In the autumn flower garden or garden, the leading role is given to chrysanthemums (Greek chrysos - gold, anthemos - flower). Perennials dilute the November grayness not only bright colors, but they can color everything around with rainbow splashes. This continues until the flowers and leaves acquire a brown color, which acts as a marker for carrying out organizational measures for wintering the plant. The time has come to prepare garden and perennial chrysanthemums for winter.
Is it possible to preserve a chrysanthemum bush in the ground in winter?
There are two ways to overwinter this perennial - digging it up and leaving it in the ground with shelter. Gardeners use both methods. To be sure, you can dig up some and leave others in a permanent place.
Small-flowered multifloras, Korean, and some Indian chrysanthemums successfully withstand winter weather in open ground. It is important to properly prepare for the cold in time. Upon completion of flowering, the bush is pruned to a height of 15-25 cm above ground level. If it has young root growth, it must be left intact. The cut stems are mulched with a 3-5 cm layer of straw, pine needles, sawdust and spud using humus (peat crumbs).
At the first night frosts, chrysanthemums should be covered with branches without leaves. This will create a kind of frame for the snow, which will warm the plant and saturate the ground with moisture during the spring melting. If winters are not snowy and are accompanied by frequent thaws and rain, it is necessary to reduce the risk of soaking and rotting of the root system. To do this, low, improvised shelters are created from boards (slate or tin), which are installed on brick supports.
How to cover chrysanthemums for the winter
Cut varieties, heat-loving and tall, require digging out of the ground and storing indoors. Do not delay too much, as even minor frosts will harm the bush. Perennials will ideally overwinter in a dry basement (cellar) with a temperature no higher than +6-7 degrees and humidity within 75%.
In regions with temperate and cool climates, some residents garden flower bed require some preparation for cold weather. The article highlights the details of caring for such seemingly hardy perennial flowers as chrysanthemums in autumn period before the onset of winter.
What is included in autumn chores
Caring for chrysanthemums, preparing plants for winter, begins in early autumn, or even at the end of summer. In order for delicate flowers to withstand the cold well, certain work must be performed:
- Feed the plants in a timely manner, which will increase their resistance to freezing.
- Carry out sanitary cleaning of bushes.
- Treat the plant if it needs it.
- Proper pruning.
- Organize shelter for the winter.
Plants need to be fed in early September. Phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are used for this purpose. While it is warm, the chrysanthemum is able to gain the necessary supply of nutrients and then it will be much easier for it to survive the frosts. It is impossible to introduce nitrogen complexes now. They cause strong shoot growth, which is absolutely unnecessary at this time.
Attention! You should not feed flowers much later than the specified period. The plant will not have time to feed well and will go into the winter weakened.
IN autumn care Watering must be included, since feeding will be successful only on wet soil.
How to protect chrysanthemums from diseases and pests
It is known that almost all pathogens that affect a flower tolerate even very cold winters well and are activated again in warmer times. Therefore, in the fall it is imperative to carry out sanitary cleaning of the bushes followed by treating them with special means.
Attention! Spraying flowers should be carried out on a warm, clear day, without wind.
The following drugs are suitable for the prevention and control of fungal infections:
- Bordeaux mixture;
- copper-soap emulsion;
- colloidal sulfur.
Spraying is carried out after the plant is cleared of dry, diseased and damaged shoots. Moreover, not only bushes with clear signs diseases, but also absolutely healthy in appearance.
If we talk about pests, then all varieties can be damaged by aphids, meadow bugs, and nematodes. The bushes affected by the latter will have to be dug up and destroyed. The soil and surrounding plants are treated with Phosfamide. Spraying is suitable for controlling insects. soap solution or insecticidal preparations.
In general, if chrysanthemums are cared for correctly, plants rarely get sick.
Covering a chrysanthemum bush
When growing an autumn queen, it is advisable to follow the following rules:
- Planting should be at such a distance that the chrysanthemum receives enough air and light.
- When working with plants, garden tools should be disinfected.
- Each chrysanthemum should be inspected periodically. If diseases are detected, measures must be taken immediately.
