Cascading Balcony Flowers Until Fall? This Simple Surfinia Trick Works Like Magic.

The real reason your surfinias stopped blooming and how to fix it

You already know the story. In May, you bring home a beautiful hanging basket of petunias or surfinias. It’s a gorgeous, colorful ball of flowers that falls down. For the first month or two, it’s the most beautiful plant on your balcony, with flowers that never stop coming. But when the calendar turns to August, things start to shift. The flowers stop blossoming, the stalks get longer and more “leggy,” and the whole plant starts to seem thin and worn, with blossoms only at the ends of long, stringy stems.

You’re not a lousy gardener if this has occurred to you. This drop in the middle of the season is normal, but the good news is that it can be stopped.

The most important thing is to know that your plant’s primary aim in life is to make seeds and grow. Every bloom it makes is a way to gather pollen. When a flower is pollinated and starts to fade, the plant gets a strong hormonal signal to change its focus. It moves all of its energy from the “flower factory” to the “seed factory.” As gardeners, it’s our responsibility to be the clever saboteurs of this process, always cutting off the signal and making the plant keep creating more blossoms.

From What I’ve Seen

When their gorgeous hanging basket starts to look stringy in August, every rookie gardener believes they’ve failed. It’s not your fault! The plant is only following the rules of nature. The good news is that you can quickly change that programming using two simple methods that will keep your display looking great until the first frost.

The #1 Secret: How to Deadhead Petunias the Right Way

This is the most vital and least understood part of taking care of petunias. A lot of gardeners think they are deadheading when they are really not doing anything. The trick is not only to get rid of the dead bloom; it’s to get rid of the whole seed-producing system.

Why Pulling the Petals Alone Doesn’t Work

Look closely at a petunia blossom that has lost its color. You have the wilting, brilliant petals. But there is a little, green, somewhat inflated nub at the base of those petals. The calyx is what this is. If you just pick off the dead petals, you almost always leave this green calyx behind. The plant doesn’t care about the lovely petals; it just cares about the small ovary inside the calyx that will turn into a seed pod. The plant thinks it has done its job as long as that calyx stays there. It will stop providing energy to the stem to make more flowers.

A Step-by-Step Guide to the Pinch and Snap Method

You have to take off the whole flower, even the calyx, to really deadhead. This is how:

1. Find a Faded Flower: Look for a flower that is wilted, discolored, or has lost its petals.
2. Follow the Stem: Go down approximately half an inch down the narrow stem of that one blossom until you reach the thicker main branch.
3. Pinch and Snap: At this point, use your thumbnail and forefinger to firmly pinch the thin flower stem. When the whole flower head, including the green calyx at the base, breaks off neatly, you should hear a pleasant “snap.”

This simple step completely stops the plant from making seeds, providing a shock to its system that says, “Try again! You have to try again!” The plant then has to use all of its energy to make a new flower bud.

Expert Tip

If you feel that wonderful “snap,” you know you did it perfectly. The dead flower should fall off with the small green base. It may seem slow at first, but if you get the hang of it, you can deadhead a complete hanging basket in just a few minutes as you enjoy your coffee. This daily chore is the most crucial thing you can do to have a floral show all summer long.

How to Bring a Leggy Plant Back to Life with a Mid-Season Haircut

Even if you deadhead it carefully, by the middle of summer, a surfinia’s constant growth can make it look a little worn and lanky. The second secret weapon is the mid-season haircut, which is where this comes in. It seems like a big deal, but it’s the secret to a great fall display.

When and How to Trim Your Plant to Make It Look Better

You should do this in late July or early August, or whenever you see that your plant looks thin and has long, trailing stalks with blooms only flowering at the tops.

You have to be brave. You will trim back around one-third to one-half of the plant’s length with a clean pair of scissors or pruners. Don’t just cut off the tips. Cut slightly above a set of leaves on the longest, scraggliest stems that lead back to the center of the plant. The plant will be much smaller and more compact after this.

For a week or two, it will look empty and melancholy. This is normal. You have to have faith in the process. This harsh prune makes the plant use dormant buds that are further back on the stems. In a short amount of time, you’ll observe a lot of new, bushy growth coming out of the center of the plant, not just the tips. This new growth will shoot up swiftly, making the plant fuller, healthier, and covered with a huge second wave of flowers in the fall.

