A perennial herbaceous plant, peony adorns garden plots with its large, fragrant flowers in late spring and early summer. On one bush up to one meter high, many buds are formed, which can be white, pink, maroon, coral, lilac-pink, creamy white, pink-peach. A large number of large flowers bloom if you know how to care for peonies in the spring and how to feed them. After all, it is at this time of the year that a new growing season begins in plants, and buds are laid.
In the country or in the garden near the house, plants need special care, which in the spring should include the following procedures:
- Cleaning the soil around plantings from old leaves and weeds so that peony shoots can sprout.
- Watering and loosening the soil.
- Spring feeding of peonies.
- Prevention of diseases and pests.
If everything is clear with the first two points, then the procedure for feeding peonies after winter should be discussed in more detail.
How to fertilize peonies in spring
Plants need nitrogen to grow foliage, and potassium and phosphorus to flower. Also, in order for the bushes to grow and develop well, they need trace elements.
Feeding young peonies
- The shoots that appeared in May are sprayed with nitrogen fertilizers. You can use urea (per 10 liters of water - 40 grams).
- Two weeks later, a second feeding is carried out. For watering plants, sodium humate is used (for 10 liters of water - 5 grams), and for spraying the leaves - a solution of urea, to which microelements should be added (for 10 liters - 1 tablet).
- The third feeding of young peonies after winter is carried out ten to fifteen days after the second. This top dressing is necessary for good flowering of peonies, so nitrogen is not used. For watering plants, you can use a solution of heterouxin (for 10 liters of water - 2 tablets). Foliar top dressing this time is carried out with micronutrient fertilizers (2 tablets per 10 liters of water).
Young peonies in the first two years after planting develop a root system and do not bloom profusely. Therefore, you should not worry if you cared for the plants correctly, but they do not bloom very beautifully. In the third year, with proper care, peonies will thank you with abundant flowering.
Feeding peonies from the age of three in early spring
First dressing
Mature plants in late April - early May, after the snow melts and the soil is cleared, begin to grow. At this time, organic fertilizers, which include nitrogen, can be used to feed plants:
- compost;
- humus;
- cow or horse manure;
- urea;
- bird droppings.
Manure or litter must be pre-bred. So, for example, cow dung is diluted 1:20 with water, potassium and phosphorus are added to the solution. This solution is used for top dressing 2 weeks before flowering.
If there is no organic matter, after the snow melts, the plants are fed with potassium and nitrogen, pouring 15 grams of granules of these fertilizers under each plant.
Second top dressing
During budding and flowering, peonies definitely need potassium, phosphorus and a little nitrogen. To prepare a solution for one bush, you must:
- water - 10 liters;
- potassium and phosphorus - 15 grams each;
- nitrogen - 10 grams.
Third top dressing
After flowering, plants need to be supported and fed so that they restore their strength. To do this, two to four weeks after flowering, they are watered with a solution consisting of 10 liters of water and phosphorus with potassium (15 grams each).
You can use other fertilizer, which includes organic matter:
- potassium sulfate - 10 grams;
- superphosphate - 20 grams;
- mullein infusion - 1/2 bucket.
Feeding adult peonies
If peonies have been growing on your site for more than eight to ten years, they need enhanced nutrition. They are fed with slurry, and one and a half times more mineral fertilizers are used than for feeding younger plants.
Fertilizer example:
- Dilute 500 ml of bird droppings or one liter of fresh mullein in water (10 liters);
- add 50 grams of superphosphate;
- insist 10 days.
Before use, the prepared nutrient solution is diluted 1:1 with water.
Attention! Root dressings are applied after watering the plants! It is not recommended to pour the fertilizer solution on the roots. It is best to make furrows at a distance of about 20 cm from the bushes and pour top dressing into them.
Feeding peonies with bread
It happens that you come to a summer cottage, but you didn’t buy fertilizers for plant nutrition. In this case, you can use rye bread. The roll should be cut in half and soaked in cold water overnight, then diluted in a bucket of water.
The resulting mass is watered with peony bushes immediately after winter, that is, during or immediately after the snow melts.
