As previously indicated, Wave petunias grow quickly. When the plants are young, you don’t want to make the error of overstuffing your Wave petunia basket. Wave petunias can still outcompete other plants in a hanging basket even though they aren’t quite as vigorous as Supertunias.
You could get away with planting only one Wave petunia plant per hanging basket, but many people will plant three to really achieve a good show (stick with odd numbers). This will primarily depend on the size of your basket, but for a typical 12-basket arrangement, 3 plants should be more than plenty.
Be careful not to crowd any of the plants when planting Wave petunias in a hanging basket with another plant.
Plant the hanging basket early
Wave petunias are excellent growers, so even plantings made later will succeed. However, the earlier you can safely put them outside, the better—as with any annuals! You can do this to get out of the house and see some blossoms before everyone else.
Fertilize throughout the summer
Even though your hanging basket’s potting soil already contains slow-release fertilizer, we nevertheless advise fertilizing it all summer long.
Depending on how much fertilizer the potting soil contained, how the plants are doing, and how much sun the hanging basket is getting, some growers advise fertilizing hanging baskets every third watering.
Keep in the sun
Make sure your Wave petunia gets at least six hours of sunlight, while we’re on the subject. With the right care, wave petunias can withstand the sweltering afternoon sun. As a general, petunias enjoy the sun, so make sure they are receiving it.
The Wave petunia may not bloom as abundantly or develop stunted growth if not given adequate sun.
Cut back the Wave petunia for fresh growth
The fact that Wave petunias don’t require deadheading is a big advantage. However, we discover that pruning Wave petunias will increase growth and subsequent blooms.
If you see that the Wave petunia in your hanging basket is straggly or is displacing other plants in the basket, feel free to trim it back.
Keep the hanging basket watered but don’t overwater
While Wave petunias enjoy the sun, when grown in a hanging basket, they will be more dependent on you for water. Throughout the summer, be careful to keep the basket well-watered, especially on particularly hot days.
You might need to water the hanging basket once or more per day during the summer heat.
Check to see if the soil’s top inch or so is damp to determine whether it needs some water. Alternately, you can raise the basket from below to gauge its weight. If watering is required, a Wave petunia hanging basket will be substantially lighter.
How are petunia hanging baskets planted?
Petunias thrive in regions with direct sunlight. Look for petunia varieties that produce flowers on long, flowing stalks, such as cascading petunias. Petunias are simple to plant in hanging baskets as long as you choose a robust container with at least one drainage hole.
A light-weight commercial potting mix should be used to fill the container because it will help the drainage. Never use garden soil because it soon compacts and is too heavy for adequate drainage. When planting, incorporate a slow-release fertilizer into the potting soil.
How do you take care of petunias in a hanging basket?
Hanging baskets will require more regular maintenance because water and nutrients leak out of them more quickly than for plants in the ground.
How do you keep petunia baskets blooming?
Petunias consume a lot of food. To encourage additional blooms, add a water-soluble fertilizer with a higher concentration of phosphorus and potassium to the slow-release fertilizer you applied when you were planting. Many contemporary hybrids are self-cleaning, unlike older kinds that need deadheading for ongoing flowering.
How many petunias are in one hanging basket?
It depends on the size of the basket and the plants’ mature size. Use four to six starter plants in 4-inch pots for a 12 to 14-inch basket.
How often to water a petunia hanging basket?
The best water for petunias is constant water. Checking hanging baskets periodically is necessary since they dry out rapidly. It’s time to water if the soil feels dry 1-2 inches down. This can include watering once or twice each day during warm weather. Reduce water use and avoid letting the soil become moist in cooler temperatures.
Should trailing petunias be pruned back?
Petunias’ tips can be pinched out to encourage new growth by releasing growth hormones. Pinch all petunias when you plant them in the garden since doing so aids new transplants in establishing themselves more quickly. Deadheading on time promotes a large number of flowers. The plant will substantially reduce the amount of fresh blooms it produces if you let the blossoms go to seed since it will believe its life cycle is over. Garden petunias are hybrids, not true from seeds, therefore there is no point in trying to let them reseed themselves.
