When your decorating season is over, or when the temps simply become too cold, it’s time to move the plant to safety for good. This allows for plenty of nutrients for the season. Pinch off dead blooms to clean up the plant, but leave branches intact. Before bringing indoors, cut the mum back a few inches above the potted soil line. Mums love … Signs of overwatering include yellow leaves that turn black and fall off. You should encourage fuller plant growth by pinching back new growth in spring, readying the mums for the fall blooms. What Do I Do With My Potted Mums After They Die? The following spring, as soon as soil warms and the threat of a hard freeze is over, it is safe to plant in the landscape. Monitor fertilizer salt levels in the growing medium and do periodic tissue tests to address any nutritional deficiencies or pH problems that might occur. Mums can survive light frosts and cold fairly easy, but a hard freeze can kill roots in pots permanently. No matter if they were in pots, hanging baskets – or even planted in the ground. For these mums, do not cut back the foliage until spring, as it will help provide protection for the first winter. As soon as the first hard frost occurs in your garden in fall, it's … Chrysanthemums, commonly called by the nickname “mums,” are a popular fall flower that begins blooming in late summer or early autumn and can last until the frost hits. You can also not get blooms if things get too cold before the buds are ready to bloom. Cut or pinch off individual flowers back to a larger stem as soon as each flower has finished blooming to maintain a somewhat neater appearance, if desired. Floral mums on the other hand will not come back. What can I do to get them to bloom again? Let’s first talk about mums in containers or baskets. Pinch the stems between mid-spring and midsummer to promote bushiness. Chrysanthemum 'Coral Cavali' Barbara L. Johnston/MCT Q: The blooms on my potted mums are spent. Unfortunately, mums planted back into the ground in late fall have little chance for survival. Chrysanthemums are short-day plants. Mums have moderate maintenance requirements and benefit from some amount of care throughout much of the year, including after they finish blooming. Cease any fertilizer applications and cut back on or completely stop watering. Once mums bloom, deadheading can generate more blooms. Keeping the soil moist will help plants stay healthy until you are ready to plant them. Watering outdoor mums is pretty much the same as indoor mums especially if they are still in their pots. Plants can either be sheared off, or simply pinched back by hand. This process involves removing spent flowers once the blooms start wilting. Keep mums … Well, there are a few tell-tale hints that can help you know: Smaller mums in small, shallow containers and planters tend to be floral varieties that are not suitable for saving. Especially when you consider most are tossed to the curb at the end of the season – even though the large majority sold are hardy varieties that can be kept and grown from year to year. Mums will generally lose their top growth after a hard frost and go dormant for the winter. This late-summer fertilization can increase flowering, especially in areas with wet summers where rainfall has caused nutrients to leach from the soil. Happy Gardening – Jim and Mary. As soon as the flowers finish blooming, cut off or detach individual flowers to a larger stem for a neater appearance. These plants are enjoyed for the plentiful, bright blooms they produce in fall as hours of daylight decrease. If you see this, you know they are good for saving. Once subjected to even the slightest of frost, they quickly succumb. If you purchased your mums in early fall and planted them in the ground for display, they can be left to overwinter. If frost gets your mums, don't fret. So how do you know the difference? © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. After the mums start to flower, cut off the dead blooms as soon as they begin to wilt. Next, for best success, store in a cool corner of the basement or a semi-heated garage. After this happens, cut the top growth back and cover all the plants with a thick layer of mulch.The following spring, after the threat of frost has passed, pull the mulch back off the plants. Next, for best success, store in a cool corner of the basement or a semi-heated garage. Talk about a serious savings to the pocketbook! Space mums about 1 1/2 to 2 feet apart, allowing them room to fill out. When watering, water at the base of the plant and not through the buds or flowers on top. Remove and replace the mulch if the mums experienced disease or pest problems during the growing season. In fact, it can cut a bloom’s life span in half! For starters, the plants are often labeled as “hardy”, or as a garden mum. If it's fall and your mums are not flowering, it's possible that they were forced into blooming earlier in the year, so they didn't develop enough new buds after the first flowering. Take care not to overwater your mums as soggy soil can prevent them from flowering and cause root rot. With their shallow, tender roots, they simply do not have the root structure to withstand any cold at all. (See: How To Care For Mums In The Summer). How To Save Mums! This article may contain affiliate links. The potted mums you buy in the fall dry out quickly since they are usually top heavy with bloom and have a relatively small amount of roots. They start budding around Labor Day and bloom soon after. You will want to water them from time to time through the winter, but only lightly every few weeks. The goal is to allow them to go dormant without freezing. After this, when wintering mums, it is best to provide a heavy layer of mulch over the plant after the ground has frozen. Mums (Chrysanthemum moriflorum and Dendranthema grandiflora) are herbaceous perennials cultivated across U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 10, although the growing range varies between cultivars and many mums are treated as annuals even in warm areas. Otherwise, leave a mulch layer no more than a few inches thick around the mums and leave about a 6-inch mulch-free zone around the base of each plant. How Do I Cut Back a Perennial Hollyhock Flower? When we spotted new mum leaves coming up in this constantly shady area, we put it into a large … Occasional supplemental irrigation following blooming is generally only necessary if the plants are grown in an area protected from rainfall or during periods of extended dry weather, so that the soil around the mums does not dry out completely. Cut mums back to within a few inches of the soil line before bringing indoors. Keep Plants Cool And Shaded. Old World Garden Farms At The Peak Of Autumn Color. Mums do especially well if planted in soil that has compost added. Dispose of all portions of the mum you trim off away from the remaining mum plant and other desirable vegetation to prevent the spread of disease. For overly large mums, this is also the time to split and divide them to create new plants. Pinching encourages branching, which results in more buds -- but pinching after July removes the buds and reduces bloom. In closing, just a few more tips for keeping your mums looking great. In fact, with just a bit of care, you can overwinter hardy mums with ease. One of the secrets to encouraging flowers on mums is to pinch them back. As mentioned above, removing wilted blooms and dead stems or leaves helps your mums bloom for an extended time. If you plant young mum plants in the garden in spring or grow mums from the previous season, then pinch off the tips on their new stems when they are about 6 inches long, using your fingertips or shears that you wipe with rubbing alcohol after each cut to prevent the spread of plant diseases. It’s not a perfect science for sure, but a great starting point to know if the mums you are buying or have can be saved. Mulch up to 4 inches with straw or shredded hardwood around the plants.

what to do after mums bloom

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what to do after mums bloom 2020