Pinching petunias for abundant blooms. Proper pinching of petunias for lush and continuous flowering

28.05.2019

Petunia is a perennial mountain flower from Montenegro, with its sweet beauty it fell in love with our compatriots who traveled abroad during the Soviet era, and was brought to our open spaces. However, it turned out that no one remembered the information about the conditions under which it is necessary to grow, and even more so, how to pinch a petunia.
The trial and error method showed that the flower requires a lot of water, warmth and is not able to endure the harsh Russian winters. But, as you know, the Russians do not give up, they began to grow petunia in the warm season in dachas, flower beds, in flowerpots or home pots, and the plant eventually transformed into an annual version.

To date, breeders have more than 800 species of petunia, but flower growers have fallen in love with only a few of the most interesting specimens.

Popular and most beautiful views:

dwarf;
large-flowered;
floribunda;
multicolor;
ampelous.

The main rule of the grower says: the more pretentious and beautiful in appearance the plant, the more difficult it is to care for and reproduce. It is the ladies with the names "Floribunda" and "Ampelnaya" who are distinguished by special whims - they are extremely thermophilic and, like truly noble ladies, cannot stand drafts.

However, there is a common point - no matter how complex or simple the types of petunias are, they must be pinched.

What is it for?

Pinching (or tweezing) - breaking / pinching off the top of a plant shoot with your nails. After that, the remaining part of the stem becomes stiff and begins to thicken, the leaves become more saturated in color, and the buds in the axils increase in size. In horticulture, this process is done to get new strong shoots and a more beautiful appearance. However, this method works if the tweezing was done before the growing season ended.
It is not difficult to get a strong and eye-pleasing living decoration from a small sprout, the main thing is to know how to pinch a petunia correctly and strictly follow the rules.

Pinching process step by step

In order for petunia to give good bushiness and please for a long time with an abundance of buds, you need to take it into account individual characteristics that experienced gardeners have identified.

Pinching rules:

Track the growth of seedlings from the very beginning. For beginner amateur gardeners, the question always arises, is it necessary to pinch petunia seedlings or is this already done on an adult bush? It is with young shoots that tweezing is carried out, overgrown ones will not work.
One of FAQ on the care and reproduction of petunias, this is "When should I pinch a petunia after germination?". As soon as the first shoots begin to gain strength and grow 6-7 leaves, you need to carefully cut off the top after the bottom two pairs of leaves, which will create a new point for branching and growing new stems. Advice! This is the best period for pinching, if you skip it, the plant will stretch, side shoots will not branch, and the bush will lose its rounded shape.
If the flower will be planted in open soil, pinching of petunia seedlings is carried out only at the time of rooting after transplantation, plus it will take several days to adapt. Advice! When planting petunias and initial pinching, accuracy should be avoided - leave enough space between the sprouts. Otherwise, the bushes will be small.
With greenhouse content, it is possible to separate the tops only after picking.
The soil should be regularly fertilized 1-2 times a week and regularly moistened, and the shoots themselves should be additionally sprayed with water several times a day.
A month later, the tweezing procedure must be carried out again, this is done for better flowering. At this time, you can shorten the side shoots to improve shape.

What to do with the remaining cuttings

After tweezing, rather large tops remain, they should not be thrown away, this is an excellent material for breeding new flowers by cuttings.

remove the lower tier of leaves so that the water and the stalk do not rot;
put in a container with water;
wait for rooting;
plant in the ground.

A few tips from the pros

Having decided to do floriculture on our own, we are free to study a lot of literature, search for information on the Internet, but, as practice shows, it is best to take the advice of professionals.

Use sterile equipment.
When pruning, try to minimize damage to the sprout.
Weak shoots should be treated with maximum attention and patience - you can not cut off their leaves too much.
You can spray only early in the morning or after sunset, the rest of the time, drops of water under the direct rays of the sun will work like lenses and burn the leaves.
Pinch the petunia abundant flowering it is possible in 2-3 doses, but this is not always necessary. It all depends on the state of the bush and the number of buds. At the same time, it is important to take into account that pinching delays flowering by 2-4 weeks, since the plant spends energy on actively growing new shoots.
It is better to buy specialized fertilizers, they are in large assortment sold in gardening stores.
All wilted flowers and damaged areas of stems and leaves must be removed. If this is not done, the plant will have to spend a lot of energy on ensuring the maturation of the seed pods, which will reduce the intensity of flowering.
Varieties with large flowers more resistant to weather changes.
Do not mix different types.
The soil should be rid of pests and weeds in time.

Petunias are beauties with a difficult character, but if you find a competent approach to them and surround them with care, they will gratefully delight you and your guests in the gardens from late spring to early autumn.

Petunia is ornamental plant the nightshade family. It is distinguished by a variety of colors of flowers, unpretentious care, decorative. Petunia is from South America. This is an annual plant with large and bright flowers in the form of a bell. It is grown as a decoration for balconies, verandas, windows.

The leaves of the petunia are whole on short petioles. Depending on the variety, they are various shapes and magnitude. The arrangement of the leaves is alternate. Stems are branched, green.

On a note. The color of flowers in petunias is very diverse, from white to black. The most popular among flower growers: pink, red, blue, purple shades. Sometimes flowers have bright colorful patterns. And the edges of the petals can be either regular or fringed.

A photo

Topping

Pinching a petunia is the removal of the upper shoots. It is produced in order to form a bush so that the petunia blooms chic.

When should it be done?

The most suitable time for the first pinching is after transplanting seedlings to a permanent place of residence. It could be open ground, pots or container (you can learn about the intricacies of growing petunias in the open field).

Here it is important to observe several conditions:

After transplanting, you need to wait about two weeks for the plant to take root and get a little stronger. The length of the shoots should be about 8 cm. If the shoots are too small, it is better to let them grow.
You need to make sure that the plant "went into the stem", that is, a period of rapid growth has begun. If this does not happen, then you need to wait some more time.
Be sure to follow the petunia with root fertilizers and spray as needed.
Re-pinching can be done after about a month. It is the repeated pinching that contributes to the chic and abundant flowering.

If the plant is not pinched, it will grow. That is, there will be an abundant growth of green mass. Moreover, growth will go in one branch. The shoots will become long and ugly, resembling whips. In this case, flowering will be scarce. Therefore, pinching can be called a mandatory procedure.

Important! You can pinch only a healthy plant! If the flower has an unhealthy appearance, is not strong enough or has not grown, then it is better to refrain from the procedure.

Many are wondering how to pinch correctly, and especially over which sheet. For the procedure to be successful, you need to follow a few rules:

After pinching, growth may slow down slightly. And the flowering will move back a little in time.

Growing and care after pinching:

Regular and correct. This is one of the most important conditions. It provides both abundant flowering and growth of green mass. This requires fertilizers containing nitrogen. You can use compositions containing the same amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, or with a predominance of nitrogen. It is nitrogen that contributes to the growth of green mass.
To ensure abundant flowering you need to fertilize the flower with compounds containing potassium and phosphorus. Best Option- "Bona Forte" and "Garden of Miracles". The main thing to remember is the correct ratio of trace elements (NPK). Most often used for feeding liquid formulations. Rarely dry. But there is another type of fertilizer - long-playing. They usually come in granules.
Such fertilizers are applied to the soil before planting. And then, when watering, they gradually dissolve and give the soil useful substances. It is enough to add them to the ground once, and they will feed the plant all season. But there is one serious drawback - the grower cannot control the saturation of plants with fertilizers. Therefore, the use of long-playing compositions can lead to disastrous consequences.
In addition to root feeding, the flower needs leaf feeding. This procedure is performed by spraying the flower with a fertilizer dissolved in water. This is done with a spray gun. So the necessary substances (vitamins, trace elements, amino acids) enter the body of the plant through the stem and leaves.
Correct and spraying. Petunia loves abundant, but not excessive watering. It is desirable to water it in the morning and evening. In this case, the water can be slightly acidified. If the weather is hot, the plant needs regular spraying.
Temperature regime. This will promote the formation of side shoots, as well as preventing growth into a single branch. For a plant to have beautiful view in addition to pinching, a high temperature during the day and a low temperature at night are required. The best option is 15-18 degrees during the day and 5-10 at night.

