[Pony Girl]

I bought some sweetpeas from the garden centre. Do I have to nip out the growing tip or will this have already been done? It didn't say you had to do so on the instructions.

If 'yes', what does the growing tip look like and how do you do it? Mine are all planted out now.

Thanks

[DD.]

I'm not an expert on this, but did a bit of Googling when someone asked this question a bit back.

It said to nip out autumn sown ones, but not spring sown ones. I suspect yours will be the latter.

However, if you Google hard enough you'll find contrary advice. Personally, I've left my spring sown ones alone.

[Kleftiwallah]

This is a practice used by the show winners of sweet peas, you don't have to do it.  They(somehow) found that removing the main stem the side shoot was more robust.

If there is a side shoot growing and no main stem I should assume it has been done, but I cannot see a garden centre spending time and money to do this.  I should pinch out a few and see how things pan out.

Hope you have a good show.   Don't forget, if your peas reach the top of the cane you can unwind (if you have removed the tendrills and upper side shoots) the pea, lay it on the ground and then send it up a convenient cane.

Cheers,    Tony.

[Diddy Gardener]

I usually pinch out the tips when they're about 3" high. I read it somewhere once many years ago and have continued to do it. No idea if it makes a difference or not... maybe I'll stop one day 

[Torgan]

Pinching out the growing tip is meant to make the plant more bushy, meaning you get more side shoots. It's not essential.  The tip is just the end of the main stem, I just pinch mine off with my finger nails but you could use scissors if you want.

From http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=464

Pinching out: Remove the growing tips of autumn-sown seedlings when about 10cm (4in) high to encourage branching. It is not usually necessary to pinch out the growing tips of spring-sown seedlings although you can do if they get too long and leggy.

[Gandan57]

I vote for scissors!

Mine all had a haircut when they were about four inches high. One inch of top growth swiftly removed.

[VegGirl7]

one of my cats decided to pinch mine out for me    I was going to anyway, on my mum's advice, so has saved me a job     
- and they've now been put on a windowsill where she can't get to to eat the rest of them 

[GYO Girl]

Last year was my first attempt at growing sweet peas and, being a complete novice, didn't know about pinching out.  My very experienced allotmenteer F-I-L was horrified when he saw them and said he always pinches his out.

This year I sowed some in the autumn and pinched those out, and two more packets in spring and pinched those out too.  All of them are now thick bushy plants (albeit the spring sown ones a bit behind the autumn ones - but not THAT much behind) and I can't believe how many more shoots I have compared to last year's efforts.

I'd say do it.

[Pony Girl]

Thanks for all the advice. Mine are definitely not looking very bushy. They are quite long now - some of them must be at least 30 cms - is it too late to pinch them out now?

[VegGirl7]

Thanks for all the advice. Mine are definitely not looking very bushy. They are quite long now - some of them must be at least 30 cms - is it too late to pinch them out now?

they don't get 'bushy' in the way other plants would - by pinching out you will end up with a few long stems instead of just the one (I believe some people will then select the strongest and remove the others  - think I'm going to leave them all)

a few of mine were around that height a couple of weeks ago and I snipped off about half of the stem, just above one of the sets of leaves, and there are new stems starting to grow from where the lower leaves are,  so I'd say not too late 

[Trillium]

I prefer to pinch out the tips on my climbing sweet peas; they're definitely bushier and healthier - and, I get loads more flowers.

[VegGirl7]

I prefer to pinch out the tips on my climbing sweet peas; they're definitely bushier and healthier - and, I get loads more flowers.

does that mean you leave all the extra stems on, Trillium?  (I'm torn between keeping just 1 or 2 stems and leaving all 3-4)?

[Trillium]

I get greedy for flowers so I leave all the vertical stems on, but all get one pinching which is all they need. If you have lots of plants and are pressed for time, then just do the main central stem which will then send up sideshoots which don't need pinching.

[VegGirl7]

I get greedy for flowers so I leave all the vertical stems on, but all get one pinching which is all they need. If you have lots of plants and are pressed for time, then just do the main central stem which will then send up sideshoots which don't need pinching.

thanks, I'm wanting lots of flowers too and am not growing very many so will keep and pinch them all