To help a budding floriculturist: when to cut peonies

Most beginning flower growers have a natural question: "When to cut peonies, so as not to destroy the plant and get the maximum number of bright buds in the new year?" There are several simple, but mandatory conditions, the fulfillment of which will provide the front garden with these fluffy representatives of the flora.

For enhanced flowering

The first two years of life on the site of peonies need a complete removal of emerging buds. It is this "barbaric" approach that allows to stimulate the accelerated growth of the entire plant and, as a consequence, to obtain more abundant flowering in the future. If the goal is to provide your house or shop with large peonies on a long stem, then all the buds appearing below the top are removed as soon as they reach the size of a small pea. On the contrary, if you want to get bright, lushly flowering bushes on the site, all the ovaries should be left in their places.

When peonies are cut after flowering

Once the last petal bud is withered, you need to remove the entire head. The flower is removed together with a part of the stem, making a cut in the region of the first maximally developed leaf. Usually professional florists recommend leaving a small stump or a whole stalk until the fall. If a tree-like variety of this plant is cultivated, to increase the size of the flowers remove up to a third of the buds on each stem. Determining when to cut peonies, it is necessary to remember that young buds develop and grow at the expense of useful nutrients, which produce leaves. Therefore, it is not necessary to trim shoots without buds - on each bush you should always leave at least 50% of shoots.

To accurately determine the time when you can cut pions, in the second half of October or in November, follow the behavior of the stems. As soon as they fall on the first frost, they are cut at ground level. This method is used for herbaceous varieties of pions. If young buds are bare during pruning, then the bushes must be bored to a height of 7-10 cm. Tree species begin to "shear" for 3-4 years of life. Experienced growers know when to cut peonies of similar varieties - either in spring or in autumn. For the first such procedure, choose October-November, when the young stems have not yet developed, but spare spells have already appeared. Further pruning is transferred to spring, when all old and damaged, weakened shoots are removed, cutting them to the ground level.

When to trim peonies: frequent beginner errors

It is impossible to remove shoots very early. Such a miscalculation can occur due to plant transplantation to a new location or annual division of a bush. Cut stems begin to grow very quickly, and to frosts, the peony can dissolve microbes. On the one hand, winter flowers are a rarity and beauty, but on the other hand, one must understand that a bush can die after such untimely germination.

If you crop after the recommended deadlines, the rhizomes may crush. In cold areas, it is possible to remove the above-ground shoots at the end of September, but in the middle band it is better to give preference to classical care and postpone the activity for October-November. And one more nuance: if you unlimitedly cut peonies (for decorating a room or for sale), few new kidneys will be formed for collection next year.