Well ..... starting them inside is up to you, but they are the BEST winter sown. They may be tiny now, but when the warmth hits, they'll be off and running.

These are my petunia seedlings taken last week - after the few days of warmth over the weekend, they are bigger now (not an awful lot, though). As tiny as they are, they're on their first set of true leaves.

{{gwi:387661}}

I'll split these out into a few hunks and give them their own individual pots. Another week or two, and their summer home will be ready and they'll have their final transplant.

PV

For me the wintersown seedlings don't start blooming until late June early July. They've always been slow going for me.

Vera

mine are also the size of PV's maybe a tiny bit smaller.

I sure hope they grow fast. I would like to have them fill out the beds while waiting for the slower perennials etc.

Karen

Mine have already bloomed. Sown in early March, three different plants have bloomed this week. My sister got some from me on Easter. Her's bloomed the following week in SC. They do mature quick. Now that I know their colors, I'll be pinching them for a while. I can wait for the big show of blooms later in the summer.

Petunias are slow to get going but once they start they are like gang busters. And I have noticed that when compared to store bought tunias the w/s ones look ALOT better in the late summer and are still nice and full of life and not about to croak. This was found out last summer at least this is how it is was in my yard.

My seedlings are about the size of a quarter. Just give it some time. They WILL bloom.

Paula

Certain Petunias I've WSed (Prism Sunshine is one) are starting to crowd each other out in the containers...I'm debating whether to and separate the chunks and transplant them to larger containers, or separate them into chunks and plant in the ground...I usually get a lot of reseeds, but it's too warm for those to appear yet. What to do what to do. I sure didn't have this problem with them last year, but I'm happy to have it this year :-)

Linda

I have a bunch of containers of little tiny, tiny seedlings. My fault, I didn't do these containers till April. I was surprised to find I've got pretty good germination on 2 year old blue wave seeds.and yo are reminding me Linda that I ordered those yellow prisms - have to find those tomorrow and plant the container!!!!

Here are my petunias. They sprouted like more than 3 weeks ago.

pvick, it's my first time to grow petunias from seedlings. Should I transfer them now to each invidual pots? How many seedlings should I put in each pot? Looks like it's going to be really tough since they're very close to each other. What is your suggestion?

Oh, the container on the left is poppy mixed. What should I do with that? Do they love full sun?

On the bottom is purple love grass. :)

Thanks!

{{gwi:387663}}

Well, my plan for the petunias is to split them into small hunks and pot each hunk in its own container to give them some room to grow on a bit. They are so dense, there is no way I can separate them very much more than that, now. They'll be much easier to separate once they're bigger.

What are those two big seedlings in the pot?

Poppies like full sun. From the looks of it, you should get your poppies out soon - much bigger and they won't like being disturbed.

PV

Neil,
Yours are much bigger than mine,i am not worried,at least they have sprouted. :0)
cAROL

The 2 big seedlings I guess are the strongest petunia seedlings! I didn't put any other seeds there.

From what I understand from your post, I should wait a little more before I transplant them to pots. Am I correct?

Thanks!

I would HOS into individual pots soon; you could leave them where they are for a bit, but you'd stand to lose more plants from crowding.

Those 2 big ones don't look like petunias ....?

PV

Thanks pvick! I'll do it tomorrow then. Thanks for the heads up! :)

I'm not sure what those 2 big seedlings are. I'm going to examine them tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Here are the latest pics. I separated them today. I was able to make 12 pots, 10 really including 2 unknown seedlings. There is another one growing that looks like the first 2 unknown seedlings. I really would like to know what those seedlings are. Hopefully, someone can ID it.

Are my seedlings on pic really Petunia Laura Bush?

{{gwi:387665}}

{{gwi:387668}}

{{gwi:242021}}

{{gwi:242023}}

Oh, I remember a thread talking about pinching petunias. Can we use scissors instead?

Thanks!

Those are way too young to be pinching. If you can't do it with your fingers, it's too early. I wait until my petunias are at least 2-3" tall before pinching. Give it a little time to think it's going to grow tall and flop.

Yeah, it's way too early to worry about pinching. And yes, when the time comes, you can use scissors.

All varieties of petunia look the same to me when in the seedling stage, so can't say whether they are Laura Bush or not. The only pic I have of Laura Bush shows them much bigger, altho not blooming - they still look like any other petunia.

Those big seedlings are really interesting - can't wait to see what they are.

PV

I should have searched this thread before I started the new one earlier.

pvick,

Here is the other seedling now. It's grown. What could be it? The bottom pic is the petunia. I think it's .75" tall now, woohoo! LOL.

{{gwi:242025}}

{{gwi:386447}}

I have no idea what that "big petunia" is! LOL! It doesn't look like a weed (but what do I know?), and it's actually kind of cute. Maybe someone else will know ...

PV

Makes me think bachelor buttons, but I could be wrong.

It's a poppy! :) The tiny poppies I transplanted 2 weeks ago looks almost similar to the unknown seedling pic.

