To pinch out or not....

I have a great deal of flower plants including cosmos and osteospermum which having been raised from seed have gone pretty leggy due to the fact that they are only in 2 and half inch pots. I just ran out of time to pot them up further after raising them in the greenhouse since February. The cosmos in particular are between 4" and 6-7" tall, should I pinch the tops out before setting them out in the garden? or should I just plant them out as they are? They have all been hardened off now and beg for more soil round their roots so I'm tempted to set them out as they are and hope for the best.

 

I`d be inclined to pinch them out, personally.

 

Thanks daitheplant, any other suggestions?

 

When I repot Cosmos, which always tends to go leggy what ever you do, I bury it a couple of inches deeper in the pot. This also covers up some of the kinky stems.

Pinching out is often good practice, but it depends on what you want from the plant. I am growing an annual Leonotis, which has a single stem and last year grew up to 8 feet. I wouldn't dream of pinching that out as I like the height. I just use more and plant them closer. But a stringy Osteopermum would look silly, so I would certainly pinch that out.