To flower growers about why the leaves of the petunia turn yellow and what to do to resuscitate the plant

Petunia is a beautiful and delicate plant that adorns not only flower beds in front of office buildings, but also window sills in the homes of Russians. Florists love her for her unpretentious care and abundant flowering, which continues until the first frost.

Sometimes they encounter a serious problem: they notice that the beauty of the upper and lower leaves turned yellow, while they do not know what to do. Why is this happening, is it dangerous and how to prevent the problem - we'll figure it out together.

Growth Features

The difference between ordinary petunias from ampelous and cascading ones is that they grow more slowly. All plants first develop a central shoot, and then, with sufficient lighting, the lateral shoots. In a healthy plant, the lateral ones depart from the central one at a right angle, but do not stretch upwards. If the florist notices problems with the formation of shoots, he must first of all change the conditions of the flower. Changing them, the bush will take on a different shape.

Reference. Many gardeners pinch petunia bushes during the growth period. This practice is controversial. Pinching does not always give a positive result. In most cases, after it, the plant slows its growth and development.

They also refuse to pinch for another reason: all the petunias grown in the homes of Russians are hybrids, which always have a beautiful bush shape without the use of agricultural techniques. Only during the cultivation of ampelous varieties of petunia pinch bushes, giving an unusual shape in the form of a huge "ball".

Ampoule petunias can have long lashes if they are not allowed to bloom for 3 months. For this, they refuse to feed with special fertilizers.

Why does foliage turn yellow and dry?

In a potted plant

With the onset of cold weather, indoor plants feel uncomfortable. The reasons for feeling unwell are obvious: dry air in the room, violation of the humidity level. In summer, the sun shines brightly, and with the onset of autumn it rains more often than clear, sunny weather sets. Because of this, the flowers are sick, and gardeners find it by yellow spots on the leaves. Their edges and tips turn yellow.

Yellowed leaves are a sign of a painful response by flowers to drafts and cold air. In summer, they create a comfortable microclimate in homes with air conditioning or open windows. Airing the rooms, they remove the petunias to the side or hide them behind a cardboard from streams of cold air.

Unlike other indoor plants, petunia is pleased with direct sunlight. Yellow spots on its leaves are not a sign of burns.

The main reasons for yellowing potted petunias:

• Due to improper care and non-compliance with the irrigation regime.
• Petunia is also often the victim of pests. Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that develops due to a sharp change in humidity and temperature. First, a whitish coating appears on the leaves, but, without taking action, it soon turns into yellowish spots. You can learn more about powdery mildew on petunias here.
• Another pest is a spider mite. Although the red spider is small, but it does incredible harm to the plant. He cobwebs his leaves and stalk. They will not receive the necessary nutrients for development. In order not to have to spray petunia with tobacco tincture and wash the leaves with soapy water, they control the level of humidity in the room and do not allow overmoistening of the soil.
• Chlorosis is another cause of yellowing of leaves. This disease provokes improper watering and frequent fertilizing with high calcium fertilizers. Sometimes chlorosis develops due to the fact that the grower irrigates the petunia with hard, but not well-settled, water.

  Important! If the reason for the development of chlorosis is fertilizers with a high calcium content, reduce their concentration by top dressing with iron-containing compounds.

• Yellow leaves on petunias can be a sign of the activity of small insects called aphids. Aphids accumulate on the inside of leaves. Acting quickly, soon on the petunia there will be no healthy sites. Without special treatment, the leaves turn yellow, curl into a tube and fall off.

In a cache-pot

Petunias that grow in flower pots are more sensitive. Changing the conditions of detention leads to problems with the formation of chlorophyll in the leaves. Because of this, a dangerous disease develops - chlorosis. To prevent yellowing of the leaves because of it, when transplanting in the cache-pot, add manure, compost from oak leaves or sphagnum. If the plant has been transplanted recently, and soil acidification has not been taken care of, then until the next transplant it will be necessary to water it with acidic water. Also, plants that bloom in flower pots need iron supplements.

How to deal with the problem?

To prevent yellowing of leaves in petunias, the first thing to do is make sure that it has enough natural light. If there is not enough light, buy fluorescent lamps and use them as sources of artificial lighting.

If the upper leaves on the plant turn yellow, then it needs nutrients. In this case, increase the dosage of fertilizing or fertilize it more often than before. The main thing is not to overdo it: petunias do not bloom due to excess fertilizer.

If signs of chlorosis are detected (tops die off, weak root system), petunia is fed with Uniflor-Micro mineral fertilizer.

What is better to feed?

Iron Chelate or Ferovit fertilizers are bought at the store. To combat yellowing of the leaves, the plant is treated 3-4 times with an interval of several days and the problem disappears.

Reference. Mineral fertilizers with nitrogen are not used without measure, and the problem with soil acidity is solved by acidification of water used in irrigation.

Essential care

Petunia does not suffer from seasonal diseases if the grower irrigates it once a day, in the evening. This helps prevent the appearance of a spider mite. Abundant watering is useless if small dots appear on the leaves. So that the petunia does not disappear, they urgently refuse it for a couple of days and loosen the soil daily. When loosening the soil, the roots will receive an additional dose of oxygen. Petunias begin to be watered again when a crust has formed on the upper layer of the earth.

A flowering plant needs regular top dressing once every two weeks. Withered flowers are always removed with scissors to promote the appearance of new buds. If traces of rot are found on the roots, a fungicide is bought, but before processing, the dark part of the stem is destroyed.

Preventive measures

Petunias will never turn yellow if:

1. The grower does not use hard water for irrigation. It should water the petunia only when the topsoil has dried out. Stagnation of moisture is prevented by occasionally loosening the soil.
2. He carefully monitors the temperature regime. You can prevent the appearance of purple, and then yellow leaves on the flower, if you do not allow excessive dry air. If they did appear, spraying with ammonia will help. For this, 1 ml of ammonia is diluted in five liters of water.
3. For prevention, they feed petunia with iron-containing fertilizers.

Conclusion

So, we examined why petunia leaves turn yellow and how to deal with this phenomenon. Petunia grows well not only in flower beds. You can grow it in hanging planters and flowerpots at home on the windowsill or balcony. If you water it regularly, but in moderation, and feed it with the necessary fertilizers, the leaves will not turn yellow.

Watch the video: How to Revive Petunias : Grow Guru (November 2024).