18” hay basket with 5 plants. Too many, do you think? Whether intentional or not, crammed exuberance seems to be my planting style. There’s only one petunia in the chimney pot.
Growing on petunia seedlings at temperatures below about 13° C encourages basal shoots so the plants do grow sideways quite readily.
When the plant is growing strongly I snip off the top three inches of a stem just below a pair of leaves. Ideally choose a stem with no flowers forming at the end but, at this time of year, that’s not likely so you’ll have to pinch off the flower buds. Carefully cut off the bottom two leaves, dunk the end of the cutting in rooting compound, though I do not think that is essential, and pop the cutting in a 3 1/2” pot filled with a seed compost and vermiculite mix. The compost should be slightly damp. I then put a clear plastic beaker* - the type you get at the office drinks machine - over the pot making a really tight seal and put the pot to one side in a shady place. From time to time tap the beaker to send condensation back down into the compost. After about 2 weeks you should see signs on growth and, after 4 weeks, you can pot them on or put straight into the ground depending on root growth.
* Cutting the rim off the beaker can help it fit even more snugly inside the plant pot.
I took about 50 cuttings in mid March from the petunia in the terracotta pot which I overwintered in a slightly open cold frame. So much for petunias being half hardy! All but one successfully took. Note that the plant is protected by Plant Breeders’ Rights so the cuttings can only be given away; I could not even donate them for sale at the church fête. In March the petunias took a little longer to establish than they would do if you tried now.
This photo shows the type of shoot that could be propagated. You would have to pinch out the buds.
As I started this topic and subsequently ordered/received some precious seed I have read all your comments and admire the pictures - very informative and I have taken an interest in your propagation methods Picidae. Thanks for all the input. Most of my seeds germinated and my plants are now healthy looking and (I wish I had realized how easy it is to propagate them) I have been chucking the pinched side shoots to help the plants to bush out more. I have no buds or flowers yet, but will stop pinching now to encourage some blooms.
Mine in the greenhouse have been flowering for weeks, I do have a slight problem though I ran out of single pots so potted them up in trays they are all tangled up now, takes ages to untangle them.
I planted 3 ( 2 red velour and 1 white/lilac ) in a 3ft trough , they ended up engulfing the whole trough swapping out all the other plants but for fuschia and bacopa.
The Blue Denim, and also the Red Velour, came from Nicky’s Seeds. They have quite a range of the Wave petunias with the added bonus the seeds are pelleted making them easy to handle.
As described above, this is my Petunia Tidal Red Velour now, no flowers have developed as I am nipping of the new shoots to help bush the plants. All these (8 in total - 1 per pot) have been grown from seed. I do hope they grow to resemble those you have Picidae! Do I over winter them in the cold greenhouse?
I overwintered my terracotta pot in a cold frame. Throughout the winter the lids were propped about 3” open to allow a little movement of air. I trimmed the plants to about 4” high before putting them in the cold frame.
The hay basket was overwintered in situ i.e. I couldn’t be ar$ed to take it down! It was on a south facing brick wall and about three quarters of the plants made it through the winter. We live in Rutland in the East Midlands. Though it was far from being a bitterly cold winter, temperatures did fall to -6° on one occasion.
Our petunias would be in heaven if we had a greenhouse where they could have taken their winter holiday!
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Growing on petunia seedlings at temperatures below about 13° C encourages basal shoots so the plants do grow sideways quite readily.
When the plant is growing strongly I snip off the top three inches of a stem just below a pair of leaves. Ideally choose a stem with no flowers forming at the end but, at this time of year, that’s not likely so you’ll have to pinch off the flower buds. Carefully cut off the bottom two leaves, dunk the end of the cutting in rooting compound, though I do not think that is essential, and pop the cutting in a 3 1/2” pot filled with a seed compost and vermiculite mix. The compost should be slightly damp. I then put a clear plastic beaker* - the type you get at the office drinks machine - over the pot making a really tight seal and put the pot to one side in a shady place. From time to time tap the beaker to send condensation back down into the compost. After about 2 weeks you should see signs on growth and, after 4 weeks, you can pot them on or put straight into the ground depending on root growth.
* Cutting the rim off the beaker can help it fit even more snugly inside the plant pot.
I took about 50 cuttings in mid March from the petunia in the terracotta pot which I overwintered in a slightly open cold frame. So much for petunias being half hardy! All but one successfully took. Note that the plant is protected by Plant Breeders’ Rights so the cuttings can only be given away; I could not even donate them for sale at the church fête. In March the petunias took a little longer to establish than they would do if you tried now.
This photo shows the type of shoot that could be propagated. You would have to pinch out the buds.
Mine in the greenhouse have been flowering for weeks, I do have a slight problem though I ran out of single pots so potted them up in trays they are all tangled up now, takes ages to untangle them.
I planted 3 ( 2 red velour and 1 white/lilac ) in a 3ft trough , they ended up engulfing the whole trough swapping out all the other plants but for fuschia and bacopa.
The hay basket was overwintered in situ i.e. I couldn’t be ar$ed to take it down! It was on a south facing brick wall and about three quarters of the plants made it through the winter. We live in Rutland in the East Midlands. Though it was far from being a bitterly cold winter, temperatures did fall to -6° on one occasion.
Our petunias would be in heaven if we had a greenhouse where they could have taken their winter holiday!