Peonies do not bloom what to do?

Peony is a common decoration of flower beds, garden plots, parks and public places. This perennial plant is valued for its early flowering, beginning in May-June, when beautiful double flowers appear on peduncles. Many gardeners, however, for unclear reasons, peonies do not bloom. What to do in order to get the desired buds? What mistakes do gardeners make leading to a lack of result?

Why peonies do not bloom - a natural reason

The most common reason peonies do not bloom is related to their age: hybrid varieties give flowers only in the first 10 years of life. Further, they weaken and undergo fungal diseases, therefore they stop spending the forces that leave them for flowering. But it’s not worth digging out obsolete landings! If the old bush is cut into 3-4 parts and planted, then the new bushes acquire the properties of young plants.

However, some varieties of peonies can bloom, not just one, but for many decades, so when choosing a variety for planting, this point should also be taken into account.

Reasons why peony does not bloom

If the plantings are relatively young, then the lack of flowers can be explained by other reasons, usually associated with the care and place of growth.

• Bad landing place. Peonies are very photophilous, so you need to plant them where direct sunlight falls at least half the daylight. Also on the north side, it is preferable to have obstacles protecting the flowers from cold winds: trees, bushes, buildings.
• Too deep landing - Another factor explaining the lack of success. Peonies are prone to rot. With a deep planting, the bases of the leaves turn black, and soon the ground part begins to die. The best option is to sprinkle peonies to the root neck, but not higher.
• Excessive soil moisture associated either with a bay or with a close occurrence of groundwater. Peonies easily rot not only leaves, but also roots. More often this occurs in dense, airtight soils. Before planting a peony in heavy soil, it is advisable to add baking powder (light sheet soil, sawdust, peat, turf, etc.), or lay a drainage layer of expanded clay and coarse sand at the bottom of the future ridge.
• Lack of watering. Peonies can not only be flooded, but also dried out. In summer, the soil should be moistened at least once every 10 days, so in the absence of rain, peonies are watered. On hot July days, watering can be weekly. It is important to ensure that no cracking crust forms on the surface of the soil, due to which moisture evaporation is significantly enhanced. This issue becomes irrelevant when mulching the soil. Suitable materials for shelter: straw, leaves, tops, sawdust.
• Overfeeding with nitrogen fertilizers - Another private reason why peonies do not bloom. Peonies release some leaves without forming buds if too much ammonium nitrate is added in May. It is better to add it even in smaller quantities than it is prescribed in the recommendations on the package. Before flowering, you can often do without fertilizing at all, and peonies can be fertilized after flowering with fertilizer so that plants can lay flower buds the next year. In general, those who doubt the feasibility of top dressing or selected dosages should follow the rule: it is better to underfeed the peonies than to overfeed them!

Read also:how to plant peonies?

The main mistakes in the propagation of peony

Some beginners are worried about why peonies do not bloom after planting. This is actually the norm, as annual plants are too young to produce buds.

But they may not bloom the following year, if a number of mistakes are made during the propagation of peonies:

• Unlike many other cultures, Peonies are not planted in spring, but in late summer or early fall.
• Too small division of the roots during planting. A weak plant will grow the root system all next year and is unlikely to bloom. It is possible, on the contrary, to separate a large portion of the root, but with a weak terrestrial part. Then the seedling will spend all its strength on awakening sleeping vegetative buds, and not on laying buds.
• Do not too often propagate peonies by dividing the bush. On average, a peony builds up a sufficiently large root system for division in 4-6 years.

What to do if peonies do not grow?

If peonies not only do not bloom, but also do not grow, then system errors were made in their cultivation.

• Decay of the root system is often to blame. Peonies are at risk for root rot, so they can not be poured and planted where the groundwater is shallow. In this case, peonies must be planted in another place.
• The same is done if the optimum acidity of the soil in which the flowers grow is not respected. They love neutral and slightly acidic soils, and they do not like alkaline soils. This may be another reason why peonies do not grow. The optimum soil pH for them is 6.5-7.
• Another common mistake is early leaf pruning after flowering. Cut in the middle or second half of autumn, shortening the leaves by about 30%. If pruning is too early, the kidneys do not have time to properly form next year and accumulate nutrients in the rhizomes. If peonies are already trimmed, and excessively, then you can fix this by introducing autumn dressings, which will be discussed later.

Important! If the goal is not to grow peonies on a commercial basis or on an industrial scale, then leaf pruning can be completely neglected.

Fertilizers suitable for peonies

At the beginning, it is worth mentioning that plants often grow well without fertilizing at the beginning and in the midst of the growing season, especially on fertile soils.It is only recommended to apply phosphate-potassium fertilizers in the first half of autumn to help plants form flower buds for next year.

If the task is to achieve not just the appearance of buds, but abundant flowering, then peonies also feed in spring and summer. In late April or early May, overripe horse or cow manure or bird droppings and a small amount of nitrophoska are buried in the upper layer of soil to a shallow depth. At the end of May, peonies are watered with a solution of potassium-phosphorus fertilizers. An approximate ratio of 10 liters of water is: potash - 40 grams, phosphorus - 20. You can add a small amount of slurry or a few tablespoons of wood ash.

2-3 weeks after flowering is completed, a solution of 20-30 grams of superphosphate and 10-15 grams of potassium nitrate or potassium sulfate in 7-8 liters of water is prepared. 2-3 liters of infused cow dung are added there.

All types of mineral fertilizers can be applied in dry form. For this, the soil around the bush is preliminarily watered abundantly, then granules are scattered and, at the end, they are sprinkled with a thin layer of soil or mulch.

If desired, during the summer, once a month, you can do foliar dressing with complex fertilizers. It is important to spray only in the mornings or evenings, when the sun shines dimly, because at noon due to the refraction of light, burns form on the leaves of water drops.

In general, a peony is quite unpretentious, if you choose the right place for planting. Perhaps this is the secret to the success of this culture. Growing and stronger plants bloom even without intensive care, but if you provide them with everything you need, in May and June they will please the hosts with an abundance of bright colors.