Further preparation for wintering
Before the arrival of persistent frosts, even if flowering continues, the chrysanthemum needs pruning. The stems are cut 10-12 cm from the ground. The tool used is pruning shears, which are disinfected with potassium permanganate, alcohol or other means before work and before moving from one bush to another. This prevents the transfer of pathogens.
Advice. Cut flowers can be brought into the room. Arranged in a vase with water, they will delight the eye for a long time.
You can leave local varieties of chrysanthemums, Korean and small-flowered ones, in the garden for the winter. After pruning, care for these varieties is organized as follows:
- Spud up with soil.
- Cover with a box.
- After the frosty weather has settled, sprinkle with leaves and pine needles. The layer should be about 40 cm.
- Branches are laid on top to prevent leaves from flying away in windy weather.
- In cold regions, it is recommended to cover the top with roofing material or film.
Attention! To prevent the chrysanthemum from burning out the polyethylene, you need to remove it as early as possible in the spring.
What to do with chrysanthemums that cannot tolerate winter
Caring for chrysanthemums, which are heat-loving, includes digging them up and moving them to a warm place. These include most tall varieties with large flowers. They deal with them like this:
- The bushes are trimmed, leaving stems of about 20 cm.
- Thoroughly cleanse of dried stems and leaves.
- Dig it out of the soil with a sufficient lump of earth.
- Planted either in separate pots or in common boxes.
- Add the missing soil.
- They spend the winter in a basement or other room in which the temperature does not drop below +5°C.
Chrysanthemum stored in this way requires little care. It needs to be watered a couple of times a month and inspected.
Heat-loving chrysanthemums that spent the summer in pots are brought indoors along with the container. In the future, they are stored in the same way as dug ones.
In the spring, around the end of April, the plants are exposed to light, fed and gradually accustomed to outdoor conditions. From the attached video you can get additional information about caring for chrysanthemums in the fall.
Preparing the plant in the fall is the key to its excellent development and flowering in the coming season. Only when proper care During this period, chrysanthemum bushes will annually decorate the garden with lush flowers.
Caring for chrysanthemums in autumn: video
The safety of your favorite plants will depend on the climate of your region and the efforts you make during the winter. Chrysanthemums need care all year round, But Special attention they should be given attention in the fall. Already in early September it is worth feeding. They are best suited for these purposes. They increase the frost-resistant qualities of chrysanthemums.
In order for your flowers to winter well, you need to carefully monitor them so that they do not get sick. In the fall, inspect all your chrysanthemums and remove weakened plants. so as not to interfere with healthy people. Strong bushes have a much better chance of surviving a cold winter. Much depends on the type of flowers. But even frost-resistant specimens need additional protection.
If your plant variety is frost-resistant, then it can be left to overwinter in open ground. But if your chrysanthemum is too sensitive to cold, then it is better to move it to a barn, cellar, loggia or balcony - rooms where it is much cooler than in the living room. It is in the fall that you will need to take care of pruning. When shortening the shoots, you need to leave about 10 centimeters so that your plant will develop well in the future. This procedure should be started with the arrival of cold weather. Usually this is October or November, depending on the specific region.
It is important to take into account all the details before covering chrysanthemums for the winter, which the video and photos in this article will help you with. If your flowers will endure the winter in open ground, then you will need to carry out hilling. The soil should protect the plant from direct contact with cold on all sides. It is undesirable for water to accumulate next to plants during the winter months - so there should be no holes nearby. Stagnant water can damage plants, lead to root rot and even death of the chrysanthemum.
If your region is covered with snow in winter, you can be sure that your flowers will survive the winter without damage. Indeed, under a good layer of snow, most varieties, both chrysanthemums and other flowers, can easily survive even the severest frosts. You should be concerned if your region experiences fairly low temperatures during the winter months, accompanied by wind and no snow.
However, not only cold winters without snow are the enemies of chrysanthemums, but also wet ones and also too warm ones. Chrysanthemums can be seriously damaged by both thaws and strong temperature changes. Such changes are disastrous, as they can cause flowers to begin to rot. If your variety does not like severe frosts, and winter every year is sometimes with snow, sometimes without, then you need to cover the flower taking into account changing weather conditions. In such cases, you already need to think about available means.
