A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 deadheading dianthus

Please...I'd like to know exactly how and where to deadhead dianthus (already know WHY). Just pick off the dead flower, or "pinch back"?...to where? Does it hurt to just take scissors and literally take handsful of the tops and cut them off? These plants are spreading rapidly. Thanks.

Thats what I do to mine and then I toss on some high middle # fertilizer.I'd take back 3 inches behind your spent blooms.
great plants.

Ditto here on njoynit's reply. I just take the shears to my plants, and then fertilize them and water them real good. I started with 5 plants, and now have 25.

P.S. Welcome to the site.

Are these the great big dianthus, like you'd buy in the flower shops? I started some from seed this year and they are so small and weak stemmed. I don't know if this is how they are going to be always or if they will get bigger and stronger as the years go by. The stems are wavy and the flowers make them so heavy that they lay on the ground. Any insight here? Thanks!