Fertilizing peonies with yeast in spring
For abundant flowering of peonies, you can use a solution of baker's yeast. Prepare it as follows:
- pour 100 grams of yeast with warm water;
- add one glass of sugar;
- leave to ferment for 12 hours;
- strain.
Plants that have just begun to shoot shoots are watered with a yeast solution.
In order for your peonies to bloom profusely, you need to start caring for them in early spring, using suitable fertilizers for this.
During the growing season (spring) it is important to pay attention to your peonies and they will delight you with unusually lush flowers. This article will tell you about how to feed peonies and in what time frame.
In one place, peonies can grow excellently and bloom magnificently for a long time. To do this, you need to carefully care for the bushes of peonies. In the third year of plant development, when peonies are about to bloom, in addition to regular watering and loosening, they must be additionally fed.
Three times a season, we carry out foliar feeding of peonies, which will allow the peony to delight you with friendly and long flowering throughout the season. Spraying is carried out with any complex mineral fertilizer (for example, Ideal) on the leaves.
For efficiency, add a little laundry soap or washing powder to the fertilizer solution (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of solution), so it is better to linger on the surface of the leaves,
Foliar top dressing is desirable to perform in the evening or in cloudy weather.
- Bread feed. Experienced summer residents consider this top dressing the most effective. It is prepared like this: In a bucket of warm water, soak rye bread (about half a loaf), add a glass of sugar, leave to swell for three hours. Pour the peony bushes with this solution.
- Yeast feed. 100 gr. Dissolve yeast in a bucket of warm water. We leave for 20 minutes. Water the peony with this solution.
- Chicken manure. Take 1 part chicken manure and 25 parts water. Leave in a warm place to infuse for two weeks. We dilute the resulting solution with more water in a ratio of 1: 3, add a handful of wood ash.
Proper feeding of peonies at the beginning of the growing season allows you to get incredibly lush flowering. Peony bushes grow in one place for a long time and bloom profusely every year, which leads to rapid depletion of the soil. Plants must be carefully looked after. Early spring top dressing is one of the most necessary measures to improve the quality of flowers. With the help of special fertilizers, peonies can be made to bloom much more abundantly and brighter than usual.
Early spring top dressing
Peonies planted in a well-fertilized pit begin to be fed only after three years. At this time, the plants in the garden begin to bloom. For abundant flowering, in addition to regular watering and loosening, additional nutrition is required. You need to try to have time to feed the peonies in the spring immediately after the snow melts. During this period, plants need nitrogen first of all.
Intensive growth of bushes can be supported:
- urea;
- ammonium nitrate (sodium, calcium or potassium);
- calcium cyanamide (suitable for floating soils).
A lot of nitrogen is found in organic matter. Instead of mineral fertilizers, the earth can be sprinkled with rotted last year's manure. The thickness of the organic layer should be about 5 cm. The soil sprinkled with humus is loosened and watered abundantly.
Gardeners who do not have humus can use spring top dressing with rye bread:
- 1. Half a loaf of black bread is dipped in cold water for 12 hours.
- 2. The resulting slurry is diluted with a bucket of water and the plants are watered. One bucket is enough for a bush.
- 3. Top dressing with bread is carried out immediately, as the first sprouts appeared from the ground.
When applying mineral fertilizers, their dose should be calculated in such a way that each bush has 10-15 g of nitrogen. For example, if it is written on a pack of urea that the nitrogen content is 46%, then 20 g of fertilizer is applied for each young bush about to bloom for the first time, which, in terms of pure nitrogen, will be 10 g of useful substance.
Nitrogen fertilizer No. 1
All nitrogen fertilizers are highly soluble in water. Urea or saltpeter can be diluted with warm liquid and watered the bushes. Sometimes the granules are simply scattered on the ground and buried with a rake. The second method is suitable if the soil is still wet from melted snow.
Budding period
Peonies begin to pick up buds in the summer. Already in early June, numerous flower sprouts form on the bushes. Phosphorus is required for good budding. To ensure the friendly development of leaves, flowers and roots during this period, 10 g of nitrogen, 20 g of phosphorus and 10 g of potassium are added under each bush.