Not only the beauty of flowers and the duration of flowering attracts petunia flower growers. It easily adapts to different conditions of care, requires simple agricultural technology. It is enough to observe the watering regime and periodically feed it to get a lush flowering bush in your area. You can grow it from your own cuttings or from purchased seedlings. But it is much easier to purchase plant seeds.

Petunia ampelnaya: description of the plant

Petunia is readily used for growing in the garden, in flower beds, decorating balconies, verandas. It has the most diverse color of flowers, which can bloom no larger than a coin or reach a diameter of 9–10 cm. All this diversity is divided into two main groups: upright and ampelous petunias. The length of the shoots of upright plants reaches 70 cm, but after stretching up, they gradually fall to the ground. Such varieties are often taken for planting in flower beds.

The latter are characterized by long hanging shoots, which are used as a living decoration. In some varieties, the length of the loops reaches one and a half meters. Petunia is grown in pots, baskets, boxes. Sometimes it is used as a ground cover in the garden, on alpine slides, used in flower cascades.

Some experts distinguish another group of petunias - semi-ampel. It grows in a lush bush with shoots no more than 40 cm and is used mainly as a houseplant.

Did you know?Petunia belongs to the genus of shrubs and herbaceous perennials of the nightshade family. Its natural habitat is the tropics of Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil. Actually, the name of the plant has Brazilian roots: "petun" in translation means "tobacco". In total, there are at least 25 species of this plant, not counting various hybrids.

The plant has a variety of flowers in color. They can be monophonic, with two or three tones. At the same time, cores, veins, borders around the edges, and even just specks can be painted in a different color. Bell-shaped flowers can be double or semi-double, corrugated, carved, fringed or smooth.

Hybrid varieties have developed in two directions: multi-flowered and large-flowered. Each such ampelous petunia has specific rules for planting and care. So, many-flowered are considered unpretentious. It is enough to water them on time, periodically adding fertilizer to the water, and provide sufficient lighting. They give small, up to 5 cm in diameter, but numerous flowers. Faded inflorescences fall off on their own.

Large-flowered can reach 10 cm in diameter, but does not give such abundant flowering. However, they need more careful care. They require a certain amount of light, heat, a specific soil composition, as well as regular pruning of faded buds.

How to plant an ampelous petunia

As a rule, the cultivation of ampelous petunias begins with sowing seeds. In order for the plant to bloom as early as possible, they are sown in February, as the plant develops very slowly. You can sow it in March, but you must take into account the characteristics of the variety and the conditions in which the flower will grow. It is noticed that large-flowered petunias give the first flowers on the 85-90th day after sowing, and small-flowered - on the 70-75th day. In any case, at the beginning of the growing season of the plant, he needs to provide additional illumination.

You can plant and flowering plant by purchasing it from a specialized store. In this case, you will enjoy flowering until late autumn.

Important!Quality seedlings are grown only with round-the-clock lighting. During the day, the most intense light is given, and at night it is dimmed. Observe temperature regime and don't let the soil dry out to a crust. In time, transplant the plant into a larger container if you notice that its roots are already protruding to the surface. If you want the seedlings to stretch more, add more soil. Expensive varieties of petunias are grown on peat tablets.

Choosing a place for a plant

When choosing a place for a petunia, keep in mind that she loves light very much. The south side is suitable for her, where there is a maximum of sun during the day. The site itself should be open and not shaded. It is possible to plant a plant in open ground, only being sure that it will not be caught by frost on the ground. As a rule, this is the second half of May. The landing itself is carried out in the evening or on a cloudy day.

If you want to plant a petunia in an apartment, also choose southern window sills. In low light, put fluorescent lamps to lengthen the daylight hours for the plant up to 14–20 hours.

Soil Requirements

In the question of how to plant a petunia, it is important to determine the correct composition of the soil. To give a flower lush bloom, the mind needs loose and nutritious soil with a sufficient level of moisture capacity. Therefore, loamy, sandy, sandy soil is suitable for her.

Before planting, it is advisable to dig it up with leaf humus or rotted manure. But fresh organic matter must be discarded, as it provokes fungal diseases.

Basic rules for planting ampelous petunia seedlings

There are several basic rules for planting ampelous petunias for seedlings. If you stick to them, you are sure to grow a healthy and luxuriantly flowering plant.

