Petunia Problem Thin Growth

by mia
(phila, pa)

Hi, thank you so much for your generous and informative information!! I love gardening but am relatively new to it.

I love container pots on my front steps, very cottage-y looking, but I don't know what's going wrong with my plants....... When I lived in another house w/ shade on my steps, my impatiens did soooo well! Now that I've moved and my steps are full sun, nothing seems to be happy there. I planted petunias and blue buttons (I think that's what they're called). And both are just not happy. The petunias are just leggy and not full at all, regardless of snipping them back a few times. And the blue buttons are horrid! the leaves are sooo brown and the buttons turned brown and did not produce any further ones! I'm sooo disappointed in my containers this. Is it b/c there's too much sun there? I just started to feed them hoping that would help. I also religiously water them every morning (they need it daily). I thought petunias were easy to grow but mine are just leggy and thin.......??? thank you so much!!

Doug says that if you've probably already identified the problem. Feeding. Thin growth is usually either lack of sunlight, lack of feed or poor soil. You've got the sunlight. I don't know about your soil (assume a good peat-based artificial soil) but if you don't feed a petunia you get exactly what you're describing. Thin poor growth. They *need* to be fed at least weekly because as you water from the top, you're driving all the available food out the bottom. A week of not being fed, watered daily, and there's no food in there for them at all. So at least weekly will keep them growing. Two times a week at half strength and they'll be in bloom heaven.