Planting chrysanthemums in open ground in autumn: step-by-step instructions

Chrysanthemums are called autumn flowers because they bloom at this time of year. While everything around turns yellow and falls off, the delicate buds continue to delight people. That is why many housewives want to plant a chrysanthemum, which can enliven their autumn gardens or front gardens. If you are one of them, read our article. From it you will learn a lot of interesting things about chrysanthemums and their cultivation.

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Features of planting in autumn

Is it possible to plant chrysanthemums in the fall? Despite the fact that it is already cold in the fall, and winter frosts are ahead, flower growers are often inclined to believe that chrysanthemums can be planted at this time. They explain this position by several factors.

The good thing about planting chrysanthemums in autumn is that the variety of flowers is clearly visible at that time. The height of the bushes and other characteristics of the plant are also clearly visible. When buying a flower, you will know exactly what you will plant. In the spring, you have to take the seller’s word for it, because you can’t determine the characteristic size or color of the seedlings.

In autumn you can pick up early and late varieties. By planting them in a beautiful sequence, you will prolong the blooming appearance of your flowerbed.

True, there are downsides to landing at such a time. The plant may not have time to take root properly before the cold weather begins. This will lead to his death. Therefore, when planting in autumn, you need to create maximum good conditions for the flower.

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When is it better to plant chrysanthemums in spring or autumn? The answer to this question can be unequivocal. It is better to plant even perennial flowers in the spring. Before the winter cold, such a plant will take root well and will easily survive until next spring. He'll just have more time to do it. But if suddenly you really want a chrysanthemum, and it’s autumn outside, it’s also not a problem. Feel free to plant it. Just remember that you shouldn’t do this in October and November. This is too late, most likely the flower planted at this time will die. But September is a suitable month. At this time, it is still warm outside, and the humidity does not exceed favorable levels. Planting chrysanthemums in the fall in the Moscow region is carried out based on the same considerations.

By the way, if you are afraid to plant chrysanthemums in the fall, you don’t have to do it. Store the cuttings with roots in the cellar until spring. The main thing to remember is that the basement should not be colder than 5 degrees Celsius. It is also important to keep it dry. Plants can rot very quickly from dampness.

If it’s already deep October outside, and you have chrysanthemum cuttings in your hands, and you really want to plant them, then do it. Just plant not in the ground, but in a pot. In spring you will plant the plant outside. The disadvantage of this method is that the plant will not rest over the winter.

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Non-infectious diseases

Plant wilting can also occur due to the gardener’s failure to follow the rules of care:

Excessive watering and lack of loosening leads to soil compaction. Air access to the roots is blocked, and they begin to rot. At the same time, the foliage of the bush turns yellow;
untimely soil moisture slows down the growth of shoots. The leaves of the chrysanthemum turn pale and it withers;
copious amounts of fertilizer burn the roots of the bush.

Therefore, when growing chrysanthemums, it is important to study the principles of caring for them in advance.

How to choose cuttings for planting?

Autumn planting of chrysanthemums carries risks, so you need to choose the most viable cuttings for it. In particular, they must be:

Not blooming. Plants with buds take root very poorly. The flowering part takes up a lot of resources, so there is very little left for rooting. As a result, the plant fades and after a while most likely dies.
The cuttings must have root shoots. Their presence increases the likelihood of favorable rooting and successful wintering.
The root of the flowers should be well defined. The quality and speed of rooting depends on its size.

Also be sure to pay attention to the appearance of the plants. Flower cuttings should be healthy in appearance. They should have a characteristic color. If you decide to purchase seedlings online, then before accessing any site, read reviews about it. It is important to understand that the better quality you select cuttings, the better and faster they will take root. This is especially necessary in the autumn.

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Preparing for winter

I will share with you one more important point. This is the future wintering place. It would be better to prepare the chrysanthemum for wintering in August. To do this, at the end of summer it is necessary to apply phosphorus-potassium fertilizer. Due to this, the resistance of the shrub to frost significantly increases.

Next comes pruning. It is necessary for those specimens that will winter in the open ground in an open state. During the procedure, the maximum length of the remaining stumps should be about 10 cm. Pruning is carried out after the onset of stable cold weather. I didn’t do this because I have young seedlings. These are tips for large plants.

Also, before wintering, shrubs must be thoroughly hilled. There should be no pits of any kind around each specimen. Such formations are a place for moisture to accumulate, and this will cause soaking. I'll do this next weekend.

If the chrysanthemum grows in a region with heavy snowfall, then additional shelter will not be required. Such snow cover is an ideal “fur coat”. In other cases, you will have to organize it yourself.

Experienced gardeners advise making shelter for chrysanthemums gradually. First you will have to lay out a row of bricks, on which a board or piece of slate is placed. It turns out to be a small house for the bush. The structure protects plants from moisture and also provides soil ventilation.

With the onset of stable cold weather, spruce branches are laid on the house. You can also use dry leaves and branches.

In fact, chrysanthemums are very unpretentious garden plants. I didn't have any problems with disembarkation. Not a single bush was damaged, and all were already firmly rooted. All that remains is to prepare for winter. I hope next year I will be pleased with my blooming garden.

