Ride the (F2) Wave


Close up of Pink Wave flower
produce a very nice color, here is a chance to share it with neighbors and friends.

Harvesting Seeds
The first step in growing your own F2 Wave Petunias from seed is to harvest the seeds from the original (F1) Wave Petunia plants. Enjoy the flowers through summer, and in autumn chances are that your petunias will start to set seeds. You can wait until first frost has killed your favorite planter or hanging basket before bringing the plants indoors. We did this the day after Christmas; just to show that you really do not need to be in a hurry.

Next, cut off all the long dried arms of the plant. At intervals though out these arms are small branches that used to hold the flowers and at the ends of these branches you fill find small dry brown swollen pods - seed pods. Go head and cut these small branches off for now and put them aside.

We have 7 plants in the hanging basket pictured and it took several hours to cut each and every seed pod away from the plants. Tedious work, but what won't you do to save money?

Now it is time to find and save the seeds themselves. The seeds are small black spheres (similar to poppy seeds you get on top of bread). I prefer to break the branch off from the pod and then roll the pod between the fingers until the loose trash is removed. With the seed pod clean, you can gently use the nails of your thumb and forefinger to break it open.

Not all seed pods have viable seeds, some are empty. Most will have between 2 - 5 small black round seeds which must be gently put aside in a bowl. After another few hours of tedious work you should have more seeds than you ever care to grow. Our hanging basket produced 603 seeds from the 7 plants.

Storing and planting the seeds
Seeds are best stored in the refrigerator for optimum shelf life. Seeds must be stored dry and cool to have highest germination. It is not crucial as you will probably harvest many more seeds then you plan on using, so even an envelope on a shelf will do for the winter. We did this and experienced germination percentage around 60%.

In early spring, surface sow the seeds on moist growing medium about 3-4 months before you planting out date.

The copyright of the article Ride the (F2) Wave in Seeds & Plants is owned by Kenneth Joergensen. Permission to republish Ride the (F2) Wave in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic