Annual flowers need deadheading to create more blooms
Q. I read your words about taking care of a “sad” geranium but have a question of my own. I’m a novice at all this, and when I planted my pots several weeks ago, everything was in full bloom and I was happy with all the color I had in my patio! Now most my choices are finished with their blooms, and I don’t know how to encourage more. Help! —N.G., Albuquerque
A. Since you’re new at “all this,” welcome to the wonderful world of deadheading. W.B. reminded me that I hadn’t gotten that far with my offerings of help to get the sad geraniums back into the pink. I was concentrating on getting the plant healthy first. What you need to do is convince your plants that they aren’t done yet and get them to want to create more blooms.
You’ll need a sharp, clean pair of scissors or a stout thumbnail for this process. First, make sure your plants are well watered. You don’t want to deadhead a droopy or sagging plant, because it could cause damage to the plants. For the geraniums, you’ll want to snip out the whole skinny stem that supports the bloom cluster. Follow it down into the mother plant, and as closely as possible, without snipping into a big stem, cut it out cleanly.
As you get experienced with the deadhead process, you can actually snap the spent bloom cluster off the mother plant. Applying pressure in the opposite direction, away from the mother plant, you can get that whole bloom stalk to pop off. You can feel and sometimes actually hear the “pop” as the bloom stalk comes away from the main stem.
The plant will set a new series of blooms within weeks as long as you keep on tending your pots. If you have lots of petunias or million bells in your pots, they’ll do better with a deadheading, too. Most annual flowering plants will be more apt to create new blooms if the old are removed. Most important, remember to remove the green “seat” that holds the bloom. If it’s not removed and you pluck off just the spent flower, the plant will waste energy keeping the seat alive and not making new blooms.
That’s where your trusty thumbnail comes into play. Grasp the spent bloom stem-let (that’s what I call them) and pinch them off the mother plant completely. That’s why a well-watered plant is important. The stem-let is easier to pinch off if the stem-let is firm. Plants such as snapdragons and cockscomb will do best if you snip off the whole finished bloom stalk. But whatever blooming annual you have planted in your pots, getting out there every few days or weekly at least and removing any spent blooms, stem-lets and all, your pots will reward you with a new and continuing series of blooms.
Q. I have always grown pots of pansies and petunias on my shady patio and usually have good success. Then came the gnats! I had no idea that in mass
they’ll eat away at plant roots and cause so much damage so fast! How can I get rid of these maddening little plant destroyers? — M.C. Albuquerque
A. First, it’s not the adult gnat doing the damage. It is the wee young, living in the soil, that are doing most of the damage to your plants. If there’s enough of them, yes, they can do quite a bit of damage to your plants. I’m going to suggest you invest in a ready-to-use houseplant spray pesticide. The Safer Brand is a good one. You can find it in most garden centers and nurseries. Just before the next watering time, spray the soil with the pesticide really well so it gets very wet from the spray. Not the plants, spray the soil. Then water as usual. That washes the pesticide through the soil, killing the young gnats where they live. You might need/want to do this process at least twice, maybe three times, before you see major improvement in the amount of adult gnats on the wing — meaning there are far fewer babies growing into adulthood.
Once the majority of the pests living in the soil are annihilated, your plants, if they are still healthy enough, will rebound and all should be good. Consider a monthly spraying to keep any new infestations at bay, and if you’re going to use the same soil next year, stay prepared to continue the gnat battle then. You can win. Happy Diggin’ In!
Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Digging In, Albuquerque Journal, 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.