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At what point do you pinch the tips of seedlings

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  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    edited February 2023
    Many thanks @Fairygirl and @Songbird-2
    I was in the greenhouse looking for plants that I could pinch as @puncdoc said, but which one?  Is Catmint one of those? Or Marigolds, Cleome, Aster?
    Otherwise, I have mostly wildflowers and I can’t imagine that something like Yarrow, Knapweed, Echinops, Ox-eye daisies, sunflowers can be pinched out.
    Your Cosmos look similar to the neighbour’s bed @Songbird-2. I’m sure her plants were not pinched. 

    I my garden.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited February 2023
    As I said, I pinch out my cosmos … they still grow 3 or 4 ft or even more tall.
    There are some shorter varieties but I like the taller ones for this garden. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I don’t think pinching out affects the height they grow to, you just get more branching, and therefore more flowers.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • Songbird-2Songbird-2 Posts: 2,349
    edited February 2023
    I have read, as well as seen on the TV,( many times)  it being advised to pinch put cosmos to get a fuller plant. We much prefer the slightly taller, slimmer cosmos( and you can get more in the ground😊)  Therefore, , as always, it comes down to choice and trying out advice from others to get a desired effect.
  • Thank you so much for your tips!  I live in the Southeastern US (near Atlanta), where we have very hot summers.  Cosmos grows abundantly down the medians of some of the highways in Georgia.  I've not had a lot of success with sweet peas myself, but it's probably myself to blame! LOL
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It's more likely to be the heat @lynn.monachese rather than anything you might be doing wrong with the sweet peas. They struggle with that if it's very prolonged.   :)
    You could try some in a large pot in a shady spot so that the heat isn't such a problem. I grow many like that. We don't have anything like the heat other parts of the UK get, but last summer we had temps in the 30s [centigrade] and that wasn't in direct sun, as that isn't how temps are recorded. One pot struggled for quite a while.   
    Ideally they should take a couple of weeks to germinate, so that the plants don't shoot up too quickly and get leggy. You could  sow some now if it's not too hot/cold. Then you can have them outside depending on your conditions.
    As a general guide, mine get sown during March [ inside] then go outdoors around early May when they're a few inches high. My indoor temps where I have them [kitchen] is around 14 just now unless there's sun coming in, but there's good light, which is also needed.  Temps when I sow in March would be too low outside [high single figs or low double if we're lucky]  but if you have temps of around mid teens fairly consistently [centigrade] and not dropping severely overnight, you can sow outdoors.
    You'd just have to put them where they aren't exposed to extremes of heat/cold/wet,  so work around your climate.     :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • You folks are awesome!  Thank you!
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