Last year when I did mine, I did them in paper pots and just put the whole pot in the container. At the time I planted them they looked awful small & I thought I was making a mistake. Once it got warm they took off like gangbusters and were overflowing the planters just like the nursery grown ones in the past. Just have patience.

Thank you Mickey Dee. I'll take a deep breath and wait.

I had issues with wintersown Red Wave Petunia last year.
They were the most non-productive, weak little plants I've ever grown! I think the seed I had had been re-verted back to some long ago puny ancestor LOL!

Vera

This is my first year WS-ing the wave series- I've got Tidal cherry and regular Wave purples.

I bought nursery wave purples last year, and like Vera's, they were the most non-productive petunias I'd ever encountered. And the bed was a newly tilled & amended space! Go figure. I'll try them a couple times to see what results I get, but may revert back to the tried & true ones after that. I DO have several varieties planted as backups, though, just in case.

I also WS'D the Purple Wave this year for the first time - will be interested in seeing what others have to say and how they perform all summer.....

Lynne

I am planning on sowing petunia seeds in several weeks. Please forgive my ignorance with this question... the seeds that I collected from my store bought petunia last year... are they OK to sow this year or is it best for me to go and buy a package of petunia seeds from the store?

Thanks,
Lisa

I WS'd some Petunia Cascade Pink Orchid seeds from Valueseeds. I have six sprouts so far, but they're pretty small yet. I'm a little worried about the freezing temps for the next several days, but I'm just gonna leave them out.

I bought purple wave petunia plants from Walmart last year, and they were absolutely beautiful. They ended up cascading over the rocks at the edge of the bed, and had hundreds of beautiful purple blooms the entire summer. I got my money's worth out of those, that's for sure.

Newbi (Lisa)

Depend on how fussy as gardener you are. I have had wave petunias self seed that looked exactly like the partent plant; but I have sowed seed collected and have gotten mixed results.
I would do a little of both.

Not purple but I got some Tidal Wave Silver that came up and then all flopped over. They are the only ones that did this - out of 150 or so. Maybe it was something I did but if that were true why didn't it happen to everything else? They've all been treated the same way.

i'm also doing the purple wave this year... they have yet to germinate.

Though i'm hoping for the best.

a month later.... and still, no germination.

Hi tcs1366....I'm in Maine. I ws'd purple wave in the middle of March....still no germinations here either :'(
Bonny

This year I just did plain ol' non-wave purple and lavender colored ones. Germination isn't the issue, nor was it with the waves I tried last year. All are starting 2nd set of true-leaves and think I'll wait until they have four before planting this time. I just hope to see some big healthy looking plants this year. I don't like to use MG too much and usually don't use any at all, but I may give them a weak shot this year when I go to transplant.

Vera

nuther month here, and have good germination of the tunias overall, but they are microscopic still.
deborahz- I believe it is 'habit' for the 'easy' wave and the 'tidals' to flop; they need support to go 'up and out' and mound up. The regular waves are touted moreso as spreading/groundcover types.

Mine flopped and died. Almost like dampening off but I know that wasn't it. All the indoor ones reacted exactly the same way. I have 1 milk jug left of waves (I think its blue) that has no germination. I think I'll dump it soon. I have so many petunia's they won't be missed.

My single flowered Red waves were the first to appear. Then the burgundy double waves. It looks like all of them that I sowed have at least a couple sprouts in them. All of them are still tiny though. The ones that reseed around my light pole are just starting to make their appearance too and they are even more microscopic.

Linda

I confess... I sowed my Blue wave and Red tidal under lights indoors. Have for years. But this year because there was little pressure to get the next tray of seeds in underlights (as most seeds were being WS outdoors)I left the seedlings to get really large and strong under the lights (about 2-3 inches tall) and then potted them up.

Well, here is the irony. Almost all potted seedlings have whithered and croaked. Have no idea why. Transplant shock? I'll be buying my waves at the nursury this year, but since I am buying SO LITTLE ELSE due to WS (smile)I guess I will not gripe too much!

Nancy

I lost all my petunias this year, both wave and regular. They were doing well until we had an unexpected deep freeze one night. I was expecting just a light frost and didn't prepare properly so I'm buying this year, too.

According to my above post, I got some sprouts in late March to early April. (Petunia Cascade Pink Orchid sprouts). They are growing beautifully. I am planning to plant them out this week. (5 plants total). I put them in their own individual cells a while back when they were quite small, and I think this helped them come along more quickly.

I was beginning to think I had baked the rest of the petunia seeds since I planted a whole pack, and only 6 came up. But just today I noticed a new tiny sprout ... like maybe there's a second wave of sprouts on the way. I'm a zone ahead of several of you, so I wouldn't give up just yet. Just this week I've had several sprouts in containers that I had almost given up on. It's been warm here for a while, so I would have figured most things would be up by now.

My purple waves (or at least some of them) did grow large enough to transpant. Birds promptly ate three of them. The others seem to be thriving, though a loooong way from blooming. Ironically, the pink guys that seeded themselves are already in full bloom!