Basics of Dead-Heading?

I believe I have ruined two separate plants (lantana and verbena) by deadheading the flowers too soon. They were both young plants that had just started flowering and once I dead-headed the flowers after a few times they both stopped growing. Period. On the flip side, I did the same to my scabiosa, and now it's going flower-crazy!

Can someone list the basics of dead-heading flowers, especially young plants?

Thanks so much!
-Wyfe of Ent

I doubt if you ruined them, I'm sure they'll come back and probably even bloom for you again later in the season. Their flowers tend to last a long time though and at least on mine I've never deadheaded them and they keep blooming all season on their own anyway. There are some plants that respond to deadheading by creating more flowers, there are others that will keep blooming all season even if you don't, and there are some that really only want to flower once regardless of what you do, but even with the last two types I don't think it would hurt the plant at all if you deadhead it, you just won't see any different results from it. I'm not sure if there's a comprehensive list out there of which plants need to be deadheaded and which ones don't, so if you want general advice I think the best idea would be to wait until the flowers start to noticeably fade before you deadhead, this way you get the maximum enjoyment from each flower, then you deadhead and some plants will respond by producing new flowers, but some won't. But if you cut off flowers from the lantana and verbena that would have kept going for another several weeks or a month or two if you hadn't cut them off, the plant may not be quite ready to make new flowers yet.

Hi WYFE_OF_ENT, I dont realy think you have ruined your plants by deadheading them, even when young, unless you removed parts of the actual growing part of the plant, deadheading is done to promote more flowers to be produce as all plants by nature need to flower/ make seeds to scatter and to continue the survival the type in it's natural environment, but as gardeners, we want the opposite, we want flowers for a longer period, therefore deadhead to halt seed production so we can enjoy a longer show, then if we want seeds to grow more of the same, we would allow the plant to make seedheads, normaly at seasons end then collect them, and start new plants. I think what has happened, because your plants are still very young, there maybe was'nt yet enough new flower buds quite ready to continue the flower progress, BUT, the plants will be already growing those and will soon give you your next flowers soon, it is hard work for young plants to put out new roots, draw in water/food, and flowers at the same time, I am sure your plants will be back on track again, as you dont have flowers right now, I think you will find that your plants will be growing still, underground, you can see the advantage of deadheading already by what has happened to your scabiosa, different plants I know, but the results will be the same in the end, if your unsure when to deadhead, wait till you see the flowers go really pale and start to look a tired, this is when they start to form the seedheads that you want to remove.
I have tried to give you the simplistic way to deadhead, but as you gain more experience you can adopt your own timeing for all your different plants, so hope this helps you. At the end of summer, I give all my flowering perennials and shrubs a good feed to help them through the winter and to grow more root formation for the next year as they have worked hard all summer, but some people will do it at other times like in spring or both, but spring is a busy enough time in my garden. good luck and enjoy your new found gardening hobby. WeeNel.

Wyfe of Ent, I'm so glad you asked this question, it's a topic I've wanted to open up for a while! I've seen plants do wonders after deadheading, and others just stop producing, so I'm never sure if I'm doing the right thing.
I also wonder, and hope ya'll can help me out, when you remove the flower, do you remove the little cup ((is it the sepal?) it's growing out of? Say, on a petunia: the blossom is spent; do you just slip out the bloom (they usually just fall out) or do you snip the stem just below the sepals? And my stokes aster: the spent bloom just falls off its base. Should I cut off that base? Another new aster blossom isn't going to form there, is it?

I also would like to know the basics of deadheading. I've been pulling off the whole bit that the flower grows out of. Is this right? So far my plants seem to be doing well.

Dead heading, my way and most other gardener, when you see any flowers start to fade, going pale, or drop petels, you hold the flower, slide your fingers down the stem (some have long stems, some short) and at the junture where the flowering stem joins the main stem, nip off the flower stem only, your faded flower and stem will come away from the main stem, you may still have flowers further up or below the main stem, all you are doing is removeing the faded stem/flower, annuals like Petunias and others that just flower the one season,what we call bedding out plants for summer, need deadheading almost every day once they begin to flower, this is because these plants need to grow from seed, flower, set seed all in one season, so to trick them into thinking they have to get a move on to make more flowers and scatter their seeds, we deadhead them regularly, this gives a continuation of flowers that we want to enjoy, eventually, they will give up flowering, a) because they have exhausted all there energy, so we feed them every week or so to help give them that extra bit of energy, or, b) because the season has finished, got too cold or we have allowed them to make enough seed by letting them flower and make seeds, so to prevent this, you remove all the flower and the stem the flower was on. perenialls and biannials are the same except, these take pos a year to grow and start to flower, but deadheading is the same for those, however, they wont suffer the lack of deadheading, because they have another year, as in biannials, or years in the case of perennials to make flowers and seeds, however, my theory is that the more we allow the plants to seed, the more energy the plant uses up at the cost of making roots, and that could mean, less flowers for the following year as in Lupins, Delphiniuma ect, these being perennials and should flower for years if fed, watered and you can, after about four years, split the large root system up to make more plants of flowering size, hope this helps you a bit better, you will soon get to know what plants are ready for deadheading or not, as some like the perennial Geraniums and the climbing Clemetis will give another slight plush of flowers at the very end of the season after deadgeading. I try to do the same with all my shrubs as I said before, unless you wish to colect the seeds then I dont want them to use energy by producing seeds, I'd rather them grow larger as in shrubs or more roots as in perennials and it helps tidy up the plants as I go along, gives me a chance to check for broken stems or deseases etc, after flowering, I give a feed to help them build up energy for going into winter, some like roses, I give another feed in spring to boost them up a bit,I prune my roses in early spring as I live in cold winter climate and if I prune too early, the tender new shoots get killed by frost, but you will find your own way of when to do all that, I am just giving you a guid as to how it is done. good luck. WeeNel.

Dear WeeNel, Thanks so much for the info! This is exactly the type and amount of info I needed. I have been doing it as you describe, although with petunias I was just pulling off the wilted flower. Thanks so much. Mist001

Thanks WeeNel, that's good info!!!!