Does anyone know of a growth retardant for hanging baskets,
particularly Petunias? Needed to stop the plant bolting
but to flower profusely.

Would appreciate a direct e-mail - please.

Harold. C.

There are chemicals. One I can think of, but which are available only to
commercial greenhouses with licensed pesticide operators on hand a

Bonsai


On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:02:06 +0200, "umvoti" opined:

Does anyone know of a growth retardant for hanging baskets,
particularly Petunias? Needed to stop the plant bolting
but to flower profusely.

Would appreciate a direct e-mail - please.

Harold. C.

"umvoti" opined:

Does anyone know of a growth retardant for hanging baskets,
particularly Petunias? Needed to stop the plant bolting
but to flower profusely...



There are several chemicals that are used to control growth: e.g.
Florel, Bonzi, B-Nine and Sumagic (I believe these are all trade names).
Florel is one of the oldest ones and it works by maintaining the plant
in a vegetative state (non-flowering) while the plant is being treated.
This encourages branching and helps to keep the internodes short for a
bushier plant. I haven't used the others, but there are different modes
of operation, particularly in the newer regulators.

However, Florel won't really control petunias once you stop treating
them so they can flower. Your best bet is to change the variety of
petunia you are growing to one with a more compact habit.

"Dwight Sipler" wrote in message
...
"umvoti" opined:

Does anyone know of a growth retardant for hanging baskets,
particularly Petunias? Needed to stop the plant bolting
but to flower profusely...



There are several chemicals that are used to control growth: e.g.
Florel, Bonzi, B-Nine and Sumagic (I believe these are all trade names).
Florel is one of the oldest ones and it works by maintaining the plant
in a vegetative state (non-flowering) while the plant is being treated.
This encourages branching and helps to keep the internodes short for a
bushier plant. I haven't used the others, but there are different modes
of operation, particularly in the newer regulators.

However, Florel won't really control petunias once you stop treating
them so they can flower. Your best bet is to change the variety of
petunia you are growing to one with a more compact habit.

Can't you just pinch out the tops when young to cause branching and then use a
low nitrogen flowering fertilizer? I have the old fashion self seeding kind
in my yard and that works on them.

I pinch the tops out at least 2 or 3 times to get multiple stalks from each
plant before letting them go and don't use over a 4% nitrogen fertilizer about
once a month. I have solid masses of lavender & white flowers. This variety
still gets close to 24 inches, but that's over the whole growing season.

Tom J

"umvoti" opined:

Does anyone know of a growth retardant for hanging baskets,
particularly Petunias? Needed to stop the plant bolting
but to flower profusely...



There are several chemicals that are used to control growth: e.g.
Florel, Bonzi, B-Nine and Sumagic (I believe these are all trade names).
Florel is one of the oldest ones and it works by maintaining the plant
in a vegetative state (non-flowering) while the plant is being treated.
This encourages branching and helps to keep the internodes short for a
bushier plant. I haven't used the others, but there are different modes
of operation, particularly in the newer regulators.

However, Florel won't really control petunias once you stop treating
them so they can flower. Your best bet is to change the variety of
petunia you are growing to one with a more compact habit.

"Dwight Sipler" wrote in message
...
"umvoti" opined:

Does anyone know of a growth retardant for hanging baskets,
particularly Petunias? Needed to stop the plant bolting
but to flower profusely...



There are several chemicals that are used to control growth: e.g.
Florel, Bonzi, B-Nine and Sumagic (I believe these are all trade names).
Florel is one of the oldest ones and it works by maintaining the plant
in a vegetative state (non-flowering) while the plant is being treated.
This encourages branching and helps to keep the internodes short for a
bushier plant. I haven't used the others, but there are different modes
of operation, particularly in the newer regulators.

However, Florel won't really control petunias once you stop treating
them so they can flower. Your best bet is to change the variety of
petunia you are growing to one with a more compact habit.

Can't you just pinch out the tops when young to cause branching and then use a
low nitrogen flowering fertilizer? I have the old fashion self seeding kind
in my yard and that works on them.

I pinch the tops out at least 2 or 3 times to get multiple stalks from each
plant before letting them go and don't use over a 4% nitrogen fertilizer about
once a month. I have solid masses of lavender & white flowers. This variety
still gets close to 24 inches, but that's over the whole growing season.

Tom J

Tom J wrote:

...Can't you just pinch out the tops when young to cause branching and then use a
low nitrogen flowering fertilizer? I have the old fashion self seeding kind
in my yard and that works on them.

I pinch the tops out at least 2 or 3 times to get multiple stalks from each
plant before letting them go and don't use over a 4% nitrogen fertilizer about
once a month. I have solid masses of lavender & white flowers. This variety
still gets close to 24 inches, but that's over the whole growing season...




