Hi Chris
I think you are referring to a coco mat basket as the stuff that looks like hay? It’s best to plant petunia in good well-drained potting soil mix for container plants. Do not use garden soil, it will compact during the growing season and your petunia will not grow well. I find that the coco baskets dry out faster and require watering more often, that’s why I would prefer to use a plastic basket.

Any information you can possibly give me would be greatly appreciated, on keeping them alive through the Winter and the Spring, do I need to fertilize, shall I cut them back, if so how far?
Please help me save these guys, they were SO beautiful over the summer.
Thank You SO Much!
Sharon

Hi Robin
Petunias seem to look pretty sad this time in the season. They are such vigorous growers and can fill up a container full of roots in no time which will require them to be watered more often. They are also heavy feeders and need to be fed more often when vigorously growing. My local nursery feeds them 2-3 times a week with an all purpose fertilizer (10-10-10 or 20-20-20) or every other day. You can also trim back the plant to a node. It should respond with new growth within a week.

HI Bill
Are the flying buds white? Do they “swarm” when disturbed? If so, you could have white fly on your plants. Click here for white fly info. If the small flies are grayish, then you may have fungus gnats .

Hi Candice
A well balanced 10-10-10 should work. For continued bloom try a bloom boost fertilizer (one with a higher middle #).

What kind of a basket do you have? Do you fertilize? Sometimes trimming them back will also give them a new lease on life.

Hi Jennifer
Doesn’t matter-when the flower is wilted will keep you ahead of the game. Some petunias(wave) don’t need to be deadheaded. The flowers just fall of by themselves. Best not to deadhead when the plant is wet as that can spread disease.

Try a lobelia basket or Torenia, they tolerate shaded conditions.

Hi Valerie
It’s a debate on re using potting soil. Most sources say: Potting soil is good for 1 year at best 2 and then it should not be re-used in containers. Soil is not just to hold up plants but also to feed them. When plants are grown in containers much of the nutrients are washed out from watering, so obviously old soil will provide less nutrition to the plant. It also depends on what kind of soil you used. Some of the soilless mixes have little nutritional value other than the fertilizer added. What I do is mix some of the old soil with new soil about 1/2 to 1/2 or 1/3 to 2/3, you can also add some compost to your mix to enrich the soil and a time release fertilizer. I do this for large containers, for smaller pots, I start with mostly fresh soil. You want the soil to be fluffy and loose for good drainage and root growth. If you don’t want to mess around, dump the old soil into your garden or flower bed and start with fresh soil. By the end of a growing season a hanging basket can be full of roots and little soil left to re-use.
The old soil can retain some of the diseases & pests from last year but there’s no telling if yours has. Some people will try to sterilize(by heat) the soil to get rid of the pathogens.
I wash the baskets with soapy water and re-use them. We’re all about recycling.
I think we should make this a post(article) and see what other people are doing with their old soil.