How to pinch out flowers: get the method and timing right for a fuller plant shape

Pinching, also called topping or tip nipping, is a pruning technique commonly used in gardening. The practice is to remove the tender bud or soft tip at the end of a flowering plant's shoot, breaking apical dominance so that nutrients are diverted to the lateral buds. Many herbaceous flowers and shrub-type flowering plants, after being pinched during the seedling stage, take on a noticeably more compact and fuller shape, and the number of flowers can also increase somewhat.

When a flowering plant grows naturally, the terminal bud often suppresses the sprouting of the lateral buds below it, making leggy growth and a loose plant shape likely. Once the terminal bud is removed, side shoots are gradually activated; with more branches, the number of flower-bearing sites also increases. For varieties that bloom on new shoots, such as scarlet sage, petunia and chrysanthemum, the flower-promoting effect of pinching is especially obvious.

Pinching generally starts at the seedling stage: when the young plant has grown several pairs of true leaves and reached a certain height, do the first pinching. The tender terminal bud can simply be nipped off with your fingers; if the shoot is rather firm, use sterilized scissors to cut it off. After the side shoots grow out, you can pinch once or twice more depending on the growth, and by repeating this a few times you can keep the plant shape within a fairly ideal range.

Not all flowers are suited to pinching. For varieties that flower at the tip of the main stem or do not tolerate branching, such as cockscomb and ornamental bromeliads, pinching will instead affect normal flowering. When doing it, it is best to choose a sunny day, keep watering somewhat restricted before the wound heals, and avoid rain and fertilizing, so as to prevent infection of the cut. Once flower buds are forming or the plant is already blooming, stop pinching, so you do not remove the flower buds along with the tip.