Sorry Cindy - I had been called away while typing my last comments & didn't see that you'd addressed me. ;o) What often happens with these high-P blends is: The P interferes with micro-nutrient uptake, but mainly Fe (iron) and Mn (manganese), and the symptom of Fe/Mn deficiencies is chlorosis. You look at your yellowing plants & think to yourself, "Wow - they look like they need more fertilizer", so you heap more High-P on the plant, which makes the antagonistic deficiency worse, and your plants even more yellow. All the while, you are supplying soo much P and so little N that you can't get add enough High-P fertilizer to your plants so they get enough N w/o over-fertilizing and burning foliage. It ends up being a vicious circle.
Al
Does anyone have the secret to growing petunias ALL summer?
oh, i know...your next door neighbor may have more experience or know more than a MG, or have a prettier garden, but still it's one of those things I always wanted to do. I guess I should just 'do-it'. Cross that thing off the 'list'
I was impressed by the pictures. and envious!
Does any of you save seeds or WinterSow?
I've not had success winter sowing petunias, others may have. I save seeds but since they were hybrids, there is no guarantee that they will be the same. I buy new for my "important" plantings, use the collected seeds for friends and family and gardens where the exact color isn't as important.
Tapla
Thanks for the tsunami of info... my neighbor used to heap perlite into her planters to ward off soil compaction. Anyhow... I did enjoy reading allllllllllllll you shared, but retaining it in my menopause brain will be another story...lol I try to top dress all my flower areas with Dr. Earth in the fall and spring. I went to a mini-seminar here some time ago and they talked a lot about micro-nutrients. It sounded like good solid thinking. It's not the most affordable stuff on the face of the earth tho.... I also hit my yard with bone meal in the fall. I hope I'm not messing up...lol I've flower gardened for 35 years, but that doesn't mean I know that I'm doing...LOL We have a big rainy seaon in the fall so I get it all sprinkled around before the monsoon rains hit.
Nanny & Cathy4
I had a group of petunias come up from seed this year. Surprised the HECK out of me. I had won some petunias (a type of Wave) and they grew very well. They were supposedly a new experimental petunia and I was one of 10 lucky people who got to try them. Anyhow... the purple one reseeded itself into a cheap little pot below the window box (although not quite the same plant as the original plant). I was glad I recognized the foliage when it sprouted or it may have gotten tossed. Anyhow... I have NEVER had petunias reseed BACK once in my life. So...that was fun to see.
Thanks for the kind words, guys. I appreciate them. Now is prolly a good time to bring up the point that gardens & containers often have clear delineation between which works best in that particular setting. IOW, what works well in the garden is often poor practice in containers, with the opposite being just as true.
As a broad generalization, in mineral (garden) soils the micro-nutrients are already there and it is a pH issue that makes them available because of the fact that they are usually elementally available at lower pH, and they form insoluble compounds at high pH. In stark contrast with these mineral soils, the organic components of container media contain only minute quantities of micro-nutrients. These elements are very tightly bound as an actual part of the organic components chemical structure and are only released when the organic matter decomposes. Therefore, raising/lowering pH within the general limits of around 4.5-6.5 has very little effect on the availability of these nutrients. Even high media pH has little influence on the availability of micro-nutrients unless there are also high levels of Ca, Mg, Na, or bicarbonates (HCO3s).
What all this means to us as container gardeners is we need to be extra careful about making sure we make sure ALL the elements plants need to grow are made available, particularly the micro-nutrients, not just NPK. For starters, we can do this by reading the fertilizer labels to see what is being delivered to our plants.
I use two micro-nutrient supplements - Micromax and STEM. For beginners, or for growers who just can't invest the time to micro-manage their plantings, I would suggest they use a fertilizer they KNOW has all the essential elements in a favorable ratio. I think that for 99% of the plants, including veggies, that we grow, Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 is going to be very difficult to beat as the choice for your 'go to' fertilizer. It supplies all the macros, secondary macros, and micro-nutrients in the ratio in which plants use nutrients. It also supplies about 60% of its N in nitrate form, instead of urea, like most other soluble fertilizers. You're only likely to find it at hydroponics shops, or via the net, but it really IS a great fertilizer, worth the effort to find, and I think it will fit nicely into the growing program of anyone reading this.
Al
Great pic's everybody and Cathy4...that is an amazing carpet of petunias! Good for you!
I grew up in Canada and Petunias were always the plant of choice in the summer and I love them to this day. I have to say though, they're not an easy annual to keep going here in Florida in the heat. I plant them every year around November and hope for about 5 months of blooms. This year I was lucky enough to have them until a couple of weeks ago. And, it was probably my fault as they were lacking water. I'm a water slave to my container garden but just assumed that they were getting enough. Water seems to be the key to good petunia's down here!
Kat
Some people don't like the scent...but I really love the smell of Petunia's when there's a nice breeze blowing it through your yard...
Cindy:
I was up in Mass, Maine and Eastern Canada in July and everybody was complaining about their flowers. Everything in containers were very "leggy". Look's like these poor plants were all climbing for the sun.
KatG, I love the color of those P's, are they blue in person or just on the computer?
Cathy...They were really "Blue", but unfortunately didn't last that long in this heat!
Can you tell me where you bought them or the seed? I HAVE to have them, I love blue flowers. Thanks!
Al..what is that beautiful red plant hanging from the tree?
Hi, Pippi. I'm not 100% sure if you're talking about the angelwing begonia, B. boliviensis 'Bonfire', a tuberous selection that appeared on the market not so long ago. It's been a strong grower for me, as you noticed, so I include several every year in my shaded containers. The one that caught your attention started out as a single 4" plant.
Take care.
Al