Hi folks,

Just me with yet another gardening question. I am learning loads by
posting and reading all the threads on this site and I swear that being
on here is a far quicker way of learning than it is reading any books!

Anyway onto my next query...

I have always dead headed my roses and not really sure if there is a
point to doing this or even if I am supposed to do it. My partner told
me a few years ago that you were supposed to do it, so I have continued
religiously ever since. Yesterday he denied ever telling me to do it
and now I am left wondering if I imagined it, or if he is going
prematurely senile!

Anyhow the point to this thread is that I was wondering if I should
continue doing it and if it has any benefits etc? Can anybody please
share any info?

Many thanks
Gail

"tom&barbara" <gailgirvan408 [at] hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1151102304.683829.270840 [at] b68g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi folks,
>
> Just me with yet another gardening question. I am learning loads by
> posting and reading all the threads on this site and I swear that being
> on here is a far quicker way of learning than it is reading any books!
>
> Anyway onto my next query...
>
> I have always dead headed my roses and not really sure if there is a
> point to doing this or even if I am supposed to do it. My partner told
> me a few years ago that you were supposed to do it, so I have continued
> religiously ever since. Yesterday he denied ever telling me to do it
> and now I am left wondering if I imagined it, or if he is going
> prematurely senile!
>
> Anyhow the point to this thread is that I was wondering if I should
> continue doing it and if it has any benefits etc? Can anybody please
> share any info?
>
> Many thanks
> Gail
>
Deadheading Roses or any other plant before it sets fruit, fools the plant
into thinking that it has failed to reproduce and rewards you with yet more
flowers.

tom&barbara wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> Just me with yet another gardening question. I am learning loads by
> posting and reading all the threads on this site and I swear that
> being on here is a far quicker way of learning than it is reading any
> books!
>
> Anyway onto my next query...
>
> I have always dead headed my roses and not really sure if there is a
> point to doing this or even if I am supposed to do it. My partner
> told me a few years ago that you were supposed to do it, so I have
> continued religiously ever since. Yesterday he denied ever telling
> me to do it and now I am left wondering if I imagined it, or if he is
> going prematurely senile!
>
> Anyhow the point to this thread is that I was wondering if I should
> continue doing it and if it has any benefits etc? Can anybody please
> share any info?
>
> Many thanks
> Gail

It's all to do with hormones!

If you leave the dead head hormone flow from the flowered shoot continues,
the plant thinks it has done its job and stops flowering.

Cut off the dead head (preferably with a good length of shoot) and the plant
thinks, "bugger, I've not flowered yet!" so sends out another flowering
shoot.

> >
> > I have always dead headed my roses and not really sure if there is a
> > point to doing this or even if I am supposed to do it. My partner
> > told me a few years ago that you were supposed to do it, so I have
> > continued religiously ever since. Yesterday he denied ever telling
> > me to do it and now I am left wondering if I imagined it, or if he is
> > going prematurely senile!

snip


Deadheading is a very pleasant job to do in the cool and quiet of the
evening, just pottering around the garden, it hardly seems like a job.
As the others have explained it does good.

kate

tom&barbara <gailgirvan408 [at] hotmail.com> writes
>Hi folks,
>
>Just me with yet another gardening question. I am learning loads by
>posting and reading all the threads on this site and I swear that being
>on here is a far quicker way of learning than it is reading any books!
>
>Anyway onto my next query...
>
>I have always dead headed my roses and not really sure if there is a
>point to doing this or even if I am supposed to do it. My partner told
>me a few years ago that you were supposed to do it, so I have continued
>religiously ever since. Yesterday he denied ever telling me to do it
>and now I am left wondering if I imagined it, or if he is going
>prematurely senile!
>
>Anyhow the point to this thread is that I was wondering if I should
>continue doing it and if it has any benefits etc? Can anybody please
>share any info?

Theory is that a) it stops energy going into fruit production b) it
encourages a second flush (especially if you remove a few inches of stem
back to a decent bud point) c) some roses don't drop their petals very
well and dead flowers look tatty.

It depends what sort of roses you grow. If you're growing species roses
which don't have a repeat flowering, for example, deadheading is a waste
of time from that point of view and deprives of a crop of beautiful
hips.
--
Kay

"Rupert (W.Yorkshire)" <reply [at] newsgroups.com> writes
>
>
>>
>Deadheading Roses or any other plant before it sets fruit, fools the plant
>into thinking that it has failed to reproduce and rewards you with yet more
>flowers.
>
That's not a universal rule! I defy you to get extra flowers off a
daffodil that way ;-)
>

--
Kay

Thank you for all the replies. I will continue!

>
> Deadheading is a very pleasant job to do in the cool and quiet of the
> evening, just pottering around the garden, it hardly seems like a job.
> As the others have explained it does good.
>
> kate

Kate, I have to agree ^^^^^^ I love deadheading it is a very relaxing
job and I admit to enjoying it, as you say, 'in the cool and quiet of
the evening'. :-)

regards
Gail

"K" <k [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:9jWYoaB0cPnEFwnX [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk...
> "Rupert (W.Yorkshire)" <reply [at] newsgroups.com> writes
>>
>>
>>>
>>Deadheading Roses or any other plant before it sets fruit, fools the
>>plant
>>into thinking that it has failed to reproduce and rewards you with yet
>>more
>>flowers.
>>
> That's not a universal rule! I defy you to get extra flowers off a
> daffodil that way ;-)
>>
>
> --
> Kay

OK cleva buga:-)
It works with dafs and tulips --but you do have to wait for next year.

Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote:
>
> OK cleva buga:-)
> It works with dafs and tulips --but you do have to wait for next year.

Indeed. The Spalding flower parade was originally created to use up
the flower heads cut off in the bulb fields, so that the sufars would
be used to make the bulb grow, not set seeds.

In article <8jFYYCB4bPnEFwHY [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk>, K
<k [at] scarboro.demon.co.uk> writes
>
>Theory is that a) it stops energy going into fruit production b) it
>encourages a second flush (especially if you remove a few inches of
>stem back to a decent bud point) c) some roses don't drop their petals
>very well and dead flowers look tatty.
>
>It depends what sort of roses you grow. If you're growing species roses
>which don't have a repeat flowering, for example, deadheading is a
>waste of time from that point of view and deprives of a crop of
>beautiful hips.

I think that the two lovely climbing roses in my garden don't have a
second flowering. But, weheter for them or other roses, I've always
wondered exactly where to dead head. Just the head and a centimetre or
two of stalk, or further back (eg, beyond the split in the stalk where
multiple heads come off)?

--
regards andyw

newsb wrote:
> I've always
> wondered exactly where to dead head. Just the head and a centimetre or
> two of stalk, or further back (eg, beyond the split in the stalk where
> multiple heads come off)?

I don't think it really matters much: the objective is to remove the
fruiting body, after all. Any other advice will be about the resultant
appearance and the opportunity for disease to get in.