The nutritional needs of plants will be fully met by:
- azophoska;
- nitroammophoska.
To achieve the ideal proportions of nutrients, experienced flower growers mix several mono-fertilizers in the right amount. For example, as mentioned above, 10 g of nitrogen are contained in 20 g of urea. The plant will receive the required amount of phosphorus from 150 g of simple superphosphate or 60 g of double, and 10 g of potassium - from just 20 grams of potassium chloride - a highly concentrated fertilizer, a little more than half of the composition of which is potassium that is well absorbed by plants.
Period after flowering
During flowering, plants do not feed. For the third time during the season, the bushes are fertilized 2 weeks after flowering - in July. At this time, buds are laid in peonies and plants will need a lot of phosphorus and potassium. Under each bush contribute 20-25 g of pure potassium.
You need to carefully monitor the dosage of fertilizers, since any plant is better to underfeed than overfeed. An excess amount of food disrupts the development of crops and prevents them from preparing for wintering. Incorrectly fertilized bushes often freeze in winter, and suffer from fungal diseases during the season.
For the third top dressing, you can use a mixture of wood ash and superphosphate:
- 500 g of wood ash and 300 g of superphosphate are thoroughly mixed and infused for at least a day in five liters of water.
- Bushes are fertilized by diluting the working solution with clean water 10 times.
End of summer and autumn
In August and September it is time to prepare for wintering. In early autumn until October, the root system of the flower thickens. It is rich in nutrients. Throughout the first half of autumn, the roots continue to grow. Additional feeding will help the plants store more food and make it easier to overwinter.
For autumn top dressing, potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are used. Potassium increases the winter hardiness of plants, phosphorus will stimulate the next year's flowering.
Autumn top dressing is carried out in a dry form. In the first case, 20 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium chloride are poured onto the soil near each bush. Pre-flowers are well watered.
Industrial flower fertilizers
The modern chemical industry produces ready-made fertilizer mixtures that increase the brightness, splendor and duration of flowering. These drugs are easy to use. They are ideal for beginner gardeners, as there is no risk of miscalculating the dosage if they are used.
Industrial mixtures can be used both for planting peonies and for feeding already planted plants. In addition to ease of use, ready-made powders and liquids have another advantage - they are more effective than conventional mineral fertilizers, and sometimes even surpass organic matter in quality.
Table: mineral fertilizers for flowers:
Names | Mode of application |
"Kemira" flower | For feeding flowers in spring and summer. Sold in large volume packages (2.5 kg). Does not contain chlorine. Suitable for any flowers: annuals, perennials, bulbs. Peonies are fertilized every 2 weeks at the rate of 10-20 g per 10 liters of water. |
"mortar" | Suitable for root and foliar dressings. Dilute at a dosage of 20 g per 10 liters of water |
OMU Buyskiye fertilizers "Flower" | 100 g of fertilizer per bush. Sprinkle over the surface of the soil and loosen |
"Agricola" for flowers | Crystalline powder, completely soluble. Suitable for foliar applications. A sachet (50 g) is diluted in 20 liters of water |
"Agricola Aqua" for flowering plants | Contains trace elements in chelated form, humic substances, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Suitable for root and foliar top dressing. A 250 ml bottle is enough to prepare 50 liters of solution |
"Fertika" flower | Without chlorine. Contains macro- and microelements. For 10 liters of water take 10-20 grams of powder |
Fertilized soils allow you to get earlier and larger flowers. The bushes will become more durable, they will not need to be transplanted to a new place due to the depletion of the substrate. Properly and on time, fed plants winter well and almost do not get sick.
In the recommendations for the care of various flowers, top dressing is an important point, peonies are no exception, because this is a perennial plant that depletes the soil around it over time. There is a whole system of how to do this, and you will get acquainted with it in this article.
How to feed peonies?
First you need to indicate that adult peony bushes need to be fed (after 3 years). For a year, so that the flower is healthy and blooms well, it is recommended to carry them out three times:
The first top dressing is in early spring, after the snow begins to melt, while it is still lying around the peonies. Nitrogen (15 grams) and potassium (20 grams) should be scattered around each trunk. Dissolved in melt water, they penetrate deep into the soil and feed the plant.
