Peonies are a fairly unpretentious culture. To get a bush with beautiful flowers and lush greenery, you need nutrients that are not always available from the soil. In order to provide plants with the complex of necessary minerals, they are fed three times a season, and the last top dressing is done in the autumn. Neglecting the procedure is not recommended, as this can adversely affect the appearance and condition of the plants. How to feed peonies in the fall, and how to properly carry out the procedure?
Autumn top dressing: all the pros and cons
Peony feeding in autumn plays a big role in flowering culture
Peonies are perennial crops that grow in one place for a long time and bloom actively in the summer. During this time, they give almost all the useful substances to flowers and leaves, so the quality of new inflorescences can significantly deteriorate.
The main feature of peonies is that the development of the root system of the bushes continues even after active flowering. If you take a closer look at the roots, you can notice small thickenings on them, in which the nutrients that are necessary for the formation of buds and inflorescences accumulate. Accordingly, feeding peonies in the autumn period contributes to the appearance of lush flowers in the next season and helps prepare for winter cold.
Many gardeners consider the application of top dressing in the fall inappropriate and useless, but in fact it is not. You should not ignore it, otherwise next spring the peony flowers will be small, and the leaves will be pale and rare.
What should be fed?
The minerals needed for peonies in the fall - primarily potassium and phosphorus
Like all other flowering plants, peonies need useful substances necessary for the formation of leaves and inflorescences:
- potassium;
- phosphorus;
- nitrogen.
The peculiarity of autumn top dressing is that the application of fertilizers with a nitrogen content can lead to a deterioration in frost resistance of plants, therefore, after flowering, peonies require only potassium and phosphorus. As a top dressing, you can use both special mixtures, which are sold in stores for gardeners, and natural organic fertilizers.
Feeding rules in the fall
The rules for feeding peonies in the autumn period depend on their age and climatic conditions in the region. Only those bushes that have reached the age of three need to be fed. Young plants do not need fertilizer, and the effect of the procedure may be the opposite. Mature peonies, on the contrary, require regular feeding, and the older the flower, the more nutrients it needs.
The optimal time for feeding is from the second half of September to the first half of October, but work must be done in such a way as to finish them 1-1.5 months before the first frosts. The type of fertilizer depends on the characteristics of the soil and weather conditions:
- on sandy and depleted soils, too many minerals can cause inhibition of flower growth, therefore, feeding is best done twice with an interval of two weeks;
- for alkaline and slightly acidic soils, it is recommended to use superphosphate, which contributes to the formation of beautiful, lush inflorescences and improves the characteristics of the earth;
- organics and potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are suitable for any soil - they contain the whole complex of nutrients and well saturate the soil with them.
In dry weather, top dressing is applied in liquid form, and when a large amount of precipitation occurs, dry (granular) mixtures are used - liquid fertilizers are simply washed off with water and will not bring plants any benefit.
How to feed tree peonies in autumn
Features of fertilizer application depend on their type - changing the dosage and recommendations for feeding plants on their own is not recommended, as this can lead to the opposite result and deterioration of the condition of the bushes.
Mineral fertilizers
To avoid burns, fertilize the plant with extreme caution
How can I feed peonies in the fall? First of all, it is potassium and phosphate, which can be applied to the soil both in dry and in liquid form. In the first case, the algorithm of actions is as follows.
- Dig small grooves around the bushes 6-8 cm deep, and then slightly moisten the soil.
- For each bush, take 20 g of phosphorus and 15 g of potassium, sprinkle fertilizer, avoiding the mixture getting on the sensitive neck of plants, otherwise they may burns.
- Spill the soil again so that the granules dissolve well.
For liquid application, potassium and phosphate should be dissolved in a bucket of previously defended water at room temperature, then pour over the bushes with a solution. You can use multicomponent fertilizers - superphosphate, potassium sulfate, Kemira-Kombi or Kemira-Osen. Most often, they are sold in the form of tablets, the optimal dosage is 1 tablet per bucket of water, they are fed in exactly the same way as the potassium-phosphorus mixture in liquid form.
