Bush of peonies, dividing a bush: how to divide a peony
Peonies are unpretentious shrubs that can delight with abundant flowering for many years. The main thing is to plant it correctly, the development and growth of the plant depend on it. Dividing the peony bush into parts, we get seedlings. This is the most reliable breeding option.
Peonies: how to divide the bush
The most suitable time for this is the end of August and the first half of September. Before the cold weather, the seedling will have time to adapt in a new place and take root, and after the snow melts, it will begin to grow actively.
A bush of peonies must be properly divided when transplanting
In the spring, you can also do a transplant. But in this case, there is little chance of a successful engraftment of the seedling. If the plant does not die, it will lag behind in development.
Before landing, we choose a suitable place and prepare it:
- Peonies bloom profusely in bright, sun-exposed areas.
- In advance, about 1 month in advance, we prepare the soil. We dig a hole with sides of 50 cm and the same depth.
- We fill it with a prepared mixture of garden soil, sand, peat and humus.
- We apply fertilizers – superphosphate, wood ash, iron vitriol.
By the time of planting, the prepared soil will sink, and when the seedling is already in its place, you can not be afraid of this.
For transplanting, we take adult bushes. They must be at least 4 years old, and preferably 5-6. When removing rhizomes from the ground, you need to be very careful. The roots are easy to damage, they are fragile, moreover, they can go to a depth of 1 m.We carry out the procedure as follows:
- We take the garden pitchfork. The shovel is not quite suitable here – you can accidentally cut off part of the rhizome with it.
- We dig a bush in a circle to a great depth, trying to cover the entire length of the root.
- Using bayonet shovels, we carefully get the bush out of the ground.
- We wash off the soil from the roots with water and leave it in the shade for 6 hours.
- We cut off the green part of the bush at a height of 10 cm from the roots.
Now you can start cooking the divings:
- Cut the rhizome into pieces with 3-4 buds with a sharp knife. Their length should be at least 10-15 cm.
- They need to be prepared for planting – we remove the rotten roots, if any, and place them in a solution of potassium permanganate.
- After a few hours we take it out, sprinkle it with charcoal and leave it to dry for a day in a dark place.
We plant peonies not deep, the buds should be at a distance of 3-5 cm from ground level. We cover the rhizome with earth and mulch with peat with a layer of 5 cm.
Immediately after planting, they need abundant watering. Next, we moisten the soil as the top layer dries up, making sure that there is no stagnation of moisture.