Pinching Out

[jollyroger123]

Can anyone tell me if any of the following will benefit from being pinched out. 

Also when and to do it.

Dahlia - Dwarf Border
Gazania F1 Daybreak
Livingston Daisy - Sparkles
Lobelia - Trailing
Petunia
Mimulus
Begonia
Busy Lizzie
Pansy


Thanks

[jollyroger123]

[Grandma]

Except for the gazania, I've grown all of those at some time and never pinched out any of them. But if someone else tells you something different...... :)

[Tee Gee]

Dahlia - Dwarf Border........these tend to 'break' them selves but a little help at 8"-9" tall will do no harm.

The rest tend to look after themselves, perhaps the busy lizzie can take some help.

[saddad]

Has anyone pinched out Morning Glory? I haven't sown mine yet but a neighbour has... would it stop them getting too tall before they can go out and would you get multi stemmed ones?
:-\

[Tee Gee]

would you get multi stemmed ones?

Quite probably but is that a bad thing? I would have thought not.

Are you planning for climbers or ground cover?

[saddad]

Climbers TeeGee but I was just worried that they would get too tall before the frosts have finished. Have you actually done it then?
???

[Tee Gee]

Not purposely I seem to recall I broke a tip of accidently and it gave me quite a spread.

[grawrc]

Not being a flower buff... :-[ :-[
What exactly does pinching out mean in this context?

[Mrs Ava]

Nipping out the growing tip grawc.  This makes the buds in the leaf joints grow out and creates a bushier little plantlet.

[grawrc]

Thank you  :)

[TomaC]

I'm new to the pinching out thing too, when's the best time to do it? I think I read somewhere that it's best to pinch out the first 'true' leaf/leaf number 5  ???

[Georgie]

I'm always a bit timid about pinching out but it does make a big difference if you want nice bushy plants with plenty of flowers.  As a rule of thumb I pinch things out when they have two true sets of leaves.  But no doubt a more experienced gardener will have some accurate advice.

G x

[mc55]

I was unsure about pinching out too, but my mice have taken care of that - I have a tray of sweetpeas that they nibbled in half.  They have finally started to regrow and are really bushy whereas the sweetpeas that didn't get the mouse treatment have just one tall single stem.  The difference is astounding.

[Tee Gee]

As a rule of thumb I pinch things out when they have two true sets of leaves.

I go just a bit longer than that I like to see the growth I am trying to encourage showing in the leaf axils.

I have the feeling if you pinch out too soon, i.e. after first pair of leaves, and don't see any growth you want to encourage, how do you know if you are going to get more growths at this stage?

Just an opinion!!