No it won't help. Your problem is too much foliage for the amount of root. Remove some of the foliage and shade from direct sun until plant perks up again. Al

No it won't help. Your problem is too much foliage for the amount of root. Remove some of the foliage and shade from direct sun until plant perks up again. Al

Thanks Al, I had not thought of shading, so went out and staked some in place. The stems are a bit stiffer today so the watering is helping.

Each division has one, two or three stems, and I have cut them back to no more than 2 to 4 leaf branches on each stem. If I cut each stem back to only one leaf branch, could it make enough food to feed itself? Will other leaf branches emerge later, either from the crown or from the stem at the leaf node?

The Rootone will not hurt anything, right? I put a teaspoon in a gallon and watered them anyway. What I have learned from this is that a spring division will suffer more than a spring lifting of as much of the whole plant as you can get.

Don't cut back any more. The rootone won't hurt. If I have roots I think need help at bareroot planting I will use a mycorhizal fungi dusting of the roots at planting time. I can't prove it helps, and I only use it on plants with root problems, mostly because it is expensive. Al

The previously mentioned transplants are all recovering well, probably due to the shading. Now I have 3 new transplants. They were freshly dug and healthy but wilted a bit in the car, and haven't recovered yet after transplanting that night. That was 4 days ago. I have a shade on them too but it isn't enough.

So I was wondering if watering with an aspirin in a gallon of water would help those or other transplants recover from transplant shock.

Usually when dividing an older peony you have tubers as part of each division, giving you an energy storage that helps it get started. Why are you deviding and transplanting peonies at this time of the year? As the roots not yet established try and meet the demands of the foliage you should expect plenty of wilting. The aspirin would be useful for you. Al

I tried the aspirin water, and they are recovering, though it is impossible to say how much is due to the aspirin water itself. I have a pot of leafy willow twigs steeped in water which I'll water them with tomorrow. First I steeped the twigs at room temp, will water with that, then boil the twigs and water with that.

I'm doing transplants in spring because people offered me plants they were going to dig up and throw away if I did not rescue them. Try telling someone to wait till fall when they have a new plant they just bought that they want to put into that space. One lady hated them because of the ants.

If I am offered peonies in the spring, I would also take them, but I would dig up the whole plant as intact as possible, without removing the soil from the roots, I would plant as is immediatelly. Al

Agreed. Of the five I was able to dig myself and keep mostly intact, soil attached, there was little to no transplant shock or wilting and they are doing fine and setting flower buds. They needed no cutback of foliage. Even the hot car ride did not wilt them. I expect to see flowers just months after the transplant.

Of the three that were dug for me, the roots were almost perfectly intact but washed of some of the soil, and they suffered wilting in the car and transplant shock, but are slowly recovering. They were small and got no cutback of foliage yet. If they recover in time, I'll let them keep any flower buds they set this spring.

The first few butcheries were divisions done at the direction of the owners. I know better than to try to do blind divisions again. You don't know what you are cutting into. Also I learned to start the shovel cut well back, outside of the mature plant drip line. The link below is an excellent source of detailed instruction.

The first division I cut was a mid summer division, during blooming, from last summer. I didn't cut the foliage back and it died. This year I have three early spring divisions, five if you count plants so small they are little more than cuttings, and they are worrying but surviving. I cut their flower buds and foliage back, and shaded them as Al suggested. It may be a year or two before I see a flower or even know if they survived.

In every case, definitely plant them as soon as possible.

Here is a link that might be useful: Digging and Dividing Peonies