On 12 Jul 2004 11:27:52 GMT, ospam (Laura in Virginia) opined:

Hi, a novice gardener here.......... Does anyone dead head their petunias? If
so, do you pull just the spent bloom? or do you take the base too? and how
often do you deadhead?

TIA

Laura

After a full flush of bloom, I cut mine back by half and give it a
fertilization. I remove the flowers, sepals, stems and all. Really cut it back
hard by half. If you only pull the flowers, the ovaries will still continue to
produce seeds and the point of deadheading is to stop that process and encourage
more blooms. Fertilizing is a very important part of cutting back any annuals.


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