To cover chrysanthemums you will need bricks, which are laid on the “edge” on both sides of the bush. Then, wide boards, old slate, or even an unnecessary piece of iron can be installed on top for additional protection and snow retention. You can cover the chrysanthemums with plywood, but to keep it from constantly flying off, press it down with something heavy.
What does such protection provide? It prevents moisture and precipitation from entering, and also creates a kind of ventilated space for flowers that grow outside. Also, chrysanthemums growing in open ground in the most severe frosts can be additionally covered with spruce branches. They will create the missing warmth and protect from the wind. If you have nowhere to get spruce branches, you can use dry branches and leaves.
If you are too lazy to collect one or the other, you can buy it in a store, which must be ventilated and not be too dense. You should not cover chrysanthemums with heavy material - they may begin to rot and then die. And during the period of melting snow or constant thaw, it is not recommended to cover the roots of the chrysanthemum with sawdust or peat - then damping out of your flowers is guaranteed.
If you want to grow chrysanthemums in very harsh winters, then the best solution would be to dig up the bushes by the roots. This must be done carefully and carefully so as not to damage the root system of the plant. Chrysanthemums will feel great in a barn, cellar, garage, in a bucket or pot.
The main thing is that the room where you transfer the plants is at least a little warmer than the street and does not allow the wind to pass through.
But even in such gentle conditions, you must definitely inspect your chrysanthemums so as not to miss rot. If you find such a disease, then a fungicide solution will help save the flower. But it will only help if you apply it immediately after detecting the first signs of the disease.
If there is nowhere to move the flowers, then you can prepare a trench within your site. Its width can be about 75 centimeters, and its depth is about 50. Chrysanthemums are placed in such a trench along with the root of the plant, which must necessarily be with a lump of earth, and covered with a sheet of iron, wooden planks or slate. You need to pour earth on top of this structure - 10-15 centimeters will be enough. Under such a structure, chrysanthemums can even send out young shoots.
In regions where there are severe frosts in winter, flower lovers must make some efforts to preserve chrysanthemums throughout the cold weather. The autumn chores of gardeners in such areas are not limited to pruning; they have to provide shelter for chrysanthemums for the winter, taking into account both the natural conditions on their site and planned care throughout the growing season.
Preparatory work
Start preparing chrysanthemums for wintering in late August - early September. Feed them with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, they will increase their frost resistance. Remove dried branches, check chrysanthemums for diseases, and, if any are found, take the necessary treatment measures. It is known that only healthy plants tolerate wintering well. Hill up the plants on all sides. Make sure that there are no holes around the bushes in which water may accumulate, which could cause the chrysanthemums to get wet. Immediately before covering, trim the plants, leaving stems no more than 10 cm high.
In areas where winters are not very frosty, it is enough to sprinkle the bushes with pine needles or shavings, and with the first snow, begin to cover them with snow (throw snow). If the winters are severe, it is necessary to build a serious shelter
Shelter construction
If the onset of winter is unpredictable in your area, begin building your shelter gradually. First, place bricks on both sides of a bush or group of bushes, on which lay wide boards, sheets of iron or slate. If you plan to cover the chrysanthemums with a light covering material, do not forget to press it on top with a brick or stone so that it does not blow away in a gusty wind. Such shelter will provide plants good ventilation, will prevent excessive moisture from entering the bushes, creating favorable conditions for wintering chrysanthemums in open ground.
As soon as real frosts arrive, additionally cover your flowers with spruce or fir branches, straw or dry leaves. You can also use covering synthetic materials lutrasil or spunbond. Remember that the cover was not too dense or heavy. And before severe cold weather, you should not cover the flowers to avoid their rotting from high humidity and subsequent death. If there is no protection from moisture, under no circumstances use peat or sawdust, because under these materials the plants will probably become wet and damp. But in any case, do not rush to carefully cover the chrysanthemums, because... a light frost will do them good, it will harden them and prepare them for frost, they will become more hardy.
Another way to cover chrysanthemums for the winter
If for some reason you cannot build a shelter over the chrysanthemums (for example, you planned to move the flower garden to another area or plant other crops in place of the flowers), use another method. To do this, in a free area of the garden, dig a trench about 0.5 meters deep and about 70 cm wide. Trim the chrysanthemums, leaving the stems no more than 10 cm high, and carefully dig up each bush, keeping a lump of earth with roots (do not shake off the soil). Place the dug plants in a trench, sprinkle with dry leaves or straw.
