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Do I need to prune peonies
Not all gardeners know whether to prune peonies in the fall. In fact, it is necessary to do this in order to get a good harvest and lush flowering. Pruning will help gain nutrients and survive the winter.
Peonies: is it necessary to prune for the winter
Novice gardeners often complain that peonies bloom poorly, there are few inflorescences and they are not large. Pruning the plant for the winter will improve the result.
Should peonies be pruned? This gardeners question has a positive answer.
There are 2 opinions when it is better to do pruning:
- Immediately after the bush has faded. In this case, gardeners are doing the wrong thing when they root the entire plant, thinking that they no longer need the foliage. After all, it is the leaves that help the roots to receive nutrients in the process of photosynthesis. Early pruning is necessary if the plant gets sick.
- Closer to the cold. By this time, the roots of peonies will gain strength, as they are formed during the entire period of growth and development. Then the bushes can be easily cut off.
Therefore, peonies are pruned in late autumn, when the process of plant development has ended and it will enter a dormant phase. And early pruning will deprive the flowers of the supply of nutrients through the leaves, they will weaken and will bloom worse next year.
How and when to cut peonies
By properly caring for peonies in the fall, you can get a large number of formed buds in the summer. Care begins with the removal of inflorescences and ends with covering the flowers for the winter.
Pruning process:
- After flowering, wait for the inflorescence to dry – this will be around the end of June. Cut the stem to 1/3 part. The rest of the bush must be left for the subsequent development of the root system.
- At the end of October, before the first frost, cut off the entire plant, leaving about 5 cm above the surface.
- Remove cut leaves and stems from the garden to keep them from rotting. This is dangerous for the flower, as fungal diseases and root rot can develop.
- If during the procedure the ground around the bush is dry, then water it abundantly.
- Feed with a fertilizer mixture, bone meal, or tree resin.
- Cover with peat mixture for the winter so that the roots do not freeze.
Many amateurs, in addition to early mistaken removal of the plant, allow late cutting. But this, too, cannot be done, since after complete drying, the roots begin to rot. Also, when cutting flowers for decoration from this bush, you will no longer get a big harvest for the next year.
To obtain a beautiful and exuberant flowering, it is not enough to follow the rules of pruning. It is necessary to regularly look after peonies, water them, loosen, weed and feed them with fertilizers.