Damping off and fungus gnats suggest that the soil was too wet. Keep the soil drier but use a humidity dome or a plastic bag to keep humidity high during germination. I use bottom heat for germination, they seem to relish all the heat they can get, but I grow on the seedlings at 60F-65F. Keeping the soil covered until after germination should help yo keep the gnats out. Any that lay eggs after the seedlings are up will probably be too late to cause much damage to fast-growing plants like Petunias.

Just the kind of info I needed, shrubs. Thanks!

Have you heard of/tried winter sowing ?? ... I've always had a hard time with damping off when sowing petunias indoors so I winter sowed all of my petunias last year and they did wonderful! It take some time for them to bloom but the plants were incredibly healthy and had beautiful bloom right up to the first frost. In fact, any plants I winter sowed did great last year. I now only indoor sow tropicals, tomatoes, coleus, and begonias.

Check out the winter sowing forum to see how to get started.

Interesting, dkotchey. I have heard of winter sowing, and I've been meaning to try it with perennials. I just assumed, though, that half-hardy annuals and tender perennials wouldn't be appropriate for winter sowing. After seeing your post, I'm going to try it with the petunias (saving some seeds to sow indoors) and other flowers like nemesia, nicotiana and more. Thanks, I really enjoy experiments.

cranebill

cranebill, I was a bit skeptic myself last year so I waited until the end of march to winter sow them. I'm in zone 5 so I thought I should avoid negative temps outside. I had almost 100 percent germination by April 19th and planted them out by May 31st. I have to admit I'm waiting again until March for the petunias.

I also had great results with nicotiana too - I winter sowed those in February and had sprouts starting April 2nd.

I see you are a zone higher so you may have germination sooner.

Here is a picture of winter sown Lipstick Kisses petunias around the end of June: (The Grape Hyacinth bean in the pic was also winter/spring sown):

{{gwi:218251}}

Hope you don't mind me piggybacking Crane...I just don't want to bog down the msg board with ignorant questions.

Can you experts out there tell me whether it's pretty futile to attempt to grow Petunias indoors? I'm looking into growing a boatload for a mass planting, but now I'm paranoid to grow them indoors under lights. I've been growing certain seeds indoors for 3 years now, with mixed success (don't have heat mats - just shoplights on shelves). Petunias are on my mind this year and would like to pull it off but now I'm wondering if indoor sowing is a recipe for failure.

Any additional tips would be great. Thanks =)

Wow, what a pretty planting! They look wonderful. I think I'll try some this way! Thanks! ....what did you start your plants in? (type of container)
Kathy

I use a heat mat, and keep the temperature between 70-75 degrees. You can control the heat mat with a temperature control made for heat mats. Never alow your soil to get too wet. You can avoid this by using a spray bottle to water the seedlings using warm water. Once most of the seedlings are germinated, take the heating mat away, and put the seedlings under a grow light.

walktrotcanter99, Thanks for the comment! I used milk jugs for my containers. Then I planted "hunks" of seedlings in good potting soil.

wherewerewe, of course you can sow petunia indoors. I just have better luck with outdoor winter sowing them. Plus I don't have a lot of space for lights. ironside is absolutely correct about not letting the soil to get too wet. You may want to experiment winter sowing some petunia seeds. It's a great way to do a mass amount.If you want more info let me know.

dk, great pic! Love the combination. They look so healthy.

I love indoor and winter sowing. It's what gets me through winter! I sure didn't know about late winter sowing Petunias though. Thanks for the tip!

I start mine every year under lights.I sow them in a plastic container and when large enough they get pricked out into their own pots.I just sow on top of the soil pat down lightly and when I water use a spray bottle.No heat mats or plastic cover,just set under lights.

I started some indoors last year & they turned out great!
I just use those peat pellets/disks, some were started in a seed starting kit & some were in pots etc. Started in the basement with shelves & fluorescent lights.
They are easy to grow & I love petunias. They just seem like a happy flower to me.
Go for it!