Nice place for flowers

It is important to plant a chrysanthemum in the fall in a place where it can take root in the shortest possible time. In the case of this flower, this is a dry, sunny place. Chrysanthemums do not tolerate shade and large amounts of moisture, so it is better to plant them at some elevation. As a rule, in such places there is no dense shade, and a slight breeze blows through the ground, thereby removing excess moisture.

What happens if you plant a chrysanthemum in the shade? The plant will simply stretch out greatly, because it will seek sunlight. In this case, there will be few leaves on the stems, and the flower itself will be very weak. Excess moisture will lead to rotting of the roots, which will have a bad effect on the wintering of chrysanthemums.

We plant chrysanthemums in the fall in loose soil that allows moisture and air to pass through well. This will ensure the plant rapid growth and abundant flowering. Don't forget about the nutritional value of the soil. The more organic substances and minerals it contains, the better. If the soil in your garden is not at all like this, then you can improve its quality yourself. To do this, fertilize the soil with rotted manure and add peat or compost. You can also mix the soil in which you will plant the flower with sand. This will improve its drainage qualities.

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Diseases and pests of chrysanthemums

The bushes of the plant have strong immunity, but this does not mean that they cannot get sick. Therefore, flower growers need to know the signs of diseases in order to promptly treat them. The main sources of infection are viruses and fungi:

powdery mildew. A sticky white coating appears on the leaves, which gradually acquires a gray tint;
fusarium wilt. Infectious agents destroy the rhizome, preventing it from absorbing enough moisture from the soil. This leads to yellowing of the foliage, absence of flowers and cessation of chrysanthemum growth. Such bushes are removed from the site and destroyed. If the disease has not spread to neighboring plants, then they are transplanted into soil with a neutral pH level;
rust. The leaves below are covered with an orange coating. They must be cut off and the bush treated with foundationazole;
Septoria leaf blight. Yellow spots appear on the entire foliage of the plant, which gradually darken. In appearance they resemble a burn. All greenery is cut off and the bush is sprayed with fungicide;
mosaic One of the most dangerous diseases, since it is impossible to save the chrysanthemum due to its instant wilting.

Important!

The main reason for such infections is the wrong choice of planting site (acidic and overly moist soil) or the bushes being close to each other. Various fungicides are used for treatment.

How to plant a chrysanthemum in the fall?

How to plant chrysanthemums in the fall? First, do the preparatory work. If you have plants of different varieties, label them and place them separately from each other. This approach will help you arrange flowers in a flower bed.

Next, dig holes or a whole trench, depending on the number of plants you plan to plant. Pour some water into the bottom and add fertilizer. What they can be was described in the previous section. If you dig holes, keep in mind that there should be about 30 centimeters between plants. This is the minimum distance. It is better that it be 50 centimeters, because chrysanthemum grows as a bush, so it requires a lot of “personal” space. The depth of the holes should be approximately 40 centimeters.

How to plant chrysanthemums in autumn? Planting chrysanthemums in the fall with an open root system is not advisable, since in this case the plant will take longer to adapt to the new location. It is better to leave all the soil available on the roots and plant chrysanthemums in this form.

After planting, you can sprinkle the soil around with special means for faster rooting. They contain nutrients that are used by the plant root for development.

You can also shade the plants a little for a day or two. Despite their love of light, they can be damaged by strong sunlight before they even have time to take root. A few days after planting, you will remove the shading.

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Chrysanthemum propagation

Chrysanthemums are propagated in several ways. Most often this is done by dividing the bush and cuttings. And, of course, seeds.

Propagation of chrysanthemums by seeds

Chrysanthemum seeds are sown both in open ground and for seedlings. This is done in March, the seedlings are then planted in separate pots and planted at the end of May. Seeds are sown in open ground in May; flowering in this case begins later. It is better to propagate perennial chrysanthemums by cuttings and dividing the bush, because its seeds for the most part do not retain the variety.

Propagation of chrysanthemums by dividing the bush

Dividing the bush is necessary for perennial chrysanthemums. If this is not done, then after 2-3 years the plant may freeze.

The mother bush is dug up, the roots are shaken to make them looser, and divided into parts. Immediately planted in the flower garden. If the young shoots are long, they are pruned above the 4th leaf. A chrysanthemum planted in this way grows very quickly.

Propagation of chrysanthemums by cuttings

For cuttings in the fall, a healthy green plant is selected and transplanted into a box. Store in a room with a constant temperature from 0 to 5°C. To ensure the growth of root shoots, the mother liquor is well watered. For cuttings, shoots grown from the root are used. They are planted in pots, where they take root for about a month. With the onset of suitable weather conditions, the cuttings are placed in the flower garden.

Preparing a place for planting chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums prefer sunny areas. It is better to lay out the bed on a hill. In the shade the plant looks depressed. The flower is sensitive to groundwater. If they lie close to the roots, good drainage will be required. River sand can be used as a drainage layer.

