How to strengthen sweet peas
Last post 28-05-2008 6:16 PM by flowerpot. 10 replies.
-
27/01/2008 07:41 PM
|
|
|
After seeds are planted and have grown they become thin looking, so how could I strengthen the plant. All views are welcome.
tomato_boy
|
-
|
27/01/2008 09:11 PM
|
|
|
Is this more of your windowsill culture, tomato-boy? If so move them into your unheated greenhouse - more light and less warmth is usually the answer. They are fairly hardy, but if hard frosts threaten your greenhouse you might want to cover them with a double layer of fleece just in case.
Boggy
Beware the bat-eared bogweevil
|
-
|
28/01/2008 12:51 PM
|
|
|
Chop their heads off! No, really, once the second set of leaves is out, nip off the head. This will mean they branch out more, giving a better plant as it grows up, as well as temporarily slowing down upward growth.
Mine are going in the greenhouse soon - but beware they aren't hardy! (I know a frost is due end of this week oop norf).
|
-
|
28/01/2008 01:25 PM
|
|
|
|
[b]Thanks you two.[i] All other views are welcome.[/i][/b]
|
-
|
30/01/2008 04:28 PM
|
|
- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
-
5,230
|
[b]Posted by:[/b] tomato_boy [b].[i] All other views are welcome.[/i][/b]
Where abouts in the country are you my friend? sweet peas need to be grown hard without any molly coddling. if they are pale and spindly they are suffering from lack of light. As has already been said pinch them out, but if they are spindly and pale i think they will produce inferior flowers. I grow a lot of sweet peas using the cordon method,Colin Hambidge has written a good book about growing this way. Once the sweet peas are planted out, they are pinched and a second shoot is then used as the main stem and the actual main stem is disregarded in favour of the side stem, the theory being that a superior bloom is produced from a side stem? next the sweet peas are trained up a cane which is attatched to wires and set at an angle, this angle then ensures that the flower stem is straight along it's entire length and doesn't have a kink at the base.
digger  Sage of the fells
|
-
|
30/01/2008 06:34 PM
|
|
|
|
I live in Yorkshire digger.
[Edited on 30/01/2008]
|
-
|
31/01/2008 08:01 AM
|
|
|
|
[b]Posted by:[/b] digger
Once the sweet peas are planted out, they are pinched and a second shoot is then used as the main stem and the actual main stem is disregarded in favour of the side stem, the theory being that a superior bloom is produced from a side stem? next the sweet peas are trained up a cane which is attatched to wires and set at an angle, this angle then ensures that the flower stem is straight along it's entire length and doesn't have a kink at the base.
Excellent, I can feel some experimentation coming up this year - interesting theory!
|
-
|
31/01/2008 11:54 AM
|
|
- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
-
5,230
|
growing the plants at an angle definately works and does produce a better stem, as to the side stem producing superior flowers,well it is advice from someone who has had major wins with sweet peas at national level.
digger Sage of the fells
|
-
|
04/05/2008 01:15 PM
|
|
- flowerpot
- Northumberland
- 30 Apr 2008
-
12
|
Hi Rainmaker, was wondering whether I should keep doing this to the new shoots that form so I get a really bushy plant? I have done it to them once, nipped out the initial shoot. Now the second ones look leggy!?
|
-
|
05/05/2008 05:52 PM
|
|
- Digger
- Northern UK
- 18 Jul 2005
-
5,230
|
Hello flowerpot, in theory you could keep pinching the tips out countless times but each time you do it energy will divert into producing side shoots and this energy is at the expense of flowers, could i suggest that you pinch out once and then plant the sweet peas close together for a better effect? during the season the stem has the capability of growing to about ten feet tall and it can be untied and layed onto the ground and the tip re trained to grow up.
digger Sage of the fells
|
-
|
28/05/2008 06:16 PM
|
|
- flowerpot
- Northumberland
- 30 Apr 2008
-
12
|
Many thanks, will give it a go!
|