First of all, select high-quality seeds from Western manufacturers for sowing. So you are guaranteed to get good seed germination. Choose the right and high-quality soil in a specialized store. Before sowing, it is advisable to calcine it in the oven or disinfect it with special means.

Observe sowing dates. It is necessary to engage in seed germination no earlier than February, but no later than April. Strictly adhere to the recommendations for sowing and planting seedlings of a particular variety. So, seedlings need to dive on time. It is planted in open ground along with an earthen clod so as not to damage the root system. Ampelous petunia has its own planting pattern: there should be a distance of at least 30 cm between the bushes. It is important to water the seedlings well after planting, and mulch the planted area the next day.

Water the plant regularly, focusing on the amount of water consumed by the flowers. Strict temperature conditions are important only when growing seedlings. Seeds should germinate at a temperature of 18–20 °C, and dive at a temperature of 16–18 °C. But the most important is the mode of refreshment. Until the seedlings grow and get stronger, it should be illuminated for at least 14 hours a day. The entire growing season petunia requires top dressing. For this, liquid or granular fertilizers are used.

petunia care rules

Now let's take a closer look at the basic rules for caring for a plant.

Watering and feeding the plant

The most important thing in watering petunias - sufficient amount of water. Its amount must be increased as the plant grows. The larger the vegetative mass, the more moisture it needs. It is important not to allow the earth to dry out, otherwise the shoots of the plant become stiff, the leaves crumble, and the flowers become smaller. On hot days, watering should take place at least twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. Petunias that are grown in pots are generally recommended to be periodically immersed in water along with the pot.

But excess moisture also has a detrimental effect on the plant. Therefore, it is important not to miss the moment when the moisture has already evaporated, but the soil has not yet dried up. Try to pick up the soil from under the plant and rub it in your fingers. If the soil does not leave marks on the hands and completely crumbles, it has dried out enough and requires watering.

Did you know?If you do not have the opportunity to water the plant often, add hydrogel to the soil. It retains moisture, preventing it from evaporating, and gradually gives it to the plant. So you can reduce the frequency of watering by two to three times.

The plant requires feeding about once a week. For this, potash and phosphate fertilizers are used. But some varieties of petunia, for example, from the Potunia group, are recommended to be fed with every watering. Starting with intensive top dressing during disembarkation, it should be gradually reduced, stopping at a concentration of about 2-3 g per liter of water. Otherwise, abundant flowering you can not wait.

For other varieties, the concentration of liquid top dressing should be no more than 5 g per bucket of water. At the same time, it is highly not recommended to pour top dressing into dry soil or together with watering - you can burn the root hairs through which moisture is absorbed. So the plant can die. As a rule, the packaging recommends using one cap per liter, but in the case of petunias, you should take half. Moreover, they recommend such a scheme of watering and fertilizing: water the soil in the morning, and fertilize in the evening.

soil care

Water the petunia gently at the very root so that water does not get on the flowers. The next day, the soil around the flowers is weeded, loosened and weeds are removed. Make sure that the soil does not stray into a hard crust.

How to prune an ampelous petunia, form a bush

Even when the petunia is well cared for, by mid-summer, the shoots from the root to the middle of the length shed their leaves, and flowering remains only at the ends of the branches. To preserve the aesthetics of the plant, it is necessary to take measures to form the bush in time. To do this, it is necessary, without much pity, to cut off about two-thirds of the shoot, despite the fact that an almost bare branch remains.

Important!A petunia bush can be saved for the next season if it is stored in a cool and bright place at a temperature of 7-10 ° C. It can be a balcony, a loggia, but not a basement. Before sending for wintering, the plant must also be cut by two-thirds. It is rarely watered, and in March it is cut again. After that, they are planted in a fresh substrate and a wider pot. Although flower growers recommend not to engage in such complex manipulations, but to buy fresh seeds in the spring.

Ampelous petunia is cut off, pinching in this case will not help much. If you remove only the end of the shoot, new shoots on the bare part will still not appear. To avoid the unaesthetic nature of such a procedure, it can be carried out in several steps, cutting off two or three branches at intervals of a week.

Petunia ampelous: pinching

In order for the flower to be lush and beautifully flowering, it must be pinched. This will keep the branches from possible breakdowns during growth, will ensure the emergence of new shoots and the density of the bush.

