Pinching out - plants from garden centre

amcluesent

Got a load of snapdragons in trays from B&Q, about 8cm high. Should these be pinched out to encourage side shoots?

peter_the_piper

8cm, that's about 3" in real money. You should not need to pinch them back, just plant them as they are. If you do decide to pinch them I doubt you'll do any harm.

border_collie

I thought this thread was going to be about how you pinched out a load of tips at the garden centre, then took them home to root.
:rotfl:

amcluesent

>I thought this thread...<

LOL. Basal cuttings from B&Q...but doesn't everyone discretely collect seeds from National Trust places in the Autumn?

serena

You have a choice with snapdragons.

1.Leave unpinched and have one earlier central flower spike. When this has finished, cut back and more should grow, making a bushier plant, which will flower later.

2. Pinch out, and the plant will grow more sideshoots, look bushier, but flower a bit later, with lots of flower spikes.

I quite like the single spike shape of snapdragons, and if you were growing the taller varieties for cutting, then you would definitely not pinch them! Won't be this type from B&Q though, it's not easy to get even the seed.