Feeding Peonies: How To Feed Them In The Spring For Lush Flowering In The Garden? What Fertilizers Do Peonies Like? How To Feed With Organic Matter?

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 12:09

Peonies are crops with a long flowering period that do not require replanting. To achieve increased decorative effect of the bush and abundant flowering, peonies should be carefully looked after throughout the growing season. The spring season is the most important in the life of the plant. At this time, it is required to introduce nutrients into the soil almost without stopping.

How to feed the culture, the proportions of mixing nutrients and other nuances are considered in this article.

Why do you need top dressing?

Top dressing is necessary to stabilize the plant's immunity, so that the crops bloom, increase their mass, and give a stable harvest.

Peonies, like all plants, require micro and macro elements for growth and development. For lush flowering in spring, they need the following substances.

• Phosphorus - is responsible for the number and size of buds, the duration of the vegetative period of the flower, participates in the development of the root system.
• Potassium - active in the phase of formation of flower ovaries and during the flowering period, promotes bud formation in the autumn. Responsible for the wintering of the plant, increases the frost resistance of the culture.
• Magnesium - affects the color and saturation of the buds.
• Nitrogen is needed during the growing season - participates in the formation of strong shoots, affects the activity of plant growth. However, it should be remembered that with an excess of nitrogen in the soil, the plant will increase its green mass, postponing the flowering period. In common people, this phenomenon is denoted by the word "fatten".

Important! If you add nutrients to the planting hole before planting the plant, then for the next 2-3 years the peonies will not need fertilization.

In cases where the plant is not fertilized, but the bushes feel great, they bloom on time, do not get sick and grow without problems, the introduction of fertilizing is postponed or completely eliminated due to the natural saturation of the earth with the necessary substances.

Optimal timing

Florists adhere to the following fertilization rules flowers :

• spring feeding is needed for flowering;
• second feeding takes place in the summer;
• third - in the fall after the culture has faded.

The first stage of feeding (spring) is introduced during the period when the snow has melted and the above-ground part of the plant is visible . This usually occurs at the beginning of spring. Fertilizers are mainly nitrogen-containing (using urea, ammonium nitrate) with a small addition of phosphorus and potassium.

Important! Before feeding the flower, the area around the bush must be cleaned of dry parts of the plant, weeds. Loosen the top layer of soil.

Most often, flower growers skip the spring period and begin to feed the plants either during the second fertilization period, or once a year, using complex mineral fertilizers with the addition of humates.

The second stage of feeding is carried out before the budding of the bush in early summer. During this period, the nutrient fluid is enriched with macronutrients, where the proportion of phosphorus and potassium exceeds the amount of nitrogen . You can use ready-made flower fertilizers, for example, nitroammophos or other preparations.

During the flowering period of peonies, feeding is not performed

The third feeding, the last one, takes place in the fall season, two weeks after the last bud has fallen off. The main task of the last stage is to restore the strength of the plants before the winter season and the laying of flower ovaries for the next year. Superphosphate fertilizers with potassium content are used.

Funds

Organic matter, ash, complex preparations, manure, humus and others are used as top dressing.

Bread dressing

A loaf of black bread is cut into slices. The finished pieces are placed in a container with clean water, the container is covered with a lid and pressed down. The bread is soaked in this way for 2 days. All the time, the container should be in a warm place, preferably in the sun . Bread products release acids that are beneficial for plant growth.

Yeast

It works on the principle of bread, but ordinary baking instant yeast is used. To prepare top dressing, 100 grams of yeast is dissolved in water at a temperature several degrees higher than room temperature. If you drop water on your wrist, it should feel neither cold nor hot . The mixture is left alone for 20 minutes. The plant is watered with the prepared solution using the root nutrition method.

Important! All types of crops require fertilization: tree-like (Japanese peony, European, hybrid varieties), herbaceous (medicinal varieties, ordinary, narrow-leaved, white-flowered, evading, lactic-flowered and others).

Nitrogen fertilizers

Apply only in the spring after the period rest.

• Urea - contains 45% nitrogen. The dry preparation is diluted in water in a proportion of 10 grams per 10 liters of liquid.
• Ammonium nitrate - the proportion of the substance content is 33%. Proportion: 15 grams of powder per 10 liters of clean liquid.
• Chicken droppings - is produced in the form of dry granules with a characteristic odor. Litter is not applied in dry form - the substance must be infused in water for two days. Proportion: 1 part manure to 20 parts water, then 1 to 3.
• Mullein liquid - fertilizer is produced in finished form, poured into plastic cans. The nutrient fluid must be diluted with water, 1 cap per 10 liters of water.

An additional measure after fertilization will be mulching the plant with compost, humus. Substances are scattered near the root collar of the plant, without deepening it.

Complex mineral preparations

Contains all the necessary elements in various proportions. Convenient to use and storage.

• Nitroammofoska - the drug contains equal proportions of phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium. Proportion: 20 grams per 10 liters of liquid. One adult plant requires 5 liters of diluted mixture.
• Diammofoska - most of all phosphorus (26%), potassium (26%). Nitrogen is about 10%. Proportions: 20 grams of substance per 10 liters of water.

Important! The composition of these drugs does not include trace elements, and since peonies love them, it is necessary to compensate for this deficiency. It is advisable to add a humate solution to the bushes of the plant.

Phosphorus-potassium

Substances needed by the buds. For vigorous flowering, it is recommended to use the following drugs.

