Cuttings of petunias in autumn: how to propagate at home for the winter

Petunias are common in Russia. They are grown in summer cottages, balconies, in pots on the windowsills of apartments. One of the most significant questions about growing petunia remains the question of its conservation for the winter, for this they use methods of transplanting or cuttings.

Benefits of cuttings growing

Cuttings are a method of vegetative propagation of petunia, in which a cutting is separated from the mother bushes and rooted in water or soil. The advantage of this simple method lies in the complete preservation of the properties of an adult plant.

In addition to cuttings, petunias are bred with seeds. This method is not very efficient due to the impossibility of predicting the landing result in advance. When planting seeds, it is impossible to influence the stages of seedling development.

Some petunias reproduce only vegetatively, these types include numerous terry varieties. These varieties make up a significant part of the petunia collections collected by amateur flower growers around the world.

The advantages of cuttings are usually called several parameters:

• preservation of the characteristics of the mother plant genotype by cuttings from it;
• Short rooting times compared to planting seeds;
• increased endurance of a plant obtained from a cutting from a mother liquor;
• monetary savings on seeds or seedlings.

When is the best time to propagate petunias

Specialists in the cultivation of flower crops consider one of the main advantages of the agrotechnical characteristics of petunias to be the ability to carry out cuttings at any time of the year. This allows you to breed a diseased or damaged plant without waiting for the optimal time.

If there is no urgent need to engage in cuttings, then the period from February to May is chosen for it.

Summer cuttings

Cultivation of petunias in summer has several advantages:

• availability of natural light by increasing daylight hours;
• optimum temperature.

In summer, plants are obtained from cuttings that are able to bloom indoors in mid-autumn.

Is it possible to cut a petunia in autumn

Autumn pruning of petunias is carried out in order to preserve the plant for the winter and further breed the variety at home.

Fade petunias pruned in September, early October:

• no more than 15 centimeters of stem are left for bush forms;
• Ampel types cut about half of the stem.

The resulting cuttings are used for further rooting.

Winter cuttings

Winter cuttings start in advance:

1. Petunias are brought into the house for the winter.
2. They are pruned: old and damaged leaves are removed. Prepare for transplant if necessary.
3. The mother liquor is placed in a spacious planter or pot on the windowsill.
4. By February, the mother liquor begins to be covered with fresh shoots, they are cut off for rooting.
5. The cuttings are placed in water or soil until roots appear.

For grafting petunias, take into account that the period from cutting to planting an independent plant in the ground should be approximately 1.5-2 months.

The result of following all the rules when breeding petunia is the appearance of roots with the water method of rooting or the ascent of children with the soil method.

Which varieties are suitable for this

Vegetative propagation is suitable for all terry and most hybrid varieties. Japanese breeders have bred special ampelous varieties. They reproduce only by cuttings. This helps to preserve and increase the obtained breeding results.

How to properly propagate petunias from cuttings

Plants grown for seedlings, as well as mother liquors from last year's flower beds, transferred to the house for wintering, are suitable for cuttings. The cuttings are suitable for rooting in water, soil or peat tablets.

For successful rooting, you must follow a few rules:

• compliance with the temperature regime;
• ensuring adequate lighting;
• preservation of air humidity around the handle.

In the water

Aquatic breeding has several advantages:

• rooting can be controlled by observing the stages when choosing a transparent container;
• the possibility of washing the cutting if rot has formed on it, and reusing it.

To avoid infection, add an activated charcoal tablet. The water level should not exceed 2.5 centimeters, this volume is maintained throughout the entire period. Water is added each time it evaporates.

The position of the handle is adjusted using a slotted paper insert or cover.

Advice! If there are several cuttings, then they are covered with a common film or put in a bag.

In the ground

This method involves soil selection. Petunia shoot soil is a source of nutrients. The soil for rooting is purchased in specialized stores or prepared at home. A drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the planting tank, which may consist of small river stones or expanded clay. The pot is placed on a special pallet, which will allow watering in a pallet way.

Cut and dried material is planted in moist soil at an acute angle. Planting depth should not exceed 2 centimeters.

The earth around the handle is tamped, then the container is covered with plastic wrap to ensure the greenhouse effect. Landing is placed away from direct sunlight.

What to do in case of mistakes

Despite the fact that petunia is considered the most suitable flower for cuttings, flower growers often make mistakes that prevent the growth and development of the process. The first sign of a problem is that the cutting is not rooting. To understand the cause, it is necessary to assess the overall condition of the landing.

Temperature conditionsThe appearance of condensate on the walls of the glass, the accumulation of moisture on the leaves of the process Ventilation of landings for 10-15 minutes daily, observing the optimal regime: it should not exceed +22 °Air humidity Soil Solid dry soilCareful watering, systematic loosening of the soil around the cuttingsIrrigation conditions Dry soil or too wet soilIrrigation under the root or regular replenishment of water during evaporation The location of the shoots The shoot lies on the soil, has a stunted sick lookOverflow is possible, the beginning of rotting of the roots

Characteristic	Error symptom	Prevention and remedy
Condensation accumulation or leaf curl. Leaf spotting	Regular airing, adding water by evaporation

If the process does not take root in water, rot appears on the cut surface, then the procedure should be repeated. To do this, the process is taken out, the cut is washed, treated with activated charcoal. The water is drained, then a fresh portion is poured with the addition of a manganese solution for disinfection.

If rotting begins on a cutting planted in the soil, then such a process cannot be saved. For breeding, a fresh cutting is used with additional processing of sections and the addition of a growth stimulator.

What to do after the procedure

Hybrid varieties of petunias are especially demanding in terms of optimal conditions for rooting. The temperature for germinating cuttings should not be lower than +16 .

Information! The first weeks there is an active growth of the root system, so changes in the development of the aerial parts of plants are invisible.

Covering the shoots with plastic film to create a greenhouse effect becomes unnecessary for 5-7 days.

Daylight hours for petunia should be 11-12 hours, therefore, with a lack of natural light, it is added artificially. For this, photolamps are used: they are installed at a distance of 20 centimeters from seedlings.

Morning or evening hours are suitable for watering. Settled water at room temperature is mixed with a few drops of lemon juice.

To grow cuttings, a feeding system is provided, this makes the cutting procedure more effective:

1. The first 2 weeks, the shoots are sprayed with water from a spray bottle with the addition of potassium manganese solution.
2. When leaves appear in the soil, fertilizers for the soil begin to be applied.
3. When water rooting, spraying with a growth stimulator is used.

Compliance with the rules and providing conditions for development contributes to the rapid and efficient breeding of petunias.

Recommended