Petunias for Everyone
These are my petunia cuttings that I took around February 6. I snipped off the tops of several branches from a petunia plant that I kept from last summer under a grow light in the basement. I stripped the lower leaves off, leaving 2 leaves at the top for photosynthesis, and stuck the stems in damp seed starting soil. I kept them in a plastic bag, occasionally opening it for a few hours to air it out, and in about 3 weeks I saw fresh growth. I then transplanted the new plants into potting soil, and these are them today. After I took this photo I pinched all the new leaf pairs, so the plants will get bushy. I can’t believe how easy this was, I didn’t use any rooting hormone. So now I’ve started a few more cuttings. These plants are so much larger than ones I start from seeds. I will have many nice plants to share with friends this summer.
Cuttings are so much faster than seeds for some plants. Congratulations on your success!
What a wonderful idea! Never knew you could do that. It would be so great especially if you had a favorite one you wanted to get more from. Thank you for the idea.
Cindy, I never knew until this year that you could grow petunias from cuttings. I took my first ones yesterday, I do hope they are as good as yours. Perhaps I will try to over winter next year, though the plugs I bought this year don’t cost a lot and they soon grow enough to give me cutting material.
Best wishes Sylvia
Sylvia, I can’t believe you have already bought petunia plants in England. We’re at least a month away from doing that here in Boston.
Cindy, the garden centres sell little plants in tiny pots. They need a lot of growing on but I find they are OK on the windowsill. These will not go out into the garden until the end of May by which time I will have potted them on two or three times. I usually buy fuchsias this way as there is a better choice in February than as bigger plants later and they are cheaper. This year we went a bit mad and bought lots of bedding type plants including petunias! It is one way of starting the growing season early, feeds my addiction!
Best wishes Sylvia