The beauty of peonies makes caring hearts beat faster! But in order for the seedlings to be effective and healthy, and to bloom violent and lush, they need a little help. We will tell you what fertilizers are useful for this in early spring!
How to understand if top dressing is needed and what is missing?
Peonies are very unpretentious, despite their exquisite and delicate beauty. If the soil is okay and the bushes are doing well, feed them on a standard schedule.
Peonies can wither in too acidic or too alkaline soil. Try to save the situation by adding lime or wood ash. As a last resort, you may need to transplant the bushes into new, suitable soil.
If the peonies turn yellow and grow poorly, add nitrogen fertilizer around the bushes. If the buds do not set well, use potassium-phosphorus complexes urgently. But if the peonies look healthy and beautiful, you don't need to do anything extra. An overabundance of nutrients is just as harmful to them as a serious lack of them.
The best time to feed
To plan the optimal feeding schedule, consider whether you have young peonies or are already adults. In the early years, the root system is formed, so it is important to stimulate and preserve it. In the future, peonies will need more active and intense support, especially after eight years. In any case, spring feeding is carried out in three stages.
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Fertilizers for feeding peonies
For early feeding of peonies, gardeners generally recommend organics. But if a stronger effect is required, choose mineral mixtures. And don't forget about spot feeding with boron, manganese, calcium or iron. Combine fertilizer with watering and lay dry granules in grooves around the bushes.
Organic
The first years of their life, young peonies feel great even without special fertilizers. They have enough good garden soil mixed with peat, and a small amount of rotted manure. Organic matter is more delicate in its effect, therefore it does not affect the young root system so much.
To prepare an organic feed, dilute a mixture of fresh mullein and poultry droppings (2: 1: 10) in water, and then let it stand for 10 days. Apply it in the fertilizer grooves at a distance of 20-30 cm from the bush. It is important not to hit directly on the root or stem so as not to burn.
Mineral
For the first spraying after winter, dilute 40 g of urea in a bucket of water, and for the second, add a tablet of the mineral complex to the same mixture. For the third spraying, only tablets with microelements are enough.
Mineral dressing can be combined with organic. To do this, add 40 g of phosphorus and 20 g of potassium to a 10-liter bucket of mullein solution. This is a good complex a couple of weeks before the peonies start blooming, so that the buds are even larger and more luxuriant.
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Folk remedies
Folk remedies are a gentle and delicate way to feed peonies in spring for splendor and beauty. Use them together with mineral and organic fertilizers - you will see, the result will not be long in coming!
Feeding peonies with ash
Ash is remarkable for its antiseptic properties and high potassium content with phosphorus. To prepare the solution, mix one and a half glasses of ash with a bucket of water, let it brew and strain. Use the ready-made mixture instead of water for irrigation in one of the passes.
Feeding with yeast
Yeast is another classic homemade recipe for horticultural crops. They promote vigorous flowering and improve the absorption of other essential substances. Mix 10 g of dry yeast and 60 g of sugar, fill them with a bucket of warm water, and then leave for 2 hours. Before watering, dilute the yeast mixture with approximately 1: 3 water.
Top dressing of peonies with potassium permanganate
Potassium permanganate is an additional source of potassium, and most importantly - an excellent antibacterial and antifungal agent. Dilute a weak, pale watering solution - and this will significantly reduce the risk of rot, powdery mildew or black leg.
Top dressing with herbal infusion
Fresh spring herbs have already absorbed a lot of useful components in an optimal form for peonies. Nettles are great, but you can use whatever is on the site. Pour a quarter of a bucket of grass with water, let it brew for a couple of days, strain and use instead of regular watering.
Feeding peonies with bread
Old stale brown bread is an ideal top dressing for your favorite peonies. To do this, place the loaf in a saucepan or basin and fill it with water so that it completely covers it. After 12 hours, stir the mixture in a bucket of water and use for watering.
How to feed peonies in spring so that they bloom magnificently?
Spring is the best time to feed peonies, because the flowers are just waking up from frost. First, active growth of green mass begins, and only then - the formation of buds. Each stage requires its own measures!
Feeding young peonies
The first year, the root system of peonies is actively forming, so it is very vulnerable to any external influences. Soft foliar feeding is best at this time. The interval between sprays is about 2 weeks.
For the first spraying, dilute 50 g of carbamide in a 10 liter bucket of water. Add flower mineral fertilizer to the second procedure, but make a very weak solution. To the third, stimulants of growth and root formation are needed. And the ground around the peony fields is a solution of sodium humate in a ratio of 5 g per bucket.
Feeding peonies over 2 years old
As soon as the snow begins to melt around the bushes, scatter 10 g of nitrogen and 15 g of potassium under each of them so that they mix with melt water. When the buds are setting, reduce the amount of nitrogen and add another 15-20 g of phosphorus. In the end, you need to lay down resources for the next year - for this, an intensive phosphorus-potassium dressing is carried out.
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