The soil on the site should be loose, preferably neutral or slightly acidic. If the soil for planting is too heavy, then it is enriched with peat, humus and rotted manure. No more than 0.5 kg of fertilizer is added to each hole, otherwise next year the plant will have a good crown, but flowering will be sparse.

Tips for caring for chrysanthemums

If the plant does not have enough light, the buds do not open.
Excessive sunlight causes leaves to fade and wilt. This can also happen due to poor watering. In particularly advanced cases, the leaves fall off.
At high temperatures (more than 25°C), Chrysanthemum blooms rather poorly; even if the buds bloom, they wither very quickly and fall off. If overheating is accompanied by a lack of ventilation in the room, the plant sheds both buds and leaves.
Chrysanthemum has poor resistance to fungal diseases. If the agrotechnical principles of cultivation are violated, the stems become deformed and the leaves become discolored. If this happens, you will have to get rid of the plant; it cannot be resuscitated.
In some cases, there may be insect pests on Chrysanthemum. Most often it is aphids. To destroy it, the plant is watered with a soapy water solution once every 7 days. In addition to aphids, spider mites can settle on the flower. The control of these pests is the use of pyrethrum for treatment. A tincture of crushed garlic in water also helps. Without a doubt, effective control can be carried out with store-bought pesticides, however, you should be careful with the chemicals used and strictly follow the dosage.

Cultivation in the ground and care

Chrysanthemum is a short-day plant, i.e. the formation of flowers directly depends on the duration of the photoperiod, thanks to this it can easily be forced (blooming at an unusual time for it). To form a beautiful spherical bush, you need to pinch the central and side shoots.

When choosing a place for planting, pay attention to the fact that the flower loves bright, diffused light, but it must be protected from the midday sun.

Watering is moderate, as necessary, with soft, settled water, at the root. Spraying can be done infrequently, but more for hygienic purposes and not for moisturizing.

Chrysanthemum is very friendly in relation to other plants and goes well with marigolds, asters, zinnia, cosmos and balsam.

Planting in open ground is most often carried out in the spring, when the possibility of night frosts has passed, but is also possible in the fall. A trench of shallow depth is being dug, because the rhizome grows in a horizontal plane, a spill is made, the plants are laid out at a distance of 20-50 cm from each other, depending on the variety, and, in fact, planting is carried out. After which it is advisable to water them with a solution of Kornevin in water for better and faster development of the root system. To create a lush bush, the plant must be pinched. If the day is sunny, protect the newly planted flowers from the sun.

The flower needs constant feeding, the intensity and frequency of flowering depends on this. During the growing season, they are fed at least 3 times - alternately with organic and mineral fertilizers. Of the latter, it is better to first choose nitrogen ones - for the formation of powerful green mass, and during the budding period - phosphorus-potassium ones, to stimulate intensive flowering. Organic - mullein and bird droppings can be applied in between mineral ones, the main thing is not to burn the plant. You can use complex fertilizers.

Chrysanthemums need to mulch the soil - pine bark, sawdust, and needles are suitable as mulch. This process slows down the formation of weeds around the plant and protects against parasites.

Step-by-step transplant technology

Chrysanthemums must be replanted in the fall strictly before the onset of frost, otherwise the plant will not have enough vitality to survive the winter. The best period will be the second half of September, and the day should be rainy or cloudy. If it is a hot season, then the transplant should be done early in the morning.

Already in early October, it is strongly recommended to avoid replanting flowering bushes - it will be much more difficult for them to adapt and survive the upcoming winter season than for those that have not yet bloomed.

First of all, before removing the plant from the ground, it must be watered abundantly so that it is easier to dig up the bush along with a lump of earth that will protect the root system from extraneous influences and unnecessary damage.
Next, it is worth trimming the root shoots of the flowers along a radius of approximately 35-40 centimeters - this will activate the growth and development of the roots, which means that the chrysanthemums will be more likely to grow in a new place.
After the bush is transplanted to the site chosen by the gardener, the soil should be watered with water containing Kornevin or a drug called Epin diluted in it. These products are designed to help plants adapt by stimulating the growth of root branches and promoting better rooting.
2 weeks after transplanting, the place where the flowers are grown needs to be filled with fertile soil, since the soil level will certainly drop due to natural shrinkage. You should not compact the soil when planting to prevent damage to the root system.

Replanting is always stressful for any plant, so the flowers will initially need special care, which includes watering, loosening the soil and timely fertilizing.

Flower growers highly recommend adding chicken manure diluted in a ratio of 1:10 or a little complex fertilizer purchased from a specialty store to the soil after transplanting chrysanthemums.

The purchase of this kind of fertilizer will be more than justified by the abundant flowering of plants. Large-flowered chrysanthemum varieties are dug out of the ground in the fall and stored in a cellar or basement at temperatures from 0 to +5 throughout the winter. The plant roots, dug up with a ball of earth, are placed in a container filled with a substrate moistened with water, sprinkled with moss and their moisture level is constantly maintained by lightly sprinkling from a spray bottle about once a week so that the root shoots do not dry out and become brittle for this reason.