In gardening, what is the meaning of “deadheading” a flower?
March 27th, 2009 | by Michael |
Lola asked:
I was reading an article on container gardening that I do and read: "Feed monthly with a balanced fertilizer and Deadhead spent flowers regularly to keep it blooming." We are talking about just get rid of the old flowers? O? We sense that you have particular cut flowers to encourage more? blooms? Thank you!
JOSEPH
I was reading an article on container gardening that I do and read: "Feed monthly with a balanced fertilizer and Deadhead spent flowers regularly to keep it blooming." We are talking about just get rid of the old flowers? O? We sense that you have particular cut flowers to encourage more? blooms? Thank you!
JOSEPH
14 Responses to “In gardening, what is the meaning of “deadheading” a flower?”
By sunkissed_07 on Mar 29, 2009 | Reply
All you have to do is pinch off the dead flowers.
By Rae on Mar 29, 2009 | Reply
Just pinch off the dead blossom.
By 55yrsnholdin on Mar 29, 2009 | Reply
Regularly pinch the dead blossoms off from the plant.
By RBRN on Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
Cut or pinch off the spent or dead flower heads.
By Queen Victoria on Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
You remove the dead flower heads but try to remove them back to the stems…they usually connect to the plant in a Y formation, this helps to not have a dried stem left in a few days/weeks.
You deadhead to keep the plant from wasting energy on making seeds, thusly making later flowers smaller and less abundant.
By Rich Z on Apr 2, 2009 | Reply
After a flower has bloomed energy from the plant will continue to go into that fading flower to produce a crop of seeds. If you want more blooms you need to snip off or snap off that faded bloom so the energy will instead be available to encourage the side blooms to grow.
By whitefleur369 on Apr 4, 2009 | Reply
Yes, we are talking about getting rid of the dead flowers. But, make sure you take the entire flower, down to the base so the plant does not set seeds. I don’t use scissors, I use my thumbnail so I can feel where to pinch. Seeds are the plant’s way of telling the plant that it is done flowering and will not produce any more. That is one of my favorite gardening jobs. Very relaxing.
By doris_38133 on Apr 6, 2009 | Reply
You pinched off the dead flower head and it promotes the plant to produce more flowers.
By Tim M on Apr 8, 2009 | Reply
Yes it is getting rid of the dead flower. I pinch them off with my finger nail but you should use a pair of pruning scissors, Also to help prevent spreading an fungus you should spray or dip your pruners in a plant disinfectant . You may use water and Clorox mix , But I don’t like to . you may get the ratio of mix off the net or call your local florist. As for a particular way to cut , only the dead .
By Goldenrain on Apr 8, 2009 | Reply
You’ve got it, just “deadhead” or remove the dead flower heads. Cut off the tough ones with scissors or pruners and pinch off the delicate ones with your fingers. Removing the dead flowers will promote more blooms.
By kaneijim on Apr 9, 2009 | Reply
This is to promote new blooms, just take off the old blooms
By melly on Apr 9, 2009 | Reply
after your flowers have bloomed and then finally begin to fade, snipping the faded flower off to promote additional flowering of the plant, is what is known as “deadheading”.
By curious2 on Apr 9, 2009 | Reply
I have always just pinched or cut off the dead blossoms. Sometimes they have a lot of dieback, so I don’t cut too far down the stalk.
By Graeme H on Apr 11, 2009 | Reply
Removing the dead flower heads, so that they will not damage the healthy parts of the plant