Petunias! [4/7/24]

[swimmom500]

I guess that’s possible. I watched a U-tube video and she was just cutting off pieces. And then skips to months later and look how great they all look! Lol! I will search for a different video and see if they mention only certain branches. Thanks for your insight!!

[lynnee]

My petunia seedlings are coming along very slowly. Today (April 25) I switched the pump setting to "always on".

[lynnee]

The Petunia seedlings have been coming along nicely! I thinned them about a week ago, and switching the pumo to "always on" had the desired effect of promoting faster growth.

The seedlings were growing so well, in fact, that they were outgrowing the Bounty. Today I took five of the pods out, and transplanted the seedlings to organic potting soil with fertilizer included. They should do fine out front--at least one has some buds.

The four remaining pods will be transplanted when they're larger. The one pod with the kind of stunted seedlings was originally placed in the deck hole in front of the light pole. In my experience, plants usually grow poorly in this particular spot. They always improve when they're moved anywhere else on the deck. Does anyone else have this issue? Any theories why that would be a bad location?

[lynnee]

Three more petunias were transplanted outdoors today. Two were larger than I like, but I've been too busy with other things to get to them. Both are blooming. Only one of the plants that moved outdoors earlier is blooming, but all of them have buds.

One plant, the Baker Creek "Lace Veil", stayed indoors. It was already struggling to catch up to the others, and of course I damaged the roots when I started to remove it from the deck. Forgot to grip the plastic pod, and the sponge came out partway without the pod.

The top row has two petunias from Etsy.  They are Crazytunias, one being the beautiful "Black Mamba".

[lynnee]

The transplanted petunias continue to thrive.



The lace veil petunia that I nearly killed by tearing its roots has recovered. It looks odd, because I had to remove all the lower leaves to help it survive on minimal intact roots. It's leafing out again, though.  It will be staying indoors in the Bounty.

Goes to show that hydroponic plants can withstand a lot of root abuse!

[lynnee]

These photos illustrate why you shouldn't be too quick to give up on an AG plant that you inadvertently damage. This is how my "Lace Veil" petunia looks today. (I broke off a lot of its roots when transplanting petunias outdoors, so kept it inside.) All the growth is from a single pod!

[maskedsonnet]

Such pretty flowers, I love those ruffled edges!

[lynnee]

I love growing petunias in an AG, because they do so well, with so little effort! Also, the transplants do great in my outdoor display, which gets full sun all afternoon.

[scarfguy]

Jun 17, 2024 9:00:40 GMT -5 lynnee said:

I love growing petunias in an AG, because they do so well, with so little effort! Also, the transplants do great in my outdoor display, which gets full sun all afternoon.

I also love petunias BUT they are high maintenance.  You have to pick off wilted flowers almost daily and the juice is really sticky!   I hate sticky.

[slw]

Jun 17, 2024 9:16:04 GMT -5 scarfguy said:

I also love petunias BUT they are high maintenance.  You have to pick off wilted flowers almost daily and the juice is really sticky!   I hate sticky.

Same.  I love the look but hate the "sticky."   I have excellent results from the AG petunias in a Sprout, though. 

[Shawn]

Beautiful Flowers

[lynnee]

I don't bother to pick off petunia flowers. Even outdoors, if they wilt in the afternoon sun, they revive overnight and throughout the cool, shaded mornings. When the flowers are really finished, they dry up and drop off.

[lynnee]

This single petunia pod continues to amaze! The frilly white flowers really cheer up the room. I wish I could transplant this outdoors, but it's far too late to get the roots out of the deck.

[lynnee]

Today I transplanted the Lace Veil petunia outdoors. I love it to pieces, but it's time to start more petunias for the outdoor display.

I squeezed the root ball getting the plant out of the Bounty deck; broke off about 3/4 of the plant during the transplanting; didn't have a big enough pot; didn't have any MiracleGro planting mix; and put it in a tough location that gets full sun all afternoon. So it may not survive.

But we'll see! I need to be sure to talk to it when I water it during the next few days.

[lynnee]

Today I started a new set of petunia seedlings for the outdoor display.

[Shawn]

I need to look these up.  I have to replant my desk flowers after I put my new desk together.

Will these fit in a Harvest xl?

[lynnee]

Sept 3, 2024 8:29:17 GMT -5 Shawn said:

I need to look these up.  I have to replant my desk flowers after I put my new desk together.

Will these fit in a Harvest xl?

Sure. Petunias are easy. They're a bit hard to plant, because the seeds are so tiny. Pelleted seeds solve that problem, but you need to plant atop the sponge and set your pump to always on (if you can) to maximize germination.

[lynnee]

My latest petunia gardens got completely out of hand:





Yesterday I transplanted them to the outdoors display, even though they were far too big for this.

The roots came out of the deck okay (with a squeeze from my hand), but the cascading stems were tangled and suffered damage. Also, it was hard to fill a pot with soil when there were such long stems all around.



The plants should survive, but may not be able to sustain the current growth.

[pfunnyjoy]

They were beautiful though! I hope they survive the transplanting!

[LoveSalads]

I am not a flower person but those colors are awesome. They look great.