My petunias in containers are all very scrawny right now, they were beautiful right up until about 2 weeks ago, which is when we finally got some hot weather here in Massachusetts. But I kept them well watered. And I cut them back a bit about 3 weeks ago. But there are no flowers now and they look awful. Everything else in the same pots are doing fine. Is it just a fact of life that petunias peter out? Or is there a secret I'm missing? August 2:
Here's today. They are red easy waves, by the way.
HI Cindyeo..
Well....... it sounds like you did it all correct. We have a newspaper garden guru who always reminds us to cut our petunias back hard about the 1st of August and mine always come back like gang busters. Having said that I see you're using window boxes (which I use too).
I change the soil in my boxes every year. Because we all water window-B's sooo much they really need some extra "fertilizer" even if you've used something like Miracle Grow potting soil (with a time release fertilizer). Also, as tough as petunias are...they don't like to sit in heavy wet soil and hot humid weather is not exactly a happy thing for them either. You also might want to look really close at the plants....flea beetles can nail petunias too.
I've only had trouble with my petunias once and it was flea beetles. They turned into scrawny sticky messes.
I would just pull the sick plants and sprinkle in some easy breezy seeds like alyssum to fill the spaces if you have much growing season left.
One of my bright ideas this year was to sprinkle in alyssum seeds about mid-season. Not a lot...just a few. As some plants faded out the alyssum filled out every corner of the boxes and looked great. This is not the best photo because it was a gray day, and the alyssum was not in full bloom yet. All that was originally planted in this w-box was one tiny little fuchsia 2"x2" basket stuffer and a little sprinkle of alyssum seeds. I should have thinned them out , but I just let them go. I'd go take a picture now but ...it's RAINING! I got to thinking about plants that like to sprout in tight cracks like Johnny-Jump-ups, and alyssum. So... I thought they should surely bloom in little areas in a window box...and they did.
Try it next year! This was about a month ago in the photo attached.
This message was edited Aug 29, 2009 7:28 AM
I find that petunias need extra fertilizer starting in August. They will be a bit root bound and it helps to give the a good blast of fertilizer with a high middle number every couple of weeks until killing frost. Also, I hand water the petunia pots daily with a very diluted fertilizer amount in addition to the fertilizer blast of the entire garden.
You will find they will perk up and take off within a week or so. remember high middle number.
Here's another with window boxes
petunias are my favorite annual
Full sun window boxes
Part sun window boxes
3-tier wire basket
5 half round baskets arranged all together
All the pictures from this morning
Mine are still going strong. I water them about once a week as soon as they get dry and every other week i fertlize with 1/2 tsp of miricle grow in 2 gal of water. They are planted thickly with other annuals in large containers. I also deadhead them as soon as the flower wilts and pinch stalk if it gets tall and scraggly. Most of mine are just plain old petunias but the double ones does as well.
Vickie
Highmtn I really like that idea about adding the alyssum seed. A fresh new look when things are winding down. I'm going to do this next year. Great tip!
JOANNABANANA!!
I BOW to the petunia QUEEN!!!!!... Your yard is drop dead stunning! My NUMBER ONE questions is HOW do you water all of that, and #2 question is how much time do you spend dead heading?
BEAUUUUUUUUUU-TI-------FUL!!!!!!!
I've peeked at some of your other photos over the months, and it's just soooooooo fun to see your efforts.
Ohhhhhhh people just came out of the woodwork in the last 20 min...lol...morning everyone!
Stacysmom...
Thanks!! I always chuckle when I see seeds popping up in the most unusual places. Around here it's alyssum, Johnny-J's and my lavender often germinate in cracks in the side walk! I just got to thinking they may be the ticket for giving the late fall baskets and windowboxes a little boost!
Better yet? The Alyssum seeds came from the $1.00 STORE..lol
I water the window boxes and wire baskets every morning. The big containers get watered every few days. The part sun window boxes don't need water every day, so it depends on how warm the days are. I am a strong believer in big pots mean less watering. The watering wand make it easy for the window boxes, it's 48" long with a perfect curve. It takes me about 1 hour to water everything, but I usually don't need to water everything everyday.
I don't deadhead, hate it. Start all my petunias from seed and they are all trailing and/or wave so they don't need deadheading. Sometimes I give the basket a shake to drop the spent blooms.
Here's my kid with the long water wand. I have all the sprayers with quick-connects, so they are super easy & fast to change out.
Great pictures everyone! Joanna, I think I need to move to Canada...everything looks so lush and green.
A DG friend recommended Miracle Grow Bloom Booster for my Japanese morning glories. i use it every three weeks...ive been using it anything with a bloom and I'm not complaining.
I agree with Highmtn....if its in a hanging pot, you're washing nutrients away each time you water so you especially have to supplement them.
here's my newest favorite petunia....I bought two pots on the 75% off rack at HD. they've been a joy to watch sine june.
