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With the advent of heat, gardeners begin the selection of nutrient compositions for flower beds. You can feed peonies in spring for lush flowering with manure, ash, bone meal or complex mixtures. Each type of fertilizer has its own advantages and disadvantages.
The need to feed peonies in the spring
Spring feeding is especially important for garden flowers. It depends on her how quickly the plants begin to wake up after the cold weather, whether they have enough strength to lay buds, how long the flowering will be.
If you apply fertilizer in the spring, at the beginning of the growing season, later the peonies will delight you with a lush, bright color. These garden flowers can grow in one place for a single year. This causes the depletion of the soil, the culture weakens.
From the third year after planting, peonies need regular spring feeding. Only in this way the leaves of the culture will be fleshy and green, and the buds will be lush and large. A strong plant rarely gets sick, it tolerates insect attacks more easily.
Types of fertilizers for peonies in spring
3 years after planting, as soon as the flowering bush has grown, it is time to apply mineral dressings. In the spring, it is recommended to use solutions of complex compositions for irrigation.
The first dressing is applied before the snow melts completely. It may be the beginning and end of March, depending on the region. Mix 10 g of nitrogen and 15 g of potassium, scatter them in the root zone. As soon as the snow begins to melt, the necessary trace elements will seep into the root system of the flower.
The second dressing is applied during the formation of buds. Combine 10 g of potassium, 8 g of nitrogen, 15 g of phosphorus, mix with the soil in the root zone.
In addition to mineral fertilizers, organic fertilizers are also used. They effectively feed peonies in the spring for abundant flowering.
Is it possible to feed peonies with ashes
Experienced gardeners often use this top dressing in the spring. Peonies are fertilized with ash at the end of April. Immediately after the snow melts, before the first shoots appear, the earth in the flower garden is crushed with ashes.
Top dressing with ash for peonies is not carried out in a mixture with urea. The substance contributes to the rapid melting of snow and the pecking of new shoots. This is detrimental to them, since in April there is still a high probability of night frosts.
Is it possible to fertilize peonies with eggshells
The shell is not an effective top dressing for flowering peonies. Crushed into powder, mixed with soil from the tree trunk, it can reduce the acidity of the soil.
The shell, crushed into large fragments, is used as a baking powder for the soil if it is too dense.
Is it possible to fertilize peonies with manure
This organic fertilizer is considered the best for feeding peonies in the spring. The substance contributes to the formation of a fertile layer of the earth, enriches it with the necessary trace elements, improves the structure.
As soon as the flower sprouts increase in size to 10 cm, they are covered with a thin layer of manure.
You can feed peonies with manure and so: organic fertilizer is dug up with the soil around the plants, then watered abundantly.
You need to use rotted manure, it contains less nitrogen than fresh, does not “burn” the roots and young shoots. The abundance of nitrogen in top dressing stimulates the growth of the green part of the crop, while the buds may not form at all.
Fresh manure is used only on depleted soils and when planting plants. You can scatter it over the snow at the end of winter. In the process of thawing, some of the nitrogen will disappear, and the necessary amount of minerals will enter the pion root system.
When to feed peonies in spring
The first top dressing is made at the end of April, in the southern regions of the country. In the center of Our Country, this period will take place at the beginning of May, and in the north – at the end of the month. The time depends on the onset of heat, the process of melting snow.
It is important that not all the snow cover come off the flower bed. Mineral or organic fertilizers are spread directly on a layer of snow, the substances are mixed with melt water, and quickly get to the root system of the plant.
How to fertilize peonies in spring
In the spring-summer period, three top dressings are enough for a flowering bush. They are brought in, taking into account the important stages of the growing season: awakening and growth after winter, budding, flowering.
Feeding peonies in early spring
You can feed the plant in April with mineral fertilizers. It is not effective to introduce them into the soil near the shoots. In the described flower, the rhizome lies deep, the ingress of nutrients to it is difficult.
To begin with, stepping back from the center of the bush half a meter, with a shovel handle in the ground, make indentations no more than 15 cm. Around the bush, you can dig 3-4 of them. For spring feeding of peonies, the Kemira complex fertilizer is used.
How to feed peonies for abundant flowering
In late April, buds begin to form. During this period, the plant especially needs top dressing. They will stimulate the laying of new flower buds. At this time, watering with potassium-nitrogen fertilizers is carried out.
Suitable for these purposes and mullein.
Later it is necessary to loosen the soil.
How to feed peonies during flowering
The third time the flower bush is fertilized 10-14 days after the opening of the first bud. During this period, top dressing is combined with watering. Liquid mineral formulations with a short duration of action, for example, Agricola, are suitable. The drug is used according to the instructions.
You can also mix 20 g of phosphorus and 15 g of potassium, plant them in the soil near the bush. This fertilizer will prolong the flowering period.
As soon as the budding process starts to decline, peonies are fed with bone meal.
At 1 m2 300 g of the substance is required.
Rules for feeding peonies in spring for flowering
Effectively combine watering with top dressing. If spring and summer are rainy, it is not recommended to additionally moisten the culture. The introduction of mineral compositions during drought is reduced, and at high humidity – increased.
To strengthen peonies, stimulate flowering, root and foliar top dressings are used.
Spraying shrubs with nutrient solutions is no less effective than watering with their addition. 10 g of urea are dissolved in 40 liters of water. Peonies are treated with this solution in the spring, as soon as the ground part of the plant begins to germinate.
It is possible to use ready-made solutions for foliar dressings, for example, the Ideal preparation. It is diluted in 10 liters of water, add 1 tbsp. l. crushed laundry soap. Such a solution will remain on the shoots and leaves of the plant for a long time, stimulating its growth.
Mineral root dressings begin to be carried out in early March. Suitable phosphorus-potassium mixtures with a low nitrogen content. They are scattered around the bush, initially the soil should be moistened. This procedure is repeated twice – in early May and early June.
Mineral fertilizers can be replaced with organic matter. In the spring, the following composition is effective: fresh mullein (1 part) is diluted with water (10 parts), 1 part of chicken manure is added, the mixture is infused for 1,5 weeks. Application: at a distance of 25 cm from the center of the bush, dig a shallow ditch around the circumference, pour a nutritious infusion into it.
Such top dressing is applied 1 time, in the spring, during the budding period. This is the middle or end of May.
Conclusion
There are many ways to feed peonies in spring for lush flowering. For the procedure, organic matter and mineral complexes are used. You can make them directly under the root or spray them on plants. Fertilized in time, the culture responds with lush and long flowering.