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Petunia is a wonderful flower that every year is only gaining popularity. This is mainly due to the hard work of breeders to create more and more new, more and more attractive and, at times, completely irresistible petunia varieties and hybrids. And most importantly, the vast majority of modern varieties are distinguished by great vitality and unpretentiousness. This is especially true of multi-flowered, luxuriantly flowering varieties. Flowers with complex, double and bordered petals are a little more capricious, but they are also of extraordinary beauty.
Therefore, flower growers are tempted by this beauty, they cannot pass by bags of seeds, which depict new, hitherto unseen colors and shapes of this flower, familiar to many from childhood. But growing good, strong seedlings of petunia on your own is not a very simple matter, even for an experienced grower. So what do newbies do? After all, the seeds are quite expensive, so I want at least something to work out the first time. Here, peat tablets come to the aid of beginners, and experienced flower growers. After all, growing petunias in peat tablets simplifies many seedling care procedures so much that even lovers of these flowers with extensive experience cannot but rejoice. They get the opportunity to easily grow many even the most valuable and rare varieties that are not always possible to grow with conventional sowing.
Peat tablets: what is it and what are they
Peat tablets are cylindrical discs made from several types of peat by pressing. A starter set of trace elements and growth regulators is usually added to their contents to improve seed germination and provide young shoots with everything they need for the first time. Each tablet is packed on the outside in a special cellulose mesh, which is impregnated with antibacterial substances to protect the seeds from various infections. In addition, it helps the tablet, when moistened and swollen, to maintain the shape of a barrel-shaped cup.
As it is easy to understand from the above, the main advantage of peat tablets is the fact that they play the role of both a planting container for the development of seedlings and a sterile, completely prepared breathable soil, with a full set of elements that can help plants at the beginning of their life and development. . This is precisely the secret of peat tablets – why they manage to grow and preserve even the most capricious and demanding cultures.
In addition, using tablets is very simple, they save a lot of time and, which is important for the conditions of small apartments, do not bring any garbage and dirt with them. Finally, the undoubted advantage of their use is the fact that seedlings can grow in them for a relatively long time – depending on the size of the tablets and the type of planted crop – up to one to two months. And no picking and transplanting is required.
At the moment when the roots begin to go beyond the paper mesh, the seedlings are either placed directly with the tablet in a permanent place, or placed in a larger container, covered with additional earth and growing further. There is no trauma to the root system, no stress and, as a result, no stunting.
The main disadvantage, significant for many, is the cost of tablets. When growing large volumes of seedlings, the use of peat tablets can be very expensive. But if we are talking about valuable and rare plant species, for example, the same pelleted seeds of terry varieties of petunias, have a price quite comparable to the cost of a tablet, then, of course, the use of tablets for sowing petunias is more than justified, especially for beginners. Peat tablets also have one more drawback – they can dry out very quickly and easily, therefore, when growing seedlings, it cannot be left unattended for a long time.
Peat tablets come in various sizes from 24 to 90 mm. For growing petunia seedlings, even the smallest of them 24 or 33 mm are quite suitable for you. When choosing tablets, be sure to read all the information on the package. You should not take pills without packaging or without protective nets, they can be cheaper, but the savings can result in a complete loss of useful properties. It is necessary to choose those that are made from peat of low acidity. It happens that the tablets contain coconut fiber, in principle, they are also suitable for planting petunia seeds, they will only require even more attention and control over humidity.
Description of the process of planting petunias in peat tablets
Most of all, beginners are concerned about the problem, but how to plant a petunia in peat tablets correctly. The procedure itself is quite simple and should not cause difficulties even for beginners.
It is necessary to prepare some kind of deep container, preferably with a lid, it is possible without it. Transparent boxes from under the cake or confectionery are ideal. On sale you can also find ready-made kits for growing seedlings in peat tablets, which are a tray with cells the size of tablets and a lid.
- Place the required number of peat tablets on the bottom of the container or in special cells so that the recess is on the top side.
- Gradually moisten the tablets with warm settled water so that the water covers them completely. Do not use cold and chlorinated water to moisten the tablets. Do not abruptly pour water into the tray with tablets to avoid dilution of nutrients.
- It is necessary to wait about 20-30 minutes, the tablets should swell, increase in height by 6-8 times, in width the size remains almost the same.