The second top dressing is carried out during the budding period, it is necessary to increase the number and improve the quality of flowers. This time, phosphorus (20 grams), potassium (15 grams) and nitrogen (10 grams) are added under each bush.
The third top dressing is two weeks after the peonies bloom. It is needed for laying the kidneys for the next year. Potassium (15 grams) and phosphorus (20 grams) are added.
It is best to combine fertilization with watering, then the substances will quickly get to the roots. But in addition to mineral preparations, improvised means can also be used.
Feeding peonies with bread
Take a loaf of rye bread and cut it in half. Soak one half in cold water for 12 hours. The resulting mass is diluted in a bucket of water. This is how we water the bushes immediately after the sprouts crawled out of the ground after wintering. After such top dressing this year, peonies will delight you with abundant flowering.
In addition to the listed dressings, in the spring for peonies it is still possible to carry out foliar feeding. To do this, the leaves of the plant are sprayed with a dissolved complex mineral fertilizer. To achieve the best effect, this should be done only in the evening, when the stomata open.
Let's continue talking about peonies, about these romantic flowers that excite our imagination so much with their unusually bright colors and enchanting aroma.
I always look forward to the flowering of peonies, because when on a warm sunny day you come up to a huge flowering bush, inhale this wonderful aroma, touch the fragile and delicate silk petals, you understand how beautiful our life is and all the troubles that happen to us - it's just nonsense.
In we got acquainted with the history of peonies, with their healing properties, with biological characteristics and with a variety of varieties.
Today we will talk about how to properly grow peonies, care for them, about the secrets of the lush flowering of peonies.
Peonies are very popular among flower growers not only because of their beauty, but also because they are able to easily, and can also grow in one place for a long time.
And if the plant is planted correctly and in the future to devote at least a little time to it, then the peony will delight us with its lush flowering for many, many years.
Site selection and soil cuisine
The decorativeness of peonies, their viability and longevity depend on how correctly we choose a place for planting peonies. After all, peonies do not particularly like transplants, and can “live” in the same flower bed for decades.
Therefore, the place for it must be chosen especially carefully so as not to disturb the plant once again.
With regard to the landing site, the peony is very capricious, and if he does not like it, then flowering can not wait. And no matter how carefully you take care of it (fertilizing, watering, loosening), the peony will not bloom. So we quickly dig out our capricious handsome man and transplant him to another place.
It is best that it be an open, sunny place, but at the same time, protected from strong and cold winds.
Peonies do not like damp wetlands, so if in the place where you planned to plant them groundwater comes close to the soil surface, then it is worth planting plants on raised bulk beds.
It is not recommended to plant peonies closer than 2 m from buildings, because this creates very unfavorable conditions for their growth: in spring and autumn, increased soil moisture due to drops from the roof; and in summer, overheating of plants is possible due to the fact that the walls radiate heat.
It is also undesirable to plant peonies close to trees and shrubs, since shade and a constant lack of water and nutrients will prevent them from blooming luxuriantly.
I told you, dear readers, about the general recommendations for planting peonies, but what wishes your plant will have will need to be verified in practice.
Here, for example, at my neighbor's dacha, peonies grow beautifully and bloom magnificently near the very wall of the house.
Although peonies can grow on all types of garden soil, they will develop in different ways.
So, for example, on sandy soil they have more stems, leaves and buds of renewal on rhizomes, while the stems grow thin, the leaves and flowers are not large.
If your soil is clayey, then the plants develop slowly: the number of stems does not increase so quickly and, accordingly, peonies multiply more slowly, but the stems grow thick, the flowers are very large and the leaves are powerful.
It is believed that loamy, nutrient-rich soils, well-drained, but sufficiently water-intensive soils are best suited for peonies, since such powerful plants with large leaves simply need water throughout the growing season.
The peony does not like to grow on peat soils, due to the fact that the plant lacks moisture on them, then its excess, then overheating, then hypothermia - no constancy.
