Well I'm not the greatest gardener, but my Mom was. She always picked off the dead heads. She called it "dead heading".

Yes, deadheading is a good idea. I've always found petunias to be sticky. Sometimes I use a little pair of scissors, but then I have to clean them off.

At a certain time of summer my petunias (and a few other annuals) seem to be over the peak of blooming and begin to look regged from the heat/humidity. I have learned to kiss them goodbye and replace them with younger or different plants. I always feel so mean when I do that, like giving up on a sick friend.

This is the only reason I limited the amount of petunias I use to plant. It takes a lot of dead-heading it keep them looking good. They are always sticky, but the easiest way to handle them, is by pinching them with fingernails. That's how you get a "Green Thumb!" LOL About mid season you will find some of the branches are just a string of "stubby" stems where you dead-headed. You can pinch that whole branch back to where there are some leaves. This should help keep your plant looking good till the end of the season.

When you dead-head, be sure you include the base of the flower (not just the petal part.) That is where the seed will grow if you leave it on the plant. Growing seeds is what stunts the plant growth.

I think there are some new kinds of petunias that are not needing dead-heading, but I usually pinch them anyway.

I didn't know about pinching the base of the flower. I always just pulled the dead flower off. Thanks for letting me know that. I hope I can remember it for next year :)

Thanks for all the suggesyions.

My Mom used to grow petunias in a vegetale garden and each year they reseeded and came up. She never did anything to them and they were so nice. That was years ago, so maybe she did a lot more than I remember.

Anyay, guess I take a pair of scissors and start clipping. I'm almost tempted to cut them back and see if they send out nice new shoots.

Thanks for all the suggesyions.
My Mom used to grow petunias in a vegetale garden and each year they reseeded and came up. She never did anything to them and they were so nice. That was years ago, so maybe she did a lot more than I remember.

Anyay, guess I take a pair of scissors and start clipping. I'm almost tempted to cut them back and see if they send out nice new shoots.

I mostly leave my petunias alone. They seem very dry-hardy. They keep blooming in the heat and humidity of a Long Island summer.

Ivamae,
I use to have some of those petunias that came up on their own every year too, and I loved those! I think they looked beautiful all the time because they might have been reseeding all summer. I think there were new plants filling in all the time. I loved the variety of colors that grew together.

If your petunias are planted from a packet of seeds, you might have that kind. If they were started plants that you bought, they don't usually multiply, and they are the ones that get scraggly. I think the new, smaller, "wave petunias" in the market, get by without dead-heading.

I hope you have the kind that reseed. They are so nice to grow, unless you are trying to have just one particular color.