My lower back is aching…it must be pinching season! In this post, I will explain how to pinch off your flower plants to promote growth. This week I’ve been pinching off hundreds of little flower plants to encourage them to produce many long stems.
How do you pinch off your flower plants?
So, how do you pinch off your flower plants? First, wait until the plant is 8-10 inches tall. Using clean snips, cut off the top couple inches of the plant, directly above a set of leaves. Within a week, you will see new stems growing from where you cut off the plant. It’s pretty amazing! It also causes the entire plant to branch out even more, giving you additional stems. They will also be longer stems because they will grow from the bottom of the plant, instead of along the main stem.
Yes, it’s painful to cut them off, especially if there’s a flower bud waiting to open. I promise it is worth it, though!
How do you combat pests?
We are seeing the beginnings of some pests in the garden, so keeping our plants healthy will help to combat that. We are spraying our plants every other week with a concoction of compost tea, fish emulsion, seaweed powder and Mycogrow. This helps combat pests by adding some additional nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and biology to the plants to keep them healthy and growing vigorously. We do this with a backpack sprayer and spray the plants directly. The plants absorb the nutrients through their leaves and through the soil.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week, looks like the weather is going to be beautiful!
Joan