Fertilizer for Petunias: How to Nourish to Keep Them Flowering and Look Healthy?

Petunias are beloved for their delicate appearance, and the ability to burst in colorful flowers for long. To keep their astonishing beauty, and help them cover with blooms, they need to be nourished, especially when grown in pots. With what kind of fertilizer for petunias to maintain their flowering? Can you add to their feeding regime natural nutrition?

Should Petunias be Fertilized?

If you want your petunias to cover with blooms, adding a fertilizer is a must. The plants need vital nutrients to push their development and form flowers. No matter whether they grow them in garden beds or in pots, the soil’s nutrients may gradually become exhausted, impeding the plant’s growth. Therefore, adding the appropriate fertilizer for petunias provides a beneficial extra source of food, allowing them to unfold their full potential.

How Do I Get My Petunias to Bloom More?

There are some approaches to foster your petunias to flower more intensively, which should be applied simultaneously:

• Generous watering: These flowers like their soil to be all the time moist, though they don’t appreciate an overwatered environment. This can cause them root rotting and embarrass forming their flowers. You should water them in the morning at soil level, which saves the plants against possible diseases caused by wetting their foliage.
• Deadheading on a regular basis: Cutting out faded flowers before they form seeds helps the plant to develop more blooms. Deadheading saves the plant’s power, and it can develop new blooms, instead of producing seeds.

• Abundant sunlight: These colorful flowers are addicted to full sunlight. Allow them to receive at least 6 to 8 hours of direct light daily for their healthy growth and to burst in blooms.
• Balanced fertilizer: Applying a balanced fertilizer with equal parts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N-P-K) is of key importance for plants. The N-P-K ratio is usually marked on fertilizer labels with three numbers, showing the percentage of each nutrient.

Fertilizer for Petunias in Pots

Potted plants exhaust the nutrient resources faster, and need to be fertilized for a seamless growth and to be covered with blooms:

• Slow-release fertilizers: Adding this kind of fertilizer is a great benefit for potted petunias. It looses the nutrients slowly over a long period of time, giving a permanent supply of important elements, eliminating the need for frequent use. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions how to apply, so as not to over-fertilize, which may be harmful to the plants.
• Liquid fertilizers for frequent use: You may prefer this option for a fertilizer, and feed the flowers with this formula, occasionally. It should be diluted in water and poured over the soil’s surface or applied as foliar sprays for a quick assimilation of nutrients. Search for balanced liquid fertilizer or for one specially prepared for flowering plants to aid for abundant blooming.

Read also: How to Grow and Take Care of Petunias in Pots? Learn the Easy Steps to Enjoy their Cheerful Colors!

Natural Fertilizer for Petunias

In case you are searching for a natural way how to nourish your petunias, there are a number of possibilities for supplying the needed nutrients, and excluding the need of synthetic fertilizers:

• Compost nutrition: This is an ideal eco-friendly fertilizer, which releases into the soil organic substances and vital nutrients. Acting in this way, it enhances soil structure, retains the water, and favors for activity of beneficial microorganisms in it, helping for the health growth of petunias.
• Peels from banana: They supply the flowering plants with potassium and should be cut in peaces, which to bury around the plants’ base to serve as a slow-release fertilizer.

• Tea from manure: Mix an aged, composted manure with water to make this liquid fertilizer, which is also a good source of nutrients for the blooming plants. Manure tea is composed of balanced elements and organic matter, and is a full-bodied food for feeding your flowers.
• Fish emulsion: The organic plant food, made from fish byproducts, is highly rich in nitrogen and other vital elements. It helps for developing of lush foliage and blooming. Fish emulsion should be carefully applied according to directions for its use.

What Does Epsom Salt Do for Petunias?

As Epsom salt is rich in magnesium, which is a key component of chlorophyll, applying this natural fertilizer promotes the formation of chlorophyll. In that way, the plant increases its photosynthesis, which results in enhancing the petunias’ possibility to utilize the sunlight into energy for better growth. Magnesium abundance speeds up the formation of new flowers, which manifests in more showy blooms. The other role of this helpful element is in increasing the plant’s uptake of other necessary nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. Their regular absorption makes the plants healthy and more strong. Though, like with many other fertilizers, it’s important to use Epsom salt sparingly.

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