In addition, the increased acidity of this soil can cause such a dangerous disease as gray rot.
Therefore, if you have such soil, then before planting it is simply necessary to add ash, sand, bone meal, and organic fertilizers to it, thereby reducing its acidity.
Sandy loamy soil can also be improved by adding some clay and peat and, of course, organic fertilizers.
When to plant?
The time for planting peonies largely depends on the growing area, as well as on what kind of planting material you have.
These can be parts of an old rhizome obtained by dividing it (delenki), or young plants purchased in nurseries.
Delenki are best planted from mid-August to mid-(late) September, since during this period the peony has already sufficiently formed buds of renewal on the rhizome, but the formation of small suction roots has not yet begun.
If the summer was dry, then the renewal buds may be delayed in their development, and then the planting time can be postponed by 1-2 weeks.
It is important to remember that a peony needs 6 weeks for good rooting.
Of course, if the weather is warm for a long time, then you can start planting peonies in October, but it’s better not to risk it.
A plant planted in late autumn needs special care, as it will go unrooted in winter. Therefore, it must be properly covered for the winter.
First, we sprinkle the roots with peat or loose earth with a layer of 10-15 cm, and then additionally cover the top with foliage or spruce branches. Better, of course, spruce branches, if you have one.
In the spring, covered in this way, late plantings must be unraveled and watered well if the weather is dry.
The good rooting of such a peony and its further development will largely depend on the amount of moisture received.
In the spring, I strongly do not recommend planting and transplanting peonies. Because the buds of renewal in peonies begin to grow very early, when the soil has not yet thawed, and by the time it is possible to transplant and divide the bush, the sprouts can already grow up to 10-15 cm.
And since they are very delicate and fragile, during the planting process there is a high probability that the sprouts will break, bend.
Transplanted, and especially peony bushes divided in spring, as a rule, lag behind in development from bushes planted in autumn for a whole year, and under adverse weather conditions, the plant may die.
But in the spring it is good to plant young peonies bought in nurseries or specialized stores, which, with such a planting, will have time to acclimatize well and grow up before winter.
Planting hole preparation
Peonies have a rather powerful root system that grows deep and wide, so it is necessary to prepare a planting hole no less than 60-70 cm in diameter and 70 cm deep.
If we dig a hole not deep enough, then the roots of the peony, having reached solid ground, will stop their growth.
Be sure to put drainage at the bottom of the landing pit. It can be gravel, coarse sand or broken brick.
Then we fill the lower part of the pit with an earthen mixture, which consists of the top layer of earth, rotted manure, compost and peat, it is also good to add 150-200 g of superphosphate or 300-400 g of bone meal or ash there, and if your soil is acidic, then it’s not bad to pour 200-400 g of crushed slaked lime as well.
The mixture is thoroughly mixed and filled with water. We fill the upper part of the pit with good garden soil without adding any fertilizers, and we will plant the plant in it.
If you could not do this and prepare the pit right before planting the peonies, then the soil must be lightly tamped so that it does not settle after planting, and then the planted plant may eventually not be at the depth required, which will adversely affect the growth of the plant .
Planting material preparation
The best divisions for planting are those that have 3-5 renewal buds and the same number of roots.
You may have a question, why should there be the same number of buds and roots?
The thing is that if there are a lot of buds in the delenka, and few roots, then in the spring the stems that have grown from these buds will not have enough food. After all, until new roots have formed, a young plant receives nutrients from old roots.
If it turns out the other way around - few buds and many roots, then the plant in the first year (and the next) may not develop new buds, but be content with the existing ones, which will undoubtedly affect the flowering of the bush.
So I advise you to pay attention to the fact that on the delenki that you are going to plant, the number of renewal buds and roots is the same.
Before planting, we carefully examine the planting material and very carefully cut off all rotten and damaged tissues to healthy parts.
Then, for disinfection, it is worth holding the roots in a solution of potassium permanganate (7-10 g per 10 liters of water) or copper sulfate (100 g per 10 liters of water) and sprinkle the wounds with crushed charcoal.
Rooting can also be improved using the following procedure: we dip the roots into a clay mash, then slightly dry and plant.
