I bought a bunch of petunias this year.?
Question:When the flower dies, I know you need to pull the dead one off to get more flowers. It seems there is a little green "pod" underneath the dead flower. Do I need to pull the green pod off too, or is that a baby flower comming in? I want to keep getting flowers all summer, and keep the plants from going to seed.
Answers:
To keep your petunias from getting long and leggy, pinch them back so they branch out more. Fertilize each week with a weak mixture of Bloom Booster 10-53-10. You will maximize the flower growth while you make the pinch backs. Otherwise you could get leggy plants with few blooms.
It's always a good idea to remove the dead flowers of a plant if you can. Anything that is still green leave alone though.
It is a seed that you can collect once it dries out, and plant it next year. It will turn blackish brown when it is dry.
I always pinch my dead petunia flowers on the stem...forcing new growth, they can get quite big and bushy this way with lots of flowers and will last into fall...also important is feeding and watering them
The pod will not produce any thing but seeds (much later)
New flowers will come out on new shoots. It's harder to keep from tearing the plant when you try to take the flower base. I just leave them on and some times I get volunteers the next year.
If you do take off the pod, use scissors. They do draw energy from the plant because they are still producing. They're just not flowers. So I suppose, if you want all the energy to go to your blooms, then take off the pod as well.
Hi. The little green pod is the seed. If you leave the "pod" on, the petunia thinks it has done its reproductive duty and will cease to flower productively. Pinch below the seed, and the plant thinks it has not done its reproductive duties so it MUST put out another flower or the plant will fail to reproduce which is its mission.
Next time, if you do not want to dead head, buy Supertunias. They are self deadheading and prolific flowerers.
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