How to pinch an ampelous petunia? As with any other plant, the tip of the shoot must be removed, especially if it is too long. Together with him, you need to pinch off all the faded buds, especially if seed boxes have appeared on them. Otherwise, the plant will use all its strength to form them, and you will no longer see flowers.

How a flower reproduces

The most common method of flower propagation is seeds. But it can also be propagated from cuttings. This is a rather complicated process, but justified with some varieties of ampelous petunias, which are very expensive.

Reproduction by seeds

If you decide to grow a flower from seeds, then buy fresh ones in the store. It is not recommended to collect them yourself from petunias growing on the site. Most of the varieties that are presented in stores today are hybrid. This means that not all the characteristics of the mother bush are transferred to the next generation, and as a result you will get a degenerate variety. In addition, if you have several varieties growing on your site, they are very likely to pollinate. And some varieties are not able to set seeds at all, such as terry ones.

Purchased seeds are sown in well-moistened loose nutrient soil, poured into special boxes. The seeds are not sprinkled with soil, but covered with a transparent film or glass so that they are sufficiently illuminated.

Did you know?Petunia seeds are very small: up to 10 thousand grains per gram of seed. For the convenience of sowing, they are mixed with sand in proportions of 1: 5 or they buy planting material formed in a dragee.

Good seed germination is achieved at a temperature of 22-24 ° C and air humidity of 95-98%. Sprouts break through in about a week or two. With the first leaf, the shelter is removed. Every day they need to be sprayed and gradually reduce the temperature. By the time the seedlings in the box get stronger, the ambient temperature should be 18-20 ° C during the day and 14-16 ° C at night.

About a month after sowing, when there are at least two leaves on the sprouts, they dive, deepening the sprout into the ground to the first leaf. Seedling growth can be very slow, since at this time all the forces of the plant go to the formation of the root system. When two or three more leaves are formed on it, it is necessary to carry out a pick.

Do not forget to water the seedlings on time and enough, but at the same time avoid moisture stagnation. Young shoots are prone to black leg disease.

Important!"Black leg" - fungal disease. It can appear only on young shoots in the first weeks of their life. If the seedlings that have just hatched rot, fall and dry out, they are probably infected with this fungus. For prevention, it is recommended to water the seedlings with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

Before planting seedlings in open ground, it must be well hardened. Properly prepared plants feel good even when the temperature drops to 10 ° C.

cuttings

When propagating petunias, cuttings are also used. It is held in February - May, but if you create good conditions for planting material, then it can be carried out all year round. These conditions include supplementary lighting and a temperature regime of 15–22 °C. Cuttings are planted in peat tablets, half-liter cups or seedling boxes with a suitable soil mixture.

Cuttings from healthy mother plants are cut at an angle so that on planting material there were 4-6 leaves, and the stalk itself reached no more than 10 cm in length. Only the top two leaves are left on it and it is immediately planted in the ground for a quarter of the leg length. When planting in a box, make sure that the distance between the cuttings is at least 1.5 cm. Seedlings should be covered with glass or transparent film, provide a temperature of at least 21 ° C and plenty of light.

The roots of the cuttings appear on the 5-10th day. Further, they must be looked after in the same way as with seedlings obtained from seeds. With a sufficiently strong root system, they dive into separate containers. The advantage of such seedlings is that it gives flowering within 20-35 days after planting.

Petunia – relatively undemanding plant. If you provide it with intense and abundant light and monitor soil moisture, you can ensure its long flowering. For the splendor of the bush, it is enough to pinch and trim in time. It can be propagated by both cuttings and seeds. Last option the most profitable, especially if you buy seeds in specialized stores. Among the huge number of varieties and hybrids, you are sure to find one that fits perfectly into your garden.

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Pinching (German pinzieren - remove the end) - pinching, removing the top of a young shoot. This is done in order to grow side shoots, otherwise all growth will go first to 1-3 shoots and the plant will become ugly, will fall under the weight of these shoots. The process is laborious and painstaking - but worth it. In the photo above, the petunia is already two weeks after pinching.

When and how to pinch Petunia seedlings?

Pinching must be done when the Petunia seedlings look like in the photo. The optimal time for pinching is the beginning of the appearance of the third pair of true leaves. With nail scissors, it is necessary to cut the upper kidney as deep as possible to make it look like in the photo.

