Trim petunias now and they will flower until late autumn

Petunia can be almost an “ever-flowering” plant if properly trimmed. We are referring to the garden petunia (Petunia × atkinsiana or Petunia hybrida). So, how can you make sure that your petunias keep flowering and flowering?

Well, you should start by trimming them correctly and you should do that at the end of summer, usually in August or in mid-September at the latest.If you do, your petunias will bloom like crazy for a long time.

Why trim?

When you cut these popular ”balcony” plants they quickly develop side branches and you want that. New buds will develop on new branches and your plants will bloom again. If you want your petunias to keep the typical compact shape, you need to trim them constantly and towards the end of summer, you need to do more radical cutting to make sure plants form new buds before winter. This will stimulate further growth and lush flowering.

Photo: Pixabay

Cutting petunias in the fall

First, you should remove old and spent flowers, because they will form pods with seeds which forces the plant to direct all nutrients to pods. This is natural. Plants need to create a new generation of flowers. This will stop or slows down flowering.
But this is not enough. Before the arrival of autumn, you need to cut petunias to a length of about 20 cm and then fertilize with a complex fertilizer and later with succinic acid. These fertilizers will help the plant to form many side shoots where new flowers will form.

Source: https://region.rozhlas.cz/ztraceji-vase-surfinie-a-petunie-na-krase-vime-co-za-tim-muze-byt-7585535, https://tema.ceskenapady.cz/tema-petunie-strihani-1590951.html, https://www.receptyprimanapadu.cz/zahrada/kvetouci-truhliky-petunie-nebo-surfinie/

Preview photo: Pixabay