Time to propagate chrysanthemum cuttings. Here are some sources of general informatiion and how to do cuttings:
http://www.farm-garden.com/perennials/chrysanthemum
http://yoder.com/grower/garden/tips/general.asp#unrooted
This message was edited Jun 22, 2007 2:17 PM
Chrysanthemums: Time to propagate.
I just bought a collection of mums from King's and so by July 1st they should be cut back according to their directions. So you are saying that this is the time to take cuttings; so why couldn't I take those parts I trim off and stick them in some rooting hormone and get them to root?? What kind of medium do you use for chrysanthemums? For most of the softwood cuttings I use pumice but do you want something that is a little more water retentive for mums?
Yes. Propagate the tips you pinch off. The cuttings should have 2 or 3 leaf nodes. cut leaves away from the lower two nodes. The medium can be a commericial mix such as Pro Mix or Jiffy Mix. Or, you can use 1/2 peat and 1/2 perlite. They are very easy to root. Much like coleus. One way to do it is take a fairly large pot, 10 to 12 inches. Put in the mix, and moisten it. Insert the cuttings with a tag, if you are doing more than one kind. Insert a 4 inch clay pot in the middle that has a plug or cork to seal the hole. The clay pot will keep the medium appropriately moist. If there is a question of adequate humidity you can put the whole thing in a clear plastic bag. I have mine under mist in the greenhouse, so Im not using the plastic bag.
If you notice any mold, cut back on the moisture, but the perlite should keep the medium just right. Should be rooted in a few weeks.
The yoder link has good directions for rooting mums.
While transplanting some mum several weeks ago I accidentally broke a rather long branch off one of my plants. I had some soil with saturated water crystals mixed up in a gallon ziplock baggie from some planting I had done a few days earlier. I filled an 8 oz plastic cup with the mix, dip the branch in rooting hormone, inserted it in the cup, put the cup in the baggie in amongst the rest of the soil, I sealed the baggie and put it next to window with a eastern exposure. Yesterday I noticed I have several sprouts of new growth on it.
I've been cutting branches back the last couple weeks to get my plants ready for fall blooming. Instead of pitching them in a compost heap I think I'm going to start trying to root them.
Oh. Yes. Root anything that has at least 2 leaf nodes on it.
I broke of some tall mum stems and also some dahlias. I just stuck them into the pots of some roses I had under mist in the greenhouse.
I forgot about them, but this morning I noticed they have rooted and are ready for pots of their own.
Mums are very easy to root: just about any shady and adequately moist place will do fine.
Root them! One can never have too many.
This message was edited Jun 23, 2007 3:30 PM
Looking forward to giving this a try. Thanks for the input, gloria.
Yeah, we need to have a swap on these cuttings or rooted cuttings -- I am overrun with 2 kinds of mums I don't want that many of one kind!
'Medicine Bow', anyone?
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/MMEBOS.html
Suzy
Suzy, I would love some of your Mums, if the offer is still good. I am going to try to get some Mums and Asters going for the Fall bed...if it isn't too late to get them off to a good start...lol Just let me know..I will be happy to pay postage or trade if you are interested or trying to find something special. Thanks.
janet
Janet, it was too late (in the season) when I saw this, and I thought I responded, but I see the post didn't post to the board...I probably hit preview instead of send. So sorry.
Let's do it in spring....precluding a crop failure naturally. I'll be at least a month behind you, so you will have plenty of time.
I also posted a prospective swap here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/780608/
Suzy
Suzy
No problem. Thanks.
Hi all!
Just got some mum plugs in a co-op held by mamajack from Faribault mums. A few are rather tall 6-8 inches and I'm wondering if this is when I pinch and how often should I pinch back.
I was told that the pieces that I pinch off can be rooted so I've got a couple of the cowpots ready for them.
How many times should I pinch them back before I just let them grow out?
Thanks for any help.
