I've been given a hanging basket of beautiful wave petunias and have a
question. The flower stems have grown way below the basket (say at least a
foot or more) but the center of the basket has few flowers and much larger
leaves.

Should I pinch the flower stems back - and how much would be wise? TIA

Dora

doG, I hate petunias. Pretty as they may be en masse, I still hate them
with a passion.

Why?

Because they simply must be pinched. Let the seed pods form and you are
out of blossoms, simple as that.

Get right up close and personal with your hanging basket and see where the
seed pods have formed in the leaf axils from past flowers. Take them all
off. Yes this means going over the whole thing and pinching every single
seed pod off every single stem. If ts a 10 or 14 inch pot, that will take
you a while.

Once you've finished that, get ready to be Freddy Scissor-Hands , you will
cut off at least 6 inches of every stem. Feed it heavily, by Mid July it
will look good again.

Is there a short-cut? Yes. Take the basket down and ruthlessly shear
everything back to the basket rim. Feed it heavily and by Mid July it will
look good again.

When it looks good again, be vigilant about pinching spent blossoms,
routinely groom the plant snipping off the growing points encourage
branching


By mid august you'll have to do the whole thing over again, and at that
point you'll be forgiven in my notes for dumping the entire basket on your
compost heap.


I'm sure your gift was a sincere thought from someone who cares very much
about you, and I'm sure the florist delivered a spectacular hanging basket
that delighted you with bloom and POW, but petunias just need A LOT of help
to stay POW, and that brings me back to doG I hate petunias

Sue
Western Maine










"limey" wrote in message
...
I've been given a hanging basket of beautiful wave petunias and have a
question. The flower stems have grown way below the basket (say at least
a
foot or more) but the center of the basket has few flowers and much larger
leaves.

Should I pinch the flower stems back - and how much would be wise? TIA

Dora

"Sue in Western Maine" wrote in message doG, I hate petunias. Pretty as
they may be en masse, I still hate them
with a passion.

Why?

Because they simply must be pinched. Let the seed pods form and you are
out of blossoms, simple as that.

Get right up close and personal with your hanging basket and see where
the
seed pods have formed in the leaf axils from past flowers. Take them all
off. Yes this means going over the whole thing and pinching every single
seed pod off every single stem. If ts a 10 or 14 inch pot, that will take
you a while.

Once you've finished that, get ready to be Freddy Scissor-Hands , you
will
cut off at least 6 inches of every stem. Feed it heavily, by Mid July it
will look good again.

Is there a short-cut? Yes. Take the basket down and ruthlessly shear
everything back to the basket rim. Feed it heavily and by Mid July it
will
look good again.

When it looks good again, be vigilant about pinching spent blossoms,
routinely groom the plant snipping off the growing points encourage
branching


By mid august you'll have to do the whole thing over again, and at that
point you'll be forgiven in my notes for dumping the entire basket on your
compost heap.


I'm sure your gift was a sincere thought from someone who cares very much
about you, and I'm sure the florist delivered a spectacular hanging basket
that delighted you with bloom and POW, but petunias just need A LOT of
help
to stay POW, and that brings me back to doG I hate petunias

Sue
Western Maine

You're right - a Mother's Day gift from my son. It's gorgeous and I feel
honor-bound to toil away on this for his sake. It takes me a while to pull
off all the faded flowers each day so I'll set a week aside and tackle the
seed pods! Right now, I'm itching to use the scissors. Boy, Sue, what a
lot of maintenance; I see what you mean. Thanks for all the information,
though - I really appreciate it.

Dora