How far apart should trailing petunias be planted?
All petunias require average, slightly acidic to neutral soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 at a location with at least six hours of direct sunlight each day and more, if possible. Peat moss, aged manure, or compost should be added to the soil at a depth of 2 to 3 inches and then thoroughly worked into the soil until it reaches a depth of 8 to 10 inches.
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the area should also have good drainage because petunias thrive badly in too-wet soil. While multifloras only require a spacing of 4 to 6 inches, grandifloras and multifloras both require planting at a distance of 12 inches. Petunias that spread or trail should be planted at least 1 1/2 feet apart, even if they only reach a height of 6 inches.
What number of plants should I place in a hanging basket?
The typical rule for hanging baskets is to use one plant for every inch of the basket’s diameter, or 12 plants per 12 inch basket. For larger plants like geraniums (Pelargoniums), Surfinia petunias, culinary herbs, and fuchsias, you only need five plants per 12-inch hanging basket.
What you must do is as follows:
- 1. To keep your empty basket steady as you plant, place it on a bucket.
- 2. Use sheet plastic covered in a layer of straw or hessian to line wire hanging baskets instead of buying pre-cut liners. Any material that extends past the basket’s rim should be cut off.
- 3. To accommodate trailing plants, cut a series of 5 cm (2 inch) slits around the sides of the basket. Use a plastic hanging basket or our polypropylene basket with pre-cut holes to avoid the effort of lining your basket.
- 4. Add controlled-release fertilizer and water-retentive granules to a compost that serves many purposes. By feeding your plants during the growth season, you can prevent your pots from drying out too rapidly.
- 5. Fill your basket with compost until the compost layer is even with the side slits. To remove any air pockets, carefully press the compost into the ground.
- 6. From the inside, push your trailing plants through the slits “head-first.” Before guiding your plants through the perforations, cover them in polythene to safeguard the tender new growth. Place the plant so that the leaves are on the outside of the basket and the root ball is resting on the compost surface.
- 7. After you have stuffed every slit, carefully pry the plant roots out. More compost should be added to the area around the roots, filling the basket to within 5 cm (2 inches) of the rim.
- 8. Add extra trailing plants to the basket’s rim.
- If you place these so that they grow between the plants below, your form will be more evenly distributed overall. Fill in the center of the basket with erect, bushy plants.
- 9. Spread compost around your plants, making sure to leave a gap of 2.5 cm (1 inch) below the rim of the basket so the compost won’t wash away when you water.
- 10. After thoroughly moistening your basket with a fine-rose watering can, hang it in the desired location or place it in the greenhouse.
What month do hanging baskets get planted?
It’s okay to plant frosted winter hanging baskets between September and October because the plants should be hardy. Depending on the plants being used, you would typically plant a long-lasting perennial hanging basket starting in April.
What’s going on with my trailing petunias?
If you want your trailing petunias to create long, dense trails out of baskets and containers, they need at least 6 hours each day of direct sunlight.
Of course, you can plant them where there is less direct sunshine, but their growth will be less rapid.
Drainage is also crucial, so lift any ground-based pots or containers with pot feet to prevent root rot.
How to Deadhead and Prune Trailing Petunias
Deadheading a plant does two things:
- to organize the plant and make it look better.
- to stop plants that set seeds from “going to seed. An annual plant frequently stops growing after it begins to produce seeds because it has fulfilled its reproductive function. By deadheading and preventing the plant from developing seeds, this can be avoided and growth can be prolonged.
A short Google search turns up dozens of authors who assert that if you want lengthy, dense trails, you should deadhead trailing petunias as frequently as you can.
There are various petunia types, such Wave and Surfinia, which grow well with relatively minimal deadheading and are ideal for the time-constrained gardener.
Regular deadheading (at least once a week, but ideally twice a week) is advised for the majority of other varieties of petunias.
Make sure to remove the seed pod along with the blossom after deadheading.
Pruning
One of the most crucial chores is pruning, but it’s sometimes ignored or done improperly.
When a stem is cut, side branches emerge and eventually grow into new stems.
The few stems you have will grow long and lanky with few side shoots and blooms if you don’t prune enough or forcefully enough.