We make the chatterbox in this way: in 10 liters of water we dissolve 60 g of copper sulfate, 2 tablets of heteroauxin and 5 kg of clay, and you can also add 500 g of wood ash.
Another plus of such processing is that planting material can be stored much longer, and it can also be sent by mail.
We plant correctly
Well, we have prepared the landing pit, the planting material too, so it's time to start planting.
This is a very important stage in the cultivation of peonies, because the further development of our young plant, its lifespan and, of course, the splendor of flowering depends on how correctly we plant it.
We plant the peony in the upper part of the planting hole we prepared, which is filled with garden soil.
Particular attention should be paid to the planting depth: renewal buds should be at a depth of no more than 3-5 cm on loamy soils, and on light sandy loamy soils - 5-7 cm.
And such a deepening of the buds must be maintained throughout the life of the bushes, and then our peonies will delight us with their abundant flowering for a long time.
And if the landing is shallow, then in the spring they may suffer from late frosts, in the summer - from overheating, and in a winter with little snow - from frost. And, as a result, some of the buds may die, then we will not get good flowering.
If we plant peonies too deep, for example, the uppermost bud will be at a depth of 15-20 cm, then we will never see the flowering of the bushes, although they will look completely healthy.
Having set the planting material to the depth we need, we fill it with fertile soil, but do not tamp it down so as not to accidentally damage the buds and roots, but gently squeeze it with our hands, eliminating voids.
Then we water abundantly, add more earth, if necessary, and mulch the plantings.
Peony bushes grow quite quickly, so they should be planted at a distance of at least 90-100 cm from each other.
This will further facilitate the processing of the bushes, provide good air circulation between them, which can prevent the appearance and spread of fungal diseases.
Basic care for peonies
The main care for peonies is to remove weeds, water, loosen, fertilize and protect against diseases.
loosening. It is necessary to loosen the soil around the bushes carefully: directly at the bush to a depth of no more than 5-7 cm, and at a distance of 20-25 cm from it, you can loosen it already deeper - by 10-15 cm.
If we loosen regularly, then a well-aerated mulch layer will soon form, which will prevent the evaporation of moisture from the lower layers of the soil.
In this regard, it will be possible to reduce the frequency of watering in dry weather. Loosening also helps in successful weed control.
And I also want to remind you that it is necessary to prevent the formation of a crust, for this it is necessary to loosen the soil after each rain and heavy watering.
Watering. After planting, peonies really need regular watering (especially if the autumn is dry), as watering speeds up rooting.
In the future, they can be watered infrequently, but plentifully, pouring 3-4 buckets under an adult plant, about once every 8-10 days.
Peonies really need watering in spring and early summer, because during this period there is a rapid growth of bushes and the formation of flowers, as well as in mid-July - August, when the renewal buds are laid.
Watering is best in the grooves, which are made at a distance of 20-25 cm from the bush.
If the bushes are already old, strongly overgrown, then the distance to the groove must be increased so that water can flow into the zone of young active roots.
Although watering the plant in the grooves is allowed at any time of the day, it is still better in the evening, since at this time most of the water is absorbed into the soil and does not evaporate.
On very hot days, you can additionally carry out surface watering of the soil under the bushes from watering cans, trying not to fall on the leaves (in order to avoid the appearance of fungal diseases), and especially on the flowers, in order to prevent them from lodging.
We feed. If we properly prepared the soil when planting peonies and filled the planting pits with nutrients enough, then the first two years the young bushes develop perfectly without root dressing.
In the future, peonies already require regular root feeding.
First feeding it is desirable to carry out even on melted snow or immediately after its descent. At this time, the plant needs nitrogen-potassium fertilizers the most: 10-15 g of nitrogen and 10-20 g of potassium per bush.
You can also make a solution of mineral fertilizers (dissolve 50-70 g of a flower mixture in 1 bucket of water) and add one bucket under a bush.
Do not forget that it is necessary to fertilize under the plants only after rain or heavy watering.
In dry soil, fertilizers (even in liquid, even in dry form) are categorically not recommended to be applied, since the plant may die.
