What to do with this wave petunia?

9 years ago

I grew wave petunias from seed this winter, and it went very well.
I planted them outdoors about 2-3 weeks ago. A few of them look very 'leggy', like the one in this picture.

My hope is to have flowers that lay down and 'run' a bit more. Right now, these blooms are probably 7" high.

Do I need to pinch these back to encourage horizontal growth? If so, how far back on the blooming runner do I pinch?

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Comments (2)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
you have extremely high expectations for a recent transplant.. in what has been a very cold .. long.. spring ...

i would give it a month.. and hope the soil warms thru the root mass ...giving it time to finish getting 'established' .. and then decide if it needs to be taught a lesson with the shears ...

you took if from a very toasty house... outside.. where temps fall every night into the 40s ... the soil loses its heat at night... so though you might think its all 60 and 70 degree days ... the plant is in both transplant shock.. and a bit of suspended animation as to soil temps .. one might say.. its hardening itself off .. to temps ...

if you have more than one... go at one .. leave a second.. take pix.. and document how each responds.. and whammo.. you are the new expert ... i didnt have the WWW when i experimented and learned all this stuff.. and besides.. i tend to remember my experiments.. and wont be back asking again next year.. because i forgot what someone else said ....

we had a good frost fri night.. due east of you in adrian mi ... i hope you are watching for that .... in your z5 ... just because you were ready to hoik them outside.. doesnt mean ma nature is in on that program... lol

BTW... thats a pretty nice.. fat and happy seedling for homegrown... good work ...

ken

ps: EVERYWHERE a leaf is attached,... you will see a bud.. first leaf back from the flower.. the bud is large.. i can see it in your pic ... and each leaf down.. the bud get smaller ... you cut just above any bud ... and that is the whole point of pinching back .. you pinch to a bud.. either seeing it.. or knowing its there..P is a brilliant plant to learn on.. because you can see them... when you know what to look for ...
idloveamocha
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks, Ken!

That frost that hit you almost got us--I am down in central IL. I covered these Friday night, and my hubby reported that at 4 a.m. there was no frost in sight.
I think we bottomed out around 39.

Thank you for the tip on the pinching. I am definitely going to wait, as I think you're right with the acclimation. I was very pleased with how easy these were to grow...I will definitely do it again!
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Definitely remove the humidity cover. You can put them under the lights, but mist the ones that haven't come up 2 or 3 times a day with a spray bottle, so the seed stays moist. Planting different seeds in one big flat isn't the way to go. There was probably a few days difference in germinating time for the plum vein and that's how you run into problems. Yes your lights should be on timers. Plants need to rest just like we do. 15 hours of light is what they should have.
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I have the wave petunias from wally world. they all did fine - except one. I had to change its location (it could have been the shadow of eucalyptus prevented growth). Now it is flowering as expected. I like wally world because they bring new items (similarly for no particular reason discontinue some of my favorite ones). The price is always right. I paid $3.88 for a sixpack of waves. People who take care of plants are not expected to posess skills or knowledge beyond watering the plants (severe memory lapses are tolerated....many plants end up in the garbage bin). So dont expect expert advise....they are not master gardners. They can stock, water, move flats, get you the price and in rare cases help you to load your goodies. Big box stores are not out there to pick your pockets. Knowledgable customer always benifits. There is no hard and fast rule about local, mom & pop or master gardener's product will always be better. Win some, lose some - such is life.
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your problem.. is your beds ... you said: then just browned up and dried out. the sidewalk.. increases and retains the heat of the sun.. to the point that your small plants can not recover at night.. from the onslaught all day .... you just cant provide enough water .. based on the heat in the cement ... not to mention the reflected seering sunshine ... maybe if you watered 3 or 4 times during the day ... ergo.. they dried out.. browned.. and died ... the simple solution... is to widen the beds... perhaps as wide as the cement .. on each side.. being as wide as the cement... so that you can leave a foot or 18 inches between the cement and the first plant ... a buffer zone ... and then.. choosing plants that handle the situation better.. like a day lily ... which is extremely drought tolerant.. as compared to a water sucking annual like a petunia ... if that is not possible.. think of drought tolerant plants like portulaca.. or moss rose ... they love heat and drought ... i am sure a new post on heat loving.. drought tolerant plants.. will get you many suggestions ... i dare you ... to find a picture of such a thin bed on a standard cement walkway.. that is successful ... and if you do.. find out what kinds of plants are in it .... now is a great time.. to start developing new beds.. FOR NEXT YEAR .... good luck ken
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If understand you this is a raised bed not a pot. Do you over water? More petunias are killed by overwatering than anything else. If they've been overwatered they will appear fine one day and wilted the next and then die. This is especially true if you have clay soil. It may also be that you have a soil fungus so it wouldn't hurt to treat for that. Do you amend the soil? Every year or 2 dig in some compost and manure. It wouldn't hurt to plant something else there for this year. Pick a color scheme and then pick a variety of plants that fall in that scheme. Pay attention to the height and width of the plants. You can have taller ones in back and shorter ones in front or all the same size. The plant tags should give you all the information you need. It might take a little more thought than doing all petunias but who knows you might like it better.
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What to do with this wave petunia?

Comments (2)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

idloveamocha
Original Author

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What to do with this wave petunia?

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

idloveamochaOriginal Author

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idloveamocha
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