I briefly mentioned deadheading when I talked about pruning, but I think it deserves its own separate post. Deadheading is mostly referring to flowers, instead of vegetables or other types of plants. It’s kind of what it sounds like – removing the dead flower heads from the plant. But do you know when and how? Let’s discuss.
When
This might seem obvious, but you want to remove the dead blooms when they appear. Some people wait for the blooms to fully droop and start becoming crunchy, while others remove them earlier. It’s up to you, but I personally think earlier is more effective. You’ll want to deadhead pretty frequently, don’t let it pile up and do it all at once. Every couple days seems to work best for me during peak blooming time.
How
Take your pruning tool and make a cut just above the uppermost set of healthy leaves, or flower bud if that’s the next thing on the stem. If you have a flower that has a series of buds, you’ll wait until all have finished blooming and then remove the whole grouping. For flowers on longer stalks such as lilies, you can remove the whole stalk when it is finished blooming.
Why
Removing dead blooms helps the plant to produce more blooms. It can redirect the energy to other blooms instead of going to seed. It also makes your plant look prettier.Even if you don’t deadhead your flowers, that’s ok. Some plants don’t benefit from it as much as others. You can experiment with them and see what works best and what your own preferences are. It’s about experience and knowledge, and that only comes with time.
Do you deadhead your flowers? Why or why not?