Joannabanana
THANKS for answering my questions! I like the "nooo dead heading part"...lol I like watering...to me it's very relaxing. I do use wands, but I don't have anything high like you do. Again... beaaaaaautiful yards and bravo to your efforts!
Nannie..
I can see why you love that petunia! What a sweet little show off! Thanks for posting the photo.
Off to the airport...
Hugs...and poof*
Thanks for the tips everyone, I also like the alyssum idea. But now I'm wondering if I do have a bug problem. Like I said, everything else in the windowbox is doing fine, but I did notice what looked like black pepper on some of the petunia branches I cut off. I was good about feeding at the beginning of the summer, but come to think of it I have slacked off. But it is fresh dirt, that's a 6 ft windowbox, so I have 3 2' plastic windowbox planters inside. I also have 2 more 3' ones that I plant with spring bulbs and then alternate them out with these 3 when the bulbs are done.
The little black pepper looking ball are probably petunia seeds
This was a great question
thanks for the info
I have a funny confession to make about "little black pepper" things being seeds.
Note to self *All things are not as they appear* -
I grow a lot of African Violets. I never let the flowers hang around long enough to go to seed. I dead head often. I have never grown an AV from seed...always leaf cuttings. I think I have 27 AV's right now, but I'm going to rehome my doubles...I have FLAT run out of space.
Anyhow...some of my garden buddies asked if I would save them some seeds...so... I said sure. I let several flowers mature out and sure as heck... I started to find "itty bitty pepper specks" that I felt must be AV seeds sitting on my hutch. So...for weeks I collected and saved the little "seeds" for my friends . Finally, one day.. I noticed a funky leaf on one of my plants. I cut it off to inspect it - turned it over to find a green worm living on my plant! Amazingly...it had not done much damage to any of the other plants but the "seeds" I was collecting turned out to be WORM POOP. Omgosh... I laughed so hard...and when I fessed up to my friends they razzed me for MONTHS! Er.......a.....once I disposed of Mr. Worm I didn't find anymore AV "seeds" on my hutch.
The only way I can even THINK OF how that intruder got to my indoor plants was a box of fruit we had hauled home from Costco one day that sat in front of the hutch for a few days until I canned it. Sheezzzz
True story...lol
poof*
This message was edited Aug 30, 2009 9:17 AM
PS~
Here's a photo of earwig damage. Over the years I have occasionally found some of my window box plants looking just like this photo when other plants in the same box are untouched.
Just a thought... I use "Safer" or "Garden Safe" brand sprays when necessary and it really seems to work fine and is much more garden friendly then other garden sprays.
Does this look like your damage?
AV seeds? say it isn't so!!! i always do leaf cuttings too!
and now I'm saying to myself, bursting at the seams to go look at the other forums....could there be an AV group too?
sigh..i love DG. lol and learn so much from all youse people!
haha 'youse' is not a su'thern word, is it?
well, I don't think mine look like your earwig photo. And it happens to all of my petunias, in other parts of the yard, too. Besides the windowbox in the photo above, I also have 6" pots planted with one plant each, either petunia or euphorbia diamond frost. I arranged these 6" pots on top of the dirt around the rose standard I'm growing in a huge container. The petunias have just about totally stopped blooming, and the euphorbia is still going strong. I'm thinking maybe petunias are just heavier feeders than other plants and if it ever stops raining (got 3" over the weekend from Danny) I'll give them some fertilizer with a high phosphorus number
Some late Aug shots of planters with petunias in them. I never have any trouble keeping them healthy until the frost takes them:
Al
more petunias
Al
Another:
Al
Lots of petunias in this pic:
A;
More here:
Al
Here, too:
Al
Some in this pot, too:
Al
so Al, what do you do to your petunias? Cut them back? Fertilize regularly? Because they look great
Here is a picture of my wave petunias that I started from seed. There are about 12 plants in this bed at church. The other plants are slowing down now, but the petunias are going strong. I fertilize before I plant them, and then just water.
this is from the other side:
Well - I think that not JUST with petunias, but with all your container plantings, the choice of soils is a huge factor. I think the list of things to blame that are associated with failing containers SEEMS varied, but when you really dig deep into the issue, you'll come full circle MOST times to the choice of soil. That is not to say that light and your nutrition program are not very important .... they ARE, but those things can be remedied after you've established the planting - soil is a little different. You're pretty basically stuck with whatever you start with, and it's difficult to build a good planting on a weak foundation (soil),
So - put down choice of soil as being key.
Light is a factor. All my petunias do well in full sun. Some people's won't and need protection from afternoon sun. I think that fertilizing often with low doses of a fertilizer in the ratio that plants used is a strategy that allows plants to most easily absorb the water they need to remain hydrated & to keep leaves from burning. This means that I wouldn't consider using any fertilizer labeled 'bloom-booster' or similar, or any fertilizer with the middle number higher than either the first or last numbers.
