Deadheading Plants and Stopping Chrysanthemums

Stopping and Disbudding Chrysanthemums

1. To obtain the best blooms, pinch out the main stem above the top pair of fully developed leaves in late spring or very early summer.
2. New shoots appear from leaf axils on the stem. Pinch out unwanted shoots over several days, leaving six or eight to develop.
3. In early and mid summer, remove side-shoots (which grow on the remaining side-shoots) once they are about 2.5cm (1 in) long.
4. By mid to late summer a group of flower buds forms at the top of each side-shoot. Pinch out the side buds and their shoots to produce a bigger bloom on the central crown bud.
5. The result is an evenly branched, open plant with earlier and bigger flowers. A chrysanthemum left to grow naturally produces a dense, bushy plant with many small flowers.

Stopping Garden Pinks

1. Young plants must be stopped in their first growing season once nine or ten pairs of fully grown leaves have developed.
2. Take the sixth or seventh joint from the base and bend the stem sharply. If the stem does not snap cleanly, cut it as close to the joint as possible.
3. Breaks or side-shoots now appear from each of the leaf joints. This delays flowering, but in so doing creates much stronger growth.
4. The result is a bushy, shrub-like plant with a succession of flowers. Do not stop garden pinks again in subsequent years.

Deadheading

1. Lilies produce flowers on upright spikes which open from the base upwards. Pinch off flowers when they fade to improve appearance and stop seed formation, which weakens growth.
2. With annuals such as marigolds, cut or snap off each flower, as it fades, between finger and thumb with a twisting motion — this encourages more blooms and increases plant vigour.
3. Regularly dead-head multi-flowered roses, such as the shrub roses, climbers and ramblers, by hand. Use a twisting action to maintain tidiness, unless hips are required in autumn.
4. Hybrid tea roses and floribundas should be dead-headed using secateurs. Cut just above a leaf which has an outward-facing bud in its axil, making a cut away from the bud.
5. With rhododendrons, break off the entire flowerhead once it has faded, gripping it between finger and thumb. This will help to produce the maximum number of flowers next year.
6. Perennial plants with bare flower stems, such as red-hot pokers, should be dead-headed to ground level. If the stems bear foliage, however, trim to just below the top leaves.