Most of us may only associate pinching with the failure to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, but I’m here to tell you about a whole new world of pinching that will yield double or triple the amount of blooms in your garden!
Pinching is a technique used on dahlias and quite a few other flower varieties too, which I’ll be sharing with you in a future post. Let’s focus on dahlias here…be sure to read to the end because I’ve included:
1) Step by step instructions for pinching
2) A video of me pinching my dahlia plants so you can watch the steps
3) An exciting dahlia giveaway you don’t want to miss - enter by commenting below!
The concept of pinching is basically to cut the top of the plant off in order to encourage branching. More branches equals more blooms!
Dahlia stems grow from an eye on the tuber. Some tubers have several eyes, but often there is only one. This one stem grows to be very thick and strong…not too fun to cut and use in bouquets when it resembles a broomstick. But pinching will create branches that are more manageable, plus each branch then has the opportunity for budding!
This photo is a good illustration of the difference pinching can make. Plant B was never pinched - see how it has one thick stem? But for plant A which was pinched, we have two stems.
Steps to pinch dahlias:
1) Aim to pinch dahlia plants when they are about 12-18” tall, which normally correlates to having about 3-4 sets of leaves.
2) Locate the target area, usually right at the second or third set of leaves (depending on the variety). For Plant A above, it looks like the pinch occurred at the third set of leaves. For Plant B, I would also say it should be pinched above the third set of leaves. It’s nice to give the plant base some sturdy growth before the pinch happens. Plant A is a good example of this.
3) Use sharp clean flower snips, pruners or scissors, and cut the center stem as close as possible right above the set of leaves. You may even be able to spot a tiny shoot on either side of the stem you are cutting off - these are the two tiny shoots that will grow into new branches, now that you’ve removed the center stalk growth. You can see in the circled area of Plant A that dahlia stems are hollow.
4) Sit back and watch your dahlia grow! If you do have multiple shoots coming from the tuber, you can pinch all of them to create a bushier plant that will produce more blooms.
5) If you haven’t yet, be sure to stake or corral your plants now, so that rain or wind don’t topple them at the height of their glory.
And now for the giveaway!
I’m pleased to offer one commenter a copy of the new book Discovering Dahlias by Erin Benzakein of Floret Flower Farm. Located in Skagit Valley, Erin is an expert on all things flower. One of the best things is that she’s a fellow Washingtonian so all of her growing experience completely applies to our climate and seasons - how lucky are we?
This book is a great resource for new and old dahlia growers alike. I purchased my copy from Vashon Bookshop. Nancy and her team at the Bookshop are flower lovers too, and have a wide array of flower and gardening books available - please head there for your own copy if you don’t win this one or request that they special order a title from your wish list!
To win this copy, please comment below with any dahlia questions you have, and let me know your favorite dahlia variety or color too! (Be sure to leave your email address when prompted in the comment box so that I can contact the winner! Email address will not be publicly visible).
Giveaway will happen on Wednesday June 16th.
***Contacting the winner now!***