Since almost all plants, petunias included, use about 6X more N than P, it makes no sense to EVER supply more P than N. In fact, after factoring how much P is in 1:1:1 ratio fertilizers like 20-20-20 (the % of P in fertilizers is reported as P2O5) we can show that even these fertilizers supply much more P than plants can use.
In order to determine how much P is ACTUALLY in a fertilizer, we have to multiply what's reported x .43. 1:1:1 fertilizers (like the popular 20-20-20 or 14-14-14) then, supply 1 part of N, .43 parts of P, and after factoring for the way K is reported, .83 parts of K. Since the amount of P supplied in relation to N SHOULD be about .16, we can see that even 20-20-20 supplies almost 3 times as much P as the plant can use. This wasted fertilizer adds to the electrical conductivity and level of total dissolved solids in soils and makes it difficult for plants to absorb water.
The popular MG bloom-booster 10-52-10 actually supplies about 32X MORE P than the plant could ever use. This wasted P hinders the plant (it cannot be any other way) and is wasted at best or eventually ends up in our water supply at worst.
So - I watch the color and fertilize with a 3:1:2 ratio fertilizer like MG 24-8-16 or 12-4-8, or Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 (a superb all-purpose fertilizer for 99% of your container plants) whenever the planting is starting to lose its deep green color. When the plant is growing well, that means for my plants a full strength dose weekly. You won't be able to do that though, if you're using a water-retentive soil and watering in sips. With that type of soil, soluble salts accumulate in soils and cause the issues many of you are describing.
I never have to 'cut back hard', but I prune to keep things in bounds and tidy. If a petunia branch/stem overlaps another, the shaded one will weaken & is likely to become a target for insects or disease, so I'll remove one of the branches to prevent that. I also look every planting over as I water (usually daily) and promptly get right on any diseases or insect issues. Most plantings require some thinning a time or two during the year to allow good light penetration and air circulation into the planting's interior.
In summary - if you use a soil (like a pine bark-based soil) that you KNOW will remain aerated and drain well for the full life of the planting, and adopt a good nutrient supplementation program, provide good light & water correctly, you can have beautiful plantings for months longer than if you were growing in a poor soil.
I had a Master Gardener group from Gladwin County bus down to visit my gardens & bonsai collection late last Sep, and most were dumbfounded that the containers were still looking like they were at peak. When asked how that could be, I explained that most container gardeners that don't already understand how soils work and how water behaves in soils can take a giant step forward in their growing abilities by making the effort to learn a little about soils, or at least learning how to make your own (half the price of commercially prepared soils - and better) and using them. They invited me to give a talk on container gardening (which I did), so something I said or had to show must have made an impression.
I didn't PLAN on being this long, so I hope you found something helpful in what I said. ;o)
Al
good info, Al. I'm sure that is why my P's do so well, our gardens at church have probably a foot of wonderful soil and years of pine bark mulch that has decomposed.
I agree with you Al, and your post was filled with good instructions. My soil is a good brand of potting soil from Canada. So that may be why mine do so well too.
Al, are you sure you aren't a Master Gardener? =)
I am impressed, for sure.
Al, thanks for the tips. Since my compost has a lot of soil mixed in, I used 100% compost this year for my windowbox. I was a little nervous about doing that, but the coleus and geraniums are doing fine. My best looking petunias are in a part of my yard that gets afternoon shade, so maybe it's too hot for my other petunias in the windowbox. And I did not know about the fertilizer, I've been using fish emulsion with a higher middle number, something like 2-3-1 or maybe 1-3-2, because I thought the potassium was important if you want flowers, nitrogen for greenery. But now that you mention it, that's the problem I'm having, the greenery isn't very green.
Ohhh - I'm not out to impress anyone - just to help if I can. Anyone that wants to be a Master Gardener can easily be one. There is really nothing about being one, other than you can say you have the certificate that shows you attended X number of hours of training (13, here), that you passed an open-book test that they give you a week to complete, and that you've performed a certain number of hours of community garden-related service. I think ours was 40 the first year and 20 in subsequent years. I completed the training and was a MG for a year, but I lost interest in the community service part when I was told that the time I spent teaching the Boy Scouts about propagation & how to grow things in general wouldn't be counted as community service because MSU didn't "recognize" the Boy Scouts, which meant that I could no longer be a MG. I suppose I could have made a case for the many hrs I spend here at Dave's & other garden-related sites, and time spent answering ?s in my email, but I didn't even bother. I still have lots of MG friends, though, and often speak to area MG groups about various subjects.
It can be lots of fun, being a MG, but being one doesn't make you any more knowledgeable or a better gardener than the next guy. That all comes from experience and making the effort to learn about how stuff works. ;o)
My apologies to Cindy for straying from the topic.
I did want to mention though, that my preferred petunia for containers is a carpet petunia. They are pretty trouble-free, tend not to get so leggy as quickly as many of the others, and bloom prolifically. Sometimes the bloom stems are as close as 1/4" apart.
Al