Second time it is worth feeding the peonies during the budding period and we will need: 10-15 g of nitrogen, 15-20 g of phosphorus and 10-15 g of potassium per bush.
Third time we will feed the plants two weeks after flowering during the budding period.
Here we need a mixture in the following composition: 15-20 g of phosphorus and 10-15 g of potassium.
Keep a close eye on the rate of fertilizer application, as excessive amounts of fertilizer (especially nitrogen) can lead to the fact that only the leaves will grow well, and bud formation will decrease.
It also reduces the resistance of plants to diseases.
It is also very good to feed peonies with a solution of mullein or bird droppings with mineral fertilizers added to it.
You can prepare such a nutrient solution as follows: in a barrel, dilute 1 bucket of fresh cow manure in 5-6 buckets of water (bird droppings in 25 buckets) and, placing it in a sunny place, leave it for 10-15 days for fermentation.
After fermentation, add 0.5 kg of wood ash, 200-300 g of superphosphate to the barrel and mix well.
Before feeding, this nutrient solution must be diluted 2 times with water, and the solution with bird droppings - 3 times.
Help to bloom
In the first year after planting (and preferably in the second), you should not allow the peony to bloom, as it will weaken the plant and prevent the root system from fully developing.
Therefore, the buds formed at this time should be removed so that all nutrients are directed to the general development of the plant, and not to flowering.
So prepare mentally for the fact that you will see the first flowers on a newly planted peony only in the third year, and real full-fledged flowering with the size and color of flowers characteristic of the variety will only be in the fifth year.
If you want to get large top flowers, then the side buds must be removed when they reach the size of a pea.
If you prefer the abundance of flowers on the bush and its long flowering, then the side buds should not be removed.
Faded peonies must be immediately removed from the stem, cutting them off to the first well-developed leaf and leaving a very small stump.
Otherwise, falling petals, falling on the leaves, can provoke a disease with gray rot, especially in rainy weather.
During the flowering period, peony bushes with large, heavy flowers need supports, since, even with powerful stems, they inevitably begin to lean towards the ground.
And with strong winds and precipitation, the flowers, leaning almost to the ground, become dirty and lose their decorative effect.
Supports are best placed before flowering.
Preparing for winter
For the winter, we cut off the entire aerial part of the plant to ground level. But we do this only after the first strong frosts, when the stalks of pions fall down.
Up to this point, there is still an outflow of nutrients from the leaves and stems to the storage roots.
Therefore, early pruning will cause great harm to the plant.
Some flower growers explain the early cutting of the stems by the fact that the leaves have dried up, but the leaves dry out only on diseased plants, and if it is healthy, then the leaves remain fresh and beautiful until the frost.
After we cut off the aerial part, it is worth paying attention to whether the buds at the base of the shoots are exposed.
If this happens, then you need to spud the bushes by 7-10 cm.
Usually peonies are not covered for the winter. The exception is newly planted plants, it is recommended to cover them with peat or humus with a layer of 10-15 cm. In early spring, before germination, we remove this covering layer.
Basic Mistakes
Sometimes peonies bloom poorly, and sometimes they don’t even bloom at all, although it would seem that the bushes look healthy.
What mistakes did we make when growing peonies?
And they can be as follows:
1. The landing site was not chosen correctly - too shady, close to buildings, trees and shrubs, not wet enough or, conversely, too wet (no drainage).
2. Planting is too deep or too shallow.
3. The peony was recently planted and the planting material was divided very finely.
4. The peony bush is already old and requires transplantation and division.
5. Kidneys were damaged by late spring frosts.
6. Increased acidity of the soil.
7. Excessive amount of nitrogen fertilizers.
8. Lack of nutrition and moisture during the period when the formation of renewal buds is underway.
9. The leaves were cut very early in the fall (before they lodging).
As you can see, dear readers, it is not so difficult to take care of peonies: water them in time, weed weeds, loosen the soil and feed them.
And they, in turn, will give us a lot of pleasure during their flowering, and not only to us, but to all those who pass by our gardens will also admire this fantastic beauty.
See you soon, dear readers!