How To Pinch Off Marigolds For More Summer Blooms

There's no easier way to get some fast color in your garden than by planting a few marigolds. These easy-to-grow annuals will brighten up even the dullest day with their gorgeous yellow or orange blooms that are sure to put a smile on your face. And you can even turn your garden into a pollinator haven if you pair these with sweet alyssum. Whether you choose French (Tagetes patula), African (T. erecta), or signet (T. tenuifolia) varieties, all you need to do is scatter a few seeds over your garden beds or buy some seedlings from your local garden center. However, if you want even more summer blooms, you do need to know how to pinch off the tops while the plants are still young.

Pinching young plant tips is a fairly common practice among gardeners because it promotes much fuller and more even growth. If you do this, you'll end up with a nice, bushy plant that should have multiple stems, which will all have the capacity to produce a flower. In fact, forgetting to pinch your perennial plants and many of your annuals may mean that you'll have far fewer blooms than you'd hoped for. When you pinch back the growth tip to a set of leaves or buds, your plant will respond by growing two new stems from that very spot. So, by pinching each tip, you're basically doubling the number of branches on the plant. Marigolds are particularly responsive to pinching, and if you do this right, you will end up with shorter, fuller plants that will be covered with flowers, rather than taller, lanky ones with just one or two blooms.

If you're growing marigolds for the first time or you've never been aware of the need for pinching, fear not, because it's actually quite easy. You don't even need any special tools because you can just do it with your fingertips. Take a close look at each plant and identify the set of leaves just below each growth tip. With your thumb and forefinger, just pinch off the tip as close to this set of leaves as you can. Obviously, you want to start doing this when the plant is still quite young and has produced around four sets of true leaves, typically around four to six weeks after sprouting.

Even if your plant already has the beginning of a flower bud forming, you should still pinch off this tip because you'll be rewarded with so many more blooms. If you've planted quite a few marigolds that will need pinching, you can use a pair of kitchen scissors, flower snips, or pruning shears to make the job easier and give your fingertips a rest. Finally, once your plant is producing lots of flowers, remember to deadhead these once they're finished to promote more blooms. Forgetting to do this is one common mistake you might make with your marigolds, and it could reduce the number of pretty flowers you're going to get from each plant.