reasons for pinching

[topshelf12]

  Hello,
I have read some post that mention pinching the growth on their hibiscus. Is this done on plants when they are a certain age or height? Is this done to make them more bushy? If you pinch off the buds and only leave a couple will those blooms be bigger?
thanks again
Norm

[davidwood]

  Hello,
I have read some post that mention pinching the growth on their hibiscus. Is this done on plants when they are a certain age or height? Is this done to make them more bushy? If you pinch off the buds and only leave a couple will those blooms be bigger?
thanks again
Norm

Well Norm I will try to answer this as its something I have recently learned, I say recently as in up to about 6 months ago I truly could not figure out what was meant by pinching, I understood pruning but pinching?. Now I have learnt everything I know about gardening through the Internet and this Forum and am unable as I live in Vietnam to ask anyone anything, then one day I read not ''pinching'', but ''pinching the growing tip'' and in my head it clicked. Now I am sure others will tell if I am wrong but you pinch the growing tip so as to force more branches to grow from the nodes below, and by golly it works, and even if it doesn't work it seems to just ignore where you have pinched and Carry's on growing. And of course more branches will eventually lead to more blooms, it appears to work on any size plant, I have pinched cuttings and I have pinched at 1 meter high, the advantage of starting early would mean you could really help shape the bush the way you want. One I started early was Dark Of Night [pic below] and another picture shows my Dragons Breath, now DB was a truly awful shape, long straggly branches, so I pruned it right back and am now slowly pinching as it grows, both cv's I am very happy so far.
There is also a picture of Cranberry Muffin, this shows what happens if you dont pinch, it just kept growing with no side branches, allthough it does now seem to be getting growth below as I have started pinching the top.
As for the second part of your question about pinching blooms to make the other bigger, I have no idea, I certainly would never do that.

[Charlie]

Thanks, David, good explanation. As you pointed out, Cranberry Muffin is one of those varieties that needs pinching and/or pruning to branch out into a nice full bush.

Another way to think about pinching is that it is pruning done with fingernails rather than a pruning implement. The tops of most stems are soft enough to just pinch off using a thumbnail - that is pinching. Pruning is when you cut the harder stems with some pruners. The main drawback to a soft pinch is that the plant may only shoot out a new stem just above the pinch and no other nodes are stimulated to grow into new stems. In that case you have to do a harder prune lower down the stem to get the response you want. Some varieties react very strongly to a pinch, others need a harder prune to get the growth response.

What happens when a growth point is removed is that the growth hormones circulating inside the stems find new receptacles lower down the stem. This "cascade" of hormones is very effective at stimulating new stem growth below either a prune or a pinch.

Charlie

[topshelf12]

    Thanks you David and Charlie I will give it a try. Charlie do you wait until the plant reaches a certain height to see if it even needs pinching?
Norm

[Charlie]

Hi Norm,

Not usually. I pinch all of them when they are 6 to 12 inches tall. Then I watch the branching out that happens afterwards and for those that need more branches I go ahead and pinch the tips of the new branches when they are 4-6 inches in length. You can get a very full bush this way and it will bloom more than one left not pinched.

It is best to do the pinching and pruning when temps are warm and the plant actively growing.

Charlie

[mphquicksilver]

Hi Norm my name is mike, Here is a Erin Rachel it was about 20 inches tall didn't have a single branch so I cut it in half about 10 inches tall, About two weeks ago it's starting to bud back . It went into shock and all the large leaves turned yellow and fell off just a few small ones stayed green now it has about 8 shoots growing out around it. That was a severe prune but hopefully it will be nice and bushy when it's finished .

[Charlie]

Good job, Mike, and an excellent illustration of how to make a one stem hibiscus grow more branches!

Charlie