That works fine for a few plants, but when you have a greenhouse full
the hand pinching is labor intensive and adds significantly to the
production cost. That's why the chemicals were developed and are widely
used.

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:02:06 +0200, umvoti wrote:

Does anyone know of a growth retardant for hanging baskets, particularly
Petunias? Needed to stop the plant bolting but to flower profusely.

Would appreciate a direct e-mail - please.

Harold. C.

Can you pinch back the plant? Wouldn't this make it bushier and perhaps
flower more?

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:21:53 -0500, Dwight Sipler wrote:

Tom J wrote:

...Can't you just pinch out the tops when young to cause branching and
then use a
low nitrogen flowering fertilizer? I have the old fashion self seeding
kind in my yard and that works on them.

I pinch the tops out at least 2 or 3 times to get multiple stalks from
each plant before letting them go and don't use over a 4% nitrogen
fertilizer about once a month. I have solid masses of lavender & white
flowers. This variety still gets close to 24 inches, but that's over the
whole growing season...




That works fine for a few plants, but when you have a greenhouse full the
hand pinching is labor intensive and adds significantly to the production
cost. That's why the chemicals were developed and are widely used.


Are you sure the original poster is talking about a greenhouse full or
just a few planters? I got the impression he only wanted to control a
planter or two.

C wrote:

...Are you sure the original poster is talking about a greenhouse full or
just a few planters? I got the impression he only wanted to control a
planter or two.


I saw no information in the original post regarding quantity. It could
be either way. The original post asked specifically about a growth
retardant. I was actually responding to a later post suggesting Bonzi.

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:53:10 -0500, Dwight Sipler wrote:

C wrote:

...Are you sure the original poster is talking about a greenhouse full or
just a few planters? I got the impression he only wanted to control a
planter or two.


I saw no information in the original post regarding quantity. It could be
either way. The original post asked specifically about a growth retardant.
I was actually responding to a later post suggesting Bonzi.

No problem. Just wondering.

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:21:53 -0500, Dwight Sipler
opined:

Tom J wrote:

...Can't you just pinch out the tops when young to cause branching and then use a
low nitrogen flowering fertilizer? I have the old fashion self seeding kind
in my yard and that works on them.

I pinch the tops out at least 2 or 3 times to get multiple stalks from each
plant before letting them go and don't use over a 4% nitrogen fertilizer about
once a month. I have solid masses of lavender & white flowers. This variety
still gets close to 24 inches, but that's over the whole growing season...




That works fine for a few plants, but when you have a greenhouse full
the hand pinching is labor intensive and adds significantly to the
production cost. That's why the chemicals were developed and are widely
used.

Not always. I worked in a greenhouse operation which had millions of square
feet under glass. We propagated millions and millions of mums each year and we
hand pinched them all. King buds had to come out and no chemical growth
retardant could do that.

"animaux" wrote in message
...


That works fine for a few plants, but when you have a greenhouse full
the hand pinching is labor intensive and adds significantly to the
production cost. That's why the chemicals were developed and are widely
used.

Not always. I worked in a greenhouse operation which had millions of
square
feet under glass. We propagated millions and millions of mums each year
and we
hand pinched them all. King buds had to come out and no chemical growth
retardant could do that.

As an added thought, petunias are extremely easy to start from tip cuttings.
When the old plant begins looking ratty, I take cuttings and throw away the
old plant when the cuttings root.

John

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 23:14:32 -0600, "B & J" bjskeff@removecox-internetcom
opined:


As an added thought, petunias are extremely easy to start from tip cuttings.
When the old plant begins looking ratty, I take cuttings and throw away the
old plant when the cuttings root.

John


You would have the same results if you just cut the petunia back. I did
something this year I never did before. The reason was wanting to see how this
new variety of petunia would do in a greenhouse setting over winter. They are
"Wave" petunias, but their millionbells type and white with dark vein throats.
Well, they are looking better than anything. I cut them back, almost to the nub
and they are setting up buds now.

I am also trying this with tomatoes. All winter I've been eating 'Roma,'
'Brandywine,' and 'Sweet Million.' I have cut the plants way back and I will
plant them after danger of frost has passed. I will be interested to see what
happens. They are all putting up beautiful new growth.

Victoria-off on a tangent, but it's early and my mind is wandering.

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:02:06 +0200, "umvoti"
wrote:

Does anyone know of a growth retardant for hanging baskets,
particularly Petunias? Needed to stop the plant bolting
but to flower profusely.

Look up pruning and pinching back. Or artificial flowers.

Would appreciate a direct e-mail - please.

Newsgroups are for the information of all participants, not just
specialized advice for a single person/question.