Planting Petunias in Your Garden: [Guide, Care + Images]

Did you know that petunia is a beautiful and very grateful plant?

Why do I say what is grateful?Because it really needs little care and is resistant.

Petunia has been used for centuries as an ornamental, houseplant. Its flowering is one of the most beautiful. It can also be used as a hanging plant. It can sometimes be confused with another plant called calibrachoa.

Therefore, it becomes a good option for our garden.

What are you waiting for?

Important points when planting petunias

• When? It is ideal to sow them in spring. At first they do not resist low temperatures well.
• Where? When you start planting, it is ideal that they do not get direct sun, especially if it is very hot.
• substrate? _ They will greatly appreciate it if you fertilize the land weekly or at least monthly. You can use very decomposed compost, very waste manure and in small quantities… Phosphoric acid is also very good for them.
• Land? Prepare the soil by fertilizing it considerably. It must be moved and moist to facilitate water drainage.
• How do we water? It is VERY important that when watering you do not wet the leaves of the petunia. It is better to use drip irrigation or at least a watering can. It also avoids flooding.
• What diseases do you have? The petunia can mainly be attacked by the red spider mite, the aphid and the whitefly.

What kind of petunia should I plant?

It is important to determine which petunia you want for your garden. Let’s look at some types of petunia:

grandiflora

It is the most common type of petunia. This is because it is also the one with the largest and most colorful petals.

multiflora

Their petals are smaller, but they have the main characteristic that they produce many more flowers than their sisters, the grandifloras.

Creeping or ground petunia

Interesting if you are interested in your petunias covering a good handful of meters. They spread easily, although yes: you will have to water them more frequently.

When should I plant petunias?

Petunia is a hardy plant. Common in tropical countries, but it also adapts well to the cold.

However, like most plants, it is somewhat more delicate at first.

We recommend, therefore, that if you plant it in a pot, keep it in direct sunlight for a few hours (not all day) and try to do it in spring or at the end of winter.

How do we prepare the land?

It is interesting to stir the earth well. That it is loose and well mixed with natural fertilizers, such as homemade organic matter such as compost or manure (both well decomposed).

The most important thing is that the soil is well loosened so that the water drains correctly and the roots can grow correctly.

Where should we grow petunias?

The petunia is a plant that, if it meets the right conditions, usually grows easily and spreads widely.especially the climbing or sliding varieties.

Therefore, if you are going to plant several petunias, we recommend that you leave a good space between them. Minimum one meter.

Also, when growing they are plants that demand light. So if you plant them directly in the garden, do not do it in an area that has a lot of shade throughout the day, since this will directly affect its future growth.

How and how often should we water petunias?

irrigation frequency

It is not a very demanding plant with watering. In fact, when it has grown to a considerable size, we should only take care of watering it in summer, when it barely rains and temperatures are high.

However, in the beginning we would recommend watering every three or four days.

Irrigation way

Drip irrigation. It is the most efficient way and the least will flood the land.

If the petunia is planted in a pot, then we recommend that you use a watering can, but it is extremely important that you do not wet the leaves and do not puddle the soil.

What care should we give our petunias?

pruning

Pruning in petunias, as in many plants,It is very important to stimulate their growth.

It is interesting to prune dead flowers. When the petunia overgrows, it can lose some bloom and become less showy. It is time to do a stronger pruning.

the fertilizer

Petunias don’t need a lot of extra nutrients to thrive. But they will grow much better if you add a little compost every couple of months.

If you pay them, they will certainly grow stronger. More if they have sunlight and enough water.

What pests affect petunias?

They are especially vulnerable to spider mites, whiteflies and aphids. But they can also be attacked by white rot and other types of fungi.

verticillium wilt

Verticillium or Verticillium wilt is a common soil fungus that thrives in temperate climates around the world and can be present in the soil for decades.

Verticillium wilt overwinters in the soil as dormant mycelium or tiny dormant black structures called microsclerotia, waiting for favorable conditions to return.

They enter damaged plant tissue through the roots and multiply. Many common weeds, such as dandelions and weeds, can be Verticillium host species.

Verticillium wilt is a disease that affects more than 350 species of eudicolous plants. It is caused by six species of Verticillium fungi: Verticillium dahliae, Verticillium albo-atrum, Verticillium longisporum, Verticillium nubilum, Verticillium theobromae, and Verticillium tricorpus.

Many plants with significant economic weight are susceptible, such as cotton, tomatoes, potatoes, oilseed rape, aubergines, peppers, and ornamental plants, as well as others in natural vegetation communities.

Many species and cultivars of eudicots are resistant to the disease, and all monocots, gymnosperms, and ferns are immune. To know more: Verticillium wilt in the Orchard: What is it? How do we identify it?

Then what do we do?

For red spiders, whiteflies and aphids, you can opt for natural insecticides, such as neem oil or potassium soap.

For rot and fungus it is very important to water them properly (without flooding or wetting the leaves). In case you live in a place where it rains a lot, we recommend that you buy British varieties.

Where can we buy petunias?

Petunia is a very common flower. It can be purchased at most herbal or garden stores. In case you do not have any, we can recommend the seeds that they sell on Amazon, they have given us good results.