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marton | 13:44 Mon 13th Jun 2005 | Home & Garden
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Is it best to pinch out the tips of annual flower seedlings to make them bushy and hence flower more and if so which varieties?

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Many annual flowers, such as snapdragon, impatiens, petunia, salvia, and zinnia, respond well to pinching, which encourages them to produce fuller plants with more flowers. You can start the pinching back when the seedlings have developed their second or third set of true leaves. For most plants, at each node (where the leaf stem meets the main stem), there are lateral buds. When you pinch off the growing point, you remove hormones that suppress the growth of those lateral buds. Once the lateral buds start to grow and they produce a second set of leaves you can pinch those to encourage even more side growth. This should keep your flowers blooming longer... (Source: Proven Winners Gardening)
I certainly find pinching out works. General rule of thumb pinch out anything 'leggy'.

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