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poor performance peonies
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Posted by tutti Surrey UK (My Page) on Sun, Mar 2, 08 at 5:33
my Peonies are performing really badly. They are in clay soil. they produce good leaves, but nearly no flowers or buds now, one or two if I am lucky + ants.
I read this could be peony wilt & that I should burn them down in the autumn.
I always manure the plants well on top in the winter. Should I lift them now February & put some manure and grit below them?
n.b my soil is ph7 - no weeds grow - aren't I lucky! but maybe thats saying something. Help |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: poor performance peonies
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| If you are adding manure on top of the plants in winter, are the plants perhaps too deeply planted now? Planting too deeply is a common reason for peonies not to bloom. |
is it a garden peony?
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| if so, possibly too deep. |
RE: poor performance peonies
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| I compost a couple of inches around my peonies, not on top spring and fall. After several years, even allowing for the break down of the compost, the level of soil gets too high. I just removed a lot of soil from around my peonies to have space for the compost. Soil removed is wonderful and will be used elsewhere in the garden. Al |
RE: poor performance peonies
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- Posted by tooslim 7b Charlotte NC (My Page) on
Mon, Mar 10, 08 at 11:45
| Yes, if you are getting good foliage it is probably planted too deep. That is the number one reason peonies don't bloom. In Charlotte our winters are cold but not too cold (usually nighttime 20's, occasionally down to midteens), so I don't mulch over in the winter...I let them get cold. Early spring I fertilize with super phosphate. If its a cool, damp spring, I give a preventive fungal treatment to new shoots to guard against botrytis and bud drop. You didn't say how old yours were, but sometimes it takes a while to get blooms. I planted mine small bareroots, took 3 years to bloom. They are huge now (6 years), loaded with blossoms every Mothers Day. |
RE: poor performance peonies
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- Posted by tutti Surrey UK (My Page) on
Sat, Apr 5, 08 at 12:39
Thanks all,
Yes they are probably too deep.They are now 10 years old. Replanted from my London Garden where they flowered beautifully, prior to that 15 years before as cuttings from my Parents garden. I would hate to loose them now. Bit frosty now but next week i'll lift them and put some compost and grit under. |
RE: poor performance peonies
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| Tutti, Yes, peonies like to be planted about 1-2 inches below the top of the ground surface. It maybe that you're using too much nitrogen based fertilizers, which gives you more foliage than bloom. If the peonies are as old as you mentioned 10+ years, it is best to divide them at that point (more peonies!) cutting away all the feeder roots from the storage root. Let it dry out about a day or 2 so it will not rot or develope a fungus, then replant it with the eyes pointing upwards, amending the soil with bone meal, fish meal, aged and well-rotted manure, compost, blood meal, alfalfa meal etc. A combination of all above or 1 or 2 of them...... mostly a hand full of bone meal. Make sure you have a high middle number. Peonies normally prefer organic fertilizers, however, in the spring you can put a "bulb" fertilizer of about 10 10 10 " or a seaweed or fish based fertilizer about 1/2 foot away and around the crown of the peony. Most of the time, manures dumped onto the top of the your peony causes the crown to rot. Some people some times even dump rabbit manure on top of them but it is not a good practice. Too much fertilizer will cause it not to bloom also. Lastly;.... in a few of the northern areas, peonies are normally planted or moved in or after September unless they are potted prior. Then you can plant them any time. Gypsum or lots of compost will loosen up your clay soil. So, I recommend that you look at some of the websites such as songsparrow.com, ADpeonies.com or hollingsworthpeonies.com etc. They sometimes offer planting info and diagrams. Good Luck! P.S. I apologize if I explained with too much detail but I can't imagine losing any of those precious jewels! |
RE: poor performance peonies
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| If they aren't getting at least 6 hours of sun, that may be the cause of no bloom. I hadn't noticed a maple had shaded one of mine too much over the years until my 12 year peony quit blooming on me. When I divided & moved it in the fall, it bloomed on both new plants the next spring. Sue |
RE: poor performance peonies
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| If you do have peony wilt your plants should be dead by now. Peony wilt, which has not been researched enough to know the cause, will make the plant die quickly. This is not Botrytis but something different. If you have it you will know it. It may effect only one of your plants or several. I had it in one of my tree peonies and it went from a very healthy plant to dead in a week. The plants next to it were fine and are still alive. |
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