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Index : Flowers - Annuals
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- 1. Dead-heading Keeps Flowers Blooming - Top
- One of the best ways to keep annual and perennial flowers blooming is to remove their faded blossoms. By removing withering flowers, in a process called “dead-heading”, the energy of the plant will be directed toward continued flower formation rather than seed production.
There is a correct way and a incorrect way to “dead-head” flowers. The incorrect way is to try pulling or pinching off the faded flowers. This will remove the petals but likely leave the seed forming flower ovary.
The correct way to dead-head faded flowers is to remove them by cutting off the entire flower structure (petals and the ovary flower base) . Do this using a sharp scissors or hand pruners and cut the flower stem just below the base of the blossom.
In general, flowers that respond best to “dead-heading” are those with rather large blooms. Some of these include; roses, geraniums, marigolds, cosmos, dahlias, and zinnias. Petunias respond best to a shearing back of the entire plant, flowers and stems, when the plant becomes too sprawling and leggy. When cutting roses, always trim back to a five leaf leaflet, to encourage the formation of new flowering shoots.
Many perennials can also be stimulated to bloom for longer periods of time by dead-heading. These include; lavender, guara, California daisy, Angelita daisy, desert marigold, chocolate flower, coreopsis, and purple aster. When in doubt go ahead and remove the spent flowers of any variety. Chances are it will encourage more blooming to some degree or another.
In addition to cutting off faded blooms, supplying sufficient amounts of phosphorous will also stimulate continued, abundant bloom. Phosphorous is the middle of the three numbers on the fertilizer label, the first being nitrogen and the last potassium. Flowering plant foods generally contain a higher percent of phosphorous. So a typical formulation for flowers might be something like 5-10-5 or 6-15-8. Some super-bloom products have much higher levels of phosphorous, sometimes up to 50 percent of the formulation.
It really doesn’t matter how high the phosphorous level in a fertilizer is, as long as it contains some amount and the label directions are followed. Recommendations will call for making larger applications of lower percent phosphorous fertilizers and smaller applications of ones with greater levels of phosphorous.
To be effective, phosphorous fertilizers must be mixed into the soil. Unlike nitrogen, phosphorous cannot be watered into the soil. It must be physically mixed into the root zone. In the case of seasonal flowers, phosphorous can be mixed into the soil prior to planting. With perennial flowers the best that can be done is to scratch the phosphorous into the top inch or two of soil. There the shallower feeder roots can absorb the nutrient.
In containers, the potting soil is light and loose with lots of pore spaces for phosphorous to physically move through. So phosphorous can be applied to the surface of the soil in pots and it will move down into the soil with watering. Water soluble plant foods with phosphorous are a good choice for container fertilization as our beaded, timed-release fertilizer products for flowering plants.
Written by John Begeman, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Arizona,
520-626-5161. - Updated: May 21, 2006
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