Do all varieties of Petunias need to be pinched??

Petunias from cheap seeds in amateur packages need to be pinched 100%. Pinching is a laborious process, so the efforts of breeders are aimed at creating such Petunia varieties that would normally develop without pinching. I must say that the breeders succeed. Previously, I provided comparison photos petunias from cheap and professional seeds, from which it was clear that it was not necessary to pinch normal varieties.

Modern varieties of Petunias for professional cultivation do not require pinching.

Why pinch those varieties of Petunias that do not need to be pinched?

Last season, on some plants from professional seeds, I tried to pinch and it turned out that such plants quickly acquire a normal appearance. I think if I had placed Petunia wide enough at once, pinching might not have been required. But the place needs to be saved, the seedlings are dense and therefore stretch up. Now I will try to pinch as many plants as possible.

The result of pinching (pinching) seedlings of Petunia.

An alternative to pinching seedlings.

To prevent seedlings from stretching, many seedlings use Athlete, which shortens the length of the internodes. However, Athlete is an insidious drug and its effect is unpredictable. Below is a photo of a petunia treated with Athlete three times. The delay in flowering of such a petunia, in relation to the pinched one, was 2 weeks.

How to pinch a petunia?

Petunia has become very popular because of the variety of varieties and its decorative effect. It is grown at home suburban areas and break up city flower beds from varietal plants. In order for a petunia to please you with a lush color, you need to properly care for it. Do not forget to pinch the petunia in a timely manner - remove its upper regrown shoots.

You will need

Fortified petunia bush
The presence of a high upper shoot and at least 4-5 large leaves

Instruction

1 Calculate the time for the first pinching of the petunia. Flower growers do this after the seedlings are transplanted into open ground. It is important that the plant has time to acclimatize and grow stronger. In order not to destroy a young petunia, take care of it properly.
Plant seedlings fairly densely.
Water it often and spray it with water (in the heat - up to 3 times a day).
Feed once a week with sprayers and root corks.
If the petunia does not grow, use growth stimulants (such as "Cykron").
Plant it in open ground in the second half of May. It must be humus and soddy ground (2:1).

2 Start pinching the petunia when the plant "goes into the stem" (that is, it begins to grow rapidly upwards). Count 3-5 leaves from the bottom of the stem and pinch off the top shoot above them with your fingers - the growth point of the petunia. Now the flowering of the bush will slow down a little, but the rapid growth of lateral shoots will begin. As a result, the petunia will produce more large buds. A month later, you need to re-pinch the petunia.

3 Put the removed shoot in a jar of water and wait for it to give small roots. Now it can be used as a cutting to grow a new petunia. Before planting the plant in a container with earth, cut off all the leaves from it, leaving only a couple of the top ones.

Helpful Hints

Keep a close eye on flowering bush petunias. Remove all faded and wilted flowers. This will encourage the formation of new buds. In addition, dried petals spoil appearance decorative bush, especially in terry petunias and in varieties with large flowers.

In order to please the eye with lush and beautiful bushes with abundant flowering, you need to know exactly how to pinch a petunia correctly. If petunias are allowed to grow on their own, then it will simply stretch out, and the flowers will be small. Proper pinching (pinching) of the main point of growth will certainly stimulate the growth of the lateral stems and after 12 days, the edge after two weeks, the ovaries of flowers will appear on them, which is what we are striving for.

How to properly pinch a petunia later dates development to give a certain shape? In the purchased seedlings, the first tweezing has already been done. Repeated - performed depending on the variety. Therefore, we will focus on how to properly pinch a petunia unpretentious varieties and breeding (here - the best varieties these beautiful flowers) hybrids.

The importance of tweezing for any plant

Pinching is pruning either with scissors or breaking off the top of the stem with your fingers. After it is carried out, the remainder of the shoot thickens, the buds in the axils become larger, and the color of the leaves is more saturated. The process is carried out so that young strong stems with flowers grow and the plant acquires a delightful appearance.

It should be noted that the method only works if the pinching was done before the end of the growing season.

