MUMs!

[Branching Out]

My neighbour has the most beautiful deep dark red mum that grows in her garden. Do you think it would work if we were to try to cut or pull some of the basal branches, without lifting the entire plant from the ground? I would love to have a few clones of the stunning chrysanthemum that she grew last year. It was really spectacular.

 

[Phaedra]

My neighbour has the most beautiful deep dark red mum that grows in her garden. Do you think it would work if we were to try to cut or pull some of the basal branches, without lifting the entire plant from the ground? I would love to have a few clones of the stunning chrysanthemum that she grew last year. It was really spectacular.

Yes, just cut some basal shoots (with a sanitized knife or scissor) with ready roots. It's pretty common to divide perennial plants like this.
I did the same earlier with mints and asters.

 

[Phaedra]

I got two Tea Chrysanthemums from an online nursery. To be honest, the quality is surprisingly poor. I was reluctant to do so, but I can't find an exact answer about which type of mums I can use for tea.

Some said all mums' flowers are edible; some said the white and yellow varieties are better; some said all mums are slightly poisonous, etc.

Well, I am used to having tea (made by chrysanthemums morifolium Ramat), but they are not available here. Chrysanthemum morifolium includes a lot of varieties, and I have no idea which to go ahead with. In the end, I bought two, and the nursery's label said: Tea chrysanthemum morifolium/yellow or white.

The plants show that they were ignored and had no proper care. When you transplant anything like this, it's a bad start.
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This spring, I knew nothing about mums' basal shoots, so I made a lot of cuttings for propagation. From now on, I will make good use of them.

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I removed all the stems, took some good cuttings, and then divided the two plants into six (each has roots and new shoots). Plus a few cuttings from grapes and red chestnuts - these are my hands-on practices today.
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The two tea Chrysanthemums which I divided into six (basal shoots with roots) on Nov.8, 2022 - how are they today? They became healthy and lovely plants.

They are so eager to grow.

What's next?

1. I will give them the first pinching - let the energy go back to the main stem and root system. I need them to produce as many flowers as possible instead of a few showy flowers. Therefore, encouraging side shoots is necessary and has to be done at least twice before June. Of course, the cuttings will be propagated as well.
2. They are staying in the unheated room (average 8-10 degrees C), under growing light. I expect that they will grow smoothly. Therefore, I will give them a little bit of seaweed feed.

 

[Phaedra]

On January 20 or 21, I pinched the tea MUMs and looked at the pinched parts; what a waste...

So I put them in a module tray - as long as one stem survives, it's a win.

Today, from the bottom, I saw roots from two cells. Well, I got two new babies!

But Guess what? All of them (eight stems) are safe! They are such tiny new stems - I didn't expect they have such strong desires to live.

I plugged them into the 5cm mini pots and let them stay with peas and scallions in the unheated room.

If you want to try propagation from soft cuttings, MUMs are perfect for an entry-level target.

 

[Phaedra]

The eight tea MUMs are doing fine. After moving into the 5cm pots, their roots grow quickly. I removed part of the bottom leaves.

Their roots are already reaching the bottom.

On Feb 9th, I also pinched some garden MUMs and immediately let the cuttings check in the bottle domes.

I can see some roots from the bottom. So, let's check how many survive!

Seven! All survive and root properly again. Fascinating!

As usual, they moved into the 5cm pots with sprouted outdoors tomato 'Duttingold ' and honeydew melon 'Kajari.' Meanwhile, I am pruning my roses and again using the pruned stems for propagation.

Now, I have more than 10 'Sunny Sky' rose cuttings staying in two bottle domes.

 

[Phaedra]

I have some potted mums in the front yard now; they are from the nursery. The plan is to cut them back and see if they can overwinter in the greenhouse. Yes I know, some varieties can overwinter in the outdoors but not every one from the nursery.

Disbudding isn't too much bother, if you want to do it.

Think of it this way: If you don't disbud the lateral buds, you will want to deadhead them off after they bloom and begin to die. Do job early or do it later. So, it is 6 to one, a half-dozen to the other.

(That's some English nonsense for you, Phaedra )

@digitS' this is the thread we discussed about removing the buds last year.

 

[digitS']

Ah ha!

Well, I can show the one plant that survived after we have some daylight.

(Note to self: clean up the wilted blossoms on that one or a picture will display a careless lack of 2023 dead-heading, you dead head!)

digitS'

 

[digitS']

Okay, here’s the little olde guy:


It has been blooming for about a month. After its season as a potted plant, the greenhouse vacation only lasted until it wasn’t likely to have trouble with being transplanted out. The mum neighbors showed up later and are obviously different and larger cultivars. Rescuing them from the supermarket after being passed over as cemetery decoration is a guarantee that we won’t really know how they will grow.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Make it a houseplant until next spring!
I lost all of my mums on the front walkway. These only live ~3 years anyway.
I bought 3 at WM, $1,50/each but all too thinly rooted to transplant NOW.
I did up pot them all. They are decorating the south side of the house right now, but I will bring them in end of the month.
I have done this before. They are Quite hardy. I even gave one to DD, who decided hers would make a good office plant, something hard to kill.

 

[Blueberry Acres]

I love mums, they are my birth month flower! (November )

I don't mean it, but the fact is, I am kind of enchanted by this MUMs I bought last year and harvested close to twenty plants this year.

I LOVE the colors of this one!