Many gardeners love peonies, it is difficult to find flowers that combine bright beauty and unpretentiousness at the same time. A variety of colors, lush greens - a truly worthy decoration of any site.
This culture, without exaggeration, is called outstanding. If you choose the right place, plant, they will delight you for many years. You need to plant the culture in the garden in the fall.
Pros and cons of autumn planting peonies
From mid-August to early October, the time best for planting peonies in the fall, there are undeniably more pluses than minuses. The main thing is that before the onset of frost, the plants take root, take root in a new place, then they can survive the long winter. At the beginning of autumn, tree varieties are planted, then, closer to October, a turn of late, grassy ones. Plants planted at this time sprout and bloom two weeks earlier in the spring. Rooted, easily tolerated by return frosts, a developed root system adapts more easily during drought.
There are practically no minuses when planting peonies in the fall, an important condition is that they bloom before transplanting. In spring, it is better not to touch the flowers - they are sick, they may not tie buds. With caution, you need to dig the soil around, they have a powerful developed root system, which, when loosened, is easily damaged, which can also affect flowering.
Spring is a hot season for gardeners. There is a lot of care, a lot of trouble, so flowers can not be planted on time, which will affect the quality of plants, their splendor, this is another plus of autumn planting.
How to prepare and choose planting material for planting peonies in the fall
The main method, and reliable for reproduction, is the division of the bush. In late August and early September, when new buds of flowering have already formed, and small roots have not yet had time to grow, the operation is done in the following sequence:
• Cut the foliage, dig up the bush, for this you first need to dig it, then carefully remove it from the ground.
• Gently rinse with a stream of water and leave it in the shade for several hours, as slightly withered roots are easier to divide.
• Next, the wooden peg is driven into the center of the rhizome, the bush decays. You can use an iron knife, after glowing it on fire, so as not to bring the disease on the flower.
• The roots are shortened by cutting to 10 cm. If there is rot, it is carefully removed, the root is peeled and treated with charcoal.
About 4 eyes and the same number of roots are left on one divide, if you leave 1 eye, the plant will develop slowly, but the bush will turn out young and healthy. Such small bushes at first need to be shaded.
Planting and caring for peonies in the fall
Plants are photophilous. The place for planting peonies in the fall in the ground should be sunny, light partial shade is acceptable. Strong shading leads to the fact that the flowers begin to fade or become poor-quality, the stems will become thinner.
Landing pit should be done in advance, ideally 2 months before landing. The size of the pit depends on the volume of the roots, on average, the diameter is 50 cm, the depth is 60 cm. The large diameter of the pit is filled with a nutrient mixture. Humus and peat are laid at the bottom. Add meat and bone meal of approximately 300 grams and 200 grams of superphosphate. The rest of the place is filled with fertile soil. If the soil is clay, add sand, and vice versa, if sandy, add a bucket of clay, avoid wetlands.
Landing hole is left for shrinkage, in the absence of time, it is necessary to shed the soil with water. A segment of the rhizome is set obliquely, gently falling from above with earth, pressing it with your hands. Nearby is a groove that is filled with water. Next is mulching with sawdust, preferably last year, because fresh ones strongly oxidize the soil, however, hydrated lime can help here.
The depth of the pit should be such that the kidneys are below the soil level by 5 cm. If the kidneys are above the ground, then there is a risk of freezing, and with strong deepening there will not be enough strength to drive the sprout to the surface of the earth.
Fertilizers for peonies in autumn, summer, spring
When planting peonies in the fall, top dressing is applied to the soil, so fertilizers do not need to be fertilized in the next three years. The culture likes neutral or alkaline soil and responds well to feeding with ash and superphosphate. Flowers are unpretentious, but additional foliar dressing enhances flowering. If for some reason fertilizers were not applied during planting, then in the first year of life the plants are sprayed with urea after the appearance of sprouts in the spring. Further, for the first and second feeding, 100 grams of nitrophoska will be needed, then phosphorus and potassium are used.
It is favorable for young plants to use mullein that has fermented in the sun with the addition of wood ash. Or 40 grams of superphosphate and 20 grams of potassium sulfate are added to one bucket of mullein.
After flowering, complex fertilizers are good for flowers, which are used according to the instructions. In hot, dry weather, fertilizers are applied in liquid form, in rainy weather the use of granules is allowed. In early October, it is useful to add about 100 grams per square meter of ash and bone meal under the bushes. It is enough to sprinkle around and cover with mulch.
Peony care in the fall
It is important to prepare the plant for winter. The right actions will ensure a good wintering, abundant flowering next year. Now they just need nutrients. The root system is actively developing, growing. Now more than ever you need complete care. All useful substances are to a greater extent in the thickened parts of the roots. So, for lush flowering, full development, phosphorus and potassium are needed. It can be used in liquid form. Preparations are added to a bucket of water in accordance with the instructions and flowers are watered.
To grow beautiful peonies, planting and care in autumn provides for proper pruning of bushes before wintering the plant. The best time is the first frost, perhaps this will be the beginning of November, should not be cut earlier, this will affect the splendor of flowers in the best way. Shoots are shortened to the ground. Cut branches need to be taken out and burned. After the procedure, the earth around the bushes should be sprinkled with ash. In regions where harsh winters, peonies need to be covered in the fall. For this, lapnik or peat is suitable, as well as sawdust or fallen foliage. Cropped leaves of peonies should not be covered, this is a favorable environment for diseases, flowers can even die.
In rainy weather, flowers can be affected by gray rot; in the fight against it, the drug foundationazole will help. In autumn, after cutting the stems, fill the base of the bush with a 0.1% solution of this drug. For various types of spotting, spraying with 1% Bordeaux fluid is used.
The height of the covering layer of 10-15 cm will protect from cold, winds.
Trimming a tree peony is not recommended, because their flowers are formed on last year's shoots. Note that this type of culture does not tolerate stagnation of water, it prefers loose soil. The landing hole is made in the size of 70 by 70 cm, and drainage is necessarily laid at the bottom. With the onset of frost, the base of the bush is covered with dry leaves, wrapped in non-woven material. In the spring, dry and frozen branches are cut.
We wish you good luck in gardening!
