On 01/08/2014 15:51, David Hill wrote:
As to pinching out the wallflowers, yes it does improve the plants. By
removing the apical shoot (or meristem), the plant diverts its growth
hormones (auxins) to create new shoots lower down, thus you get a
bushier plant with more flowers. It applies to more than just
wallflowers though. However, if you're growing show Dahlias or
Chrysanths, leave the apical shoot intact so that you get the one large
flower required for the show bench.

Now for once I don't agree with you Spider.



That's all right, David; you're too far away for me to sink my fangs in
:~). I'm sure you're quite correct about professionally grown
wallflowers and I bow to your superior knowledge there, but I can assure
you that many of the amateur grown wallflowers I've seen would
definitely benefit from being pinched out! However, the OP has happily
grown them for years without that technique and may continue to do so.



In the dim and distant past we used to grow around 5000 wallflowers to
sell for planting out in the autumn. they were treated like cabbage
plants, sown in a seed bed then pulled and planted out with a cabbage
planter so that the young plants were spaced about 9 inches in the row
and 4 rows to a bed. given this sort of space they would naturally bush
out without any stopping, I've known us having plants where we could
only get 2 into the old Orange boxes that had a wired up lid on them.
(These were plants we put into auction at the local market).
As for chrysanths and dahlias.
If you are growing these for showing you stop them once to get 3 stems
per plant then dis-bud as required. Remember that with dahlias there are
several sizes in show classes
Pom pom……………………Maximum dia. 2 inches
Miniature………………….Maximum dia. 4 inches
Small…………………………Maximum dia. 6 inches
Medium …………………….Maximum dia. 8 inches
Large………………………….Maximum dia. 10 inches
Giant………………………….Maximum dia. 12 inches

David @ a still almost dry side of Swansea Bay



As to the show bench, my experience is undoubtedly less than yours, so
I'm sure you're right. Sadly, the dahlia I pinched out earlier in the
season has definitely not produced 3 stems suitable for showing - or for
the vase, for that matter, unless it was a very weeny vase. It is a
gorgeous dahlia, however. Had I wanted to show it, I'd have had to grow
3 unstopped plants to ensure good flower size, and even then I'd have to
walk around with my fingers crossed!
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay