Thank you for watching

Thanks for watching Jenny

Thank you for watching!

I haven’t done mine yet this year, everything seems a bit behind this year. Thanks for watching Jenny

It depends on what effect you want to get. If you repeatedly pinch out then you will end up with short, stocky plants with short stems. If you still want tallish plants with longish stems then just pinch out once. My husband complained that when he pinched his out last year they were dwarfed, he did it a bit too late in the season and they grew shorter than the flowers around them. I would advise pinching out once early, once they have two sets of true leaves. Hope this helps Thanks for watching Jenny

Thanks so much for your video! Is it too late to do this now at the end of May? My husband grew our cosmos from seed but a couple plants have started blooming already. Most haven’t, but they’ve been planted now for a couple of weeks and are about a foot tall at this point. Thanks in advance for any advice! 😀🌸

No, I don’t think it would root but the original plant will bush up as a result

They form shorter bushier plants less prone to flopping. I still do stake them as my garden is so windy but in a sheltered spot perhaps grown adjacent to other plants you may get away with not staking. I know it’s a bit time consuming individually staking but sometimes I just stick in a few bamboos around the group and zig zag some string back and forward while the plants are small and the cosmos can grow through it giving them some support. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching Jenny

@@MurphysGarden Thanks, Jenny! The spot where I'll be growing them next year is not so windy. I'll chop them back and try without staking, and see how it goes. :)

Oh, will try this!

@@MurphysGarden just stick the stem into the ground and they grow!

Do they look healthy otherwise? Have you been feeding them? Sometimes if they have too much nitrogen then they produce a lot of vegetative growth at the expense of flowers. Sometimes feeds contain a bit too much nitrogen, try sprinkling a bit of bonemeal around the base and just water in and don’t feed with anything else, it contains phosphorus and may boost flowering Hope that helps Jenny

@@MurphysGarden thank you so much! Will try 🌸

Same problem here. I pinched mine and now they're big and have NO blooms. 😢

Oh dear, not sure why that is. Could you have done it a bit late, which would delay flowering. You should pinch out the growing tip of a cosmos seedling when the plant has developed its first 2-3 sets of true leaves sometime between March and May (depending on where you live and whether you are sowing indoors or outdoors). Hope that helps for next year, in the meantime try a bit of bonemeal as suggested above and I hope the blooms will come Jenny

He’s a working cocker spaniel and he is such a good dog. He’s 10 now but still wants to chase his ball all day long but he is starting to slow down gets tired so I can’t throw it as much as he wants me to!

@@MurphysGarden aw he's adorable

Yes, I am originally from N Ireland, thank you for watching Jenny

@@MurphysGarden I’m from Enniskillen

Oh wow,, are you still there? I was four when we left Ireland but my accent has stuck, I wouldn’t want to lose it!

I never water mine which are in the ground and so I guess the roots go deep down to find moisture and because they are underground they don’t dry out. Perhaps because yours are in grow bags which are shallow and the plastic probably gets quite hot which means that they dry out quickly and are dependent on you watering them frequently. Perhaps next year, plant in the ground if possible or else in a deep pot and hopefully they won’t be quite so demanding! 🌸

@@MurphysGarden Makes sense, thank you for the thoughtful advice! Now I'm just hoping they hurry up and bloom, I planted them late (early June) and they are big and healthy but not blooming yet.

Cosmos may be reluctant to bloom if the plants are getting too much nitrogen fertilizer. Although nitrogen is a necessary nutrient for healthy green growth, too much can be a bad thing for many plants. If your cosmos plant will not flower but has produced a lot of healthy looking leaves, it may be due to overfertilization. Try sprinkling with bonemeal to increase phosphorus and just water as needed. This makes them Sound incredibly fussy, really just stick them in the ground and let them do their own thing, you may be caring for them a bit too much!

@@MurphysGarden Thanks! I heard you shouldn't fertilize them much, but I didn't know you could still hit them with phosphorus and its just nitrogen that is the problem. When they were young I gave them a balanced "bloom booster" water soluble feed but haven't for over a month.

@@wilsgrant sounds good, I hope you get some blooms soon 🤞