We advise deadheading petunias once a week and trimming back any long, lanky stems to promote side-shoots that will trail. Start by trimming any stems that are frail or have few blooms or leaves.
When pruning, try to keep a uniform shape, but if the plant is a little lanky and sparse, don’t be afraid to remove half or more of the growth.
You can simply go ahead and forcefully trim back your plant to just below the rim of the basket or container if you believe it is already too far gone and is severely neglected, lanky, and lacking in blossoms. Always fertilize regularly after any vigorous trimming to promote growth.
How to Avoid “Flat Topping
Not only will the ideal petunia hanging basket or container have long trails, but it will also have a well-rounded top part with blooms and lots of leaves.
The top of the basket will appear flat and sparse if you let all of the stems in the center of the basket grow long and overflow the edge.
Simple pruning of the lanky stems to promote bushy growth near the top of the basket or container will easily stop this from happening.
Just go ahead and aggressively trim away any neglected trailing petunias until there are about 12 inches of the plant protruding over the edge of the basket. The plant will grow quickly, and much of it will be in the top part.
How Often Should Trailing Petunias be Watered?
Here is how often we water the containers and baskets we use for petunias:
- Summer days that are overcast, cool, and gloomy occur every two to four days.
- Every day or every other day in the heat, typical daywater.
- Very hot summer days, especially in the morning and evening.
Petunias need a lot of water, yet the roots prefer a soil that is damp but never soggy. Additionally, the baskets or containers should have a bottom that freely drains water.
If you water the basket and it starts to drain out the bottom right away, it’s likely that the soil is too dry and has contracted, and the water is just fleeing through the cracks. To fix this, water the plant, let it sit for 15 minutes to allow the soil to swell, and then water it once more. Moving forward, make an effort to stop the soil from drying out to the point where it shrinks.
Can petunias be overwatered? Yes, root rot is a possibility, but it typically only arises when a container or basket lacks drainage holes or when the potting soil is so dense that the water cannot escape. View the potting soil and baskets we recommend at the top of this page.
Even though it has been raining, should you water the petunias? It’s unlikely that a brief summer shower would be sufficient because we often water our petunias heavily. So we continue to water them even after it has rained. Although many are positioned beneath the roof overhang, which shields them from the majority of the rain, baskets and containers are frequently quite small and only catch a small amount of rain.
You must be careful not to drown the plant by flooding the roots if your basket or container has just one or two drainage holes.
Fertiliser and Feed
Every gardener will have a different answer when you ask them how frequently they fertilize their petunias. Nutrients that are flushed out of hanging baskets by watering need to be renewed, however there is no defined schedule.
Unfortunately, even plants in hanging baskets might receive too much fertilizer. Yellow leaves and stunted growth can result from having too much zinc, manganese, copper, or phosphorous, which can prevent iron from being absorbed.
Petunias grown in baskets should be fertilized every week. Therefore, every seventh watering will be required in the summer when you water once daily.
Since you won’t be watering as frequently and the nutrients won’t be washed out of the basket as frequently during cooler times, you can cut the frequency to around once every ten days.
Of course, fertilizing every two weeks will still yield fantastic results, but we believe applying more regularly will result in better development.
You won’t need to fertilize petunias in flowerbeds or the ground as frequently. Petunias planted in large containers don’t require as regular fertilization either.
Keep in mind that summertime drying out can cause baskets to require more watering. More fertilizer is needed to replenish lost nutrients the more water is used.
Watch out for symptoms of overfertilization like yellow petunia leaves. If that occurs, turn it down and give the petunias some iron that has been sequestered.
Best Fertiliser For Petunias
Starting with an excellent all-arounder like Miracle-Gro soluble universal fertilizer, which has a high concentration of nitrogen and is ideal for promoting long trails, is what we advise.
If you notice that the petunias are a little leggy and are producing few or small blooms as the season progresses, you can replace the occasional feed with fertilizer that has a higher ratio of phosphorus.
In order to preserve the petunias’ leaves lush green, we also advise giving them a monthly dose of sequestered iron.
With the use of this product, we were able to restore the petunia foliage to a vibrant green color.