I am a city dweller with very little room for a garden. I did put petunia's
in the window boxes. My question is do I just pull out the wilted flower or
do I pinch the plant below the flower stem?

On Fri, 16 May 2003 00:40:30 GMT, "news.verizon.net"
wrote:

I am a city dweller with very little room for a garden. I did put petunia's
in the window boxes. My question is do I just pull out the wilted flower or
do I pinch the plant below the flower stem?


If you have Wave (TM) petunias, they are self cleaning. If you don't have those
you can deadhead and remove part of the stem back to a node. After you do that,
fertilize. If in a container, you can use Osmocote which is a synthetic
fertilizer, but slow release in a prill. I find it okay to use in containers
and every time you water a bit of fertilizer is released.

Deadheading hasn't been the same since Jerry Garcia died.

That is one gardening task tailor made for people with too much time on
their hands with nothing better to do! Its micromanagement at its obsessive
best!!

The faded flowers of Petunia just fade away without any help. The reason for
deadheading is to remove the developing fruit after the flower fades so that
it doesn't take any energy away from the flowers that follow. What you want
to do is cut the flower stalk just below the ovary not the whole stem. The
terminal stems produce more flowers.


news.verizon.net wrote in message
...
I am a city dweller with very little room for a garden. I did put
petunia's
in the window boxes. My question is do I just pull out the wilted flower
or
do I pinch the plant below the flower stem?

Deadheading hasn't been the same since Jerry Garcia died.

That is one gardening task tailor made for people with too much time on
their hands with nothing better to do! Its micromanagement at its obsessive
best!!

GUILTY!! But I don't have too much time on my hands, I need more time for my
hobby.I have many flower & veggie gardens and lots of pots and hanging baskets.
And in the winter I have my 34 indoor house plants.
I've tried staying away from the Petunia hanging baskets because I don't
think they look good unless you keep them cleaned up (deadheaded).
Just my 2 cents.
Sue in Mi. (zone 5)

While you might be right about what you say, I don't necessarily agree. I
deadhead because if and when I do, I get another bloom cycle out of many of my
long blooming perennials. I pinch annuals to encourage bloom cycle.


On Fri, 16 May 2003 02:30:01 GMT, "Cereoid-UR12" wrote:

Deadheading hasn't been the same since Jerry Garcia died.

That is one gardening task tailor made for people with too much time on
their hands with nothing better to do! Its micromanagement at its obsessive
best!!

The faded flowers of Petunia just fade away without any help. The reason for
deadheading is to remove the developing fruit after the flower fades so that
it doesn't take any energy away from the flowers that follow. What you want
to do is cut the flower stalk just below the ovary not the whole stem. The
terminal stems produce more flowers.


news.verizon.net wrote in message
.. .
I am a city dweller with very little room for a garden. I did put
petunia's
in the window boxes. My question is do I just pull out the wilted flower
or
do I pinch the plant below the flower stem?

Deadheading hasn't been the same since Jerry Garcia died.

That is one gardening task tailor made for people with too much time on
their hands with nothing better to do! Its micromanagement at its obsessive
best!!

I disagree it takes micromanaging. What it takes is a tiny bit of
knowledge. Some flowers rebloom whether or not you deadhead; some won't
rebloom even if you deadhead; a very few will actually be slowed down in
their blooming if you deadhead (those which bloom multiple times on the
same stems in particular). Often all one is trying to do is keep them from
going to seed, either to limit their spread or induce rebloom, since many
things stop blooming after fulfilling their destiny to cast seeds. So
basically what it takes is a tiny bit of knowledge as to which ones are
worth the bother & will provide the greatest reward for the time spent;
that often turns out to be only a few plants, & even those might get "de
facto deadheading" for other purposes anyway, such as:

If one has multiple uses for the garden, taking blooms for bouquets for
for drying or for dry flower arrangement or tea has the same effect as
deadheading.

Not wanting a completely trashy-looking garden with lots of dead stuff
poking out of it has the same effect as deadheading.

Some perennials require different types of pruning & in many cases this is
in the first post-bloom moment, so deadheading occurs as a natural
side-benefit of actually taking care of that plant.

There are occasionally plants so heavy with bloom it would take too long &
really has to be skipped for time consideration even if it means a shorter
bloom time. In most cases though, a snip here, a snip there, it's done, &
the plant is healthier, more beautiful, & reblooms for having taken a
half-second to care for it. To call that micromanaging is rather like
saying it is micromanaging to bother to weed, which takes infinately more
time & patience, or to bother to mow, which is the only thing I personally
find hateful to do, being no great lawn fan, or to mulch tender things or
to bother with getting rid of aphids or even to bother to water, a lost
cause since you only have to water again.

The Garcia line was good though.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

On Fri, 16 May 2003 02:30:01 GMT, "Cereoid-UR12" wrote:

Deadheading hasn't been the same since Jerry Garcia died.

That is one gardening task tailor made for people with too much time on
their hands with nothing better to do! Its micromanagement at its obsessive
best!!

The faded flowers of Petunia just fade away without any help. The reason for
deadheading is to remove the developing fruit after the flower fades so that
it doesn't take any energy away from the flowers that follow. What you want
to do is cut the flower stalk just below the ovary not the whole stem. The
terminal stems produce more flowers.

. ..
I am a city dweller with very little room for a garden. I did put
petunia's
in the window boxes. My question is do I just pull out the wilted flower
or
do I pinch the plant below the flower stem?

