Require Advice on Pinching Out Please

MUMMYNATURE

I live in Shaw, Greater Manchester, UK.

These are pics of My Inkspots Morning Glory. 

Spanish flag & my Cup & Saucer Purple & Ivory Cathedral Bells. 

I need to buy my purple bells as plants, sadly I couldn’t get seeds in time this year!! 

With my moneymakers too!! First time growing tomatoes single stem needs.

QUESTION 1

Pinched these out yesterday so they’re back to two leaf but will sprout the two laterals by next week I am told.

BUT do you pinch out again or leave now? 

This is my first time growing annual climbers from seed so I need a little advice.

QUESTION 2

My sweet peas are not growing well since planting out after pinching. Do you think it’s too cold currently? They have nourished soil, water and direct light as I know they’re the hungriest, thirstiest, greedy plants out there? 

I grow them mixed around nasturtiums every year as a decorative climber rather than for produce. 

Thank you for your help!! 

Lyn

They look fine, I would advise you to take those plastic bags off of whatever’s in there. They will get too wet and rot. 

MUMMYNATURE

Lyn said:

They look fine, I would advise you to take those plastic bags off of whatever’s in there. They will get too wet and rot. 

The zinnia, echinacea, cosmos, nicotiana says requires propagation to germinate? I use the bags until seedlings appear and then remove. I don’t have a propagation system and tried to improvise. Would you not do this? If not, how do you propagate when instructed? 

The cosmos, zinnia and echinacea have sprouted but sadly not the nicotiana. (I only planted on 1st May however!!)  

what about the pinching out please?

and my sweetpeas?

this is the first time I have grown anything from seed so I am learning. Would appreciate any advice or tips you can give me. 🥰🥰

Helix

You cover seeds, but they need some air.  The commercial propagator covers have vents that you can open and close.  Put a couple of holes in the bags instead so it doesn’t get too wet.

I would have waited a little longer to pinch out, it’s only sweet peas that I pinch out very early.  And sometimes I do it again, but not until they are bigger!

Your soil is very low down in the pot, which is encouraging the plants to grow tall and leggy.  Next time use smaller pots and fill them up to just below the top, and pot on when you need to.

Tomatoes I’m useless at so can’t advise! 

MUMMYNATURE

Helix said:

You cover seeds, but they need some air.  The commercial propagator covers have vents that you can open and close.  Put a couple of holes in the bags instead so it doesn’t get too wet.

I would have waited a little longer to pinch out, it’s only sweet peas that I pinch out very early.  And sometimes I do it again, but not until they are bigger!

Your soil is very low down in the pot, which is encouraging the plants to grow tall and leggy.  Next time use smaller pots and fill them up to just below the top, and pot on when you need to.

Tomatoes I’m useless at so can’t advise! 

Ohhh dear I hope I haven’t ruined them!! I literally pinched out at the same time as my sweet peas. Do you grow annual climbers?

Lyn

I’ve got all of those you mentioned, I’ve never had a propagator and would want one. I’ve sown 77 different kinds of seeds this year, a propagator would help. 
they sit on a spare table and up they come, if you think about it, echinacea self seeds, no one goes out to the garden and puts a bag on it. 

Nicotiana are very slow to grow, I would sow them early mid March next year.
I sowed my zinnia on the 24th March, cosmos on the 1st April. 
You can pick out your sweet peas when they get about 3 or 4 real leaves, some people leave then, sow 4 seeds in a pot and plant the whole thing out.  I think they branch out anyway.
The ones in your photo look good so far. They’ll probably get a move on if the weather ever turns warm again. 
At the moment here we have torrential rain, hail stones and the promise of thunder.
i feel sorry for the people who were lulled into thinking that the hot two weeks was Spring, that was what’s know as a false Spring.

MUMMYNATURE

@Lyn
this is wonderful advise thank you so so much. I wondered about the nicotiana but the packet said germination within 7-21 days (as per cosmos which germinated in 5 days!!) so I got a little worried. It also states I should not cover the seeds but I think I did!! 😂😂😂

it is very wet and cold today here in Sunny Shaw (🤭) but my garden needs this rain. It hasn’t had a good downpour for a few weeks now. 

I have opened all my pots and loosened the last two waiting to sprout. (Echinacea and nico).

i started all my sowing in April (learning by mistakes obviously 😂😂) but next year I will definitely sow in March for everything!! 

Would you care to show me a picture of your spare table please? (If not I do not mean to intrude.) 

i must admit I have gotten very carried away already. But I really wanted to get going. 😂😂😂🥰🥰🥰

Lyn

The table is just a dining room table in a spare room, I put a plastic sheet over it an gro bag trays.  

Nollie

Don’t pinch out your tomatoes! Moneymaker are a cordon variety which are grown on one long stem. When they reach about 5 or 6ft, or the top of your trellis/support, then you pinch out the tops to stop them growing ever skywards. Whet you do need to do is pinch out the side shoots, which appear between the main stem and the leafy stem growing off it. If you don’t pinch out the side shoots, these romp away, taking too much nutrients from the main plant, the plant develops more trusses of fruit than it can support and you end up with loads of tiny toms rather than half a dozen trusses or so of full-sized ones. 

At the moment, they are pretty small, when they reach about 6” high, pot them on into bigger pots and grow on further before planting out. I don’t normally pinch out side shoots until the plants are about a foot high and am planting them out/into their final position.

MUMMYNATURE

@Lyn
i would love the available space to do this!! I have the floor in front of my huge sliding doors for indoor sowing!! 🤣😂 oh and a plastic green house for outside sowing!! Oh to have more space!! Think my husband would have something to say (more than he does already!!)😂😂 he won’t be complaining when I put the fresh, homegrown goodies on his plate this summer however!! 🙄🙄

@Nollie this is wonderful advice thank you so so much. I honestly have never gotten my money makers passed 6ft to think about pinching them out! (☺️☺️) I didn’t know I could however which is lovely to know. 
I notice you’re in Spain and this is where I had the most delicious huge toms in a feta salad. I still think about the toms I bought in the market and I literally ate them like you would an apple. They were so tasty. I wish I could replicate that experience and have grown toms since!! 🥰😘

gutties

@Lyn, out of interest, if you have lots of 3" pots on the dining room table how do you carry them in and out to water, and how often would you water them?

This was my first year sowing seeds and I know I found it a bit of chore carting pots and seed trays in and out to water, so I was wondering what the more experienced folk did in this regard.