Wednesday 19 February 2014

Pinching-out Sweet Peas

My two batches of Sweet Peas are coming on nicely - though perhaps a tad on the leggy side due to limited amounts of light being available. This is despite them living outside on the patio in one of the plastic mini-greenhouses.

This is the second batch. They are about 4 or 5 inches tall.


The first batch is (understandably) bigger, and I felt that they were ready for pinching-out. The books advise doing this when the plants have formed 3 to 4 pairs of leaves (which these have).


Now, not being an expert on such things, I have read-up about pinching-out. You do it in order to make the plants bushier, because when their main growing point is removed they put up sideshoots from lower down. Some plants do this naturally, like this one, which already has two stems:-


Others have to be persuaded. All you do is literally pinch-out the growing point with your finger and thumbnail. Pinch the main stem, not a leaf-stalk - like this:-


So there we are, let's see what they make of that...

By the way, I am quite relieved that my Sweet Peas survived the latest big storm last week. I had weighted-down their mini-greenhouse with copious quantities of bricks, but I was still worried. In the event, the greenhouse moved about a foot horizontally, but it didn't take off. Phew.

10 comments:

  1. You were lucky with your greenhouse, I'm sowing my sweet peas this weekend. I hope you have great success with yours.

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  2. It sounds like your mini greenhouse is more secure than my bigger one, I've lost just about all the polycarbonate which it was glazed with. I haven't sown my sweetpeas yet but I'm getting anxious to get something going so I don't think it will be long before I do.

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  3. i am sowing my sweet peas on the last weekend but yet to see any shoots :( The pinching-out technique is brilliant.Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Your sweet peas look very lush in the sun Mark! And are you a fan of chipping the seed coating before sowing? Last year I soaked and chipped mine and all germinated- but perhaps they would have done so without the effort!

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    1. We used to chip our seeds but don't anymore - straight from the packet to the compost - no soaking and they still germinate.

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    2. No, I have not chipped any of my Sweet Peas - and I still got 100% germination very quickly.

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    3. That's made up my mind- no soaking and chipping for me this year! Less work- that's what I like! Thank you

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  5. Ours are still sitting snugly in their packets

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  6. I got a failure in growing sweet peas this season. Thanks for sharing

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  7. They look lovely and healthy, Mark. I must start sowing some seeds soon!

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