Question from Deborah:
I live in N.C. and planted mums several years ago. They bloomed last year in the fall and are in full bud now, June some are showing color. Should I let them go or pinch the buds? I would like them to bloom in the fall again.
Answer from Pat:
Usually chrysanthemums only bloom in fall when the day length and temperature are appropriate, but In greenhouses growers can trick chrysanthemums to bloom at any time of year by fooling the plant with lights and coolers. Perhaps odd temperatures are making the flowers on your plants too eager to bloom. Disbudding (explained below) won’t fix this problem. If the flowers want to open too soon they will do so. If you disbud too much the plants might not have time to produce more buds.
I suggest you take hedge shears and cut off about one or two feet off the height of the plants, removing all flower buds along with green growth. This can be done with many perennials, such as Shasta daisies, in June (for example if you were going to be away in July) to make them bloom about one month later and lower in shape with even more flowers than they would otherwise have. What happens is that the plants will then branch and once again put on buds to bloom lower and at least one month later. (Keep a calendar and mark down what you do so next year you can try it again if it works.)
Here are general rules for chrysanthemums in other years when they don’t look as if they will bloom too early: For sturdy flowers and big blooms start pinching back chrysanthemums in spring and pinch often. For large blooms also disbud them by taking off the side buds and leaving just one or three to a stem. But if you want masses of bloom and long-lasting garden color, then let the buds all grow or some of them. It’s up to you. Personally I love that look in a garden, don’t you? And it’s less work. In the cutting garden it often makes sense to disbud, but when growing for masses of color, why bother? Unless growing cushion mums, you will need to stake them also.
After cutting your chrysanthemums back, follow up with water and fertilizer.
Related Articles:
- Chryanthemums: How to Grow Year-Round in mild-winter climates
- Eastern Lilacs
- July Flowers to Plant Now in Spring For Summer Wedding
- Controlling Early Blight on Tomatoes
- Pruning for Fortnight Lily (Dietes iridioides, D. bicolor)
Hi Pat,
I have lots of buds in my red and purple color chrysanthemum plant, but of late the buds are opening to become a leaf instead of flowers. Can you please explain why is it happening so… I am from India (Mumbai)
Chrysanthemums are programmed by nature to flower in fall. Their cycle of growth and blooming is triggered by day-length and to some extent temperature. This is true of many plants and if one can figure out exactly what temperature and/or day-lengths a plant needs, then it is possible to make them bloom at any time of year. Since the middle of the twentieth century, growers have known how to make a chrysanthemum bloom at any time of year. Chrysanthemums are not well adapted to the hot tropical climate of Mumbai. Chrysanthemums grow wonderfully well, however, in gardens in the foothills of the Himalayas, where there is mild, cool-winter climate, with sunny summers and distinct autumns. In Mumbai, India your climate is far warmer than ours here in California and your climate is wet in summer. This might cause mildew and rust on chrysanthemum. You perhaps purchased your chrysanthemum plant in a flower shop or at a nursery garden and it had probably been grown in a greenhouse in which it was made to think that the days first lengthened (to make it grow) and then shortened (to make it bloom) so perhaps you bought it in spring in full bloom which is not natural for chrysanthemums. Now in May, usually the hottest month in Mumbai, it is too hot for your chrysanthemum to stay in bloom and the flowers have died and you have cut them off. Now in May the days are still growing longer as the sun moves to the north. As the days grow longer this makes your plant make leaves not flowers. During this period, fertilize it so that it makes lots of green leaves. You can take cuttings and plant them in flower pots or the ground. They grow quickly. Or you can just let the plant you have grow as much as possible and pinch back the tips of the growth to make it branch. After the summer solstice in late June, the sun will begin to move south again, then the days will be growing shorter again and buds of flowers should appear at the tops of the stems above the leaves. It is not time yet. Many people disbud chrysanthemums after the flower buds appear so they will make few flowers but larger ones, but this is not necessary. If growing in the ground, stake plants up so they do not fall over. In autumn (October or November) they should bloom. I hope my explanation has helped you understand what is going on with your chrysanthemum. I have heard that my book about gardening in Southern California (“Pat Welsh’s Southern California Organic Gardening: Month by Month”) has been sold in Mumbai, India. Have you seen it there in bookstores?
Thank You so very much for clearing my doubts. I will certainly check the book mentioned by you in the bookstore. But the guidelines in that book are the same for Mumbai weather month wise ?
The monthly jobs in my book would doubtless have to be adjusted by you because the weather in Mumbai is so much hotter. Mumbai is about the same latitude as Puerto Rico and Hawaii, whereas Southern California is the same latitude as the Northern Algeria, way north of Mumbai. Also, Mumbai has a tropical climate, but Southern California has a Mediterranean climate. So I think you will have to adjust the advice to fit your needs. Basically though, things like when or how to plant, prune or feed tropical plants should be similar. I think my book works better in northern India—in places like Jhodpur and Udaipur or in the foothills of the Himalayas (and I think that may be where it is sold), but the basic advice on what care plants need should be of some help. You would have to take a look and see.
I know chrysanthemums bloom in fall, but when? How late? I have many buds on my plants, but no blooms yet.
Every chrysanthemum variety has its built-in time clock depending on daylength. Some bloom early, in October. Many don’t bloom until November. If skies are cloudy and rainy, this
can delay bloom. Temperatures can also be a factor.
Thanks so much for the advice, we are having hot late summer weather here this year, could explain everything.
Odd weather can produce strange effects in plants, but cutting off even as much as one half or two-thirds in early summer, will stop early, unseasonal bloom. Your chrysanthemums will branch and when they bloom in fall will be lower and studier, not as tall as they would otherwise have been. This works for asters too. After cutting back, follow up with water and fertilizer.