How to plant petunia seedlings in peat tablets?
Peat tablets are ideal for growing seedlings from very small seeds. Planting petunias for seedlings in peat tablets will not only facilitate the sowing process itself, but will also create the most optimal conditions for the full development of seedlings. In addition, losses in terms of seed germination in this case are significantly reduced.
Preparation of peat tablets for sowing seeds
Petunia seeds are sown in March. You can make an earlier planting, but in this case, the seedlings will have to be additionally highlighted. With the right conditions for caring for seedlings, petunia will be ready for transplantation to a permanent place in three months.
For seedlings petunias enough tablets with a diameter of 4 cm, which must first be soaked. To do this, gradually add water to the bottom of the tray in which the tablets are laid until they absorb it. As a result of soaking, the tablets will swell, increase in size and become like a cylinder.
If the tablets are swollen and there is still water in the tray, it must be drained.
Sowing petunia
After soaking, a small hole forms in the upper part of the peat cylinder. You need to put there one petunia seed in each tablet. It will be more convenient to take small seeds with a wet toothpick (they just stick to it lightly).
Petunia seeds are simply laid out in the hole, not pressing against the peat and not falling asleep on top.
The pelleted seeds will sprout faster if they are also soaked to soften the shell. To do this, lightly spray the seeds laid out in tablets from a spray bottle, or even better - drip water onto each seed. After a few minutes, use a toothpick to lightly press on the dragee so that it smears.
Growing seedlings
The tray of peat tablets in which the petunia seeds have been planted should be covered with a lid to create a greenhouse environment. In order to get petunia shoots in a week, the container with tablets must be put in place with a constant temperature of at least 25 degrees Celsius. After the seeds sprout, the tray is transferred to a cooler place (18-20 ° C).
Water the tablets regularly, not allowing them to dry completely, otherwise the seedlings will simply die. In this case, watering is carried out not from above, but into the tray where they stand. Drain off excess water remaining in the pan.
When caring for petunia seedlings, do not forget that high humidity also kills it, so the tray with tablets should be regularly ventilated and the condensation formed in it should be removed. But the seedlings do not need additional fertilizing - peat tablets have all the nutrients it needs.
Features of transplanting seedlings from peat tablets into a pot
Petunia seedlings will be ready to be transplanted into individual pots as soon as the root system fills the entire tablet and the individual roots are visible through the sheathing mesh (around May).
When transplanting, you do not need to dive the seedlings, instead, it is enough to carefully remove the mesh and you can plant the seedlings along with the pill.
Pour fertile soil into the prepared pot at the bottom, put a tablet with a seedling on top and pour the earth into the voids. A young petunia bush should be at the same level with the soil, it is not necessary to deepen it.