The petunias are looking pretty good today. The pink one in the bottom tray is turning its leaves and flowers up. The brilliantly colored blue and plum petunias are Shock Wave or Easy Wave varieties.The newer "Lace Veil" petunia, in the upper tray on the right, was sharing a Bounty with the coral-colored petunia, in the lower tray on the left. It got cross-pollinated, I guess, though it now has one pure white bloom. Most of the pure white "Lace Veil" blooms are from the plant that I've nearly killed twice while transplanting. It's one of my all-time favorites!
Day 203
UPDATE#14
Grower update
Update #14
🔧Actions taken
🪴TransplantTransplanted overgrown, tangled petunia plants into the outdoor display.
My latest petunia gardens got completely out of hand:Yesterday I transplanted them to the outdoors display, even though they were far too big for this. The roots came out of the deck okay (with a squeeze from my hand), but the cascading stems were tangled and suffered damage. Also, it was hard to fill a pot with soil when there were such long stems all around.The plants should survive, but may not be able to sustain the current growth.
Great looking petunias! Of all the flowers I've grown in an AG, I think the cascading petunias are the most beautiful. They really are the perfect plant to compliment the design and function of the AGs.
Day 148
UPDATE#13
Grower update
Update #13
🔧Actions taken
🌱PlantingStarted another seedling batch for the outdoor display.
Sure. Petunias are easy. They're a bit hard to plant, because the seeds are so tiny. Pelleted seeds solve that problem, but you need to plant atop the sponge and set your pump to always on (if you can) to maximize germination.
Day 147
UPDATE#12
Grower update
Update #12
🔧Actions taken
🪴TransplantTransplanted the long-running Lace Veil petunia outdoors despite severe breakage.
Today I transplanted the Lace Veil petunia outdoors. I love it to pieces, but it's time to start more petunias for the outdoor display.I squeezed the root ball getting the plant out of the Bounty deck; broke off about 3/4 of the plant during the transplanting; didn't have a big enough pot; didn't have any MiracleGro planting mix; and put it in a tough location that gets full sun all afternoon. So it may not survive. But we'll see! I need to be sure to talk to it when I water it during the next few days.
This single petunia pod continues to amaze! The frilly white flowers really cheer up the room. I wish I could transplant this outdoors, but it's far too late to get the roots out of the deck.
These photos illustrate why you shouldn't be too quick to give up on an AG plant that you inadvertently damage. This is how my "Lace Veil" petunia looks today. (I broke off a lot of its roots when transplanting petunias outdoors, so kept it inside.) All the growth is from a single pod!
I love growing petunias in an AG, because they do so well, with so little effort! Also, the transplants do great in my outdoor display, which gets full sun all afternoon.
U
Unknown
I also love petunias BUT they are high maintenance. You have to pick off wilted flowers almost daily and the juice is really sticky! I hate sticky.
I don't bother to pick off petunia flowers. Even outdoors, if they wilt in the afternoon sun, they revive overnight and throughout the cool, shaded mornings. When the flowers are really finished, they dry up and drop off.
The transplanted petunias continue to thrive. The lace veil petunia that I nearly killed by tearing its roots has recovered. It looks odd, because I had to remove all the lower leaves to help it survive on minimal intact roots. It's leafing out again, though. It will be staying indoors in the Bounty.Goes to show that hydroponic plants can withstand a lot of root abuse!
Day 42
UPDATE#8
Grower update
Update #8
🔧Actions taken
🪴TransplantTransplanted three additional petunia plants outdoors.
Three more petunias were transplanted outdoors today. Two were larger than I like, but I've been too busy with other things to get to them. Both are blooming. Only one of the plants that moved outdoors earlier is blooming, but all of them have buds. One plant, the Baker Creek "Lace Veil", stayed indoors. It was already struggling to catch up to the others, and of course I damaged the roots when I started to remove it from the deck. Forgot to grip the plastic pod, and the sponge came out partway without the pod. The top row has two petunias from Etsy. They are Crazytunias, one being the beautiful "Black Mamba".
Day 24
UPDATE#7
Grower update
Update #7
🔧Actions taken
✂️PruningThinned the petunia seedlings about a week before the update.
🪴TransplantRemoved five pods and transplanted the seedlings into fertilised organic potting soil.
The Petunia seedlings have been coming along nicely! I thinned them about a week ago, and switching the pumo to "always on" had the desired effect of promoting faster growth.The seedlings were growing so well, in fact, that they were outgrowing the Bounty. Today I took five of the pods out, and transplanted the seedlings to organic potting soil with fertilizer included. They should do fine out front--at least one has some buds.The four remaining pods will be transplanted when they're larger. The one pod with the kind of stunted seedlings was originally placed in the deck hole in front of the light pole. In my experience, plants usually grow poorly in this particular spot. They always improve when they're moved anywhere else on the deck. Does anyone else have this issue? Any theories why that would be a bad location?
The Black Mamba petunia looks exactly like black velveteen on the inside. The outside is a dark purple--not as pink as it looks in my photos.I'm going to try to find a seed source. Here is a growing guide:www.livelyroot.com/pages/black-mamba-petunia-care-guide
Further research informs me that black petunia seeds are generally unavailable. The petunias are hybrids, of course, and that means the seeds won't consistently produce plants just like their parents.In the case of the black petunias, even the patented ones like the Crazytunia Black Mamba are apparently propagated from cuttings. All of this explains the bad reviews for the black petunia seeds advertised on Amazon!
I haven't, but the guide at the link mentioned above says you use a stem piece with a growing tip, remove flowers and buds, dip the cut end in root hormone, plant it in a growing medium, keep it moist, and put it in indirect sunlight for 4-6 weeks. (Even more details in the growing guide.)I have propagated brugmansia (Angel Trumpet) from cuttings, which is a piece of cake. You use root hormone, and put the stem in water until roots develop.
