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| I just didn't get around to taking out the dead million bells plant from my strawberry pot last fall. Now I see that about half of the "dead" branches of it are leafing up. Should I leave it alone and just trim off the completely dead branches, or just toss it anyway? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Apr 29, 12 at 12:18
| how the heck do we know what you want to do??? i would experiment with it ... trim dead branches back to 2 or 3 live buds.. and see what happens .. less buds.. more vigorous growth.. rather than a million scraggly buds make any sense??? OR ... if there are more than one... leave one.. cut one back 25%... another 50% .. and another to two buds ... give it a week or two.. and decide which is responding best.. and trim the other accordingly ... i learned more by experimenting.. than i aver learned in a book.. or online ... ken |
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| Stop, don't murder the million bells, they are perennial. Give it time to wake up and grow more leaves then trim it up. If you want a little mound, wait until it sprouts closer to the root and cut off the length. They like starting way out on the tip of the brown stem for the first leaves. Many times I stake them up and plant around them. They fill in and I end up with a nice spray of flowers. The naked ones that live through the winter are the best. They have lots of roots and make a nice fat display quicker than the little 4" new plants. Petchoa and vegetative petunias behave the same. Calibrachoa like to dry out between waterings, no cold wet feet please. The old ones are the best. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Thu, May 3, 12 at 12:45
| If you throw it out, it'll sure be a lesson to your other plants! My petunias are all still alive too, tons of beautiful flowers. No way I would throw them out (no matter how much it might get the other plants' attention!) You'll probably need to be a little more vigilant about fertilizing in "old dirt" though, if you are currently not. |
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| purpleinopp is right about fertilizing. They are heavy feeders. I flip them out of the pot, knock off some old dirt and add some fresh. You can use the same pot or go up a size and add some friends. |
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- Posted by lindaw-cincy 6 (My Page) on Mon, May 28, 12 at 12:12
| Esther, mine came back too, and of course I was surprised. We had a mild winter as this has never happened before. Every year I buy 6 hanging baskets of million bells. Now I feel like I have 6 "free" baskets to set around. I have been fertilizing them every week with bloom booster and they are as large as the new ones I bought at the nursery this year. Sorta makes up for the new pot that the deer ate. Ha! |
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- Posted by carolinaflowerlover 7b (My Page) on Tue, May 29, 12 at 21:41
| Thanks for posting this. I did not know they were perennial (I hope this is normal, and not just because of the oddball winter). I picked up a hanging basket of them today. :) |
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