When sprinkling dry leaves on chrysanthemums, make sure that they are not collected under diseased plants, otherwise you will do the flowers a “disservice” by managing to protect them from frost, but not from pests and diseases that appear in the spring
With the first frost, cover the trench with sheets of slate or iron, or other material suitable for the case. Place a layer of earth 10-15 cm high on top of the shelter.
This option for covering chrysanthemums for the winter is quite labor-intensive, but this is not its only drawback. It happens that in such storages chrysanthemums awaken at the end of winter, when the earth begins to warm up a little on sunny days. Plants produce young shoots, which, in the absence of light and real warmth, stretch and grow pale, thin and weakened. The whole problem is that you do not have the opportunity to check the condition of chrysanthemums and help them in any way. The first method seems more favorable, since there is ventilation in the shelter, and the plants do not wake up ahead of time (although this also happens, since winters in middle lane Russia is mostly unpredictable).
If you have built a shelter for chrysanthemums in the form of a trench, and the winter turns out to be warm, with frequent melting of snow, take care of ventilation. To do this, simply drive sticks into the trenches on top of the snow and then remove them. Let there be several such holes. Perhaps this will be enough to deliver fresh air to the plants.
When determining a place for planting chrysanthemums on garden plot choose the driest point where groundwater lie deep. In this case, you do not have to build bulky shelters for flowers. It is enough to trim them immediately after flowering, carefully hill them up and sprinkle them with dry leaves, cover them with straw or pine spruce branches, and then gradually add snow, slightly compacting it each time.
Any shelter - complex, with covering material or simple in the form of shavings, leaves and spruce branches after wintering - must be removed in a timely manner. Chrysanthemums do not like waterlogging; they quickly rot (the plant withers, the stem and leaves become Brown color) and die. Therefore, with the onset of spring, they cannot be left under cover for a long time; they need fresh air. By the way, they are not afraid of the spring cold, it even invigorates them...
remember, that different varieties Chrysanthemums tolerate winter differently. Some cannot tolerate it at all, they are only suitable for indoor breeding. Always ask sellers what type of chrysanthemum you are purchasing. For example, it is believed that only varieties from the group tolerate frost well even without shelter Korean chrysanthemums. In fact, there are many winter-hardy varieties, among them: - “Oak”; - "Valerua"; - “Gold of Paris”; - “Chameleon”; - "Sun"; - “Ellen” and others.
By the way, you can try to grow winter-hardy varieties on one's own. They are obtained from early spring cuttings cut from the mother bush before mid-April. To do this in the fall, when the chrysanthemum has faded, trim the bush, dig it up, being careful not to damage the root system, and plant it in a prepared pot. Store the plant in a cool place (no higher than 5-7 degrees). A month before cuttings, around mid-March, move the pot to a warm place. After 7-10 days, young shoots will appear from the roots; at this time, increase watering. After 5-6 leaves appear on the stem, you can use it as a cutting. Place the cuttings in the refrigerator for 3-5 days (they will last longer), then plant them in boxes and water daily. As soon as you notice that rooting has been successful (the growth of leaves becomes visually noticeable), reduce watering. Before planting in the ground (in central Russia this is the beginning of May), take the box with young plants out into the cold for hardening. Chrysanthemums grown in this way will not be afraid of frosty winters.
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Content
Chrysanthemums are beautiful and unpretentious flowers, but even such plants require certain conditions in order to survive winter cold and frost. Preparing chrysanthemums for wintering includes several important stages, compliance with which will help preserve their beauty and health. All activities are carried out in the process of general preparation of the garden for winter and are not particularly difficult.
All work around chrysanthemums comes down to the same rules that are followed for other plants: feeding, pruning and watering, covering the flowers. But at the same time, you should follow special rules and remember a few important nuances, which will help keep plants strong and healthy until spring. Preparation for winter must be competent and consistent.