Donna
Hi Donna. Here they say to pinch mums until July 1, probably NC is the same. You are pincing to increase the number of flowering shoots. For each leader you pinch out the plant will produce 2 flowering shoots from below the pinch. So pinch as many shoots out as you want to turn into 2 more flowering shoots.
Yes, its good to start rooting them to start new plants.
Thanks so much! I'm a terrible pruner so it helps me to have someone telling me its the right thing to do:LOL:
The one I'm pinching is Dorothy Dean or Degn (spelled both ways at site!) it's at the bottom of the page in the link.
http://www.faribaultgrowersinc.com/wholesale-mums2.php
Oh its beautiful. You will want a lot of those. You pinch off the center shoot down to the spot where you see a bud on either side. The new shoots will come out of those buds. They are growing so fast now you may be able to pinch the new shoots once or twice before July.
If I can manage to get them to take, I'd be more than happy to send some to a fellow Greensboro resident:LOL:
I just went out to list the ones I was sent and was stunned to see 17 varieties! Each has 2 plugs per pot=) I'm in an apt...I have not one clue what I'm going to do with all of them at this point. They don't take up much space when they're small:LOL:
They are great in pots. If you decide you have too many, let me know!
Oh I will:)
I hope you get them to bloom extravagantly for the fall.
Thanks! I think it would be fun to share them and keep them going. I went and looked at the King's Mum site and OMG how gorgeous are those things! I had no idea so many exotic looking mums existed:)
I usually get mine from Bluestone Perennials. Kings is a fantasy land for mums. Some of the swirly spiders are forms you could just sit and look at. You do have to get good at pinching and rooting and carrying them through the winter.
There are some that grow from seeds but they are not as fantastic as the ones propagated from root cuttings. They do make a big splash in the yard, though.
At least you guys can grow the Kings mums -- they aren't hardy up here for the most part.
Donna, you keep pinching those mums back -- probably 3 x before July 4th. Even the smallest piece, as long as it has one set of leaves you can strip, will root. I picked on up off the hot asphalt in the parking lot at Wal-mart last year when they were selling them in October. It was wilted and 1/2 dead and I stuck it in the ground, put a jar over it and it is up and as big as the others I started last year.
Try to get 5 of a kind and put them in a 6" pot for the porch step. Just use a peat-based medium like Metor mix or Pro mix and root them right in the pot.
Suzy
Suzy
Thanks Suzy--I had no idea they took that easily. I'm going to go do the four I need to pinch back in a little bit then.
I work at a WalMart and have frequently rescued bits and pieces from the path of the maintainance broom:LOL: I have spider plants, wandering jew and a bunch of pathos vines. Oh, and I harvest seed heads whenever I find them:lol: I don't work in the garden center but all of the employees come and ask me plant stuff--then I come here and ask ya'll if I'm stumped.
Yes, they are pathetically easy to root. Easier than coleus or impatiens, and those are really easy. Next year you'll wonder what you can do with all the plants!
Lol! On the garden center questions! The WalMart where my mom and I sometimes shop faces west and those plants burn up so fast! I feel so sorry for the person in charge of watering because they are on hot asphalt in burning hot sun in dark blue vests for a LONG time getting water to everything.
Suzy
We have the same thing at my store. We're one of the regular type stores that hasn't been moved or remodeled into a supercenter so we don't have the snazzy gigantic garden center and greenhouse room, just some shadecloth that has to be put up every spring over a fenced in concrete patio:lol: Also at the top of a big hill so we get sun all the time.
I wonder why the Walmart garden centers have such a time with their plants.
At ours, they get loads of miniature roses and put them on a shelf with no light. It really is a rescue mission when you go to look at their plants.
They don't mind if you pick up the broken mum stems, and there are a lot of them!
I think most big box garden centers view the plants as throw aways from the beginning. They don't have much mark up and are mainly there to encourage add on sales of the hard goods and such like pots, hoses etc.