Geranium is a beautiful and bright plant that is a decoration of any apartment. This flower appeared on the windowsills of dwellings for a very long time, and almost immediately became popular with flower lovers.
At the moment, geranium is widely used in landscape design for the design of flower beds, gardens, parks, as it is cold-resistant and quite unpretentious culture. But, despite all the ease of care, geranium will not flourish without timely nipping, which should be carried out correctly.
What is and why?
Pinching - removing the top point of shoot growth mechanically in order to stimulate the growth of lateral layers, increasing the volume and bushiness.
- You can carry out the process with your hands, removing the upper part of the shoot, with small scissors or a sharp blade.
- Correctly carried out process will allow to receive not only a beautiful, compact bush, but also to achieve a long abundant flowering.
- Simply put, the tip is cut from the geranium stem, which is responsible for its growth upwards.
- After this procedure, all the forces of the plant are sent to awaken the sleeping buds, which are located in the internodes. As a result, the main stem becomes branched.
- Pinching is carried out during the active growing season several times a month, until the plant acquires a certain form conceived by the mistress.
- In most cases, leaves are removed from the stem, leaving 4-6 of the largest and strongest.
It is possible to remove the point of growth from the escape at any time, except for the winter period - at this time there comes a period of rest.
A photo
If you follow the step-by-step instructions on pinching a plant, it will look like in the photo below.
When is it necessary?
The great popularity of geranium is due to the fact that it is unpretentious in care and has a very beautiful ornamental shrub. with big hats of flowers. But in order for this plant to please the eye with its buds, and the bush was attractive, without taking up much space - the care must contain compulsory, timely pinching.
If you carry out this procedure correctly, you can get the following:
- abundant, lush and beautiful bloom;
- removal of long, sick, weak shoots that prevent the plant from growing and developing well;
- getting a compact bush.
Interesting fact! Pinching is able to delay the timing of geranium flowering, so experienced flower growers use this process to regulate the time when buds appear on bushes. Pinching is stopped after the bush acquires its intended shape and thickness.
Pinching begin to hold as soon as the period of active growth - the end of March, the beginning of April. It is possible to form a bush within 2 months, with all the blossoms removed from the geranium.
How to do it right?
To properly pinch the geranium, you need to perform the following steps:
The first is to carefully inspect the escape, which must be stopped in growth. They find the largest bud on it - it is the growth point that is responsible for the active development of the flower. If you do not remove the kidney at the top of the stem, it will continue to grow in height, and there will be no lateral layers.- Found the main kidney on the crown, with clean hands, pinch it gently, if the stem is already woody, then you can take a small scissors or a clerical knife and cut it off. It is necessary to carry out the operation carefully, so as not to damage the young leaves that are nearby and do not break the stem.
- It should be understood that after a certain time, the main stem will continue to stay high, but during the time it adapts, the lateral buds will wake up on it and give branches.
- For the formation of the bush is to follow where to wake up the kidneys first. If the shoots began to grow in the wrong place, where they are needed, they are completely removed, then they will begin to give the cuttings you need buds.
The first is to carefully inspect the escape, which must be stopped in growth. They find the largest bud on it - it is the growth point that is responsible for the active development of the flower. If you do not remove the kidney at the top of the stem, it will continue to grow in height, and there will be no lateral layers.In addition, it is worth paying attention to the following nuances:
- The tools that will be used for pinching should be disinfected - it is advisable to use alcohol. In addition, scissors or pruner should be sharpened, and the blade in the stationery knife is better to take a new one, so as not to injure geranium too much. Hands should also be treated so as not to carry a third-party infection.
- If no tool is used when plucking the geranium, then try not to pull the plant to escape, it hurts him and it will take a lot of time to recover.
- Once all procedures are completed, the plant is transferred to a warm, well-lit place. In order for young layers to develop well, they need a lot of sunlight and heat.
- If unhealthy shoots appear on the geraniums, they are immediately removed with a part of a healthy shoot, approximately 2-4 cm.
- Cut and pinch points should be treated with antiseptic agents. This may be brilliant green, wood ash, activated carbon. If this is not done, the plant may become ill or start to dry out from the place of cutting.
If you do everything right, then geranium will soon be pleased with new processes.
So it was thicker
In order to finally get a blooming compact bush on the windowsill, the upper bud should be removed from the main shoot.
Wherein plant growth ceases, it begins to gain strength to awaken the lateral points of growth. If the stems began to grow from the bottom of the main stem, they should be removed so that the plant gets a spherical shape.
To not grow up
To stop geranium growth, the upper part of the stem is removed. But sometimes it happens that after this procedure, the cuttings begin to grow at the apex of the main stem - they need to be removed.
The processes that grow on the stem, you must also pinch at the top of the growth, so that they do not grow above the shortened main stem. If buds appear on the flower at this time, they should also be removed immediately, otherwise the side shoots will be thin and weak.
Lush blossomed
It is understood that geraniums pick up color only from young layers; therefore, to obtain a magnificent flowering plant, systematic nip should be carried out. On a young layer leave 5 leaves, the rest is removed. On all shortened layers, lateral buds will wake up, and as a result a magnificent plant with a lush, blossoming crown will flaunt on the windowsill.
Nipping plants grown from seed
If the geranium is planted with seeds, then the nipping starts as soon as 6-8 pairs of true leaves are formed on a young plant. In addition, leave on a young geranium, you only need axillary cuttings that form at the bottom of the main stem. From the top of the layers should be ruthlessly removed.
Incorrect nip - what to do?
When forming a bush geranium can not pinch all side shoots immediately - The plant will begin to waste forces on recovery and may not pick up color for a long time. In addition, if the wound on the bush will be many, it can greatly weaken and get sick. In addition, all cuts and pinching points, it is necessary to process the antiseptic. Ideally, only 40-50% of shoots can be nipped on one plant at a time, the rest are left for the next time.
Properly and in time, the formation of a geranium bush will undoubtedly help the plant to add the necessary attractive configuration, create a dense, compact bush, and the flowering will be long and rich. It should be understood that the more flower shoots and young shoots, the more buds are formed. Compliance with the basic rules and tips described above will help to get a beautiful plant on the windowsill, which will not leave anyone indifferent to any passerby.
