Chrysanthemums

[Scarlet]

Did they get frosted?

[Guest]

I have one where a lot of the foliage has gone crispy but put it down to being part and parcel of old foliage and hitting its lifespan

[bramble]

I don't know, Bramble. Got a picture?

I dont Martin. I cut them all down this afternoon and put them in the bin.

[bramble]

I have one where a lot of the foliage has gone crispy but put it down to being part and parcel of old foliage and hitting its lifespan

I would have thought the same thing Norfolkgrey except they were still producing flowers.

[bramble]

Did they get frosted?

I wouldnt think so Scarlet as they are growing side by side with Dahlias which are still flowering.
another mystery I guess.

[Guest]

I would have thought the same thing Norfolkgrey except they were still producing flowers.

I will take a piccy tomorrow. I am waiting for the flowers as they are a late one. They are about 1.5m tall (if they were straight ) and only the last 20cm-ish is green. Does that sound about right?

Whilst I am posting here are my shenkyo/ fanatasy ones

[Hayley]

Well my eBay buys didn't do so bad in the end, they produced / are producing ,masses of yellow 'Pom Pom' type flowers. Unfortunately I have neglected them somewhat with the limited space I had as they were thrown into a raised bed where they overcrowded each other and flopped over the sides.

However I've been busy at the allotment and cleared a new dedicated cut flower patch. Question is do I need to cut back the mums and pot them up in the greenhouse over winter or do people just keep them as whole plants?

[Hayley]

Found some useful advice on chrysanthemum direct

Overwinter treatment
In mild areas and with well drained soil, most Chrysanthemums should survive outdoors if covered with a mulch of organic material. However, in an ideal world, and certainly if your soil is not well drained, we would suggest following the information below.

Plants should be lifted in the autumn, after flowering, and any soil cleaned from the roots. Cut top growth down to around 15cm (6"). It does no harm to dip the root ball in a disinfectant, such as ***** Fluid, for a few minutes to maintain cleanliness. Some growers also use a hot water dip to control eelworm. The recommended treatment is five minutes in water at 46°C (114°F). After this, dry the stools thoroughly, trim the roots to about 15cm (6") in length and then box them in seed trays using an open compost. Store in an airy place (a cold greenhouse is fine) and keep the compost dry. Plants grown in pots can be moved into a cold greenhouse, or some other sheltered place and, as above, kept dry.

In the early spring, start watering to encourage growth. Varieties not covered by Plant Breeders Rights should be propagated from soft cuttings, to provide strong plants for the following season. Remember not to put Chrysanthemums outside, in the spring, until the danger of frost has passed.

[Scarlet]

Mine flopped too! I will stake them better next year. Martin has some good info on his blog about taking new cuttings for next year. At the moment mine are a complete mess and very wind battered.

[Martin H]

Mine flopped too! I will stake them better next year. Martin has some good info on his blog about taking new cuttings for next year. At the moment mine are a complete mess and very wind battered.

I didn't do enough staking this year either. Mine are now mostly flopped over and battered by the gales.

My ground is clay, so I'll be lifting the ones I want to take cuttings from as per Hayley's post some time in the next month or so. As long as they are indoors before the ground freezes solid they will be fine, all the better for a bit of a rest.

Despite the clay, I found last year that the ones I didn't lift survived anyway. I just had to be vigilant for slugs in early spring. I lifted and divided these and gave them to my sister-in-law for her herbaceous border. They aren't quite as good as plants from new cuttings but put on a good show in the autumn.

I haven't got eelworm so I don't bother with the hot water treatment. If you do use it, remember that the temperature is critical - any cooler and it doesn't kill the eelworm, any hotter and it kills the plant!

Once I've lifted the stools I remove all the greenery and just leave woody stems about six inches long to tie a label to. This way any aphids or other bugs don't have anything to overwinter on. The best cutting material starts from below ground anyway.

[Martin H]

I should be boxing up my chrysanthemum stools now so they can start putting on new growth for cuttings. But I'm a bit concerned, it's been so mild this autumn that the new basal shoots are developing flower buds. I think the plants need a bit of cold to let them know that autumn is really over, so I'm going to wait another week before cutting off all the greenery. This way I can be more hopeful that the new shoots will give me decent quality cuttings.

[Scarlet]

Are yours outside or in the GH Martin?

[Snadger]

I've taken five cuttings off one of mine and others are just about ready. As long as they keep throwing up cutting material, I'll keep taking them! Hopefully some will give me some flowers in the future.

[Martin H]

Are yours outside or in the GH Martin?

They have been grown outside this year but are currently in an unheated greenhouse.

[Martin H]

Snadger, you've probably had more cold nights up in Newcastle than we've had down here in the South East. The material mine have thrown up so far would make poor cuttings because of the flower buds at the tips of the shoots.