Anyone know how to take care of petunias? I am lost.

[kristine_elen]

We planted some petunias in our flower boxes and we have a pot with petunias in them. The flower box variety are "Wave" and require no dead-heading, which I believe means you don't have to remove the dead flowers.

The potted ones are not the Wave variety and are looking pretty ragged and droopy. I've tried to research what to do, but I'm not understanding the terminology. What does "pinching" mean? Should I be cutting off flowers that look OK? Will new ones grow back? Or should I only remove ones that look all shriveled?

Just another category of things I never learned.

Thanks for any help!

ETA: They get a lot of sun and water. ... There are droopy stems with normal-looking flowers on them. Should I pinch those off, too? Not sure what would be left after that. On the flower boxes, do I just let them keep growing and growing if there are no deadheads, or am I supposed to cut them back even if they seem healthy?

[deenass]

You should be sure to water boxes and pots daily, they dry out very quickly.

Petunias require full sun as well so if they are in a shady location they won't do as well.

[amp]

Yes, the ones that require pinching you just literally pinch them back by using your fingers to pinch off at least the dead bloom, and sometimes some of the stem, if it's too leggy. If you let them grow too long, they get pretty unsightly, whereas, when you are deadheading, if you pinch back further along the stem, you'll get a fuller plant with new blooms (may take a little while). Just pinch it together between your fingers/nails.

[Sarah1]

They do need a LOT of sun. We have them on our roof deck so they get full sun all day long, and they thrive. If they are not in a sunny spot, that could be one of your problems!

I just pinch off the old brown ones.

[lovin2shop]

We live in an area that gets very hot early in the season. Thus, our petunias get very leggy and dry by this time. So, I literally cut them all the way back to the dirt. In a week or two, they grow back to the full, pretty, green plants with lots of flowers. The first time I did this, I thought for sure that they would never come back, but it works like a charm.

[cinrein]

I've read to cut them back by 1/3. By cutting or pinching them back you will encourage new branches that will bear new flowers.

It also helps to pinch off the spent blooms before the little "pod" left behind goes to seed. You'll know this happened if you see a little dried up pod and a bunch of tiny black sticky seeds around it.

Cindy and Anna February 2003