Most Petunias can stand/benefit from relatively frequent pruning
during the growing season. One reference recommends pruning back by
20% each month to keep the plants both neat and blooming. I agree with
Cereoid that "deadheading" individual blossoms on such a
prolifically-blooming plant is a little obsessive-compulsive, but an
occasional quick haircut with a trimming tool will keep the blooms
coming. Many flowering plants will, if given the chance, expend a
great deal of their energy into producing seeds if blossoms are left
in place. If you remove the blooms, they will make more leaves and
flowers. Vast over-generalization, but removing spent blooms, one way
or another, usually makes a plant do more of what *you* want it to.

paghat thoughtfully penned:
Deadheading hasn't been the same since Jerry Garcia died.

That is one gardening task tailor made for people with too much
time on their hands with nothing better to do! Its micromanagement
at its obsessive best!!

I disagree it takes micromanaging. What it takes is a tiny bit of
knowledge.


there's a book that covers this task very well in the "non-micromanaging"
philosophy, "The Well Tended Perennial Garden". The author is a big fan of
shears and or a weedwacker for the job if needed. Plus, she makes Deadhead
jokes too.

Penny S

As if writing major theses as replies to simple questions isn't obsessive!!!

The worst part about deadheading is you got to smoke all the pods afterward.
It takes a long time drying them out, removing the seeds, grinding them up
and rolling them up into doobies.
Never done it and never will.

paghat wrote in message
news
Deadheading hasn't been the same since Jerry Garcia died.

That is one gardening task tailor made for people with too much time on
their hands with nothing better to do! Its micromanagement at its
obsessive
best!!

I disagree it takes micromanaging. What it takes is a tiny bit of
knowledge. Some flowers rebloom whether or not you deadhead; some won't
rebloom even if you deadhead; a very few will actually be slowed down in
their blooming if you deadhead (those which bloom multiple times on the
same stems in particular). Often all one is trying to do is keep them from
going to seed, either to limit their spread or induce rebloom, since many
things stop blooming after fulfilling their destiny to cast seeds. So
basically what it takes is a tiny bit of knowledge as to which ones are
worth the bother & will provide the greatest reward for the time spent;
that often turns out to be only a few plants, & even those might get "de
facto deadheading" for other purposes anyway, such as:

If one has multiple uses for the garden, taking blooms for bouquets for
for drying or for dry flower arrangement or tea has the same effect as
deadheading.

Not wanting a completely trashy-looking garden with lots of dead stuff
poking out of it has the same effect as deadheading.

Some perennials require different types of pruning & in many cases this is
in the first post-bloom moment, so deadheading occurs as a natural
side-benefit of actually taking care of that plant.

There are occasionally plants so heavy with bloom it would take too long &
really has to be skipped for time consideration even if it means a shorter
bloom time. In most cases though, a snip here, a snip there, it's done, &
the plant is healthier, more beautiful, & reblooms for having taken a
half-second to care for it. To call that micromanaging is rather like
saying it is micromanaging to bother to weed, which takes infinately more
time & patience, or to bother to mow, which is the only thing I personally
find hateful to do, being no great lawn fan, or to mulch tender things or
to bother with getting rid of aphids or even to bother to water, a lost
cause since you only have to water again.

The Garcia line was good though.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

On Sat, 17 May 2003 09:05:28 -0700,
(paghat) wrote:
a very few will actually be slowed down in
their blooming if you deadhead (those which bloom multiple times on the
same stems in particular).

Ex? I'm curious. I kind of figure most things that *may* re-bloom are
encouraged to do so when pruned or harvested, and most that *don't*,
like glads and daffodils, are better off deadheaded just to keep
energy from going into seed production. But I'm unaware of anything
that really pouts when spent blooms are removed.

In article ,
(Frogleg) wrote:

On Sat, 17 May 2003 09:05:28 -0700,
(paghat) wrote:
a very few will actually be slowed down in
their blooming if you deadhead (those which bloom multiple times on the
same stems in particular).

Ex? I'm curious. I kind of figure most things that *may* re-bloom are
encouraged to do so when pruned or harvested, and most that *don't*,
like glads and daffodils, are better off deadheaded just to keep
energy from going into seed production. But I'm unaware of anything
that really pouts when spent blooms are removed.

Many types of campanulas bloom all along the stems & even if no buds are
visible, more are apt to develop. When someone lops off a stem because the
first blooms are no longer attractive, there's ten, fifteen additional
blooms that will never be. Also many semi-evergreen campanula & penstemon
cultivars, by picking out the sex organs before they seed, but not cutting
the stems, it is possible to get them to rebloom (here in Zone 8) all the
way to January or even March. Even if many of the leaves get scruffy or
partially die back, a saved stem will still stand there blooming.
Encouraging this behavior "tires" the clump however & it is slow to
recover in spring, as I discovered by experimenting; so in the future I'll
take back the stems in late autumn & so have them reblooming "only" up to
the start of winter, then let them rest or work on their roots only.

I've had other sorts of things get annoyed with being deadheaded -- two
clumps of sterile tickseed flowers, their conditions otherwise identical
planted side by side, the one which I experimentally deadheaded stopped
blooming in summer, the one I never touched bloomed well into autumn.
(Some types of sterile flowers attempt to hold out until they are
pollinated & produce seed, which never happens; with the tickseed it
looked like interupting their persistent reblooming stopped it from
blooming at all, though there were only the two clumps to judge by so
could've been a fluke.)

-paghat

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/