Ballerina blooms in large sprays and all the blooms don't open at the same time in each spray. Don't try to deadhead each individual flower. Wait until all or most of the spray has dropped it's petals and cut the while thing off at one time. I cut back to a leaf on the main cane. a new cane will develop from the base of that leaf which will develop another spray. This would happen anyway but the spent sprays are not very attractive.

I use a purple handled pet toe-nail trimmer that I ended up buying two of last year at fair time, for trimming rabbit toenals.Well, darn trimmers don't work well on pets nails, but they work grerat on plants. The reason I don't just snap off by hand is my carpal tunnel syndrome leaves me with poor hand control sometimes, and I end up breaking leaf stems too when snapping off spent blooms by hand. Before I had so much nerve damage, I just snapped the blooms off by hand. Anywhoo, the purple trimmers can handle being run through the dishwasher, so I pop them into the dishwasher after trimming, to reduce chance of spreading things. So, these little trimmers ended up being a good thing. And I learned that rabbit toenails trim just fine with a human toenail trimmers ;-) Jean

carolinabeach - deadheading may encourage the vine to continue blooming longer into the season,but that deadheading would not be applicable until August or September... There are many different nutrients 'lumped' under the fuzzy term 'fertilizer' and this causes confusion among many gardeners especially when used in a very fuzzy way with regard to morning glories and 'fertilizer' causing excessive leaf growth with delayed flowering... There are two groups of nutrients grouped under the term fertilizer 1)Macro-nutrients a)Nitrogen b0Phosphorus c)Potash 2)Micro-nutrients such as trace minerals The ONLY nutrient that causes excessive leaf growth with regard to morning glories is the Nitrogen. Phosphorus WILL NOT cause excessive leaf growth and is often the main ingredient in various bloom(!) boosters(!)... Potash will not delay flowering and helps to build healthy plant immune systems. The various trace minerals willnot delay flowering and some growing mediums may be lacking in certain trace minerals which can impair flowering and fertility...Liquid Kelp is very good as a trace mineral supplement... Fertilizing with Phosphorus,Potash and trace minerals will NOT delay,impair or otherwise hurt flowerin and might help to induce flowering. Enjoy your Morning Glories(!)... TTY,... Ron P.S. A steady supply of Nitrogen is especially helpful to prevent(!) the lower leaves from falling off or becoming discolored...they fall off and become discolored because the Nitrogen(!) needed by the newer growth is removed from the older growth,which causes the older growth to die or become discolored... You will never(!) see ratty or discolored leaves on the lower parts of any Japanese show quality asagao...GEE(!) I wonder why(!)...Guess What(!)...they fertilize their plants..just like Dr.Yosiaki Yoneda recommends on his authoritative website for Japanese Morning Glories... Here is a link that might be useful: Morning Glories Database and Encyclopedia

I usually leave the spent blooms -even after they turn brown- just to add winter interest but, if you do not like the brown blooms, you can cut the little string that connects the bloom to the stem. You can do that at any time. When I leave the mophead blooms out there, they disintegrate on their own by March or so. You can cut them as I describe either before or just as the plant leafs out in Spring. Also, the blooms can be used as mulch if the plant does not suffer from fungal infections in the leaves and in the blooms.