help with Mums

13 years ago

I'm getting ready to do my annual Mum thing. I am lucky to live near Amish settlements in North Missouri. Last year I discovered one of their farmers sell "Ginormous" (as my grand daughter would say) mums for only $3. They spread about a 2 1/2 ft. circle or bigger. My question is what am I doing wrong because hardly any of them survived whereas the little ones I got from Walmart came back just fine. I remember a friend of mine used to tell me that the little ones always did better for her. Walmart has them for $1.90 this year. Which should I buy?

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Comments (9)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
two thoughts ....

one.. ginormous ones.. in big peat based potting soil .... can heave and or rot ... as i presume you do not bare root them at planting... its the divergence of soil types that might lead to root rot ...

two ... its all about the variety of the mum.. some will winter over.. some wont ....

which to buy.. how do i know.. i tend to lean towards one of each .. lol ...

ken
mnwsgal
13 years ago
Fall planted mums do not always survive here. I think the recommendation is plant perennial mums in the spring.

I have several MN introduced mums that used to be marketed as 'My Favorite' that get huge, 3-4 ft across.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'My Favorite' mums
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mosswitch
13 years ago
Years of growing mums, (16 of them spent at a garden center), have taught me that if I plant them a little deeper than they are growing in the pot, they usually put on new growth at the base of the stem and that is where next year's plant comes from. If it goes into the winter with no new basal growth, it won't make it. And also, if you cut off a small branch or two, snip off the bloom buds and stick it into the ground, keep it watered, it will usually take root and grow into a new plant.
casi
Original Author
13 years ago
As I said, I have pretty good luck keeping the smaller ones. The mums that come from the Amish are planted in rows of hills, in this good dark soil we have up here. I wonder if, because of their huge size if I'm not getting them deep enough or too deep.
aachenelf z5 Mpls
13 years ago
This won't help you now, but keep it mind for next spring. I've always and trouble with overwintering mums purchased at local garden centers - even spring planted varieties. The selection also left something to be desired. Anyway, I ordered a bunch from the following place 2 years ago and have been sooooo happy with the results. Their plants are great, the prices really great and shipping costs very reasonable.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: Mums
casi
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Kevin. I'll check it out! I love MUMS!! Mosswitch, I find it interesting what you said about the cut off branch. I accidently severed a branch of one of my surviving mums. I put it in a pot of dirt...kept watering it. It looked pretty bad for awhile, but I think if it going to make it! Course, it will look pretty skraggly....with 3 stems!
At $3 a plant....an annual would cost me that much or more, so it makes a nice show for little cost. It would just be nice if I could keep some of them. May try to at least whack a branch off....see if I can keep a remnent!
mosswitch
13 years ago
We got rooted mum cuttings in June and potted them up, and when they grew on and got to the point where they needed cut back, guess what we did with the cuttings? Yup, you guessed it, they got stuck in 4" pots and rooted to make more plants! Mum cuttings root very easily. They are best before they set buds, but will still root later as long as the buds are cut off so the energy goes to roots and not flowers. Dipping the ends in rooting hormone helps too.

Sandy
vivian_2010 (IL Zone 5a)
13 years ago
I planted several Yoder mums (ordered from one of the online stores) spring 2009, they grew to be 2x3 tall and had beautiful cusion shape and many flowers. They came back this year even bigger and started blooming already.

The only thing is that you need to leave plenty of space for them, as they do grow very well. Also, in spring time (Mid May in Chicago), I simply put a sharp garden shovel into the mum, and took out a small piece with a few roots, and give them to my neighbors. These small pieces grew into big plants and blooming nicely.

If you like, you can cut them back ~ 3 inches from the top of each branches starting in late May, then mid June, then mid July. This will control the height, delay the blooming until early September, plus you will get much more buds. I purposely left one mum un pinched, it started blooming in Mid July! But it is still going very strong now with new buds forming (with dead heading). So in a way, you may not need to pinch them, unless you do not want them to bloom too early.

Good luck,
Vivian
casi
Original Author
13 years ago
Yes, I have been pinching mine back. I still haven't purchased any. Can't decide which way to go plus DH keeps me in projects that I can't get away to go shopping. Now tonite, we got rain so it will be muddy at the Amish farm. They go out and actually dig up the ones that you want and wrap a plastic shopping bag around the root ball of dirt. I still have dirt in my car from last year.