• Superphosphate - phosphorus content up to 30%, nitrogen up to 9%. Mixing ratio: 10 grams of substance per 10 liters of liquid.
• Double superphosphate - nitrogen about 10%, phosphorus - 46%. When using, it is required to reduce the dose of the drug by 2 times. Dilute in a ratio of 1 to 2;
• Potassium sulfate, or potassium sulfate . Active substance content up to 52%. The proportion is standard - 10 grams requires 10 liters of liquid. Potassium sulfate can be substituted for potassium salt.
• Kalimagnesium … The use of this drug is indicated on the manufacturer's packaging.

Organic preparations

They are used to feed decorative, flowering and horticultural crops. Potash dressings are replaced with wood ash infusion. You need to take 100 grams of ash and 10 liters of water.

Bone meal of animal origin, as well as made from fish waste, replaces phosphate fertilizers.

Important! At the end of the flowering period, it is better to feed the peonies with superphosphate. This drug has worked well and gives more benefits than organic.

" Baikal EM-1 " - a liquid preparation intended for plant and soil nutrition. In the autumn season, the substance is mixed with manure and used as mulch.

Ready mixes

Complex fertilizers produced in large-volume packages. The mixtures are easy to use and contain all the necessary substances. The proportion of elements in the mixture is different and depends on the manufacturer.

• Fertika flower from Kristalon - a granular mixture containing trace elements.
• Fertika Lux - similar to the previous remedy.
• Fertica universal - the mixture contains oraganica, humates, microelements.
• Kemira - the mixture can be used three times per season. Fertilizer is applied by surface method. A handful of the substance is placed in a small hole and covered with soil. At each stage of culture development, a special series of this drug is used. Kemira universal is designed for the spring season. Kemira combi - for the second feeding.

Long-acting fertilizers are in great demand. Substances of the granular type are introduced into the planting pits dry or added with fresh soil when loosening the soil . Among them one can distinguish "Fasco flower" and "Root feeder" - long-acting top dressing.

Mixtures containing humates and trace elements

Humates are salts of humic acids (organic compounds formed during the decomposition of plants). Such a substance will allow peonies to more fully and quickly assimilate mineral fertilizers.

Ready-made preparations are popular: "Krepysh", "Gumat + 7", "Gumat + Iodine". Often, flower growers prepare humate solutions on their own, followed by the addition of a mineral complex in the form of nitroammofoska.

In addition, organic fluids are used, made on the basis of the vital activity of earthworms, which are suitable for plants of any type.

Fertilization rules

Consider the basic rules for the correct process of plant feeding in the garden or pots.

• The root system of a developed plant is divided into suction, adventitious and storage roots. In the spring, adventitious roots with suction roots begin to form in peonies. Fertilize the plant carefully so as not to damage the delicate system.
• Before adding the nutrients, a hole is created around the bush with a diameter of 30 cm or more (the distance should be calculated from the center of the bush). Another option is to dig shallow pits around the entire perimeter of the planting area, moving 10-20 cm away from the center of the plant.
• Before fertilizing the culture, the soil must be watered abundantly with clean water, wait several hours so that the substrate is saturated, and the roots begin to actively absorb water. After that, the second watering of the plant is already carried out using diluted fertilizer. If a heavy rain has passed, then you do not need to water the ground first.
• To feed the green mass, the selected substance is diluted in water in the required proportion and the plant is sprayed or watered. The second spraying is carried out with the same preparation with the addition of 1 part of trace elements. For the third time, the pions will be fed only from a solution of trace elements.
• To prevent the solution from rolling off the foliage, a spoonful of grated laundry soap is added to the solution, which is harmless to the culture.
• Root feeding is not carried out by direct application of fertilizer to the center of the plant, improper actions will lead to chemical burns of the trunk, leaves and buds of the peony.
• Plant feeding is done in the morning or evening hours. In spring, peonies are enriched with root dressings. In the summer-autumn period, they switch to the foliar nutrition system, applying fertilizers through the foliage. It should be borne in mind that it is impossible to replace root dressing with the latter method.
• Granular and dry dressings are applied on wet soil. The concentration of the applied dry matter should be several times lower than that of the liquid.

Further care

Further cultivation of peonies is reduced to meeting the timing of feeding and changing its composition. Adult crops from the age of 5 years require more minerals. Old peonies (10 years old) are fertilized with slurry.

Nutrient fluids are introduced once - during the formation of flower buds.

The composition of the mixture: bird or cow droppings + mineral complex.

Solution recipe: mullein is diluted in a ratio of 1 part to 10 parts of water, bird droppings - about, 5 liters per 10 liters of liquid. After mixing, 40 grams of superphosphate is added. The resulting liquid is infused for 12 days. Before use, the finished solution is re-diluted with water in a 1 to 1 ratio.

Important! When feeding, the solution should not get on the rhizome of the peony.

Placing a crop on loose soil, consisting mainly of sand, requires constant application of organic fertilizers. If the peony bush grows in a heavy clay or loam substrate, then the feeding period can be shortened to a single application of nutrients.

Plants on depleted soil are recommended to be fed with a boron-magnesium mixture, 5 grams of which is distributed per 1 sq. meter of landing area . The frequency of adding the element is up to 4 times a season.

Feeding peonies is an easy task. You just need to remember that the procedure is carried out in spring, summer and autumn. Without top dressing, the shoots of the plant will become loose, the culture will begin to wilt, and it will become easily susceptible to fungal infections and viral diseases.