How to water a petunia: how often and properly moisturize a plant in a pot and what fertilizers are used for plentiful flowering?

Petunia is a beautiful flower that grows on flower beds in front of the administration building in any city. It is grown on garden beds by gardeners and in hanging flowerpots by lovers of home flowers. It is popular because it is stress resistant.

If you follow the simplest rules in care regarding lighting, watering and top dressing, it will delight you with long flowering from summer to late autumn. The most important thing is watering before, during and after flowering. How and what to properly water the petunia we will consider in this article.

Plant description

Petunia is a one- or perennial plant, a herbaceous flower, or a shrub. J. B. Lamarck is a naturalist from France who, in 1793, went on a scientific expedition to the countries of South America and stumbled upon this unusually beautiful plant during flowering. He named it Nicotiana axillaris because of the similarity of its leaves to tobacco leaves. After 10 years, several more species similar to it were found. Because of this, they were separated into a separate genus, calling it Petunia.

Growing Features

During the growing season, petunia needs active sunlight. If she does not bathe in the rays of sunlight, coupled with illumination with a fluorescent lamp, the bush will not grow and there will not be beautiful peduncles (what if the petunia does not bloom?).

Transplanting it, carefully select the soil (2 parts of deciduous, sod land and 1 part of peat, sand), and a layer of drainage is laid on the bottom. Another will not work, as it will not be water-intensive and saturated with air. Street and home petunias are fertilized in a timely manner, and the soil is loosened to saturate with oxygen.

Important! Large-flowered varieties of petunias do not like partial shade and dampness, heavy rain and wind.

The features of growing petunias are described in this article, and here you can read about how to grow this flower in open ground.

Proper care

Sufficient daylight + backlight.
Removing all faded parts to stimulate the development and growth of new inflorescences.
Pinching shoots over the fifth internode to increase branching of the bush. If necessary, shorten the long shoots, forming and maintaining a visual fluffy "ball" (how to cut the plant, described here).
Watering. Petunia loves watering under the root 1-2 times a day. To remove excess water, a drainage layer (stones, fragments of pottery, etc.) is laid at the bottom of the pot. If drainage is not foreseen, soil acidification and moisture stagnation will occur. As a result, she may die.
Fertilizers Petunia is not one of those flowers that need to be carefully fed. And during the growing season, and during flowering, she needs regular feeding. The main thing is not to use fresh manure.

Read about what care petunias require here.

How and what to moisturize?

Many indoor plants love moisture and cannot tolerate drought. If the air humidity drops sharply, and the grower does not change the irrigation scheme, his pet’s growth will slow down. In advanced cases, the plant dies due to lack of moisture. Petunia, like other indoor plants, is carefully watered.

Together with water, nutrients enter the soil. It is introduced regularly in order to adjust the temperature regime. But moisture can be harmful: if the topsoil is not dry, do not water it in order to prevent root decay. With a lack of moisture, the leaves turn yellow, and the stems are bare.

Both fragile seedlings of petunias and an adult plant are watered gently. For irrigation use settled water, and not from the tap. Some gardeners practice drip irrigation. They water a flower with water from an ordinary syringe. Along with watering, the soil is loosened to supply the roots with oxygen.

Top dressing

How to feed petunia in the summer? For this use complex fertilizers with potassium and phosphorus. Nitrogen is needed for it to grow leaves; phosphorus is responsible for the growth of roots and the appearance of buds; potassium is essential for the buds to be large. Nitrogen supplements are needed when seeds are sown and they are waiting for seedlings or when it is necessary to form a bush. Phosphate-potassium fertilizers are used when petunia should bloom.

Reference! Good fertilizer - Kemira Lux. In addition to phosphorus and potassium (20.6 and 27.1, respectively), it contains a small amount of nitrogen. In addition, they feed petunia with fertilizer Agricola for flowering crops.

About when and what you need to feed the petunia, we wrote in this article, and here you will learn about what to fertilize for flowering.

How much and when?

Petunia does not tolerate prolonged drought. If her leaves are sagging, and the flowers look like wet rags, urgently water her. If you do not water it on time, the beauty of the flower will not be restored. Her leaves will turn yellow and buds will fall. Due to lack of moisture, the immunity of petunias will be at risk. She "gets sick", and not the fact that after the disease will recover.

In the summer months, petunia is watered in the morning and evening, i.e. twice a day. If it is not possible to organize such irrigation, add a hydrogel to the soil or use ceramic funnel cones. Watering is not carried out while the sun is high above the horizon. In winter, it is watered once a day and only on condition that the top layer of the earth is well dried out (the rules for leaving in winter are described here).

How to spray a flower in a pot at home?

When growing petunias in a pot on a windowsill, drying out and overmoistening of the soil is avoided. It should not stagnate water, as otherwise it will die. If watering is regular and correct, the plant will bloom profusely and beautifully. She also loves spraying, but only if the water falls exclusively on the leaves, and not on the flowers.

Fertilizers for plentiful and during flowering?

If nitrogen fertilizers are used to form a powerful bush, then boron, pink crystal, plantom S and Scots - for abundant flowering. Using them, bring the beginning of flowering closer and increase the period of formation of new buds. They also help compensate for soil depletion by adding urea, carbine, potassium humate, ammonia and potassium nitrate and magnesium.

Important! In stores, top dressing is sold in granules. They are convenient in that they nourish the plant as it dissolves. They are not suitable for fertilizing petunias. She does not like an overabundance of nutrients, and in the case of using granular additives it is impossible to regulate their intake in the soil.

Caring for petunia during the flowering period, fertilizers are applied twice as much as before it occurs and at least 2-3 procedures per season. Liquid and dry fertilizers are used at this time. Experienced growers recommend replenishing nutrient reserves in the substrate once a week, so that the plant does not become sluggish. They buy Aquarin or Planton S, and Epin is useless, since with it they stimulate the growth of green mass and provide the necessary protection against pests.

Mistakes

Petunias often turn yellow leaves. This problem is faced by novice growers. What to do? This problem does not occur from scratch. Yellow leaves on a flower are a sign of an excess of moisture in the soil, as the roots rot. Noticing problems with the leaves, examine the petunia. The patient has an inelastic stem. If urgent measures are not taken, it will perish. An excess of water in the soil causes fungal diseases.

How to act?

If the leaves turn yellow due to an excess of water, remove them, and the places of the cuts are treated with fungicides.
After removing all affected parts, do not water the petunia for several days. The topsoil should dry completely.
To contribute to the rapid drying of waterlogged soil, loosen it.

Conclusion

Petunia is a plant that does not like waterlogging of the soil. If the grower doubts that the soil has dried out, it is better not to water it. But at the same time, periods of drought should not be long. If you do not water it on time, it will weaken, its immunity will decrease, and it will become a desirable prey for pests that will come from nowhere. In other words, watering should be moderate and regular!