I was scared I had killed my hanging baskets the first time I gave them a “haircut.” For about ten days, they looked terrible. But then new growth started to show up everywhere, and by the end of August, they were larger, bushier, and had more blossoms than they did in June. Don’t be shy; this is the secret to a great fall display.

A Simple Plan for Feeding and Watering the Flower Factory

Petunias and surfinias are like marathon runners in the realm of annuals. They grow really quickly and make a lot of stems, leaves, and, most importantly, blooms. This amazing quantity of work needs a lot of gasoline. They are “heavy feeders” and “heavy drinkers,” and specimens produced in the limited soil of a container must always have access to food and water.

A Simple Feeding Schedule: “Once a Week, Weakly”

The “Weekly, Weakly” technique is the greatest way to provide these plants the nutrients they need all the time.

1. Pick a fertilizer that is balanced and can dissolve in water. A 20-20-20 or 24-12-17 formula is a good one because the three numbers (N-P-K) are pretty even. This makes sure that the plant gets adequate nitrogen (N) for healthy green leaves, as well as phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) for strong roots and lots of blooms.
2. Mix it at half strength. If the packaging recommends to use one tablespoon for every gallon of water, only use half a tablespoon.
3. Once a week, feed with this mixture. With this strategy, you get a steady, mild flow of nutrients with every watering. This stops the boom-and-bust cycle of stronger, less frequent feedings.

How to Water Containers: Use Weight, Not Sight

Hanging pots and baskets, especially those that get a lot of sun on a hot balcony, can dry up very quickly. The “finger test” isn’t always enough because the top inch of soil can feel dry even when the root ball is still wet.

The best way to tell is to lift the pot and feel how heavy it is. A pot that has been watered well is surprisingly hefty. When the pot is dry, it will feel quite light. Water it well until you see water streaming freely from the drainage holes at the bottom when it feels light. This makes sure that the whole root ball is wet. You might need to water your hanging baskets in the morning and evening on days when it’s particularly hot and windy.

Tip from an expert

At the start of the week, I mix my fertilizer solution in a big watering can. When I water my surfinias, they get this weak fertilizer solution. It becomes a simple, straightforward operation, and the plants repay you with constant growth and an avalanche of flowers.

Fixing common problems with Surfinia

You might still have some problems, even with the finest care. This is a simple guide for diagnosis.

The Best Display on Your Balcony

A beautiful, season-long display of cascading surfinias doesn’t happen by chance or because you have a natural green thumb. It’s all about knowing what these machines that make flowers need and giving it to them all the time. You can take charge of how well your plants grow and make sure they put on a stunning show by learning a few basic but effective tactics.

Your keys to success are:

• To get more blooms, you need to deadhead them correctly. Always pinch and pull off the whole root of the flower, not just the petals.
• In August, don’t be hesitant to give a leggy plant a “mid-season haircut” to make it look better for the fall.
• Every week, give your plants a weak, balanced fertilizer solution to eat.
• Water based on how heavy the pot is, not just on a timetable, and always give it a good soak.

Questions That Are Often Asked (FAQ)

What are the differences between a Wave Petunia, a Surfinia, and a Petunia?

The plant species is called Petunia. Surfinia and Wave are well-known, trademarked brands of trailing petunias. Horticulturists have bred these brands to grow stronger, bloom more, and be better able to handle bad weather than older, more common types.

Why do the leaves of my petunias feel sticky?

This is a classic sign that you have aphids. Aphids are little bugs that suck sap and leave behind a sticky, sweet liquid called “honeydew.” Look at the soft new growth at the ends of the stems and the undersides of the leaves. A powerful blast of water from a hose can typically get them loose. Insecticidal soap works very well for problems that keep coming back.

Why are the leaves on my petunias turning yellow?

If a petunia is a heavy feeder, this nearly invariably means that it doesn’t have enough nutrients, especially nitrogen. The plant has eaten all the food in its small pot and is now famished. You need to start feeding your plants on a regular basis with a balanced, water-soluble fertilizer.

Do I have to deadhead petunias that clean themselves, like Calibrachoa (Million Bells)?

A lot of new kinds of petunias and its look-alikes, Calibrachoa, are bred to be “self-cleaning.” This means that the old, faded flowers fall off neatly on their own without getting mushy. This saves you the trouble of pinching off individual blooms every day, but all of these strong, trailing annuals will still benefit greatly from a haircut in the middle of the season. This will keep them from turning lanky and encourage new, bushy growth for the second half of the season.

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