If you're struggling with your pots and plants heading into fall, or, specifically, you keep finding yourself staring at your once-gorgeous chrysanthemum and wondering where its luscious blooms went, I can help.
Mums are wonderful fall flowers, giving us one last burst of color before the grays of winter set in. As with any plant, mums require some care, and there are steps that you can take right now to help your plant before it's too late.
Here’s three things you can do to salvage what you have left of this gorgeous autumnal plant.
3 steps to save your chrysanthemum plant
1. Brown bits, be gone
Yes, I'm talking about wilted stems, dried-out ones, and even browning blooms. They all need chopping off! Grab some pruning shears and trim to the point where you can see a green stem — if it’s not salvageable, then chop as close to the root as possible.
As always, you want to do this with sharp pruning shears for the best chop. This promotes strong roots, ready for the next blooming season, and obviously, it helps make your plant look lovely and tidy.
2. Drink up
Next, give it a good drink. If your plant is potted, then it’d be smart to fill either a bucket or your sink (if the plant is easy to carry inside) with water and place the plant in it. This way, you’re properly watering the roots, which will probably be very dry.
Leave your plant to sit in this water for around 30-45 minutes. The soil should be damp but never wet, as this will encourage mold.
3. A fresh start
The next step is to repot it. This is important for encouraging growth, so you need to find a new vessel, one that's around 1-2 inches larger than its old home. You need a well-draining, standard potting mix, much like what you used the first time around.
Think about your plant's position
Once repotted, you may be tempted to pop it back in its usual spot. But it's worth switching things up — clearly, this wasn't working before. It needs direct sunlight for around 6 hours a day to encourage new buds to bloom. So a sunny windowsill works great if you’re keeping it inside.
If inside, keep this plant away from heat sources. You don't want to dry it out or warm up the soil. Saying that, though, these plants do like cool fall afternoon temperatures.
Going outside? You still need to put it in a sunny spot, ideally where the sun hits first thing in the morning. A plant stand or wooden deck is the best home for an outdoor mum plant, rather than concrete.
Make sure to avoid high-wind spots, and don’t assume that hiding your plant underneath shelter is doing it good — it's actually preventing it from soaking in the sunlight that it desperately needs. Positioning is arguably one of the most important factors in growing a healthy chrysanthemum.
Good to know
If your mum plant is potted in the ground, then the rules are slightly different: you do need to water it, but this can be done using just your hose. Turn it on and run it over the soil bed for around 10-15 minutes for a good drink.
You still need to prune it back, as you would if it were potted, but it might also help to prune back any nearby plants to avoid overcrowding. This will also ensure your mum plant gets all the sunlight, instead of being hidden in the shadows of other stems.
Another step that might help is adding mulch to the mix. You only need a layer around 1 inch tall, but mulch keeps the roots cool in the fall and protects them from frost in the winter. Better yet, it can help retain moisture, so you won't need to water as often.
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