How to feed hydrangea in the fall, you need to know for sure, since exactly what kind of nutrition the plant will receive before the dormant period will ensure its high-quality flowering for the next season. Also, top dressing positively affects the ability of winter hydrangeas. Mistakes during feeding are dangerous, as they can seriously knock down the natural life cycle of a plant.
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The nuances of autumn hydrangea top dressing
Autumn feeding of hydrangea is required in order to prepare it for winter. The rest period in the cold season for hydrangea is a difficult test, and therefore it is necessary to bring a bush or tree in good shape to frost. Special fertilizers of long action intended specifically for hydrangeas should be introduced under the plant. You can also use standard organic and mineral compounds for universal use.
Potassium sulfate significantly increases the resistance of the plant to cold. At the same time, the compositions containing nitrogen are unacceptable, since this component will negatively affect the readiness of the culture for winter.
It is worth paying attention to the variety of hydrangea. If it belongs to the early ones, then top dressing is carried out not in the autumn, but in the second half of August. At the same time, late varieties need to be fed closer to mid-autumn.
When is it needed?
Feeding hydrangea is necessary from the first year of plant growth. It is especially important to fertilize in the autumn, if adverse weather conditions were observed in the summer, and the plant goes into a weakened state of rest. Feeding hydrangeas in the fall should be annual.
Types of fertilizers and rules for their application
For hydrangea, mineral and organic fertilizers are used.In order for it to bloom well next season, it is important to be able to correctly combine both types of fertilizers in the autumn period. It is more convenient to immediately purchase complex hydrangea formulations that allow you to accurately feed the plant and provide it with all the necessary substances, if you follow the instructions.
The following mineral complex preparations for hydrangea were most popular:
- Fertika. For hydrangea, a liquid is needed. It is introduced throughout the growing season, including in the fall;
- Pokon is a long-acting fertilizer that saturates hydrangea with the necessary substances and maintains the plant’s good condition for a long time. The granules, mixed with soil, are scattered around the bush, and then watered abundantly. Under the influence of water, the granules gradually dissolve and saturate the soil with mineral substances;
- GreenWorld - used for fall dressing strictly according to the instructions. It is good to combine the product with organics in one top dressing.
In the event that it is not possible to purchase special products for hydrangea, you can use wood ash, superphosphate, urea and potassium sulfate.
Organics for hydrangea are necessary in order for it to accumulate nutrients, due to which it will survive the winter, when, despite the dormant period, metabolic processes in the plant still go on, just very slowly and mainly in the roots.
Organic fertilizers include:
- vegetable infusion (nettle fertilizer, sorrel infusion);
- mullein;
- horse dung;
- bird droppings;
- vermicompost liquid;
- humus.
It is best to bring under hydrangea when preparing it for winter humus. He will warm the roots and prevent them from freezing, and by spring, when the process of decomposition of humus is completely over, the soil will be enriched with nitrogen, which is necessary at the time of active plant growth.
If manure or litter is used, then they are dissolved in a proportion of 1:10. The mixture should be brought under the root in a circle. Higher concentration is unacceptable, as this will burn the plant.
Rules for feeding after circumcision
After pruning (only the hydrangea bush form is needed), top dressing is not carried out, since at this moment the plant is already in a state of deep dormancy. In order to protect hydrangea from freezing, it is necessary to fill it with humus. This action can be called relative top dressing, as the beneficial substances from the humus of a shrub or tree will be obtained only after the resumption of metabolic processes.
Pruning hydrangea ends the season and preparing for winter. In order that the process does not take away strength, its implementation is possible only after the onset of the rest period.
If in the spring before the opening of the kidneys a sanitary haircut was performed, then hydrangea will need to be fed after trimming with a nitrogen compound and organic fertilizer.
Soil requirement for growing plants
The soil parameters for hydrangea are of great importance, since if they are inappropriate, no fertilizing can save the plant. It will not bloom and gradually wither.
For the bush to feel good, it needs loose soil, which has a high percentage of water permeability and breathability. Prefers plant soil with high acidity. If this indicator is not taken into account, the bush will suffer from iron deficiency, which will lead to a general deterioration in the state of hydrangea and an almost complete absence of flowering.
Is it possible to influence the color of hydrangea with top dressing?
Top dressing can not change the color of hydrangea flowers. The acidity indicator of the soil is responsible for it. It depends on it whether blooming hydrangea will be white, pink or blue.
Read also: hydrangea limelight
The opinion that watering hydrangea with superphosphate can be made blue, and with manganese pink, is a mistake. If you want hydrangea to blossom flowers of an unusual color on the flower garden, you need to change the soil indicators.
Hydrangea, despite being one of the most unpretentious plants in the garden, still can not grow completely without care. To maintain its decorativeness, it is required to monitor and timely fertilize. It is also relevant if panicle hydrangea is grown. This is the only way to count on the fact that from year to year the plant will delight in flowering.
