Planting Instructions:
- Choose a well-drained location where the mums will receive at least five hours of sun per day.
- Dig a hole twice as wide and only as deep as the container. Space blooming garden mums in the fall based on plant size.
- Remove from the plastic container and place the mum into the hole onto undisturbed soil. The top of the root mass should be level with the soil grade.
- Backfill with a mixture of soil from the hole and Grass Pad’s Max Mix landscapers mix. Pack the soil mixture firmly around the root mass.
- Cover the planting area and the top of the root mass with mulch of your choice.
- Fertilize with Uncle’s Root Accelerator, every two weeks until buds crack open. Repeat monthly in the growing seasons.
- Water thoroughly at planting, amount and frequency will vary by size, weather and soil conditions.
Encourage branching and development of a compact plant habit, it is critical to pinch back your garden mums in the following spring season. Soon as new growth is four to six inches tall, use your thumbnail and index finger to remove or pinch off about ½ of the new growth. Do this at the top of each and every shoot.
Repeat this procedure through the summer whenever new shoots are four to six inches long. Stop pinching around the Fourth of July.
Chrysanthemums sometimes become crowded in the garden. The old, center portion of the plant dies back, and new growth occurs around the perimeter of the clump. Renovating chrysanthemum clumps every three or four years will encourage healthy growth, neat plant habit, and continued flowering.
When new shoots appear in the spring, dig the entire clump. Use a sharp spade or knife to cut the clump into wedge-shaped sections, like a pie. Remove and discard the point of the wedge (this is the oldest part of the clump). Plant the new plant (wedges) eighteen to twenty-four inches apart at the depth they were growing.