I just tried doing creeping phlox from cuttings and all but one look dead. I pulled off all the bottom leaves and used the rooting hormone. I was disappointed. For some reason creeping phlox have been hard to find. Neither Lowe’s or Home Depot have them this year and when I ask they try to steer me to regular phlox. I found a couple on clearance at Walmart which I tried the cuttings with no luck. Maybe I will try petunias next. I also have some old seeds for black petunias which I need to bring out and see if they are still good too!Your flowers look gorgeous!
swimmom500, perhaps some of the cuttings were from the wrong part of the phlox plant? (With Angel's Trumpets, for example, you need to take a cutting from above a "Y" branch.)
I guess that’s possible. I watched a U-tube video and she was just cutting off pieces. And then skips to months later and look how great they all look! Lol! I will search for a different video and see if they mention only certain branches. Thanks for your insight!!
A local nursery is advertising the "Crazytunia Black Mamba" petunia, which looked like it would be fun to try, but the only seeds available seem to be some dubious ones at Amazon. So I ordered a plant from an Etsy seller, and a pretty photo made me want a black and white "Supertunia Latte" plant too.These arrived today, and are keeping last year's seed-grown "Superbissima Giant Alba" company until the AG petunia seedlings are ready to go outdoors. The Alba has three open blooms now.
Day 9
UPDATE#4
Grower update
Update #4
🔧Actions taken
🌱PlantingAdded three more unpelleted Lace Veil seeds to the weak pod.
Day 9. All the petunias are poking out of their pods! The Baker Creek "Lace Veil" (far left) has only one little plant, so I added 3 seeds a couple of days ago.These are unpelleted seeds, and most of the seeds in the original planting went straight to the bottom of the sponge. No surprise then, that germination rate has been poor.
4/11/24. Pelleted petunia seeds have germinated in all 9 pods! Nothing is showing above the deck, so no photos yet. However, I do have a photo of one Superbissima Giant Alba petunia that stayed alive through the California winter and is starting to bloom. This gal was planted in early 2023, March or April. I thought that petunias were annuals, but apparently they are "tender perennials" that don't tolerate frost. I guess that some top-dressing of the soil would be a good idea! And I should pull that weed.This is what the Alba petunias were like last year.aerogardenaddicts.com/post/59726/thread
I guess I need to buy my Petunia seeds at Harris next time. 2 Burpee packs of seed and 1 pack from Park Seed and I have 5 plants. Since they aren’t blooming yet I can’t be sure but 1 plants has different leaves from the others so I am not 100% sure it’s even a Petunia.
Could be that the Shock Wave and Easy Wave Petunias are easier to grow than whatever Burpee sent you. Burpee does make mistakes, though. Our favorite tomato vendor was very angry at Burpee for selling them something other than the Green Zebra seeds they ordered, for two years running. The vendor switched seed companies after that.
Thanks for posting those instructions again, @fsullom! I knew you'd mentioned using an eyedropper, but couldn't remember where. Today there are little water droplets on most of the seed covers. That usually means that something is germinating. Fingers crossed!
I have been messing with this lavender since the first of the year. Planted my Harvest seed starter twice with it. I have 3 plants total for my effort! I was trying to grow a bunch to put along my back fence to attract some bees. We moved last year and while in Atlanta my blueberry plants would be covered with bees when they were blooming. Down here I have never seen more than 1 bee at a time. I am worried about pollination for both my berry plants and my veggies. Everything I read said Lavender attracts bees so I was hopeful. My lavender seeds that have been in the refrigerator in paper towels are showing signs of sprouting now that I took them out and placed them on top of the light hood. The rest of that pack of seeds are in my freezer. Next thing you know I will be overrun with lavender! LOL! I didn’t have much luck with Petunia seeds either in spite of setting my bounty pump to 24 hours on. I am waiting to see how yours do. My seeds were from Parks Seed.
Day 1
UPDATE#1
Grower update
Update #1
Image unavailable
🔧Actions taken
🌱PlantingPlanted nine petunia pods for later outdoor transplanting.
🔧EquipmentSet the Bounty pump to continuous operation for pelleted seeds.
Finally I got the petunia garden planted! I may have to replant it, because the pelleted seeds mostly went deep into the sponges. I tried to sprinkle them in--next time I'll use a wet toothpick to pick up and place the seeds atop the sponges.I set the pump to "always on" because of the pelleted seeds. @fsullom found that pelleted seeds tend to dry out of you use the AG settings for x minutes on, x minutes off. My pelleted seeds all germinated last time with the "always on" setting.These will be transplanted to pots outdoors when they're large enough. All but one are from Harris Seeds, which doesn't put photos on the seed envelopes.Baker Creek Petunia "Lace Veil"Harris Seeds Petunia "Easy Wave Blue" "Easy Wave Velour Burgundy" "Shock Wave Coral Crush" "Easy Wave Coral" "Double Cascade Mix" "Double Cascade Burgundy" "Dreams Picotee Red" "Double Pirouette Rose"The pod covers were removed for the photos so the labels could be read.
Keep us posted. I planted pelleted seeds in my bounty and set the pump to always on and only 2 germinated. Out of 3 packs of Petunia seeds I have a total of 6 plants! 😕 I am starting to think I am a jinx with flowers. I struggled with my Lavender too. Finally read somewhere to cold stratify the seeds so maybe there is hope for the lavender.
U
Unknown
Pelleted seeds! 1. put them in a shot glass with a few drops of water. (everybody has a shot glass, don't they?). 2. swirl it around until the pellet dissolves leaving you a bunch of little tiny seeds. 3. suck up the seeds with an eye dropper and squirt them into the AG sponge. Your welcome!