How to Grow Petunias in Pots on a Home Balcony: What to Do When Petunia Leaves Turn Yellow

Growing flowers on a balcony is something most people enjoy doing, especially those living in cities; keeping green plants at home can beautifully improve the home environment and raise air quality. Petunias are not only attractive in appearance, they also have value in several other respects.

How to Grow Petunias in Pots on a Home Balcony

1. Care overview

In the more southern regions, petunias can be planted in all four seasons; you only need some seeds. In the north, spring sowing is the main approach, and sowing around June is also quite suitable. Sowing is very simple. The potting soil should preferably be loose, well-drained sandy soil. After watering it moist, scatter the seeds fairly evenly and do not cover them with soil, because the seeds are too small. Afterward, keep them moist and replenish water by soaking the pot from below, since a strong flow of water can easily wash the seeds away. Then provide a warm environment (above 20 degrees) and keep it moist; within a week you will see small sprouts. Begin exposing them gradually to light, and once they grow 4 true leaves you can appropriately give a dilute fertilizer (nitrogen fertilizer).

2. Later care

Transplanting can be done once the petunia has grown 4 to 6 true leaves. You can choose a pot of about 15 cm for growing it on; the diameter should not be too large, otherwise watering makes it very hard to control moisture, and waterlogging easily rots the roots and causes the cultivation to fail. After transplanting, do not shade it completely; it rather likes sunlight, so give it appropriate scattered light and slowly increase the light. Carry out transplanting at a temperature of around 20 degrees, not lower than 15 degrees, and just be careful not to let it freeze. After that, care is fairly simple: water on the principle of not watering until dry, and water thoroughly when you do. Apply dilute fertilizer frequently, choosing one high in nitrogen and potassium with suitably lower phosphorus; for nitrogen fertilizer you can choose urea, and for a compound fertilizer simply choose one with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Pinch out the growing tips once in summer to encourage branching.

What to Do When Petunia Leaves Turn Yellow

1. Soil and water

The soil and water suitable for petunia growth are mainly slightly acidic. Conversely, with slightly alkaline soil and water, the water lacks soluble iron and other elements that petunias can absorb and use, and long-term insufficient uptake will cause the leaves to turn yellow. Therefore, when planting, be careful to choose slightly acidic soil and water, and during the growing period water frequently with alum fertilizer water.

2. Humidity

Abnormally dry indoor air is also often an important reason for symptoms such as dry leaf tips or scorched leaf edges in petunias. At this point you can use methods such as misting or covering with a plastic film cover to raise the indoor air humidity.

3. Light

Too little light: if a petunia grows for a long time in a shaded environment lacking light, its branches and leaves will turn yellow, because the petunia itself likes sun and dislikes shade. (Too much light) Of course, placing the petunia in a hot spot under direct strong sunlight is also a wrong practice; this very easily causes the leaf tips and leaf edges of young leaves to scorch, or the leaves to yellow and drop. At this point it should be moved to a well-ventilated, cool place for protection.

4. Fertilizing

Too much fertilizer: excessive fertilizing will make the new leaves of the petunia overly thick and fleshy, and their surface will mostly be uneven; the old leaves will dry at the tips, scorch yellow and drop. You must stop fertilizing immediately, let the excess fertilizer leach away by increasing the amount of water changed, or immediately use the method of emptying the pot, rinsing the bulb and replanting it into the original pot.

Too little fertilizer: if a petunia lacks nitrogen fertilizer for a long time or has never had its pot or water changed, the water will lack nutrients such as nitrogen, causing the petunia's branches and leaves to grow rather weak and thin, with leaves thin and yellow. You need to gradually increase the application of dilute, well-rotted liquid fertilizer or compound flower fertilizer in the new culture water to improve it promptly.

5. Temperature

Too low a temperature: an overly low room temperature in winter increases the threat of cold damage, and petunias are easily affected by low temperatures so that their leaves turn yellow; in serious cases the plant will wither, turn yellow and die. Too high a temperature: if the indoor temperature is too high, it will strengthen the plant's transpiration, leading to a situation where the roots cannot supply water and nutrients fast enough, which will likewise make the leaves turn yellow.

The Habits of Petunias

Petunias are long-day plants. Given sufficient sunlight, it takes more than 100 days from sowing to flowering.

Petunias are not cold-tolerant and fear waterlogging; the most suitable growing temperature is 13-18°C.

In winter, the most suitable growing temperature for petunias is 4-10°C, and growth stops below 4°C.

In summer, petunias can withstand high temperatures above 35°C, and vigorous growth requires plenty of water.

During the plum rain season, avoid overly wet potting soil that causes leggy stems and leaves in petunias, or even root rot and death from prolonged waterlogging.

The Medicinal Value of Petunias

The seeds of the morning glory are also called qianniuzi, heichou and baichou, and can be used medicinally; they have quite good effects in purgation, diuresis, reducing swelling and expelling parasites, and also have quite good therapeutic effects in treating edema complicated by chronic nephritis, and facial acne and freckles.

Petunia seeds are a very good medicinal material, able to help the human body treat some diseases while also having a beautifying effect. In short, as long as you grow petunias according to normal care methods, you can get relatively good returns, so friends who are interested might consider it!