- If there is not enough water, you need to carefully add more. After 30 minutes, when the tablets take their final form, the excess water must be drained.
- Gently, using the moistened tip of a toothpick or match, pick up a petunia seed and place it in the center of the recess on top of the peat tablet. Dried seeds are usually fairly easy to hold on to the tip of a wooden toothpick if it is wet.
- Coated seeds usually have a very dense shell and it is desirable to help it dissolve for accelerated and friendly seed germination. To do this, using a sprayer, or in extreme cases a pipette or syringe, lightly moisten a petunia seed using just a few drops of water. After waiting a few seconds, with the end of the toothpick, gently press it against the surface of the peat and even lightly smear the shell over the surface. It is very important not to overdo it here, all movements should be very light. Under no circumstances should petunia seeds be covered with soil. They only grow in the light.
- Close the container with a lid, or in the absence of one, cover with a transparent film and fix it on top with an elastic band or string.
- Place the entire mini-greenhouse in a bright and warm place with a temperature of + 20 ° C – + 25 ° C. At lower temperatures, petunia seeds may not germinate at all.
Everything, planting petunias in peat tablets is completed. In the near future, it is only necessary to open the lid of the greenhouse every day for a couple of minutes to ventilate and wipe the condensate that accumulates on the lid. Petunia shoots, under favorable circumstances, may begin to appear after 5 days. But some seeds sit even longer, up to 10-15 days – this should not worry you.
Petunia seedling care after germination
An additional convenience of using peat tablets is that seedlings can be sorted by rearranging plants that have already sprouted under brighter lighting. It is only important to move them to the same pallets with lids. Appeared shoots of petunia during the first two weeks, it is desirable to illuminate around the clock. This will keep them from stretching out. Another technique to avoid pulling out seedlings is to lower the temperature slightly, compared to germination conditions. True, not everyone is really feasible, but it makes sense to try. It is only important not to overdo it in this too.
During the first two weeks after germination, the lid from the mini-greenhouse should not be removed. Petunia seedlings only need to be aired daily, starting from 5-10 minutes, and every day to increase the airing time by 20-30 minutes. After 2-3 weeks, the lid or film can be removed completely. This can be done earlier if the top of the seedlings began to rest against it.
There is no specific watering regime for petunia seedlings when grown in peat tablets.
In the first two weeks, nothing is likely to happen under the lid, but later, when the lid is completely removed, you need to check the moisture content of the tablets every day.
Moisturizing them is very simple – you just need to add a little water to the tray and after about half an hour, carefully drain the excess water. To remove water, so as not to disturb the seedlings, it is convenient enough to use a large syringe or enema.
Seedling transplant
Petunia seedlings grown in peat tablets do not need picking. For many beginner gardeners, this fact is already a big advantage.
It is better not to postpone this procedure, since young tender petunia roots are very sensitive and in the air they will quickly dry out and die. Which, of course, will slow down the development of seedlings and delay its flowering.
For transplanting, it is necessary to prepare pots with a volume of at least twice the volume of peat tablets with seedlings, and loose fertile soil. It is advisable to treat it before planting with a solution of phytosporin or glyocladin to disinfect it from any fungal infections.
A drainage layer is laid in the pot, 1-2 cm high, a little soil is poured on top, then a peat tablet with seedlings is placed. A little earth is poured from the sides and top, everything is slightly compacted and spilled with a small amount of water. In the first days after transplanting, it is advisable not to place the seedlings of petunias under direct sunlight.
Many more experienced flower growers, in order to save pills, plant not one, but several petunia seeds in each. In principle, this is quite acceptable, and in this case, when the time comes, the plants can also be transplanted into large containers without picking.
It is only necessary to take into account that when the leaves grow, they will be cramped in one pot, and they will fight with each other for light. Yes, and when planting in the ground, you will have to tear apart the roots that have grown together, which, of course, will delay flowering, but it can bring some savings. So the choice in this case is yours. It is only important not to overdo it and do not sow more than five plants in one small tablet.
Conclusion
As you can see, growing petunia seedlings in peat tablets is not at all difficult and will give you a lot of interesting and pleasant experiences. And as a result, you are guaranteed to get luxurious, compact and flowering petunia plants of the desired varieties. According to gardeners, the yield of healthy flowering petunia seedlings from seeds when using peat tablets reaches 98-100%.