Anyways, here is the latest on my Laura Bush petunia in pots after 8 days. I can't believe how fast they grow. However, is it really petunia? It's because, the end of a leaf isn't pointy yet. I looked at pitimpinai's Laura Bush pic and the leaves are different.

Is it big enough now to divide them or should I wait 1 more week?

{{gwi:387669}}

Plant that Laura Bush now. Plenty big enough to put in the garden beds.

I'm zone 5 in MA.

From last year's pics

this was June 15th, planted in an old plastic birdbath, soil miracle grow potting mix and bark mulch on top of soil. It won't hold water now, too many cracks, but it is perfect for plants
{{gwi:364088}}

This is the same birdbath planter on July 1st
{{gwi:387671}}

Ok.

Do you think folks it will look nice if I plant them in the edge on a single line? The curvy/wavy/arch edge will be about 30 ft long.

I am further up north than you are so I have to experiment. I cannot seem to ever sow my petunias 'thinly' so I always have a crowded mat of seedlings. My best results were to transplant at the two-leaf stage (very meticulous and painstaking process)into six-inch pots - 8 to 10 to a pot. They sit there for a while, then take off. They either remain in pots or are transplanted to the ground, but I get blooms the third week of June. If I wait until the seedlings are larger and then transplant, the blooms are 2 to 3 weeks later. Mine are already in their six-inch pots, but the rains for the past 3 days are not doing them any good. And the weeds are having a field day!!
Northerner.

I transplanted 1 pot today. I was able to divide them into 13 separate plants. However, I'm worried. Some roots went down from really long roots to 1" and some to half an inch long. I don't think that's good. Will they survive?

It's very hard because the roots were so so thin.

They'll be fine, Ronneil. I planted mine just like that. They'll grow. If it's very sunny tomorrow, shade them with newspaper or pots or cardboard boxes. Remove the shade in the evening. Water them well everyday for the next few days.

Thanks Mone! :)

I'm not sure if it help. I gave them a lot of water in the morning but the leaves looked like veg. I gave them another water in the afternoon. All leaves around 7:30pm are still flat on ground.

Shade them first thing tomorrow morning and do not uncover them until the sun goes down tomorrow. That may help. Water them early morning or late evening only. Do not water them under bright sun.

I use a pot or a box to shade mine. Make sure it is well ventilated underneath, ok? Good luck.
I transplanted a gazillion petunia seedlings this weekend. I sowed way too many seeds. I still have 5 trays to go, even after giving them to all my neighbors including someone who was leaving a party next door. lol.

I'll try box this time. :)

Thanks!

lblack61, if the chunks won't crumble, probably best to plant them directly into the garden now. If they won't hold in a ball long enough, you might lose a lot by planting direct.

Otherwise what I have done is put things in solo cups w/2 drainage holes burned into the bottom, put them in trays or some odd rectangle plastic things I got cheap, and then let them grow on outside, dappled shade. I use a spatula & cut w/knife of one sort or another w/trays and maybe would w/jugs in order to get as much of the roots as possible. You'd have to figure out how much additional potting soil you might need, just plop them on top, they'll root on down.

Then I plant them with my bulb planter.

I've had pretty good luck with petunias inside or out. You get an earlier start inside, but as long as I keep the soil moist, they germinate pretty fast in my planter which is close to the hose.

I just ordered some of those Blue Daddy, better be a nice blue, and will have to consider how best to succeed with those, probably indoors or outdoors and not WS, think I'll sow direct into hanging baskets. Trailing with white alyssum volunteers, it should be pretty if I can pull it off.

great ideas here!! I have a leaky bird bath I am sick of trying to patch and paint it.

I may just add some petunias in it.

Karen

Karen, put some duck tape over the cracks to provide some extra support. If you just fill the birdbath with soil then it could be too heavy after watering it and it will cave in.

Put first piece of tape right over the cracks, then put an extra strip of tape overlapping the first one on either side.

I just put the soil in the bird bath not quite to the top. Put the plants in the soil when they are really small and cover the soil with bark mulch. The plants stay fairly dwarf that way too, because the won't have a huge amount of room for their roots, but I've been doing it for more than 5 years now. As long as it holds, it gets soil and plants. Too good to toss, but not good enough for the birds. I have other ones for the birds.

Fran

Thanks Fran!!

I never thought of Duct Tape. It fixes almost anything :)
My cracks are small but big enough to leak...

I am also not willing to throw out the Bird Bath. I plan to put out some plant/pot saucers for the birds instead or make some Bird bath's on my own

Karen

My daughter knocked over mowing a large clay pot, and I was sick about it because they're expensive. It sat all winter, but I got out some old, unopened J. B. Weld, followed instructions, made sure surfaces were clean and dry. Crash, fell and broke into two more pieces.

So I got out the duct tape and put a lot on, turned the pot to the back, nobody knows it's there if not looking for it. At least I'll get another season or two or more out of that pot. I got 2 free when a neighbor moved and always passed them by but love the look of real terra cotta.

I planted all my remaining petunias today. It was so tough to divide since I used a wrong potting medium.

The 2 days of rain/cloudy helped the petunias that I transplanted before. I was lucky since I didn't have to cover them in morning. I think 2 will not make it though.