Do I need organic fertilizers to prepare for the winter
Natural fertilizers, or organics interact well with the soil and saturate it with all useful substances, so they can be used to feed peonies in the fall. Most often, cow manure, bird droppings, peat are taken for these purposes.
Mullein, chicken droppings and superphosphate
When feeding plants should alternate organic fertilizers with other mineral additives
From mullein and bird droppings in combination with mineral fertilizers, you can prepare a nutritious mixture that will significantly improve the flowering of peonies in the next season.
- Dilute a fresh mullein in a barrel at the rate of 1 bucket of manure per 5 buckets of water (if bird droppings are used as top dressing, you need to take a bucket of litter for 25 buckets of water).
- Put the resulting mixture in the sun for 2 weeks, so that it is well fermented.
- Add 500 g of ash and 200 g of superphosphate to the fermented solution.
- Immediately before the fertilizer application, the mixture must be diluted with water - when using manure, take 2 parts of water for 1 part of the nutrient mixture, if the plants are fed with bird droppings, the proportions are 1 to 3.
When feeding plants with mullein and bird droppings, the same rules must be observed as in the case of mineral fertilizers - carefully water the bushes so that the mixture does not get on the flower necks.
Compost and peat
Compost is another organic fertilizer that is well suited for feeding peonies. For its preparation, they take any waste of natural origin - dry leaves, branches and grass, weed plants, vegetable peelings that leave to rot in a special pit. To improve the quality of compost, litter, peat or humus can be added to it, alternating layers between each other.
To feed peonies with compost, the bushes are covered with a thin layer of fertilizer mixed with earth, and then the plants are watered - the compost will serve not only as fertilizer, but also protect the roots from frost. From above, you can additionally mulch the plantings with hay, straw or dry leaves.
Rye bread
One of the folk remedies in feeding peonies is rye bread
Despite the fact that rye bread is one of the folk remedies for fertilizing peonies, it gives a good result and does not require serious cash costs.
- Take a loaf of rye bread or about 500 g of crusts that remain after a meal.
- Pour bread with cold water and leave for 12 hours, so that it swells well.
- Dissolve the resulting slurry in a bucket of settled water at room temperature, then pour the plants at the rate of a liter of mixture per bush.
Rye bread dressing can be used together with mineral fertilizers, observing the interval between procedures, so as not to provoke inhibition of growth and flowering of peonies.
Other fertilizers
In addition to the above mixtures, to feed peonies, you can use other store or natural fertilizers, observing the recommendations for the procedure.
- Wood ash. Ashes are applied to the soil at the rate of 0.5 cups per square meter of land - they are poured around the plants, then they are watered and mulched with hay or grass. Bone flour can be added to wood ash in proportions of 1 to 1 - this product contains the potassium and phosphorus necessary for planting.
- Peat. For peonies, it is recommended to use horse peat, especially if the flowers grow on sandy soils. The procedure is carried out every 4-5 years - peat is laid around the bushes, observing the following dosage: a bucket per square meter of land.
- Vermicompost. Biohumus is an effective fertilizer that is a product of the vital activity of earthworms. The dose is 6 kg per square meter, and the application of such fertilizer significantly improves the quality of the soil.
- Siderata. Siderata are plants that are resistant to low temperatures, which serve as a fertilizer and protection for flowering crops - mustard, oats, rye, wheat. In the autumn, they are planted between the peony bushes, and in the spring they are buried in the soil with the help of a plane cutter - the siderates will cross and become an excellent nutrition for plants.
- Ready-made organic fertilizers. Concentrated organic fertilizers, such as Baikal, Biomaster, Agroprirost, are sold in gardening stores. They are easy to use and well nourish plants, which is especially noticeable on soils with low fertility, clay and loamy soils. Dosages and rules for making mixtures are indicated in the instructions for the preparations.
Video: how to feed peonies in the fall
Autumn top dressing of peonies is an effective procedure that should not be neglected. Plants that receive enough attention and care will more than reward their owner with abundant and lush flowering.