Conditions for wintering chrysanthemums
Besides the fact that there are different types and colors of chrysanthemums, all of them can be divided into two more types: frost-resistant and those that do not tolerate low temperatures. It is better to dig up flower bushes that are not adapted to frost for the winter and remove them from the street. The optimal room for storing plants until spring will be a basement or cellar with a temperature of 6 to 12 degrees.
You need to dig up the bushes with a clod of earth, place them in boxes, pots or other containers of suitable size. Before this, some preparation is also needed: the flower stems are cut to a height of 10-15 cm so that the plant does not waste energy in the winter. After planting in the spring, the chrysanthemum will produce young and beautiful shoots, which will bloom over time and delight everyone around them.
Those chrysanthemums that will winter in open ground also need to be prepared for frost and cold. Such preparation activities include: trimming the stems, feeding the plant and covering it for the winter.
Feeding and spraying
When the chrysanthemums have bloomed, you can fertilize the plants with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. This will restore the strength of the flower and strengthen it before the onset of cold weather. In the process of preparing chrysanthemums for winter, it is important not to skip the stage when you can still fertilize the plant. Deadline when this needs to be done is mid or late September. By that time, the plant should be pruned, and in October it will be time to cover it, then fertilizing will not be relevant.
As for spraying, it also needs to be done no later than the beginning of September, or it can be done immediately after flowering. In this case, you need to carefully examine all the branches of the flower, remove the diseased ones, and then use pest control drugs and spray the chrysanthemums. This should be done in dry, warm weather; in a couple of days, the preparations will be completely absorbed into the leaves and stems of the plant. After this, it will be possible to continue further preparation of the chrysanthemum for winter.
Pruning before winter
Even those chrysanthemums that remain in the ground during the cold period need to trim their stems. Majority experienced flower growers leave no more than 15 cm of stems, removing the remaining shoots with leaves and faded flowers so that pests do not remain in them.
When pruning chrysanthemums, you need to carefully inspect the remaining stumps so that there are no diseased branches or those affected by fungus. Under covering material, few problems will go away on their own or freeze, and in warm winter conditions they can grow and destroy the chrysanthemum completely.
How to properly cover a plant
Before covering the cut stems of chrysanthemums, one more step is required in preparing the plant for cold weather: the bushes must be hilled. This work can be done in mid or late September, after pruning. The hill around the stems should be level, and next to it you need to level the surface of the soil and not leave holes in which water will then accumulate.
In temperate climates, where winter temperatures rarely drop below 15 degrees below zero, hilled chrysanthemums can be covered with fallen leaves or spruce branches. The layer of snow that will cover them from above will become reliable protection, so you don’t need to do anything additional.
In a region with cold and harsh winters leaves will not be enough to prepare chrysanthemums for cold weather. It is better to use special covering material or burlap. Agrospan is a material popular among gardeners, which allows you to prepare many plants and bushes in the garden for winter; it can also be used for chrysanthemums. It is important to take into account that if there is a thaw in winter or spring is early, the stems under the covering material may begin to rot. Therefore, it is also important not to overdo it during the covering process.
A more reliable way to hide
There is another way to prepare chrysanthemums for severe frosts and cold weather - building shelters. Such measures are required in regions with harsh winters, where even -25 degrees is not uncommon. These works can begin to be carried out in early - mid-October, because the first frosts can strike at the end of the month.
The chrysanthemum shelter will consist of reliable building materials: bricks and slate. In fact, for plants you need to build small house, inside of which a mild temperature will remain under the roof and a layer of snow. The sequence of actions consists of the following stages:
- The bricks are laid lengthwise next to growing chrysanthemums on both sides.
- A sheet of slate is laid on top of the “walls” of bricks. If there is no such building material, you can take wide board or OSB sheet.
- Just in case, the covering material should also be weighed down with a brick or several stones so that it is not blown away by a gust of wind.
- Towards the end of October or just before frost approaches, the structure should be additionally covered plastic film. Additional protection will reliably protect plants from frost and strong winter winds.
Preparing chrysanthemums for winter is not particularly difficult, and after several years of practice and experience, all actions will become familiar and familiar. At the same time, you need to be prepared for the fact that in the spring the plant may prepare a surprise: some bushes will easily survive the cold, others will become weaker or die.
