Soon chrysanthemums will be in garden centers: look great but when potted larger or put in ground they often brown up and die. Cause? Any suggestion to prevent this?. Thanks
chrysanthemum: browning of commercial plants
Don't know about yours, but mine in one area have brown knees because early this spring the slugs got after them and they got slimed. Also they need more water that you might think at least here in my free draining bed. They say if you really want mums to hang around buy hardy mums in the spring so that they have good roots systems to get through the winter months. Bluestone has a nice selection. If you do buy for fall purchase as soon as they are on sale and plant them about an inch deeper than they were in the pot. Do not cut them back lower than a foot in fall, mulch on dripline and wait for new growth to remove old stems in spring. They also like good drainage over winter. Pinch back stems every time they grow three inches up to the 4th of July to increase stems and blooms. That is all I know of mums, hope you get some more advice to help you and good luck with them.
I read the ones sold in the garden centers in the fall are usually just treated as annuals. Ngam is correct mums should really be planted in the spring
Some of mine have returned but they are leggy, & not worth it...I treat them as annuals. The exception is Sheffield.
Mine have been returning for a few years, and I pinch them back to keep them short and full, then pot up the stems I pinched off. I have a bunch of new plants from the stems I pinched off this year.
Smart, Deb....I just kept them in the same place in the ground, & they got really ratty looking.
thanks for all the replies (1) - yes i have wintered some over with the tips provided and so far they look great and about to bloom (2) I was not as clear as i could have been - I have purchased and have seen mums just intended to be there for the season - BUT - these rapidly brown up and die - maybe they are so root bound that they need lots of water
I think you were clear, it's just our habit of getting a little (or a lot) off topic.
I think they always do better in the ground than potted, I have had them do the same when potted.
I have some that have wintered over but like you say jimbo alot are so rootbound they don't survive.
thanks for help - I have some that i divided after wintering over, divided and potted for containers - blooming beautifully - now i may have to get some from garden centers to replace damage from muskrat/beavers ( that's another post) . We will see how they do