PETUNIAS 469 



a week or so remove the glass and place the pan on a shelf near the 

 glass, in a 50-deg. house; 53 deg. is even better. In about six weeks 

 from the time of sowing those sown in January are ready for trans- 

 planting into flats, allowing about one inch of space between the 

 plants. When they touch each other they should go into pots and 

 be kept shifted until in the pots in which they will flower. 



Mistakes often made are that the top layer of soil isn't fine 

 enough, or, with careless watering, a lot of seed goes to waste ; the seed 

 may be sown too thickly; the seedlings may be left too long in 

 the seed pans or flats; transplanted seedlings are allowed to become 

 spindly and hard wooded before they are potted up; the 2-in. stock 

 is left to become potbound and stunted before it is shifted, or the 

 plants are kept in too warm a temperature. Any of these troubles 

 can be avoided. A stunted plant will flower in the seed pan or 

 in a 2-in. pot if left there long enough; while a healthy plant will 

 make a short, stocky growth and hardly ever need pinching back. 

 It will make side shoots if given room, and not kept too warm. 



Petunias are not very particular as to light or heavy soil as 

 long as you have perfect drainage; no plant will show the effects 

 of a too wet soil quicker than a Petunia. 



PREPARING FOR SPRING TRADE 



The retail grower should always bear in mind that the bedding 

 season is liable to start any time in May and apt to extend into 

 July. For that reason, when growing Petunias from seed, it is well 

 always to make at least three sowings about four weeks apart, 

 beginning the first week in January. The first batch will be ready 

 in early May, the second toward the end of the month and the 

 last in June. Of course, there are always plants that do not grow 

 as large or as fast as the others, and as with the double sorts 

 grown from seed, we may find some of the choicest among them. 



What should be kept in mind, is to try and have different lots 

 of plants come along. For instance, you can dispose of your first 

 batch of plants in flower by May twentieth out of 4s and have a 

 nice lot of 2^s ready to be shifted into the 4s, to take the place of 

 those sold, and be ready for the market by the fifteenth of June. 



Late shifted Petunias can be had in fine shape and sold when 

 almost everything else in the bedding plant line is sold out. 



A nice lot of 4-in. Rosy Morns, if planted a little close, will 

 make a fine looking porch box the day after it is filled, with one- 

 third of the plants hanging over the sides. Often you don't need 

 Vincas or English Ivies at all since the Petunias will take their 

 place. But if you fill boxes or vases early in the season, always 

 allow plenty of room between the plants, for a crowded condition 

 at that preliminary stage of their development will soon ruin them. 