The first pinch - on petunia seedlings

We perform pinching in the following way:

We form a seedling as soon as it began to gain strength and grow.
The best time to pinch is when the petunias have developed a few (5 - 6) leaves. If this is not done on time, the seedlings will stretch out, the bush will not have a spherical appearance, the stems will not branch.
When planting a flower in the ground, tweezing is performed after it has rooted and adapted (usually at the end of May). In order for it to take root well, it needs to organize suitable conditions for development: we plant seedlings not densely, then they will develop better, we fertilize (feed) them under the root, regularly moisten and sprinkle the leaves with water.
When seedlings are kept in a greenhouse (we grow them together with others), we make tweezing only after diving. Plants quickly (in a few days) adapt. And then they can be cut.
The formation is carried out with secateurs or fingers. Above the last (5 - 6) leaf of the petunia, we remove the apical bud. This will create a new point for the stems to grow and branch.

The last emphasis after all the actions is done on the cut powder of the flowers or wood ash or activated carbon powder. In order for the seedling to recover faster, it would be nice to spray it or spill it with plant development stimulants: Zircon or Epin.

After the event, seedlings slow down growth, but gain strength. The appearance of the petunia becomes spherical when the lateral stems grow.

Escape length for separation

The separated part of the shoot should be 4 centimeters, but still it is better to be longer. If you crop the most thin spot on the stalk (tip of the shoot) of the flower, then other processes, developing in this place, will break off in bad weather, wind.

We do not forget to fertilize the soil weekly, and regularly moisten the shoots of the plant, preferably every second (third) day.

Repeated pinching of petunias after landing in open ground

Pinching must be repeated 2-3 times, and not only on the central, but also on the lateral stems of flowers. We perform this action when they grow up to 13 - 15 cm. To improve the shape and rich flowering of petunias, it is advisable to shorten the shoots 28 - 30 days after the first procedure. At the same time, there should be at least 5 leaves on the main process.

Ampel varieties do not need re-pruning. But in many varieties, one of the branches continues to quickly stretch, taking food and strength from the rest. In some cases, an ovary also appears on it. Then it must be urgently pinched with scissors (secateurs). To do this, count 3-5 leaves from below and cut off the rest. The growing point of the petunia will change. It will not grow up, but will start side shoots.

I draw your attention to the fact that after tweezing, flowering is postponed for 12 - 14 days. But in the end, not 1 flower will bloom, but several, and the buds will be larger.

Before the next pinching, you need to wait until the bush grows. After that, we shorten the elongated stems, as a result - the flowers will be more dense. At the same time, I recommend making a cut closer to the base of the branch, and not pinching only the crown.

In order for the vegetation to please with abundant flowering, this operation must be performed without fail.

An adult flowering plant is cut with a view to better development bush and increase the time of its magnificence.

What to do after pinching

With regular shortening of shoots and increased growth of petunias, constant feeding with a growth stimulator and complete mineral fertilizer is required. Otherwise, many thin stems will develop. It is possible to achieve a return on the plant only with constant watering and proper care.

We remember that it is necessary to cut off wilted flowers in time (do not pull them out, but pinch off from a branch with a pedicel). Forming testes, they take strength from the plant.

In the lion's share of cases, petunias are tweezed 2-3 times: in the seedling phase, after planting in the ground and during the growing season. But if the third tweezing can be neglected, then in the phase of seedlings and planting in open soil, they are mandatory.

Remember that pruning is stressful for our flowers. For this reason, after it, the bushes freeze a little in development, but the development of lateral stems, which form large buds, intensifies.

Try not to injure the sprout too much. We use clean tools for tweezing.
We form a bush at a petunia in a timely manner. Delaying the process is bad for development.
We do pinching monthly.
So that the plant does not burn and does not die, we prune in the evening or in the morning, when the sun's rays are not very active.
We do not throw out the plucked stems, but use them as cuttings (unless they have a stable stem and 5-6 leaves). For rooting, cutting off the lower leaves, place them in a jar of water. As soon as the roots grow, we plant the stems in fertile soil. So we will have additional seedlings with you.

It is important to remember if you are cuttings hybrid varieties petunias, then the grown specimen will retain the appearance and characteristics of the original. When propagated by seeds, this cannot be achieved.

Petunias are blooming beauties with an obstinate but sympathetic character. If you constantly take care of them, properly care for them, then they will delight you with gratitude all summer.