stalk is planted in a separate cup, immersed in the substrate one and a half centimeters above the node.
Cups are placed in a pallet, covered with glass or film on top.

They are provided with light (up to sixteen hours a day) and a temperature of 23-25 degrees. For a decade, maximum two weeks, roots appear. When the root system is clearly visible through the transparent walls of the glass, the plants are transferred into the pot with a lump of earth. This ensures the preservation of varietal characteristics of petunias propagated at home. They will delight with lush bouquets in two months.